Bike Walk Bus Toronto

 As any regular GO Lakeshore East Line user can tell you, travelling along the corridor has been a challenge on some weekends this year. Due to Ontario Line construction, service on some weekends on the line, as well as the Stouffville Line, has been suspended, with replacement bus services offered. As I tend to avoid using the GO train during these times, I have been able to avoid these detours. This past weekend, when service was replaced by buses, I was able to see some of the first-hand challenges related to the disruptions. However, I also noted how easy it would be for GO to resolve some of these issues. GO's unwillingness to reduce severity of train disruptions speaks to how incapable they are in promoting regional transit, instead of a downtown-centric system. The impacts in this case are Scarborough-heavy, but they affect all parts of non-downtown Toronto. In this blog post, I will explain some of my overarching concerns with GO Train service disruptions, and how I think t...

At the beginning of September, YRT introduced a new route: the 361 Nashville Express. This route, which operates during peak periods only, at 27-minute frequencies, provides transit service to some parts of Vaughan that were otherwise at a significant distance from the transit. The map of the route is below.  Its shape is quite peculiar, and genuinely looks like a little kid designed it. However, despite initial feedback from the public last year being mixed, there are some immediate positives: notably, the route operates through both residential and industrial areas, so demand is bidirectional. While it is not shown on the map, the 'end of the line' for a northbound trip is on Barons at MacTier: remember this for later. As I do, I took the route on its first day of operation, and I was astounded at how stupid of a route it is. While there is some demand, the implementation of the service, combined with the fact that is requires three buses to operate, reads to me that this wil...

Finally! In this blog post, I will be ranking my top ten GO stations. Frankly, the top ten was quite easy to decide, but the order was a bit more difficult. Additionally, at the end of this post, there will also be a bonus ranking! #10: Hamilton GO Centre Despite its name, this station acts more secondary within Hamilton, since train service is limited to rush hours. However, bus service is extensive: GO operates routes 16, 17, 18, 40, 41, and 47 from here, to numerous destinations. The 18K is the only route that operates from here down the peninsula. In addition, HSR service here is heavy: routes 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 20 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 33, 35 and 51 serve this station (either directly or on James), meaning that transfers to much of Hamilton, most notably on the Mountain, are easy and convenient. The area around downtown Hamilton is dense, with a lot of cool stores and places to check out. Even the station building is cool! Overall, the station works well, but particularly so ...

I promise this series is slowly coming to an end. I really have nothing much to say here besides that this post will cover the fifteen stations that just missed the top 10, which will be covered in the final entry for this series. #25: Langstaff For some reason, Langstaff GO and Richmond Hill Centre are considered to be two separate transit facilities, but they are really just one. While land use nearby is quite poor, I give it a pass since I can't expect much being adjacent to Highway 407. The bus connections are quite strong, however: VIVA operates north and south on Yonge, as well as east and west on Highway 7, meaning that lots of York Region is easily accessible from here. I would counter, however, with the fact that the local YRT services from here are quite poor, and so areas that are relatively close are not convenient to get to. As a last positive of the station, the platform crosses under the 407, providing a decent walking link. #24: Markham Named for the historic villag...

Welcome back to part three of five in this series, where I will continue to rank every GO station from worst to best. In this part, I will look at the next set of fifteen stations. While these stations are far from perfect, there is gradual improvement over the stations from the previous two parts. I will try to keep each description and rationale brief. #40: Maple In hindsight, I think I ranked this station, in Vaughan, too high. A new dense pocket of housing has been built to the east, directly between the station and the Walmart, which is good. However, because of resident complaints, no walkway exists, or is planned, to the housing to the west of the station, meaning the walk around is long and circuitous. As well, local transit connections aren't great: while the 4 Major Mackenzie and 107 Keele run close, getting from a bus stop to the station is less-than-direct. There are plans to run the 105 Dufferin into the new bus loop, which gets a thumbs-up from me. Genuinely unsure wh...

 I felt a bit unmotivated this past week, but I am back with the second part of this series, where I will continue to rank each and every GO station, from worst to best. In this part, I will rank twenty stations. Unlike part one, I will only speak a little bit about each station, as many are ranked for similar reasons. You will see a pattern of typologies here as I keep writing: parking lot, industrial area, limited transit connections, and so forth. Nevertheless, you will see that stations are gradually getting better and better. #60: Meadowvale The Milton Line is a bit of the ugly stepchild of the GO network: because Metrolinx does not own the corridor, service stays limited to peak-directional. Meadowvale's limited service means that it isn't worth providing much service here, and currently only MiWay's 90 Terragar-Copenhagen serves the station directly. The bus network in northwest Mississauga is focussed on the nearby Meadowvale Town Centre. The station's surroundi...

Last week, I took a small trip to Glen Williams, in Halton Hills. To get there, I got off at Georgetown GO, on the Kitchener Line, a station I had only used once prior. I found the station layout confusing, and found that the station was functionally lacking. As such, I was inspired to rank every GO station. In total, I will be ranking the 69 GO stations, 67 of which I have used, from worst to best, across a few parts. I will not be ranking London, St Marys, and Stratford, since they operate only as part of a pilot service which is ending soon anyways. My ranking will be subjective, and there isn't a specific scoring system, but I will consider connections, walkability, and functionality principally. While GO train service will be considered, limited train services does not immediately mean a station is bad, especially if there are good GO bus connections. Additionally, I will shoutout a café that I like within walking distance, as applies. This post will focus on the worst nine s...