tourism

Photo: Vic Gedris: More on Vic's site: vic.gedris.org/pics

When one is obsessed with cycling one tends to bring the bike everywhere. The GF and I brought our bikes to a wedding in Ancaster this last long weekend. The GO bus and its bike rack took us and our bikes to McMaster University, Hamilton, where upon we mounted our steel horses and rode up the "mountain" as they like to call it in the "Hammer". (Sorry, forgot the camera!)

Ancaster is full of nice people, being a bedroom community of Hamilton and a nice place to bike. They've got waterfalls nearby. Their main street bike lane seems to be a bit of an afterthought with a painted bike symbol over the wide paved gutter. Still, no on complained as we took our part of the road. Most of Ancaster's roads were bike-friendly.

There are now more reasons to get out of the city with your bike and leave your car behind, reports the Torontoist. GO Transit is expanding its service to Niagara Falls for $15.90 one way. Via Rail's Bike Train is starting up for the third year with trips to Niagara Falls and a pilot to North Bay in August.

Although the service isn't aimed directly at cyclists, every GO train has space for about thirty bikes on a first-come, first-served basis. GO will run four trains on the Toronto–Niagara route every Saturday, Sunday, and holiday from June 27 through October 12, making stops along the way in Port Credit, Oakville, Burlington, and St. Catharines.

In addition to the new bike racks on GO buses, the expanded train services are much welcomed by cyclists.

The promotion of cycling is essential to building, growing, and sustaining the future culture of cycling.

The City of Toronto does its part to promote cycling within the city. Toronto's bike plan includes the promotion of cycling. Bike Month, the Bicycle Friendly Business Awards, and the Ambassador program are but only a few ways that city itself promotes cycling.

Promotion doesn't end with the (would be) cyclists themselves. Promotion can take many forms, and some is aimed to attract and build ridership. But other promotion is meant to encourage investment in cycling infrastructure, including end services (bike parking, etc) at various destinations by businesses and attractions. Governments and businesses also need to know about some of the benefits that cyclists provide to our communities.

Load up your bike and GO touring!
It seems that for the last couple of years, the GTA has seen a huge amount of planned and actual transit service expansion. Some of it has even been exceptionally bike-friendly, though there is also some significant community opposition in certain cases.

Yesterday, GO Transit and Minister of Transportation Jim Bradley announced that there will GO Train service to Niagara on holidays and weekends this summer.

This service will offer four trips daily on weekends and holidays in each direction between Toronto and Niagara Falls, stopping at Port Credit GO Station, Oakville GO Station, Burlington GO Station, St. Catharines rail station, and Niagara Falls rail station.

Visitors from the Niagara region will also be able to take the train to Toronto, making it a great summer travel option for people from across the region.

While this isn't a cycling-specific improvement, it definitely makes car-free travel in Southern Ontario even more accessible, especially since bicycles are allowed on board GO trains. Being a weekend- and holiday-only service, this pretty much limits it to non-commuting travel. However, this adds another exciting option for bike touring, day-trips to Niagara, and more.

Hold on a second though. What about the Bike Train? Doesn't this new GO service conflict with Justin Lafontaine's award-winning multi-modal cycle-tourism project? GO Transit service tends to be cheaper and more frequent than VIA Rail service, so will this have a negative impact on the Bike Train project? I asked Justin for his thoughts today, and here's what he had to say:

From Tamy, with Tourisme Montreal. Just trying to get us jealous. Next year Toronto. They promised!

Friday is the Ontario Cycle Tourism Forum.

Justin Lafontaine last years iBikeTO Award, is the forum's director.

The reason why such an event is important, in case it is not obvious, is that it changes people perceptions about cyclists from being those pesky people who dare ride on the roads to being an economic opportunity. This starts getting us closer to our goal of getting cycling integrated into our transportation, tourism, economy, and culture.

And it is starting to have an effect, even before the event has happened. Just today Visit Northumberland in eastern Ontario has released a new outdoor adventure map with five suggested on-road bike routes. Northumberland's tourism group has already started working with local businesses to promote cycling tourism, and they will be bringing their new maps with them to the forum on Friday. Local businesses are genuinely interested, and want to make cycling specific improvements to attract us cyclists.

We just found out some good news about the Bike Train. Read on and have a great Thanksgiving! Get in some cycling while the weather is good:

The Bike Train Initiative has won two awards for its contributions to the Ontario tourism industry and its innovative approach to capturing an emerging market. The Bike Train was honoured with the Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership Corporation's Best Tourism Marketing Partnership, and the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario's Excellence Award for Tourism Innovation.

These awards recognize the successful development and launch of this collaborative project, and the growing cycle tourism market opportunities and economic benefits for the Province of Ontario.

CELEBRATE WITH US!
The Bike Train service has been extended for the weekend of October 17-19th. This weekend Niagara will play host to the Doors Open Niagara event, which will open a wealth of sites up to public viewing and exploration. Niagara's best visited on two wheels! Check out www.biketrain.ca for more details.

Peter Lipscombe
Marketing and Volunteer Coordinator
Bike Train Initiative
www.biketrain.ca

Phone: (416) 338-0499
Fax: (416) 392-0071
email: plipsco@toronto.ca

Justin LaFontaine loads Bike TrainI Bike TO blogger Tammy writes in the Toronto Star that the Bike Train from Union Station to Niagara has been a great success and may be expanded to other cities:

The pilot project took bikes onboard specially designated VIA luggage cars between Toronto's Union Station and Niagara Station. This is the first time that fully-assembled bikes were allowed on VIA trains.

The pilot was so successful it is expected not only to expand service to Niagara next year, but also to extend to other cities. Although he can't say for sure, Lafontaine says the cities that make sense for immediate Bike Train expansion are Ottawa, Montreal, Kingston and Windsor.

The report on the pilot will be completed in October and will include information from 300 surveyed passengers. He says he was most surprised to see that many of the cyclists departing from Toronto actually came from nearby cities. The Bike Train also received high marks regarding the ease with which cyclists were able to access the trails.