Public transportation Ontario

[mahi2020]

North America is more car oriented in general. As others mentioned, outside of large urban centres, not having a car is pretty inconvenient. I don't own a car but I live right downtown in Toronto so I don't have an issue. I use a combination of public transit, bike share, and car share for all my transport needs. The ideal situation is to be within walking distance of a TTC metro station. Or at least near a TTC bus stop that can get to a TTC metro station. As you start moving away from the downtown core, prices get more reasonable.

Hi,

What do you mean by bike share/ car share ?? uberpool ?

Any other provider names if you have, pls share.

Thanks

 

[keesio]

Hi,

What do you mean by bike share/ car share ?? uberpool ?

Any other provider names if you have, pls share.

Thanks

bike share is a bike sharing system. More details: https://bikesharetoronto.com/

For car sharing, we used to use car2go but unfortunately they are no longer in Toronto. So now we use zip cars and Maven
https://www.zipcar.ca/
https://www.maven.com/ca/en/

 

[mira_johnson]

Yes - that's right. You're really not going to find local buses in Northern Ontario.

In terms of Toronto, you'll need to spend time looking at Toronto's transit map and researching. As mentioned previously, without a car, you ideally want to be within walking distance of a subway station. Subway stations aren't just downtown - they run west, east and north of the downtown core. Or failing that, you want to be right on a major / frequent bus route.

I've never heard of Flixbux and can't comment on that.

Thats a shame. What happens to older people in Northern Ontario that can no longer drive? I know I shouldn't look this far ahead, but it's a puzzle to me how people are able to live like this. I would most certainly need to live in Toronto, which was the plan anyway.
It's my observation that Toronto transport system seem reasonably good.

 

[mira_johnson]

No, you are wrong.

For example, Thunder Bay in northwestern Ontario have local buses.

Do you have other examples of towns in Ontario with local buses? It would be nice to know how common it is.
What about in smaller cities like Ottawa and Montreal ?

 

[mira_johnson]

None of local public transit have seatbelts. They are perfectly safe.

Local public transit buses in Europe generally don't have seatbelts either. The no seatbelts thing is pretty standard globally.

Depending on your definition of "local buses", buses that travel a longer distance in Northern Europe e.g. everything an hour and up not only have seatbelts but you are required by law to wear them. The system works in the way that if you don't wear the seatbelt and the bus get into a crash, you won't get anything back from your insurance. Its a different thing with buses running in the city centre, I don't understand the logic either, but that would be the same over here.
I once caught a chinatown bus from Boston to NYC, a 4 hour drive, it was the first time in my life that there was no seatbelt option for such a long haul trip.

 

[keesio]

Thats a shame. What happens to older people in Northern Ontario that can no longer drive? I know I shouldn't look this far ahead, but it's a puzzle to me how people are able to live like this. I would most certainly need to live in Toronto, which was the plan anyway.
It's my observation that Toronto transport system seem reasonably good.

It becomes very difficult in more remote areas if you cannot drive. You will be dependent on others for transportation. It is just the way it is.

Toronto transport system is decent for North American standards. but it is a far cry from what you see in Europe and East Asia.

 

[canuck78]

If you live in Toronto and live in your Toronto bubble you'll be fine but if you live downtown and want to visit your friend in Ajax on the weekend things get tricky and you are limited by what GO is available. Then you need to get from the station to the house. There are large suburban areas with no public transportation.

 

[steaky]

Do you have other examples of towns in Ontario with local buses? It would be nice to know how common it is.
What about in smaller cities like Ottawa and Montreal ?

I don't remember if I seen buses in Ottawa and Montreal. But definitely bus stops in Ottawa

 

[mira_johnson]

It becomes very difficult in more remote areas if you cannot drive. You will be dependent on others for transportation. It is just the way it is.

Toronto transport system is decent for North American standards. but it is a far cry from what you see in Europe and East Asia.

Thanks for the honest reply. What about Toronto transport do you find worse than European and Eastern Asian countries?

 

[mira_johnson]

If you live in Toronto and live in your Toronto bubble you'll be fine but if you live downtown and want to visit your friend in Ajax on the weekend things get tricky and you are limited by what GO is available. Then you need to get from the station to the house. There are large suburban areas with no public transportation.

Exactly there, you need to get from the station to the house. This is my worry, not everyone lives by the station!

 

[mira_johnson]

For such a poor transport system I must say I was surprised when observing a bunch of these disability buses parked in a Toronto bus station. Ever seen these?

 

[mira_johnson]

Another question then. If the only option really is car share or learning to drive more safely, are there a few alternative roads other than big highways to get from Toronto to e.g. Ajax (just to use an example)? If possible to avoid highways, even I could drive and manage to get myself from A to B

 

[Bs65]

Another question then. If the only option really is car share or learning to drive more safely, are there a few alternative roads other than big highways to get from Toronto to e.g. Ajax (just to use an example)? If possible to avoid highways, even I could drive and manage to get myself from A to B

There are always minor roads that anyone can use as alternative to major highways , just depends I guess how much extra time someone has plus of course still plenty of traffic to manage.

 

[foodie69]

If you don't like driving and public transport is not what you are used to, then you have a few options. You learn to live with it or Canada may not be the right place for you.

 

[keesio]

Thanks for the honest reply. What about Toronto transport do you find worse than European and Eastern Asian countries?

Pretty much everything. But the biggest thing is the coverage because that is most important. A subway can be clean and high tech and etc but means nothing if it doesn't go where you need to go. How does Toronto compare?
https://www.narcity.com/ca/on/toronto/lifestyle/heres-how-tiny-torontos-subway-system-is-compared-to-other-subways-around-the-world

Besides the coverage, if you look at amenities, cleanness, safety, adjusted pricing (per distance), etc you will see that Toronto falls behind in all those other categories.