There is an astounding range of things to do in Toronto over the
next few days, with many events taking place right in the streets.
There is Afrofest, the Fringe theatre festival, the Toronto Outdoor
Art Exhibition at City Hall -- it says a lot that one city can host
so many cultural events in a single weekend. Plan on getting around
without your car, and if you intend to travel by bus or streetcar,
be aware of road closures and likely congestion areas.
It’s hard to
say which event is the biggest, but the Celebrate Toronto Street
Festival probably surpasses the Molson Indy in the amount of city
blocks it will dominate. From Friday, July 9 at 7 p.m. to Sunday,
July 11 at midnight, Yonge Street will be closed near five major
intersections: Dundas, Bloor, St. Clair, Eglinton and Lawrence.
Friday’s kick-off will be held at at Yonge and Dundas from 8 to 10
p.m. and all five venues will be open Saturday from noon to 11 p.m.
and Sunday, noon to 8 p.m. Each of these crossroads will have
different themes -- for example, the Lawrence site is expressly
intended for families. The TTC has extended its regular Sunday rules
for the day pass to include this Saturday, which means that a
mixture of up to 6 adults and kids can get around all day long for
$7.75.
For the Molson
Indy, Lake Shore Blvd. is closed from Strachan Avenue to Ontario
Drive, until Sunday, July 11 at midnight. Although many will drive
to the Exhibition grounds, traffic may not be as horrendous as you
might expect -- every year lots of people happily go to the race by
transit. Use the 29 Dufferin bus or 511 Bathurst streetcar, but be
prepared for some delays. That warning also applies to transit
service on King Street, leaving the 509 Harbourfront streetcar as
the route least affected by bad traffic, as it travels much of its
route in exclusive transit lanes. GO Transit will lay on extra
trains for the Indy, right to Exhibition station. Get your return
ticket before you leave.
Speaking of
reserved transit lanes, go show your support for improved TTC
service on St. Clair Avenue by visiting its shops and restaurants
for the Corso Italia Toronto Fiesta Friday to Sunday.Take the 512
streetcar or the 47 Lansdowne bus.
To reinforce
the idea that urban life can be enjoyed without four wheels, two
additional pedestrian events will take over downtown on Sunday.
Church Street will become a walking zone from Wellesley Street to
Alexander Street from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. After years of trying to
overcome concerns about lost business, the Kensington Market area is
going car-free for several Sundays this summer. The vibrant
commercial area would seem a natural place for shopping on foot, so
go check out the sights from noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday.
GO Transit
appears to be attracting customers at an impressive rate, despite
well-publicized delays during the winter and more recent mishaps
that have caused problems with rail service. Ridership grew an
astounding 8.1% from May 2003 to May 2004 -- that’s up from what is
already a very healthy growth rate in recent years. Of course, in
spring 2003, Toronto was suffering under the effect of SARS, and a
lot of people stayed at home. TTC usage was particularly affected by
SARS -- yet even in May of 2003, GO still posted a 2.3% gain in
riders over the previous year.
Delays and
cancellations hit GO riders in force on May, with a fire,
malfunctioning train signals and other woes stranding passengers and
lengthening some commutes by hours. Nonetheless, GO Transit’s
overall on-time performance for May was 94% -- down from 95% the
previous year. No wonder people still fill the trains and parking
lots -- and good news for commuters at Ajax station -- another 272
parking spaces are to be added this year.
Send e-mail to
transit@eddrass.com. Include
address and phone number.