Tag: transit

Toronto: sometimes good, sometimes bad

A lotof good events have happened in Toronto since my last newsletter in September. Some bad, too.

First up, the biggest of good events: It. has. finally. happened. Finally. After more than a decade of delays, the Eglinton Crosstown LRT launched in February! I honestly wondered if it would ever open. People didn’t know what to believe about possible opening dates. But it happened. After 15 years of disruption on Eglinton, it happened.

Should there be an investigation into this construction fiasco, given it only took 6 years to build the Chunnel and 40 months to build the CN Tower? I think so, though it’s doubtful. I don’t even think residents will get an apology. People like Doug Ford and others will just shrug and move on or say we should be grateful, I guess. As someone who had to live with this mess for all of that time, I am feeling disgruntled and I expect to stay that way for awhile.

In other transit events, this was good: the Gardiner Expressway reopens over a year ahead of schedule. Yay! Not sure if it is good or bad but the Dundas subway station just changed its name. However I noticed that Dundas West still is…Dundas West. Perhaps that will change some time in the next 15 years.

In non-transit events, the other big bad thing that happened since my last newsletter was the Toronto Blue Jays’ heartbreaking loss of the World Series to the LA Dodgers. Hey, I am glad for Los Angeles: that city has suffered much recently and could use the win. But I would have been delighted if we had won it. I got to go to the Skydome and see the Jays win the last two World Series: I would have loved to see them win again, even if — like everyone else in Toronto — I was watching it on TV.

For more on that plus other good things that happened in 2025, go here.

Another bad thing that happened in the last while was eight current and former Toronto police officers bein charged in the Project South probe as part of an organized crime bust. You know things are bad when it gets worldwide attention in newspapers like The Guardian.

Homelessness is not a new thing in Toronto. There’s never enough resources, it seems. To see what I mean, you can check here and see: Daily Shelter & Overnight Service Occupancy & Capacity – City of Toronto Open Data Portal over at open.toronto.ca. However, one good thing that happened was the Slaight family donated $25M to fight Toronto homelessness.

The Ford government recently privatized the blue box recycling program in Toronto. It was bad at first, with many complaining about the botched roll out of it. Even on my street things were not picked up for a time. It seems to have sorted itself out though.

Speaking of the Ford government, it seem they will not be  proceeding with changes to rent control laws. That’s likely a good event for tenants. In terms of other events, Mayor Chow and the city unanimously  passed their recent budget. John Tory toyed with the idea, but it looks like he will not be running for mayor in the next election. But maybe another member of the Ford family will? Who can say.

I can say that these are all good: Toronto’s best diners: 5 local icons picked by Toronto Star readers. Also good? This piece on five of Toronto’s oldest restaurants. New restaurants are talked about all the time. It’s good to see the older establishments get more recognition.

Finally, I must say, it’s been a winter. I am looking forward to spring. But before I go, here are some good Toronto links I want to share:

See you ’round six months from now. In the meantime, go see the Cumberland Terrace while you still can.

Towering Toronto (my semi-annual update on Hogtown, September 2025 edition)

Since my last newsletter on Toronto, here’s what new and caught my attention in the city with the CN tower (and Skydome):

Politics/getting around: the battle of the Bike Lanes continues on. After an Ontario court struck down the premier’s plan to rip up the bike lanes, he’s stormed off and took it up with the Supreme Court. I am a supporter of the bike lanes, but even if I was not, I don’t think this is the best use of the government’s time or other resources. Let’s see in 6 months if this battle has subsided.

In transit news, the Eglinton Crosstown LRT which was supposed to be open in September? Yeah, that’s not happening. despite the TTC taking control of it the LRT from Metrolinx. At this point I’m just going to assume it’s never going to occur. And even when it does happen, my neighborhood is due for more turmoil. Sigh. More on that here.

a quick aside: for automobile drivers who wondered how they can they get a temporary parking pass, wonder no more! Instead click here for details from the City.

Speaking of the City, the mayor is talking about scaling back on some of the costs associated with hosting the World Cup. Despite all her efforts, the city is still in a bind financially, according to this. That said, she a resourceful politician. I’m confident she can manage.

Real estate: the last time I noted that one of my favorite places, Hot Docs, was up for sale. I was worried this could be the end of it. As it turns out, Hot Docs sells its cinema for $6.25M, but will continue leasing it. Whew. That’s good. Hey, go check out their web site and see a show or two when you can.

Apparently rents are dropping all over Ontario, including Toronto. Good news for tenants, not so good for landlords. Maybe some affordable places will be built out here in proposed extension at College Park, assuming it gets built. Am I a fan of that new design? Let’s just say I wish College Park was being built out the way it was initially envisioned, as I wrote and showed, here.

