95 (West Medford or Arlington Center – Sullivan Square Station via Mystic Ave)
I’ve made it clear that I really hate those neighborhoods with all those fast food restaurants and auto shops that all have really big parking lots out front. They usually come up for somewhat short periods in comparison with the rest of the route. But not the 95, though. From Medford Square all the way down to Sullivan this is purely that kind of neighborhood. So fasten your seatbelts (or not, our buses don’t have the amenities that Montpelier’s have) and let’s take a ride on the 95.
It starts out at the intersection of Playstead Road and Winthrop Street, right where the 326 dropped me off. So we headed back down Playstead Road, going through the only nice residential area seen on the entire route. We went past West Medford Station and the businesses surrounding it, and after some more houses came into Medford Square.
This was all very nice, with cute small businesses without – and I can’t stress this enough – overly large parking lots. But then we turned onto Main Street (Stop! You don’t know what you’re doing!), went over the Mystic River (Listen to me! Turn around!) and under Mystic Valley Parkway (Don’t do it!), and merged onto Mystic Ave (Too late!).
Do we really need so many auto shops? The “businesses” along Mystic Ave were, like, 50 percent auto shops. And the rest was just parking lots and fast food restaurants and parking lots and storage warehouses and parking lots and PARKING LOTS. This is the epitome of pit, people. And as I look on the map, there’s a nice residential area less than a block away!
But I digress. There was a pseudo-reprieve with some projects, but then it went back to…you know what, this time with an elevated highway on one side. Lovely. We made a stop somewhat close to Assembly Square and then the road went up to parallel the highway. We went without stops until Sullivan, though the outbound route takes a different street and makes stops. I assume that when the Orange Line station opens the 95 will be rerouted to serve it, but that may be pointless since it goes to Sullivan anyway. And speaking of Sullivan, the road we were on merged onto Maffa Way, where we then turned into the busway.
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| Back in West Medford, the bus manages to take a huge u-turn. |
UPDATE 10/6/19: I’ve now ridden the Arlington Center portion of the route! I did it on a Sunday afternoon when it runs there every two hours, just to see what the ridership was like. The ride itself wasn’t anything special – it ran along the route of the 80 up until Boston Ave, where it was only a block more until we joined up the 95’s Playstead Road branch. In terms of ridership, it only got one person, who travelled from Arlington Center to Medford Square.
The bus had to honk a lot to get this lady to move her car out of the stop.
Route: 95 (West Medford or Arlington Center – Sullivan Square Station via Mystic Ave)
Ridership: It was surprisingly decent; about 20 people rode the bus. They all seemed to feed on at various stops, and I don’t think a single person got off before Sullivan.
Pros: I ranted about the road it travels along for this entire review, but this bus does serve a lot. There are residential areas tucked behind the awful auto shops, and this is the only non-rush hour bus to serve Playstead Road. The schedule’s decent enough: it’s every 20 minutes rush hours and every half hour weekdays and Saturdays. It has a good service span, too, with the first bus leaving Sullivan at 4:55 and the last at 1:05.
Cons: It’s every hour during the night and every 65 minutes on Sundays. That Sunday schedule in particular is pretty bad.
Nearby and Noteworthy: Ha! Yeah, right.
Final Verdict: 7/10
I really hated that neighborhood. I hated it with a passion. But there’s no denying that the bus itself is pretty good, and those residential areas behind the auto shops need to get served. The Sunday schedule drags the score down a bit, but overall this bus isn’t bad at all.
UPDATE 9/1/19: The 95 now has two branches, one to Medford Square and one to Arlington Center. They didn’t execute it well, with infrequent service to both branches, but I guess we’ll see how it affects ridership. Hopefully I can ride the Arlington Center branch at some point and update this post!
UPDATE 10/6/19: Yeah, not sold on the branch thing, still. Just one person on the Arlington Center branch makes sense when it’s every two hours on Sundays! Maybe it’s better at other times, but I don’t have high hopes. Either have everything go to Arlington Center (which I think is preferable) or go back to having everything go to Playstead Road.
