Results tagged “gotransit”

Yesterday, Ontario's minister of the environment gave his approval to Metrolinx's Georgetown South Service Expansion/Union-Pearson Rail Link (GSSE/UPRL) project. The minister's decision is the final step in the project's provincial environmental assessment process. The project will be a boon to transit in the GTA, but not everyone is pleased.

Last month we reported on the activities of an alliance of individuals and community groups called The Clean Train Coalition, who at that time were just beginning their effort to promote public awareness of some of the environmental hazards, including increased air pollution from diesel exhaust, posed by a rail expansion plan by Metrolinx, the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area's new regional transit authority. The plan, currently in its third round of public "open house" commentary periods, will receive community input until the close of its provincially mandated public assessment period on July 30. If the plan were to go ahead unchanged, the result would be the addition of enough tracks to the rail corridor between Union Station and Malton to enable carriers to increase VIA, GO, and freight train traffic to several times current levels. The plan would also would establish a convenient rail link between Union Station and Pearson Airport, to be operated by a private carrier.

The opportunities for cyclists to get out of the city with their bikes—and without their cars—are multiplying. The Bike Train will be kicking off its third season on Friday June 26 with trains running from Union Station to St. Catharines and Niagara Falls. It'll be the first of eight weekends of service to Niagara, with travel dates stretching into October. Last year's experiment with Friday departures from Toronto proved popular, so there will now be Bike Trains leaving Toronto on Friday (or Thursday) every weekend on the schedule, in addition to the regular Saturday and Sunday trains. Return tickets are a little more expensive this year—up to $62 from last year's $59—but one-way tickets for those embarking on longer tours or finding another way home are down from $35 to $31.

A small crowd of approximately twenty people, including the very short person pictured above, gathered on Tuesday before Union Station's Front Street entrance to blow bubbles with soap, after being denied the right to do so inside the station. They did this because they're upset with Metrolinx, the GTA's newish regional transit authority, for its refusal to consider running electric trains on a pair of proposed regional rail expansions. The expansions, which as planned will accommodate only diesel-burning locomotives, would link Union Station to Pearson Airport and more than triple service on GO Transit's Georgetown corridor between Union Station and Malton on opening day.

Last year, Donald Wiedman wanted cyclists to take the GO train. This year, he also wants them to take the bus, subway, intercity coach, and ferry, all in the name of safe and fun cycling adventures. The GO-by-Bike pilot project last summer encouraged cyclists to take the GO train to Ajax and ride back to Scarborough along the Waterfront Trail. For this summer, the initiative has morphed and grown into Bikes+Transit, a broader awareness campaign that aims to get people to use all varieties of public transportation to take their bikes to cycling destinations around the Golden Horseshoe.

Plans by the Ontario government to merge GO Transit and Metrolinx will be unveiled later today, according to the Globe: soon-to-be-former Torstar Corp. CEO Robert Prichard has been named transition adviser for the project and will eventually assume the role of its chief executive officer once the merger is complete, and a new board of directors will be formed and will include no sitting politicians—only transportation and planning experts. David Miller, who railed against the idea in recent weeks, saying a board comprised of mostly politicians would be more accountable, will see his involvement with Metrolinx end with the merger’s completion.

Life in the suburbs can be quite cozy, if you have a car; without one, a task as simple as going to the grocery store can take so long to complete that you question why you even bothered to start.

Have you ever cycled along the Pickering and Ajax waterfronts? You should. It's one of the best recreational bike rides in the GTA with beautiful scenery and mostly-flat trails, but presents Toronto cyclists with a big problem: how to get there. Because the Waterfront Trail all but disappears through most of Scarborough, you're stuck with either riding the long, miserable route along Kingston Road and Lawrence Avenue to get to Pickering or driving your car to Rouge Beach and riding into Pickering from there.

Congratulations. You've just moved into a home or apartment in the rapidly growing city of North York to start your bright future. You either don't own a car or prefer to use one as little as possible. Fixed public transit services haven't quite made it out to your neck of the woods yet you really want to be chauffeured by a bow-tie wearing driver with a creepy smile who will drop you off at your doorstep.

TTC "U-pass" close to passing for students, possibly also hotel workers. If the scheme passes, the TTC will suddenly be crowded once again, rendering all those recent fleet upgrades essentially moot. Hooray for public transit!

Former Pakistani PM Benazir Bhutto was assassinated yesterday in a bloody suicide attack that killled at least 20 other other people. Anyone thinking that this news isn't sufficiently Toronto-centric should hope that the destabilization of this nuclear-armed extremist-incubator state doesn't have much direct impact on Toronto, because if it does it's likely to be in ways that are not at all fun.

The ever-reliable Transit Toronto has just posted a comprehensive list of a number of Ontario transit services' holiday hours. If you have any intention of using any or all of Barrie Transit, Brampton Transit, Burlington Transit, Durham Region Transit, GO Transit, Guelph Transit, Hamilton Street Railway, Milton Transit, Mississauga Transit, Oakville Transit, Orangeville Transit, Region of Peel Transhelp, Toronto Transit Commission, or York Region Transit between today and December 28, the list is an invaluable look at how you will and won't be able to get around over the next week.

A new poll shows that the majority of Canadians will call the cops on you if your party is too loud. Thus proving once and for all that we are a nation of killjoys.

If you're a tree hugger who takes the GO bus instead of driving like a regular person, you might want to limber up that hippy hitchhikin' thumb. GO bus drivers are leaning towards a strike sometime in the next few days, although they've agreed to give 48 hours notice before any walkout. A strike wouldn't stop GO train service, although pickets could slow them down.

The CBC is reporting that the provincial government announced an ambitious new project today to revamp Kipling Station and turn it into a major transit hub for Etobicoke and Mississauga. The announcement came from Transportation Minister Donna Cansfield and Environment Minister Laurel Broten early this afternoon.

Occasionally Torontoist gets bitten by the camping bug. Unfortunately, we don’t always have the extra vacation days or access to a vehicle required for a Kawartha Lakes getaway. Then, of course, there’s the environmental irony of loading the minivan full of camping gear and burning dozens of litres of gas in order to enjoy nature.

Ever since the creation of the Greater Toronto Transit Authority (GTTA) last year we have been eagerly awaiting some information about what it is they actually do and/or when/where they will actually do that thing. So, last week when Dalton McGuinty announced that (if re-elected) he would invest $17.5 billion in transit programs to be administered by the GTTA we decided it was time to do some serious research (i.e. Google them). Alas, we found naught but for the homepage of GO Transit.

Did you hear? Nuit Blanche is back!

GO Transit recognizes that it is falling behind its standards for on-time performance. Its solution? Change the schedule so the trains aren't technically late any more! (The sad part is that that is actually part of the story and not just a one-liner.)

We just found out about this absolutely incredible transit map of Toronto that incorporates the TTC, Go Transit, VIVA, Brampton Transit, Mississauga Transit, and Vaughan Transit into handy-dandy Google Map form, meaning you can easily input a location and find the nearest transit routes that surround it.

When the feds handed out $37 million for improving security on transit systems nationwide yesterday, Go Transit received $5.3 million, $4.3 million went to Union Station, but the TTC received only $1.46 Million, just shy of the $17 million it asked for. "It's like handing a bum a dime and saying, `Go buy a cup of coffee,'" said Howard Moscoe, distractedly pushing a rusty shopping cart full of discount surveillance cameras.