Beat Greyhound at their own game and get between Ottawa and Toronto for less

Anyone who travels between Toronto and Ottawa is used to being exploited pretty brutally by Greyhound's monopoly. I say monopoly because for some reason VIA rail isn't even trying to compete. Sure it's more comfortable, but it can cost nearly twice as much.

So we're stuck with Greyhound, which is the only bus company that is allowed to go from Toronto to Ottawa. This privilege is protected by provincial law without demanding anything of them in return.

People that travel between Toronto and Montreal, though, have it better. Even though Coach Canada's (aka Megabus aka Stagecoach) monopoly is protected, Greyhound sells tickets from Toronto->Ottawa->Montreal and gets around the law. How sneaky. Because they have to compete with each other on price, it ends up meaning that going to Montreal is significantly cheaper than going to Ottawa. Bummer.

But why not just buy a Greyhound ticket to Montreal and get off in Ottawa? Exactly.

Here's how much it normally costs for a ticket from Toronto to Ottawa.

And now, from Toronto to Montreal:

On student fares purchased the day-of, the price difference isn't all that huge. But 7-day advance tickets from Toronto to Montreal are only $29, which is cheaper and more convenient than the $46 14-day advance ticket to Ottawa.

Does this strike anyone as odd and exploitative? I can't help but wonder if they thought they could get this one past us without anyone noticing. The system of bus regulation in Ontario is painfully dated and results in higher ticket prices, richer monopolies and awful service. If there were two bus companies travelling between Toronto and Ottawa, there would be better buses, more trips, and much, much lower prices. But that's a rant for another day.

Back in the colonies

Hey everyone, I'm finally back in North America and pretty happy about it. Yesterday was a 30-hour day because of the time difference and it seemed like a lot happened. My flight here was on Air India, which was actually great. The seat back TVs had some really interesting music and movies from many different parts of India. I watched one called Hare Ram Hare Krishna which was basically India's "Reefer Madness", an epic anti drug, anti divorce, anti hippie rant. It was interesting because the main character's family moving to Montreal was the beginning of their descent into moral indecensy. Also, I was chatting with a couple from Mumbai sitting next to me, who had all sorts of stories to tell. The guy was a retired cargo ship captain who had been through the great lakes many times.

Anyway, I got to Newark airport and decided to take the slow cheap route from the airport to Manhattan, which is a bus and two subways. The bus ride through New Jersey was kind of a jarring reminder of the kind of urban decay that we're all familar with, but that I had kind of forgotten; being in Europe for so long. Immediately upon stepping off the subway at 33rd Street in Manhattan, I saw one of the new Tim Hortons and of course I had to walk in and order the largest iced cap I possibly could. By the way, they're nowhere near as good as I remember them being in Canada. Another jarring reminder of what used to be normal to me was how the cost of the drink was much higher than the listed price, of course because taxes aren't included in prices over here. While I was waiting for it with all my luggage and my 50 pound-backpack this 8 year old girl who was buying some donuts walked up to me and said "Isn't that heavy?" I responded "yeah", overwhelmed by cuteness, and she responded "Are you going camping?" but her donuts came up before I could respond. New York doesn't seem to be anything like it's reputation of scary, serious people without compassion. I had so many impromptu conversations with people yesterday, probably more than I had in 6 months in Europe. My next task was to try and get on the standby list for tickets to the Colbert Report. I got in line and they took down my name, and said be back in an hour. Incredibly excited at this point, I bolted to a phone, called my couchsurfing host, and ran to the subway (not the tube or the metro as I have called it many times in my head, before correcting myself) to get there. It ended up taking me way longer than expected, but the guy was waiting for me, because he knew that would be the case. He helped me carry the stuff up to the room, and then actually spotted me $40 for the cab to get back down there! It only took $15 but still I was blown away by his hospitality. I got there the minute I was supposed to, but they only let 4 people in and I was 15th in line. Oh well, I will definitely try again. I went back to my host's place, and he gave me a tour of his neighbourhood, which is kind of the Columbia University/ Harlem area. It's incredibly nice. He lives across from a cathedral that isn't finished but looks like a perfect post-modern statement anyway. Just a couple of block's away is the restaurant that Seinfeld and the gang were supposed to have hung out in back in the day. We wandered down to Greenwich Village and had $1 pizza, and I eventually collapsed of tiredness. But it was a fantastic day. And now that I'm back on the computer, I find it incredibly odd to be in the same time zone as everyone else, and that I don't have to wait until midnight to call my folks. Speaking of them, I think they want to go on a trip to the east coast for a week or so, and that's where I'll be until at least the 17th. But I will be back to real life as soon as possible. It will be so soon.