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
The MBTA is ordering new buses! They’re all due to arrive by February 2015. Also, the MBTA is getting a new station on September 2nd when Assembly Square finally opens to the public.
Service Change: Montpelier – The 82 (Montpelier Hospital Hill)
Though our hotel was right near Burlington’s 1 bus, we ended up taking a ride on one of Montpelier’s buses. See, we were coming back from Burlington and decided to stop off at Vermont’s capital to walk around. I picked up a bus schedule at the visitor’s center, and we took a joyride on the 82! Now, keep in mind that I didn’t have my camera, so these pictures were taken on my mother’s iPhone. The quality is still surprisingly good, though, so don’t worry about any pixelated blobs in this post.
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| Welcome to Shaw’s… |
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| A typical bus sign, almost identical to the ones in Burlington. |
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| No, it doesn’t say “2.” It’s just a bit cut off. |
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| It’s blurry, but you can clearly see how small this thing is. |
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| Looking towards the front. |
As you would expect, there weren’t any automatic announcements. They had a pull cord for stop requests, but most people would just notify the driver they were getting off, since they wouldn’t be using a designated stop. We left Shaw’s, heading away from the beautiful downtown area and over the Winooski River (which you can’t help saying in a funny voice).
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| The river has a ridiculous name, but this is a lovely (albeit blurry) view. |
We turned onto Berlin Street, which parallels the river. Running along with the 80 and 89, which both go to Barre, the street got residential pretty quickly. They continued to follow the river on River Street while we went up into the hills on Berlin Street, the unique portion of the 82. There was a lovely view of town coming back this way, and there were some fabulous mountain views the whole way.
Berlin Street turned into Paine Turnpike North as it got positively rural. We then turned onto Fisher Road and soon after pulled into the Central Vermont Medical Center, where two people were waiting. After navigating through a large parking lot, we then went onto Berlin Mall Road and picked up someone at the mall.
After that we turned onto Route 62 and, after going by the Berlin Elementary School, looped around the Berlin Shaw’s. We went back up Route 62 then turned onto Airport Road, and then Hospitality Drive, picking someone up at Berlin Health and Rehab. The bus had to reverse to be able to pull out of there, and then it was back to Montpelier where our car was waiting.
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| I tried to capture the view… |
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| The section by the river was very nice. |
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| Looking the other way down the river. |
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| That number’s still cut off! |
326 (West Medford – Haymarket Station via Playstead Road, High Street, Medford, and I-93)
The Commuter Rail is always quicker than the bus, there’s no doubt about that. But this is the first time the Commuter Rail is also cheaper than the bus. Yes, it costs $2.10 to get to West Medford on the Commuter Rail from North Station, a quick walk from Haymarket, and it costs $3.65 to take an express bus from the latter. How could this strange occurrence happen? By way of the 326, it would seem.
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| The bus approaching Haymarket. |
The fact that it runs rush hour only is its downfall. Like the 352, there’s pretty much guaranteed traffic on I-93 during these times, so this bus moves slowly. We got onto the highway ramp almost immediately after leaving Haymarket, and it was nice and speedy until we actually merged onto the highway. Then there was traffic all the way until Exit 32, where we got off.
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| It’s identical to that 352 picture, except it’s sunny, daytime, and less blurry. |
We went around a big rotary and onto Salem Street. We then went past Medford City Hall and into Medford Square, where there were a lot of cute businesses. In the outskirts of the square, on High Street, there was a church and a library, and then houses. Winthrop Circle was just another rotary, with a small office building nearby.
We stayed on High Street here, but some trips turn onto Winthrop Street. High Street was residential all the way to West Medford Station. There were some small businesses here and it seemed like a nice neighborhood, but it went back to houses when we turned onto Playstead Road. We went by a large field, and then a larger graveyard. The driver dropped me off at the intersection with Winthrop Street which, for all intents and purposes, was the middle of nowhere (no offense to anyone who lives there).
