Bike Walk Bus Toronto

  Hey everyone! It's been about two months since my last blog post, but I am back! This post is based on an exchange/investigation I have been having for the last month. Hope you enjoy! Background Information The 365 Parliament Blue Night is a TTC bus route that operates whenever the subway is closed, duplicating route 65 Parliament the entire way from Bloor down to the Esplanade. It is functionally the same as the 65, except that it doesn't stop within Castle Frank Station's bus terminal (as the subway is closed). The route was established in September 2015, during a big reorganization of night bus routes, in order to provide a new north-south connection between Yonge Street and the Don River. The 365 map, circa 2015. Note the southern loop at the Esplanade has reversed in direction as of late 2021. Owing to the route's short length, a single bus can provide a half-hourly service. However, the short length limits its usefulness, and is the lowest ridership night route ...

  Hey besties! This blog post follows along a walk that I had taken in early November 2021. Just a quick note, my captions for pictures say 'left' and 'right' and they may not appear that way on mobile. Sorry in advance! Bessarion Station, on Line 4, has long been critiqued as being a useless station. Named after a short residential street, in, at the time of opening, a very open area, most see it as a place they will never have to venture to. It even spawned a YouTube video that set out to find where exactly Bessarion Station is. For those who have yet to see it, I have attached it below. However, as the area around the station has begun to fill in, ridership slowly begins to increase. Obviously, there are  still many issues  at play around the station, but things are changing. Bessarion is no longer the least-used subway station, and in was actually never the least used rapid transit station: Ellesmere on Line 3 always had lower ridership. In Toronto, however, subway ...

  Hey pals! This blog post is kind of an essay? I'm super open to having discussions about this, so if you're interested, hit me up! Recently, I've seen a few Twitter threads talking about how city-building and good planning are concept foreign to North America: we admire them, we desire them, yet we never actually make these ideas reality. The focus of these threads tends to be walkability. For those unfamiliar, walkability is defined as how friendly an area is for walking, and it is very subjective. The end goal are broad health benefits on both individual and societal levels.  Those who live in North America are very familiar to how automobility is entrenched within our urban landscapes, so much so that walking in many cities is viewed as being impossible. Walking is not the norm, and occurs in mass only in a few select locations. In addition, the North American political landscape is so devolved into perpetuating capitalist structures that the financial wants of automob...

Hey besties! This blog post is a short one, concerning my findings of taking Durham Region's new overnight routes.  Recently, Durham Region Transit introduced two overnight routes. Route N1 operates throughout the night, between Centennial Circle and Harmony Terminal, and route N2 operates for a few hours between ONTech and Wentworth. Additionally, Dial-a-Bus service was instituted covering most of the urban part of Durham Region. On Monday, December 13th, I went out to take the two routes. I have a few comments concerning them and a few suggestions for how service could be improved. Route N1 Centennial Circle <--> Harmony Terminal This route duplicates the 900 Pulse Highway 2 route that operates during the day, as well as parts of route 901 Pulse Simcoe and 915 Taunton routes. Obviously, as urban Durham region is much longer than it is tall, this route covers a lot of distance. It also makes direct connections to two overnight TTC routes near UofT Scarborough.  From rid...

Earlier today, I headed to Markville Mall, in Markham to run some errands. On my way back, I caught YRT's VIVA Purple bus from the stop at Bullock. While I was waiting, I saw a notice posted on the shelter from YRT related to service changes that took effect on October 31st. A picture of it is below. I could not help but notice the bottom part. It suggests that "Don't worry, if you can't get a ride, YRT will be there for you." Frankly, that is a blatant lie. The route changes listed above tend to be cuts. Oh, your 56 Gorham-Eagle bus used to be rush hours only, every 60 minutes? Don't fret, it will now operate every 64 minutes. As the title of this article suggests, advertisements like this everywhere are quite funny when you consider that the service provided by York Region Transit is, at best, minimal. Realistically, if mom can't pick you up, may of as well wait for her to be able to, you'll get home faster.      It reminded me of something YRT had d...

Hey besties! Normally, transferring between transit services is quick and easy. Maybe you cross the road, or walk across a bus terminal. That said, there are some transfers that are a bit more difficult for a variety of reasons. None of these, however, are as awkward as transferring between Line 4 at Leslie Station and bus route 115 Silver Hills, via Oriole GO. Some Background Context With two-hour transfer on Presto, and less people paying with ticket, token, or cash, memorizing transfer points is not a common practice. Prior to this, however, the TTC maintained a list of walking transfers, where two routes did not meet directly, but were close enough to justify permitting a transfer. The list can be found only on the old TTC website,  here , but note this list has not been updated in many years. As you can see, transferring between Line 4 at Leslie Station and the 115 Silver Hills route is permitted, by walking along the length of the Oriole GO Station platform. Map of route 115....