Cheers! (also something I have gotten used to saying to people. I'm still trying to decide whether I will stop or not)

Light Rail for Guelph - ahead of its time or too soon?

A few weeks ago, we found out that Kitchener-Waterloo's light rail project is going ahead, guns blazing, with money being thrown at it by vote-hungry governments with incredible speed. It became the smallest city (or rather, amorphous city-swallowing blob) in North America to have a serious plan for any kind of rapid transit. And then - several days later, we catch wind that Guelph, KW's baby cousin, is talking about a system of their very own. Granted, Guelph isn't even close to laying track. But the mere fact that a North American city of 114,000 is talking about LRT - this is in a city whose transit system still shuts down at 6:30pm on Sundays - well it's either folly or the most forward thinking city on the continent.

The first thing on a lot of peoples' minds is that the cost of such a large project would be out of proportion with a city like Guelph. But these days, municipalities only have to pay a third of the capital costs of transit infrastructure. And with KW, Toronto, and hopefully Ottawa building light rail systems in the next couple years there are definitely deals to be had, especially on buying trains in bulk.

But Guelph is still pretty freakin small. Where would the train even go? Well anyone who lives there knows that Phase 1 would run at least between downtown and the university. That's a given - it's by far the busiest route in the city. But how would it get there? The only road is two lanes, surrounded by homes, and in some places cut deep into a hill. To the west are more houses, and to the east, a gigantic golf course and a cherished forest/wetland.

Maybe it's worth think about why a city would want light rail in the first place. They do the same thing as buses, and they cost way more! Why bother? Well, for a couple of reasons. The first is that it has the capacity to carry way more people than buses, for less money in the long run. But I wouldn't say Guelph has a capacity problem of that magnitude. Buses get full, but not that full.

The other big reason that a city would lay track is that trains are used to spur development. Back in the olden days, developers used to build light rail lines to the far away suburbs they were building so that people would even consider buying their houses. The economics have changed a little bit, but the idea is the same. If you build it, they will come. It has been proven over and over and over and over again. Buses don't demonstrate as much of a commitment, and they aren't nearly as sexy. That sounds like a minor quibble, but if you look at the books of any city that's built light rail, you'll see what I mean. So does Guelph have a lot of land like that to develop? Yes. They're in the early phases of getting development going in a big area called the York District Lands which are absolutely perfect for a light rail project. They're close enough to downtown and campus to be urban and sustainable, but far enough that people would need to take transit. They have big plans for that land, with an eye on attracting ecobusinesses. An LRT would put the city heads and shoulders above any other when it comes to attracting business. As an added bonus, the train woould probably have to travel through the neighbourhood everyone affectionately refers to as The Ward, which has fallen on hard times, but has enormous potential for revitalization.

So would Guelph ever be able to pay for such a thing? Would it even ever be able to pay for a third of it? Well if they did indeed couple it with a development like the York Lands, they could use tax increment financing, something that American cities have been doing for ages. Land values around this new LRT would skyrocket if such a thing were to materialize. This would be a windfall for the city, because it collects property taxes on all this land. With tax increment financing, Guelph could determine how much taxes have increased on lands around the LRT project, and use that chunk of money to pay for the LRT. Theoretically, the light rail would just pay for itself.