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| The bus was “out of service” in West Medford, so here’s another picture at Haymarket. |
Route: 326 (West Medford – Haymarket Station via Playstead Road, High Street, Medford, and I-93)
Ridership: Brace yourself: a whole 11 people. It’s more than the 5, but that’s still not a lot by any means. Most of them seemed to be shoppers coming from downtown. They got off at various points along the route, but a fair amount got off at West Medford Station. I was the only one who went all the way to the end. Maybe it increases further into the evening rush; I took the 4:12 bus.
Pros: If you’re looking for a fast (ish) ride to Medford Square – not West Medford – then the 326 is a reasonable choice. But only if it’s rush hour.
Cons: Like I said, it’s rush hour only. And it’s not that fast, given the traffic on I-93, but it’s better than local alternatives. But if you’re going anywhere near West Medford, this bus becomes completely useless because, as I said at the beginning, the Commuter Rail is both faster and cheaper. And it runs during the day! And on weekends! Sure, it’s every two hours during the latter, but that’s better than what the 326 provides: nothing.
Nearby and Noteworthy: Both Medford Square and West Medford seemed nice neighborhoods, but I don’t know any specific businesses.
Final Verdict: 4/10
It’s all right if you’re going to Medford Square, but if you’re heading towards the West Medford area, this isn’t the bus for you. Just take the Commuter Rail! It’s faster, cheaper, and runs during the day and on weekends. And it’s not like you’re usually going to have the option, since the 326 is rush hours only…
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
It’s been a day since the last post! However, I am going up to Burlington, Vermont for the next two days. I don’t know if I’ll take a unique bus route up there, but here’s my previous post about the bus system in Burlington.
9 (City Point – Copley Square via Broadway Station)
I’m going to be such a hypocrite in this review. I gave the 5 a really lousy score in part because there were only seven people that rode that bus. The 9 also had seven riders, but buses going back towards City Point would be packed, so its higher score will be justified. Just wanted to clear that up…
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| The 9 where I boarded it. |
I picked up the empty bus at its second stop (not including the “bus terminal”), P Street @ E 2nd Street. We continued down P Street in a residential area, then turned onto E 4th Street. There were some businesses as we came onto East Broadway, then we turned onto West Broadway, leaving the 10. West Broadway had many small businesses, then we turned onto A Street just shy of Broadway Station.
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| On the right is the last set of 1960’s-era 01400 trains on the MBTA. They’re used as work cars now. |
At this point the 9 takes an interesting routing that I’m pretty sure the street map on the MBTA website gets wrong (it doesn’t matter too much to the rider – it just seems to show the bus looping the wrong way). Turning onto Dorchester Ave, we made the stop at Broadway, then went onto Gillette Park and then Foundry Street. After going right next to the Red Line’s Cabot Yard, we turned onto Greenbaum Street, then Dorchester Ave, and then onto West 4th Street and its bridge. There weren’t any stops on this loop, so it’s a bit annoying how complicated it has to be. Heading towards City Point is much more straightforward, omitting the loop entirely.
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| What a view! |
We then went over the 4th Street Bridge (where the picture above was taken) and under I-93. From Broadway to Copley the 9 operates in a loop, with the inbound services going via East Berkeley Street (and outbound going via Herald Street). It was a weird, almost industrial neighborhood, but after going by some projects we entered into the beautiful South End and its old-fashioned brownstones.
Crossing over I-90, we went by the Old John Hancock Building and a building reminiscent of the Flatiron in New York. We then turned onto St James Ave, going by the Hancock Building itself and through Copley Square. I actually stayed on the bus as it went onto Huntington Ave, Ring Road, and Boylston Street, coming back on the other side of the Square where I got off.
