This article needs to be updated.(February 2019) |
The Toronto-Niagara Bike Train [1] (known in short as "The Bike Train") is an initiative in Southern Ontario allowing cyclists to travel by train on Via Rail to destinations across Ontario including Toronto, Niagara Falls, St. Catharines, and North Bay, as well as the city of Montreal in Quebec. 2009 saw an expansion of the Bike Train Initiative, with new routes and more weekends of service.[ citation needed ]
The Bike Train initiative is independently coordinated, promoted, and ticketed service, utilizing existing Via Rail passenger trains, with an additional baggage car containing bike racks for 56 bicycles. Each passenger ticket for scheduled Bike Train departures includes both a passenger seat and a bike rack reservation.
The Bike Train initiative was developed in response to the growing tourism demand and economic opportunity for improved transportation access for cyclists between Toronto and the Niagara Region.
Project founder Justin Lafontaine conceptualized the idea for the Toronto-Niagara Bike Train Initiative during a trip to the Niagara Region in April 2006. On that trip, he accompanied the Waterfront Regeneration Trust and several others from the region on their annual Lake Ontario Waterfront Trail cycle tour from Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario to Grimsby, Ontario. Impressed with the many trails, diverse landscapes, towns, cities and attractions, he began planning another trip to the region.[ citation needed ]
When discussing the opportunities for cycle tourism with a fellow rider, Justin discovered that there was no convenient transportation option for cyclists between Toronto and the Niagara Region; the existing train service did not provide baggage capacity, and buses usually require bikes to be boxed prior to loading. This led him to Via Rail Canada and other partners to discuss the potential to introduce a Bike Train service – a concept that garnered support from government contacts, tourism organizations, small businesses, media and the public.[ citation needed ]
A project proposal was subsequently developed for the Ontario Ministry of Tourism - Investment Development Office and funding for the Pilot Year of the Toronto-Niagara Bike Train Initiative was announced in January 2007. [2]
In 2008, The Bike Train received further funding support from the Ontario Ministry of the Environment and the Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation.[ citation needed ]
In 2009, with the support from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation and the Ontario Ministry of Tourism the Bike Train expanded to two new routes. The Ontario North route took passengers from Toronto to North Bay using the Ontario Northland's passenger rail service for a pilot weekend in August. The new Montreal - Toronto route provided daily service between Canada's two biggest cities.[ citation needed ]
The Maple Leaf is an international passenger train service operated by Amtrak and Via Rail between New York Penn Station in New York City and Union Station in Toronto via Amtrak's Empire Corridor, and the south western part of Via Rail's Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. Daily service is offered in both directions; the 544-mile (875 km) trip takes approximately 12 hours, including two hours for U.S. or Canadian customs and immigration inspection at either Niagara Falls, New York, or Niagara Falls, Ontario. Although the train uses Amtrak rolling stock exclusively, the train is operated by Via Rail crews while in Canada and by Amtrak crews in the United States. Service began in 1981.
The Niagara Peninsula is an area of land lying between the southwestern shore of Lake Ontario and the northeastern shore of Lake Erie, in Ontario, Canada. Technically an isthmus rather than a peninsula, it stretches from the Niagara River in the east to Hamilton, Ontario, in the west. The peninsula is located in the Golden Horseshoe region of Southern Ontario, and has a population of roughly 1,000,000 residents. The region directly across the Niagara River and Lake Erie in New York State is known as the Niagara Frontier.
GO Transit is a regional public transit system serving the Greater Golden Horseshoe region of Ontario, Canada. With its hub at Union Station in Toronto, GO Transit's green-and-white trains and buses serve a population of more than seven million across an area over 11,000 square kilometres (4,200 sq mi) stretching from Kitchener in the west to Peterborough in the east, and from Barrie in the north to Niagara Falls in the south. In 2023, the system had a ridership of 56,036,900. GO Transit operates diesel-powered double-decker trains and coach buses, on routes that connect with all local and some long-distance inter-city transit services in its service area.
Lakeshore West is one of the seven train lines of the GO Transit system in the Greater Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada. It extends from Union Station in Toronto to Hamilton, along the shore of Lake Ontario. Some train trips extend past Hamilton to St. Catharines and Niagara Falls.
Intermodal passenger transport, also called mixed-mode commuting, involves using two or more modes of transportation in a journey. Mixed-mode commuting is often used to combine the strengths of various transportation options. A major goal of modern intermodal passenger transport is to reduce dependence on the automobile as the major mode of ground transportation and increase use of public transport. To assist the traveller, various intermodal journey planners such as Rome2rio and Google Transit have been devised to help travellers plan and schedule their journey.
