Bike Walk Bus Toronto

 Hey friends! Two blog posts ago, I showed what I think the worst bus stops in Toronto were. While I promised the next part would be the worst stops in the Greater Toronto Area, I have decided that I will do this first. Today we'll be looking at the best and worst transfers in the Greater Golden Horseshoe. When using a transit system, there is an expectation that multiple routes or services will have to be used. Transit systems can make this easier by locating stops conveniently, or building hubs where multiple services connect. Just because they can, however, does not mean they do! Unfortunately, by choice, in addition to compounding factors, there are a number of places in the region that are not easy to make transfers. This blog post will explore some of the worst, but we will share some good news in the form of some of the best at the end. The Worst Transfers I want to start by noting that Islington Station and Warden Station are terrible for transfers, but they will not be her...

 Hey pals! Hamilton really is a gem: it has great restaurants, cool places to hike, and a lot to do. Although I don't go there nearly as much as I want to, I try to make an effort to go out and hit some of my favourite spots (shout out to Mulberry Coffeehouse!). One thing I like about Hamilton is how it is relatively easy to get around by bus. While frequencies are not where they should be on a number of routes, especially atop the mountain, service runs decently well, and to around 1am on all routes. One thing the city lacks, however, is overnight service. Considering the state of the transit network, this is a bit surprising. In this blog post, I argue as to why night service in Hamilton is obvious, and what I think a basic network would look like. This expands on a draft map I posted on my Twitter a few months back. Why Should Hamilton Have Night Service? Hamilton should have night service simply because the quality of the daytime network justifies extension. Two corridors, the ...

This post was inspired by an annual survey by Streetsblog USA. Called 'Sorriest Bus Stops,' it attempts to find the worst stop in the North America (it was originally just for the USA, but both Metro Vancouver and Quebec City have won in recent years). As such, I have decided to find the twelve worst bus stops in Toronto. I am only focussing on TTC stops, and won't focus on other agencies. I will be sure to make a blog post to find the worst stops in the rest of the GTA (I already have a feeling that a particular stop in Oakville might win the worst award). Obviously this is based on what I know, and I'm sure I've missed a few terrible stops. Please let me know; I can add them in! What Makes a Stop Good or Bad? There's a number of criteria that makes stops good or bad. While some people may consider some to be option, I think they all have their place in making a bus stop a good place. The number one most important piece of stop infrastructure is a concrete pa...

If you follow me on Twitter, you regularly see me bitch about random things. One thing I recently tweeted about was the uselessness of the service provision to Giltspur Drive, near Jane and Sheppard. I expanded this random argument in order to create a specific type of issue experienced with transit planning in suburban environments. That is the purpose of this blog post: it will use the case study of Giltspur in order to create a model for assessing transit planning challenges. I know this sounds boring! It mostly will not be though! First: Establishing Giltspur Drive A lot of the writing thus far as spoken about this near-mythical Giltspur Drive, so it's important to set the scene here. Giltspur Drive is a residential east-west road that runs for about 1 kilometre between Jane Street and Northover Street, just south of Sheppard. It acts as a ridge road above the Black Creek, which runs parallel to the south. The street is entirely single-family homes, aside Calico Public School a...

 Many people love to talk about how good transit is in Montreal, but these arguments are devoid of any mention of the lackluster bus network. I've been in the city a few times recently, and have relied on the bus network to get around. It is miserable, and one key thing that makes it just that bad are half-frequencies during peaks. In this (very) short blog post, I'm going to identify my biggest issue with STM, and what must be done in order to solve it. What do I mean by 'Half-Frequency'? Half-frequency is a transit practice where, instead of having a consistent headway throughout a route, one direction is more frequent than the other. I will use the example of STM's 170 Keller route. In the morning peak, most demand is eastbound, for Station Côte-Vertu. As such, buses operate this way every 14 minutes. In the less-busy westbound direction, for Gouin/Toupin, buses operate around every 28 minutes. Half of the buses that run east operate 'Not in Service' west...

A few weeks ago, I went to Uxbridge. I made my way there by catching GO Transit's 70D bus from Mount Joy Station. This 33-kilometre route is a midday train-meet service to Stouffville, Goodwood, and Uxbridge. I assumed most of the ridership was to Stouffville, with a few stragglers like me going the whole way to Uxbridge. While this was mostly true, there were a few passengers that took me by surprise. One passenger asked me for assistance, as she was destined for Ballantrae, a relatively rural community. Since the bus turned off Highway 48, she had to Uber the rest of the way. In Stouffville, we picked up a man from a plaza. He travelled quite a bit, and then went up to speak to the driver. The driver let him alight on Highway 47 at Concession Road 2, just before Goodwood. I thought this was peculiar: there's no scheduled stop here, and, as you can see below, not very much in the vicinity. We pressed on, and passed Goodwood. At Concession Road 4, we pulled to the side of the h...

 Hey everyone! Early this week, TTC began their consultation period for some of their proposed changes for 2023. While this doesn't include every potential change, these tend to be bigger items. In this piece, I will provide some initial thoughts about them. Spoiler: they are... peculiar! Changes related Line 3 Scarborough RT Shutdown Towards the end of 2023, the TTC will have to shut down the RT. I won't bring my thoughts into this here, because they are extensive, but overall the TTC has had its hand tied in this issue. The initial plan approved by the board will extend a number of routes from Scarborough Centre to Kennedy, via Kennedy and Midland in opposite directions. Once the RT tracks are ripped out, it will be replaced by a busway. These changes proposed have the goal of bringing more isolated parts of Scarborough, like Malvern, Armadale, and Morningside Heights closer to either the subway or GO train by extending some routes. I will first show the changes I strongly ap...

 The TTC has long struggled with how to manage construction and other events along routes. There are pronounced issues of lack of proper communication between management and the public, as well as with operators, but there are also issues with how they are planned. In this short piece, I will speak to how TTC has failed to properly adjust service to meet temporary challenges, and how it can be improved. Example 1: 36 Finch West during the culvert washout, 2005 In 2005, Finch over the Black Creek, was washed out during a rain storm. As repairs would take months, the TTC devised a plan for temporary service in the area. The 36 Finch West route detoured off of Finch via Driftwood, Grandravine and Sentinel, shown in the map below with the red line. They also began a short local service, shown in purple, that connected customers closer to the washout to local shopping centers and other services. What this plan showed was that TTC was willing to find a way to service isolated areas when ...

I love Ottawa. Sure, it gets a reputation of being a boring city, but it's where my family is from so I love visiting. Every time I do visit, I make sure to spend some time exploring, and learning about places throughout. Obviously, I do not drive this, and taking transit everywhere in Ottawa is... difficult at best.  In this piece, I will argue that Ottawa's development pattern has had, and will have, significant impact on transit planning and transit operations for decades to come. Decisions made back in the 1940s and 1950s have made mobility in Ottawa incredibly difficult. Past literature has focussed on the obvious of car-centric mobility; this will be more specific to the unique Ottawa case. Understanding Ottawa I assume most people reading this have little-to-no understanding of Ottawa. So, for the sake of this article, I have very-roughly divided the city as seen below. In green, is Centretown, as well as some of the older streetcar suburbs, like Vanier and Hintonburg. C...