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| The bus at Copley. |
Route: 9 (City Point – Copley Square via Broadway Station)
Ridership: Like I said at the disclaimer at the beginning, there were only seven people who rode on my trip. But again, the buses going the other way would be extremely crowded. Presumably I was going in the wrong direction for ridership.
Pros: The 10 also goes from City Point to Copley, but the 9 is quicker, more direct, and runs much more often. In fact, it’s every five minutes during rush hour! During the day it’s every 15-25 minutes, every 25 minutes during the night (with the last trip departing Copley just shy of 1 in the morning), every 20-25 minutes Saturdays, and every half hour Sundays. Overall, that’s a pretty good schedule for a non-key route.
Cons: The only thing I don’t like about this route is that loop at Broadway. Maybe there’s some traffic law I don’t know about, but it seems like the route illustrated in this map would be easier – it cuts the trip in half!
Nearby and Noteworthy: This bus goes right by the Medieval Manor, which is apparently a very fun medieval-themed restaurant (I’ve never been myself).
Final Verdict: 8/10
I would give it a 9, but the fact that there’s a simple solution to the inbound Broadway route lowers the score. Does the MBTA not want two Broadway stops (the current one is shared with the 11 and 47)? If you know why the routing’s so weird, please drop me a comment below.
Latest MBTA News: Service Updates
Real-time tracking is coming to the Green Line! I hope it gets countdown clocks, too.
5 (City Point – McCormack Housing via Andrew Station)
Back in Boston! What kind of crazy bus have I got in mind? Maybe an I-90 express bus? How about a really long route going way out into the suburbs? Or perhaps a crazy route with tons of twists and turns? Nope. Today we’ll be looking at… the 5. This is a very short route, so this review will be comparatively small. Don’t worry: longer stuff will come.
The bus only serves JFK/UMASS on its outbound route for some reason – I’m not sure if it would gain much ridership from people looking to take a one-way trip to City Point. There were quite a few people at the station, which surprised me (the 5 has a very limited schedule). However, a 41 came along and everyone got on that. The driver on that bus looked at me like I was crazy before she drove off.
So then I got a bit nervous – what if the 5 wasn’t coming? But finally, I saw it coming down Old Colony Ave. This driver also gave me a funny look as I boarded the bus, occupied by three old ladies. We went up Old Colony with a park on one side and projects on the other…presumably McCormack Housing. We went around a rotary and turned off onto Preble Street, which was residential.
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| The bus looks completely empty in this picture. |
We pulled into the Andrew Station busway with no one getting on or off, and then headed down Dorchester Street, playing Leapfrog with a 10. In fact, the rest of the route is shared with the 10, so this is previously charted territory. Dorchester Street was a good mixture of residences and businesses (with apartments on top of them). We turned onto East Broadway, which was made up of beautiful apartments, and I got off the bus at Farragut Road, right near the beach.
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| The bus making the turn onto Farragut Road. I was the last one to get off. |
There’s one last thing to note about this bus. I decided to walk back to P Street to catch a 9 heading back to Boston (I’ll be doing a review of the 9 next). The 5 ended up coming back this way with the same driver, to boot! You can never have enough pictures, but when I took one here the driver opened the doors. “You can’t take pictures of the buses!” She yelled. I was about to say something, but she cut me off, “No, you can’t!” and drove away. It’s times like these when I really consider printing out the MBTA photo policy just to flash it at the drivers to prove them wrong. Oh, well…
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| If you look closely you can see the driver yelling at me. |
Route: 5 (City Point – McCormack Housing via Andrew Station)
Ridership: There were only seven people that rode, with one of them riding for fun (me, obviously) and three that got on during the Leapfrog game. That’s terrible ridership, I’m sorry, but that is terrible. Terrible!
Pros: Frankly, I’m hard-pressed to find any pros here.