Now a route from downtown to the York District via The Ward would forgo the University, which is a big no-no. But why not a Skytrain-style loop? It would connect all four places with speed and in style. But getting from campus to downtown is still a bit of an obstacle. Gordon St. offers no room for expansion. So why not redevelop Cutten Club? The 18-hole golf course has stubbornly stood between campus and downtown for 75 years. It's incredibly valuable urban land, like the York District. Land that could be bisected by an LRT line, becoming a model of sustainability. It would bring in untold millions in tax revenue for the city, allow room for the University to expand, and potentially accomodate more public greenspace for Guelphites. Golf is one of the most wasteful sports imaginable, and it's not as though there is a shortage of courses in Southern Ontario. Dead spaces like the Cutten Club stretch out the city and discourage walking. I'm not saying we should rip up every golf course in the world; they have their place. But in this case, it's like having an international airport beside city hall. It doesn't make sense.

Having the LRT run through the Cutten Club would also mean that it could cross the Speed River in a spot that would minimize impact on the forests around it.

Two summers ago, when I lived in Guelph, I remember seeing the city pull extremely old streetcar tracks out of the ground underneath Gordon Street. They had been long buried, a reminder of the city's tram-dependent history. It struck me as ironic that they were finally being hauled out of the ground, right in the midst of the streetcar's renaissance.

If there's a small city in North America that can put those rails back into the ground, it's Guelph. With one of the most progressive councils on the continent, a strong downtown, a dense urban form, and an eye to the future, Guelph could make this seemingly unrealistic project work - it could even pay for itself!

When I get the chance, I'll blog about a tram-train to Waterloo Region. Because I think that's also an option.

PS: I made a map.

fully booked

Remember when I had planned to write big blog updates after every place I went? That feels like ages ago. In hindsight that would have been near impossible what with all the stuff I've been doing. It's ridiculous how busy I am. And it's weird to think that I'm leaving the UK for good (or at least until I pass through again) in two and a half weeks. But I can't say I'm not excited. I got a really sweet deal on my bus out of here - I was expecting to have to pay 30+ pounds on the train or ferry but I ended up finding a bus trip for 15! It's super long - all day in fact, but I figure it'll be going through some interesting country. The destination of the bus will be Rotterdam, Netherlands, where I will once again endulge my planning side and once again take millions of pictures of neighbourhoods, with the excuse that I might one day use them in a project. A few days in Amsterdam later, I'm going to work my way over to a friend's place in Gottingen, and then to Frankfurt, where I will eventually catch my flight to New York.

But until I leave I literally am fully booked. I have this rad planning internship in London, where people are actually interested in what they're doing, which flies in the face of the dreary public servant stereotype. This weekend, I'm going to Bristol to pick up a lost camera, and then using that as an excuse to go to Poundbury, which is a neighbourhood built by the Prince of Wales, in his crusade for more historical forms of development. Much has been written about it. Very very much. So I'm to go there and see it myself. Next week is all work, and that weekend I'm going with a long lost friend to meet his long lost parents in rural Kent. Then another week of work, one weekend to pack and say goodbye, and then I'm off to the continent!

See you soon, everyone. I mean it.

Incredibly short update

Hey there interwebs, this is an incredibly prompt update to let you all know that I am still alive and enjoying life and keeping incredibly busy. These last few days have been consumed with preparation for Glastonbury and Morocco with old high school friend Kate and her sister Alison. I recently got back from a trip to Berlin and Venice which were stunning. I took 2300 pictures, if that's any indication. Right now I'm so tired, and so close to falling asleep, but I thought I should post something before I go awol for 4-9 days. The bus to Glastonbury leaves early tomorrow morning and upon my return I promise to tell you all the nitty gritty about how that place works. I'm looking forward to it on so many levels. The planner in me is giddy.

Goodnight everyone!

Birthday update!