Food: if you are in Kensington Market, apparently there is a great new sandwich shop there called Made-Rite. Always good to see great sandwich places opening up to go along with strong line up we already have in place, like La Salumeria, Hot Pork, Ariete E Toro and Bahn Mi Boys, to name just a few.

Ariete E To is also one of the best new restaurants in Toronto, according to Toronto Life. Others on that list I can vouch for: Martine’s, Maven and General Public. I’m sure the others are worth a visit too.

Sadly one of the mainstay of Annex dining,  By The Way Cafe, is set to close after 40 years. I’ve started going there when it first opened and I lived in the area. That stretch of Bloor won’t be the same without it.  (More on its closing, here.)

Finally: with the passing away of Giorgio Armani, many a story was published on his life, including this one with a Toronto angle. When I lived in the Annex I would go to Hazelton Lanes often. I never did skate on their lovely rink (shown in the article), though I wish I did.

Do you remember that Toronto once had 326 different moose statues decorated in wildly different ways? Here’s a look back at the art project, 25 years later.

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Thanks for taking the time to read this. I appreciate it! I leave you with a date night photo from the restaurant Sorrel, overlooking one of my favorite buildings in the city.

The beauty of the TTC’s interiors

On twitter the other day I had a brief discussion about the good and bad aspects of the TTC’s interiors. This got me thinking, and led me to this site and post on it: juliekinnear.com. I really encourage you to click that link to see a good photoessay on all the beauty of the TTC’s stations. Here are two images from that post, but there are many. The TTC doesn’t have anything like the Oculus in Manhattan, but it has many beautiful spots of it’s own. You can see them in person, or do the next best thing and read that piece by Julie Kinnear.

Want a sneak peak at the new stations being built in Toronto

Then head over here: blogTO. They have a great rundown on each and every stop on the new Crosstown transit line being built along Eglinton Avenue in Toronto. The stop above will be my main one. 

There’s still so much more work to be done. Sometimes it feels like it will never finish. But as the article in blogTO shows, it will be, and it will look great.

Is the TTC’s Metropass worth it? Yes. But it depends…

In this otherwise really good piece by Ed Keenan – Six things we learned from John Tory’s transit announcement: Keenan | Toronto Star – he made this comment

At a new price of $141.50, a Metropass costs almost as much as 51 tokens or 47 cash fares. For most weekday commuters, that math doesn’t add up.

At first thought, this seemed right to me. If you only use the Metropass to go to and from one location each business day, it isn’t worth it. For example, assuming most months have 22 working days, then that is 44 tokens, which is less than the 51 tokens it is worth.

Where the Metropass math adds up is when you start to be a heavier use of the TTC.

If you travel on the TTC daily, then you can get in as many as 62 trips/tokens on the TTC and a Metropass will be a good buy for you. Even in February, that is 56 trips/tokens. Daily users easily benefit from it. But if you don’t travel every day on Toronto transit, there are other ways to make the Metropass worthwhile.

For people who use it to go to work and then do after work activities, the Metropass is a good idea.  For example, if you take trips to and from work, as well as using it to go to meet friends or to take after work classes or to go to the gym, then you can benefit from having and using a Metropass. For example, 44 tokens for work plus 3 trips a week to classes plus one to friends adds up to 16 more tokens a month for a total of 60 tokens.

For people who have to stop to pick up their kids from childcare, the Metropass is good value. I used to pick up my son daily after work. That was 3 tokens every day, so most months that was 66 tokens.

For people who can share it, the Metropass is great value. For example, if a couple works different shifts, then together they potentially need 88 tokens each month to get them back and forth to work. Sharing a Metropass could save alot for such a couple.

Even people who don’t use the TTC all that much can still make the Metropass work for them if they can reduce the cost of it. For example, people who can buy the Metropass on subscription can get it for a lesser amount. That means you need to take less trips to break even. And if you pay enough taxes to break be able to claim your Metropasses as a tax expense, then you also need to take less trips to break even with the purchase.

If you take your total transportations costs, including taxis, Zipcars, etc, then you might find that having a Metropass is worth it. For example, you might find you grab a cab a few times each month because you don’t have tokens or cash. Switching to a Metropass, you find you do that less and therefore your overall spending on transportation each month is going down.

Cost aside, the other great benefit of the Metropass is convenience. All the hassle of dealing with buying tokens is gone. That convenience means you may be more likely to use the TTC when you have a Metropass, which leads you to make your money back from getting it. Also, you may find you enjoy yourself more by getting out more. It’s an intangible benefit, but a good one nonetheless.

I think for heavier users of the TTC, the Metropass is definitely worth it. And to be fair to Ed, he acknowledged a number of these points in a discussion he had on twitter.  Whether or not the Metropass is worth it to you will depend on your own use of the TTC and your own math.

P.S. Thanks for reading this. If you have found it useful and you’d like to say thanks by buying me a coffee, you can do so here. Thanks! That’s awesome!