Cons: First of all, this bus doesn’t really serve anything. It’s meant for residents at McCormack Housing to get to City Point – I guess – but you could also just do the 8 minute walk to Andrew and take the 9 or 10. You could even grab a 16 to Andrew if you really wanted to and transfer! And the 16 runs a lot more often than the 5, which brings me to my second point. This route is clearly meant for shopping, as it runs from 9 AM to 3 PM on weekdays and 10 AM to 3 PM on Saturdays (no service on Sundays). It’s every hour, though, while the 9 is every 10 minutes on weekdays! Again, walking to Andrew seems like it would be less of a hassle.
Nearby and Noteworthy: The beach, I guess. I’ve never found the area around JFK/UMASS to be especially appealing. I’m sure there are some nice restaurants somewhere in City Point.
Final Verdict: 2/10
I feel like I’m being really harsh. I’ve got a voice in the back of my head going “No, don’t do it!” But I really can’t see why this bus wouldn’t get a 2. Perhaps there’s more ridership on Saturdays? Well, it’s a 2 for now.
UPDATE 9/1/19: This route has now been thankfully eliminated.
Latest MBTA News: Adham Fisher got into the Guinness Book of World Records for doing the New York Subway in record time! Sadly, Boston probably won’t get an entry in the Guinness Book.
Random Photos: Amtrak Train at Sullivan
Random Photos: Philosophical Pigeon
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| Well, I was waiting for the bus at Sullivan and I was bored. Okay? |
Random Photos: Big Bug
I totally did a double take when I spotted this on the Red Line. The picture was taken at Charles/MGH, but I noticed the bug while we were in tunnel.
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| How does a dragonfly even get on the train? |
Random Photos: Boston Pops Bus
Service Change: NYC, Part 4 – The High Line
You’ve got a big, ugly, abandoned elevated track that just looks awful. What’s a city to do? Well, convert it into a park. of course. That’s what High Line Park is. It starts at 30th Street (though it’s being extended northward) and runs parallel to 10th Ave all the way down to 12th Street. It made for a very enjoyable walk. So without further ado, I’m going to hog the internet bandwidth to bring you the dozens of pictures I took…
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| That’s where they’re expanding it. |
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| I like the bench running along the side. |
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| Looking down the park. |
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| Doesn’t look like the nicest street. |
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| The fact that they kept the track is really cool. |
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| There were some art installations along the park. This appears to be an organ resting on a hammock. You know, generic stuff. |
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| A little rest area. |
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| I like that mural on the right. |
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| A bit of contrast between two art forms. |
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| It doesn’t even look like New York it’s so leafy. |
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| I love how they incorporated the track into the actual path. |
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| There’s been a security breach! |
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| New York has a bike share service, apparently. This one isn’t very well-used. |
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| That’s a nice view. |
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| Looking into New Jersey. |
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| Some flowers. |
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| That is a really cool building. |
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| This street is a lot nicer. |
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| I love this view! |
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| This is where the official gift shop is. |
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| One of New York’s newer buses. |
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| There was also a snack bar. |
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| We were wondering what this building is. It’s a really nice one. |
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| The buildings seem to be getting taller. |
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| Going through a building. |
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| Looking into New Jersey again. I assume that’s Hoboken. |
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| Looks like things get ugly again. |
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| Another leafy section. |
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| Here’s another art installation. |
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| The track was apparently electrified. |
Next up: we finally get back to Boston bus reviews!
Poll: What Should the Next Post Be?
Service Change: NYC, Part 3 – M4 (Between Washington Heights or Fort Tyron Park (The Cloisters) and Penn Station)
Okay, Google Maps. Take me from the Met to our hotel near Penn Station. Let’s see, it says to take the M4 bus rather than the subway. Well, Google Maps is always right, right?
Wrong. The subway is always faster than the bus in New York. Though it was an enjoyable ride, the M4 was so slow – and it even had its own dedicated bus lane! I mean, the Silver Line along Washington Street isn’t the best, but it does goes somewhat fast. The issue in New York is that other cars go into the bus lane anyway. You’re not gonna move any faster by doing that, guys.