Hey everyone, I appreciate all the birthday wishes you've been sending so very much and I wish I could be back in Canada to spend it with you! I figure I owe you all a little update about my life. 

Up until last week,  I had been extremely busy, grappling with my last few assignments (or at least putting a lot of effort into avoiding the grapple). I went to Sheffield for a weekend to see Mark, one of the guys in my program, and it seems like he has a pretty sweet life goin on up there. Or at least had, I'm sure it's much sweeter now that he's backpacking around the continent. 

Last week was a very good week for me. First of all, I handed in my last assignment of the year, which felt good. I was finishing second year for the second time - hopefully this one will stick. And then I had some Canadians over, which was a great change of pace. Two of them arrived by Eurostar,  much later than we were expecting, because their train apparently broke down. But the incredible upside to the whole episode was that they were given two free tickets anywhere on the Eurostar, which they then proceeded to give to me because they are nice people and also they are leaving the continent. Eurostar, by the way, is the fairly expensive train that travels underneath the English Channel to either Paris or Brussels. I've always wanted to take it but I wasn't expecting to, it was an incredible surprise to have this fall into my lap. Thank you so much Emily and Abby! 

What bumped this week up a further notch was that me and some other Ryersonians (?) snagged pretty much the sweetest living arrangements imaginable in Toronto for September. It's 5 bedrooms of an old victorian house (the main part) on Beverley St, which is just 15 minutes from campus. We're paying $383 per person utilities included, which is absurdly low. And there's plenty of space, with a large kitchen, a livingroom, and a den-like room. On top of that, it's in one of my favourite neighbourhoods, Baldwin Village, which is kind of like a small town literally in the shadow of the financial downtown. It's an 8 minute walk to Queen's Park, 9 minutes to Kensington Market, and 3 minutes to the new Art Gallery of Ontario, which I have yet to see. So that put me in an extremely good mood. 

And then I went to Oxford to see an old friend. I knew this Dan fellow back in middle school, and we hadn't seen each other since Grade 8. It was quite the trip. In so many ways, we haven't changed at all. He continues to be an incredibly bright person, in every sense of the word, studying Medieval English at Trinity College. And Oxford was a trip all unto its own. We grabbed a drink at a pub where C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien used to exchange notes. And we dined on exquisite food at the palatial Trinity College caf. His room on campus is actually divided into two rooms because students used to have a live-in butler. And the butler sometimes studied at Trinity as well. Students there also have free access to punts (long boats that are moved by pushing a big stick off the riverbed) so we went out on the river for two hours. It was a good day.

On Saturday, my roommate Niki and I went to Brighton, a  gaudy little city on the south coast with the reputation as Atlantic City crossed with San Francisco. For decades, the British middle class have been coming here to blow off some steam, at rickety amusement parks, casinos, etcetera, but there's also a more recent wave of indie and gay hipsterness. It's a weird contrast but somehow it works. At the centre of the city are The Lanes, narrow alleyways where the fishermen lived quite some time ago. Now it's a curious warren of interesting shops and pubs. I highly suggest it as a day trip from London. There's even a beach!

Today and yesterday, I've just been catching up with life and preparing for a nine day backpacking trip through Berlin and Venice. Due to the horrorshow/spectacle that is Ryanair, I have managed to spend 15 pounds ($26) on transportation to and between those cities from London. It should be a fantastic trip, and I'm slightly more prepared than I usually am. In Berlin, I'm staying with a transportation planner I found on Couchsurfing who lives in a weird communal setup in an old East German apartment block. Should be good times. Then, in Venice, I'm spending 12 euros per night on a "hostel" that  actually comprises several shared 3-person tents. I can't even picture that. It should be weird. 

After that, I'm moving into a new place, then going to Glastonbury, then going to Morocco, then doing a three week internship here in London, then catching a train to Brussels and exploring Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany, flying to New York, exploring NYC, and then home! And then moving into the glorious mansion on Beverley St.

So although there's not much going on on my burfday, it's been good times this past week and good times very soon to come.