travel

At a press conference this morning in Hamilton, GO Transit announced that they will be adding bicycle racks to the front of inter-city GO buses, as well as allowing cyclists to bring folding bikes on rush-hour trains!

According to GO's updated bicycle page, the bike racks will be added to GO buses on the QEW Express service between Hamilton and Union Station, and the Hamilton to Aldershot Station bus connection. This service will be available starting August 1st, and will expand to other routes over the next 12 months. The new bike racks hold two bikes per bus.

In the past, the difficulty with adding bicycle racks to the front of GO buses comes from a law that prohibits any kind of equipment from being attached to the front of inter-city buses. GO Transit had to work with the Ontario Ministry of Transportation and all of the municipalities that their buses pass through to get this approved.

For more information about the bike racks on buses, check the GO bike by bus brochure.

Also, starting June 30th, there will be a pilot project allowing customers to take their folding bike on the GO Trains, even during rush hour. Please check their Folding Bike Etiquette guide too.

Personally, I think this is excellent news! Multi-modal commuting and travel around the GTA will be so much easier. Of course, there are still some limitations on the types of bikes you can bring on the various GO services, but this is still a huge step in the right direction. I'm looking forward to using both of these new GO/bike travel options.

Over the last two weeks I have made a couple of trips to the Niagara Region taking photos for the fine folks at biketrain.ca

So, I made this little video to remind myself how lovely the Niagara Region is any time, with spring especially so. The First trip for the Bike Train this year will be June 27.

Could not be soon enough, I'd say.

Liz Hayward wrote this on the Cyclist Union Website:

ATTENTION BIKE LOVERS!
A petition was brought to my attention in a forum on midnightridazz.com encouraging google to incorporate a "bike there" option in google maps. Great idea, no? So if you haven't done so already, you might want to check it out.

Sounds good to me.

Photo credit: BikePortland.org

Editor's note: No, the photo has nothing to do with Google Maps, but it is a unique bike map! It's Portland's bike map on a bandana and it is real.

Last Friday, my partner Wendy and I rode down to Port Dalhousie/St. Catharines and stayed overnight at a nice B&B.

The next morning we pedalled down most of the fabulous Welland Canal trails (45k from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie, a fully paved recreational trail, highly recommended) and returned to Toronto on the Bike Train via Niagara Falls. (More Photos)

Bike Train organizer Justin LaFontaine, has done an excellent job getting this pilot project off the ground. All 56 spots of the inaugural run were sold out. Congrats!

So, how is it? It's a breeze. Getting your bike on and off the train was easy. Mind you Justin and his assistant have to do some heavy lifting since there are no baggage handlers at the Niagara Falls Station. But they are very careful and friendly.

"Time to put up, or ...", Justin tells me. And I think he's right. But with a bit of help from many of us who enjoy bike touring in the we can make sure VIA will sees the obvious benefits of a long overdue bike/train alliance.

The Toronto-Niagara Bike Train is now accepting reservations!

This is an exciting new service that will allow cyclists to bring their bikes on board VIA Rail trains between Toronto's Union Station and Niagara falls Station. Return fare is $59.00.

It is still a pilot project with limited weekend service in July and August 2007. Perhaps if there is enough demand, this will become a permanent service with expanded schedules and new locations added.

Personally, I'm hoping they can expand to have a Friday evening train. With the current schedule, the earliest train on a weekend arrives in Niagara Falls at noon, meaning half the cycling day is already over. They may also have trouble carrying tandems, recumbents, and trailers, so be sure to call ahead if you're bringing anything other than a "standard" bicycle.