We got on the bus right by the Met, at the 81st Street stop. Buses cost the same amount of money to ride as the subways: $2.50 with a MetroCard and $2.75 without one. It wasn’t that crowded inside, and it never did get crowded for the entire ride, probably because the subway is about 500 times faster than the bus. The inside was standard, but nice enough. I was sort of annoyed that there weren’t any automatic announcements, though; I mean, come on! This is New Yawk!
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| A bad picture of the M4. |
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| Another bad picture of the M4. |
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| The inside of the bus. |
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| There could be a much better use for that. |
We headed down 5th Avenue, right alongside Central Park with tall buildings on the other side. But eventually, the park ended and we were surrounded by buildings. We were stopping at every stop, but there were never too many people on the bus at any given point. And again, the bus was moving at a snail’s pace, what with the insane amount of traffic and red lights.
Also, there are about half a million bus routes that run down 5th Ave. Maybe it’s a busy corridor, but they all have different stops! For example, at Central Park South, there’s a stop for the M1-M4, then the BxM6-BxM11 stop before the intersection at 58 Street, while the M5 and Q32 stop after the intersection, then at 56 Street there’s a stop for just the BxM18, and at 55 Street the BxM3-BxM4, M1-M5, Q32, X63-X64, and X68 all share a stop, then the BM1-BM5 stop at 54 Street, while the X10, X10B, X12, X14, X17, X17J, X30, and X42 stop between 54 and 53 Streets. How is anyone supposed to figure all this out? It doesn’t help that there are all the prefix letters, and even some suffix letters to confuse people even more. Long story short, I feel sorry for anyone who’s looking for the right bus to take on 5th Ave.
We went by Rockefeller Center, and then the cool-looking New York Public Library a few blocks later. We got to 34th Street, but my mother insisted on getting off here and walking the rest of the way. I agreed, since the bus turns onto 34th Street, and going across town is even slower than downtown. Though it wasn’t the fastest way to get around, the bus did provide a nice view of the city, and it felt a lot more relaxed than a ride on the subway can ever feel.
A quick note about when we got off: these back doors were ones that you push to leave. It seemed like the driver would unlock them whenever the bus got to a stop, and passengers were free to push it if they wanted to get out the back. It was actually really heavy and hard to open, but a cool feature regardless.
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| The back doors. |
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| Oh, look, they’ve even added non-MTA services to the bus stop sign just to make it even more confusing! |
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| That’s a much better picture. |
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| Travelling by bus on weekends and nights must be a pain. But now that I think about it, the lack of a bus lane would make no difference. |
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| A nice schedule and map at a stop. |
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| This is an express bus that appears to be out of service. I find it interesting that they use coach buses for these routes. |
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| Six bucks?! And I’ll bet the subway’s still faster. |
Service Change: Toronto, Part 10 – The Ones That Got Away
These are just some extra pictures that didn’t have to do with the previous posts. This will be the last Service Change from my Toronto trip. Next up is the continuation of my trip to New York a while back (here’s Part 1 and Part 2 – there will likely be two more parts), then probably some Boston stuff. Aside from the very slight chance that I take any buses on a weekend trip to Rhode Island and a possible weekend in Burlington (where I already rode a bus), the next Service Change won’t be until another trip to New York in a little under a month. We’ll be taking Amtrak there and I already know which subway line I want to take for fun…
But for now, here are some extra pictures from Toronto.
