First of all, I urge you to check out a Metrolinx Regional Transportation Plan public meeting and open house if you haven’t already had the chance to. It’s your chance to see details of The Big Move up close, give your feedback directly to the agency, and even chat personally with high-ranking Metrolinx staff members. Information about upcoming meetings are available on the Metrolinx web site.

At the public meeting at the International Centre on Tuesday, I found myself in a small, diverse discussion group giving and listening to feedback on the RTP. One of the members of the group was a representative from the Weston Community Coalition, a group primarily opposed to the Airport Rail Link proposal known as Blue 22. Since the improvements necessary to implement a Union-Pearson train will also allow for GO service expansions to Brampton (the closest station to my family home), Georgetown and beyond, I thought I might weigh in to look at the issues and see how we can collectively move forward to improve transportation in this corridor for all.

If you can recall the proposal, Blue 22 would have run trains every 20 minutes or so from Union Station to Pearson Airport, making only one stop at Bloor GO (to connect to the subway). The trains would have been refurbished Budd Rail Diesel Cars, be operated by SNC Lavalin, and would have charged a $20 fare. The community group representing local residents raised several concerns about this proposal, and while they may have been painted as irrational vanguards of the status quo by some, the group’s points are reasonable and deserved to be addressed. (more…)

I stepped on the bus and left my whole life behind. Showed my student i.d. card and dropped a dollar twenty-five into the change box. Proceeded down the aisle past the factory workers and kids heading to the mall, towards my favourite spot at the back of the bus: always (when available) the seat closest to the window, last row. Whether I chose the right or the left side didn’t matter at all, it was rather dependent upon availability and occasionally determined by which way the sun was shining and of course whether that suited my mood. I liked sitting in that little tucked-in corner, the final statement on a row of about three or four two-seaters lining one side — a long single row of seats facing diagonally across on the other. There was always a spot to put my feet up; this small comfort made up for the rattle and clang of the windows that shook in their frame. I don’t know whether the roads were much bumpier then, nevertheless even the smoothest of drivers couldn’t help the high-decibel clamour that accompanied every ride.

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