The Orangeville-Brampton Railway was a 55-kilometre (34-mile) long short line railway between Orangeville and Streetsville Junction in Mississauga, Ontario. It passed through the City of Brampton and the Town of Caledon.
Niagara Falls station is a railway station in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. It is served by the Maple Leaf train between Toronto and New York City and is the terminus of GO Transit's Lakeshore West line towards Toronto. The Gothic Revival station building, which was built in 1879 by the Great Western Railway, is a designated heritage railway station. It is also listed on the Canadian Register of Historic Places.
Severn Bridge is a small community in the Town of Gravenhurst, of the District of Muskoka in the province of Ontario, Canada. It is located approximately 160 kilometres north of Toronto, on the Severn River, roughly halfway between Orillia and Gravenhurst. Its population was around 300 in 1992. It was founded in the nineteenth century. The village is served by important road, rail, water links and its postal services and rural route are handled in Washago, Ontario.
Transportation in Vancouver, British Columbia, has many of the features of modern cities worldwide. Unlike many large metropolises, Vancouver has no freeways into or through the downtown area. A proposed freeway through the downtown was rejected in the 1960s by a coalition of citizens, community leaders and planners. This event "signalled the emergence of a new concept of the urban landscape" and has been a consistent element of the city's planning ever since.
Transportation in the Canadian city of Toronto forms the hub of the road, rail and air networks in the Greater Toronto Area and much of southern Ontario. There are many forms of transport in the city, including railways, highways, and public transit. Toronto also has an extensive network of bicycle lanes and multi-use trails and paths.
The Quebec City–Windsor Corridor, also known as simply the Corridor, is a Via Rail passenger train service in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario. The Corridor service area has the heaviest passenger train frequency in Canada and contributes 67% of Via's revenue.
The Northlander was a passenger train operated by the provincially-owned Ontario Northland Railway in southwest and northeast Ontario, Canada. In 2012, rail service was discontinued and replaced with express bus service. Rail service will be reinstated in the mid-2020s with an expanded route, greater frequency, new Siemens Venture trainsets manufactured by Siemens Mobility, and various track and station upgrades. The new bi-directional route will run up to seven days a week from Toronto Union Station to Timmins, with an additional new rail connection from Timmins to Cochrane and express bus service from Matheson to Cochrane Station.
The Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (ONTC), or simply Ontario Northland, is a Crown agency of the Government of Ontario responsible for providing transportation services for passengers and goods in Northern Ontario. It reports to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario through the Minister of Transportation.
Toronto, Ontario, like many North American cities, has slowly been expanding its purpose-built cycling infrastructure. The number of cyclists in Toronto has been increasing progressively, particularly in the city's downtown core. As cycling conditions improve, a cycling culture has grown and alternatives such as automobiles are seen as less attractive. The politics of providing resources for cyclists, particularly dedicated bike lanes, has been contentious, particularly since the 2010s.
GO Transit is an interregional public transit system in Southern Ontario, Canada, operated by the provincial crown agency Metrolinx. It primarily serves the conurbation referred to by Metrolinx as the "Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area" (GTHA) with operations extending to several communities in the area centred around Toronto and Hamilton.
Cycling in Canada is experienced in various ways across a geographically huge, economically and socially diverse country. Among the reasons for cycling in Canada are for practical reasons such as commuting to work or school, for sports such as road racing, BMX, mountain bike racing, freestyle BMX, as well as for pure recreation. The amount and quality of bicycle infrastructure varies widely across the country as do the laws pertaining to cyclists such as bicycle helmet laws which can differ by province.
West Harbour GO Station is a regional rail station in the North End neighbourhood of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The station has been served by GO Transit's Lakeshore West line since July 9, 2015. There is hourly service between West Harbour and Toronto's Union Station, seven days a week. Via Rail service may eventually be provided.
Grimsby GO Station is a proposed commuter rail station on the GO Transit train and bus network in Southern Ontario, Canada. Located in the town of Grimsby in the Regional Municipality of Niagara, it would be a stop on the Lakeshore West line, east of the proposed Confederation GO Station in Hamilton. It was expected to open in 2021 and would have been the first station to open in the planned Niagara extension, which will also include stops at St. Catharines and Niagara Falls stations.
The Canadian National Railway Alderdale Subdivision was a railway line in Northeastern Ontario, Canada. It originally opened in 1915 as a part of the Canadian Northern Railway's transcontinental mainline. It connected Brent in the east with Capreol in the west. At Capreol it formed the eastern component of an east-west-south wye junction. The line's divisional point was at Alderdale.