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| The TTC’s paratransit service is called Wheel-Trans. |
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| There’s also a bike share service in Toronto, creatively titled “Bike Share Toronto.” |
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| This is an example of a streetcar stop with a countdown clock. |
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| Roundhouse Park used to be a huge rail yard. This is a beautiful old train outside. |
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| Another train. These ones outside are free to look at and (I believe) go into. |
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| There’s a miniature railway (7.25″ gauge) that goes in a small loop around the park. Is it worth the $3.00? Probably not, since it’s a short ride and these people look ridiculous. I’m sure it’s fun, though. |
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| For five bucks to get in the museum, there really isn’t much. The only thing of note that’s not under construction or a gift shop is this. It’s the cab of a real train, connected to Trainz Simulator 12. The novelty sort of wore off, though, since the in-game track was really short and Trainz Simulator isn’t that good. I like Train Simulator 2014 much more. |
Service Change: Toronto, Part 9 – The Shortest Ferry Ride in the World and the Toronto City Airport Shuttle Bus
The ferry ride in question happens to be from Toronto City Airport to the mainland, a distance of about 400 feet and a ride time of about 90 seconds. Short, indeed. The overall airport process at this airportwais pretty great. Security and customs seemed to go by really quickly, and once the ferry ride was over we’d be right in the city.
So yeah, the ferry. The terminal was nice enough, pretty much just two lines. I’m not entirely sure why they would have two lines instead of one wider line, but it still works. I also like that the people getting off the ferry leave through a different door than the ones getting on, so there’s no mass confusion like on the Toronto Islands Ferry.
The ferry offered quite a lot of room for standing, with a bench running along the perimeter. We decided to stand outside (which I’m not sure you’re actually allowed to do, since there was barely anywhere to stand out there) for a better view. But after about a minute and a half, the ride was over and we headed out.
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| The terminal. |
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| I don’t know if you can read that, but I liked it for some reason. |
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| The inside of the ferry. |
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| The destination in view. |
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| A foggy view. |
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| Looking back towards the airport, having completed the ride. |
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| Vehicles can go onto the ferry for a fee. |
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| This pedestrian tunnel will be convenient. The ferry will still stay for vehicles to be able to go over. |
I took a bit of extra time on the mainland to take pictures, and so we didn’t even notice the shuttle bus waiting there. It had already closed its doors and started to leave by the time we saw it, but they saw us running and opened the doors. I love it when bus drivers do that.
Unfortunately, it was one of those buses that has an ad plastered on the outside, so you can’t see a thing out the window. It actually messes with your vision and is just really disorienting. The route was really simple: we went up Bathurst Street, crossing over the railroad tracks, then turned onto Front Street and stopped a block away from Union Station. It was an underwhelming ride, but I’m glad that they stopped for us and opened the doors. Plus, it was free. Free’s good.
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| I had to snap a quick picture. |
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| The inside. Good thing there’s space for luggage. |
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| Ah, yes. What a beautiful view. |
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| People boarding the bus to go back. |
Service Change: Toronto, Part 8 – The Centre and Ward’s Island Ferries
The Toronto Islands used to be a peninsula, but nature caused them to become separated from the mainland. They’re now a popular place to visit for tourists, but they also have some residential areas. It’s actually North America’s largest urban car-free community. But there’s no bridge connecting to the islands, so there are three ferry routes to do the job. They operate with vintage ferries from the 1950’s, which is very cool, and the ride for all three is about 15 minutes.
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| Quite a few people, as you can see. |
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| Again, a large number of people appear in the picture. |
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| There is a large mass of people in the location of this waiting area |
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| That guy up there’s probably having the time of his life. |
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| There are boards to show where the next ferry’s going. |
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| Two decks. |
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| They tried to pack as many people as they could onto this boat. |
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| And finally, the crowded second deck. |
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| Bye! |
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| When close to the dock, you mostly just see these apartment buildings. |
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| A view of the city. |
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| A ferry going the other way. |
Centre Island was, as you might expect, extremely crowded. We decided to get away from it all and take a walk down the rural boardwalk, visiting the cute residential areas of Algonquin and Ward’s Islands. And it was at Ward’s Island that we got on the ferry back. It was practically identical to the first one, just a little less busy. Overall, it was a pretty great day excursion – as long as you’re not claustrophobic…
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| Another view. Man, I love that skyline. |
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| Another boat. |
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| This is the ferry terminal at Ward’s Island. |