For starters, the itinerary has been altered slightly. No need for alarm for those of you who have already made your travel plans! The train times have been changed slightly to reflect the new AMTRAK timetable that went into effect this week.
While the published itinerary seems to be the one we will ultimately follow, I am considering a slight change for Sunday evening. The itinerary, as it stands now, has us wrapping up at about 4:30 PM. A few have expressed interest in going up in the CN Tower, which (since it was built, although is no longer owned, by a railroad) qualifies as a rail-oriented event. It will give us a nice view not only of the greater Toronto area but also the rail lines that feed into both sides of Toronto Union Station. My feeling is to do the CN Tower during the late afternoon, and then take our final subway ride to Downsview after that.
The location of dinner on Sunday remains open. CN Tower has three restaurants, however the two that are open at dinnertime are quite pricey. The one that offers reasonable food-court type fare and prices closes at 4 PM. One option for dinner might be to eat in the Yorkdale Centre area, which is on the subway line to and from Downsview.
People have been asking me about hotels. It's no secret that hotels in downtown Toronto are quite expensive, even at favorable exchange rates. Remember that for those participating in the entire three-day fest, we are staying four nights in Toronto. For those who will be involved in the Pre-Fest, add a night in Buffalo to the expense. Michael and I also plan to get off Train 64 (the eastbound MAPLE LEAF) in Albany, and stay over on Monday night, then take Train 250 into New York City on Tuesday morning (hopefully with the refurbished Turbo equipment! ).
Anyhow, Alan is currently researching the best hotel values that are both reasonably priced, and near public rail transportation. Once a list is compiled, I will put it up on my website.
In addition, I am looking into the transit costs involved with the diverse modes of transportation we will encounter. Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) offers a C$7.75 Day Pass, which is probably our best bet. The base single fare is C$2.25, so the Day Pass pays for itself after the third entry into the system. And on Sunday, groups of two adults can travel under the same C$7.75 fare. However, keep in mind that like Atlanta, Toronto has many stations that permit transfers between bus/streetcar lines or between subway and bus/streetcar without leaving the fare paid area. TTC's fares in a nutshell are here.
GO TRANSIT uses the proof-of-purchase system, whereby there are no collections of tickets. Passengers are checked at random to ensure that they have proof that they paid their fare. GO TRANSIT fares are payable with Canadian or US currency, credit cards, or travelers cheques. You can buy a round trip ticket to each of our three Friday destinations when we are in Union Station. One-way fares are C$7.25 to Burlington, C$7.05 to Oshawa, and C$5.30 to Bramalea.
GO TRANSIT also offers several great discounts. There is a Day Pass, which would be equal to the price of one round trip to the furthest destination. In other words, C$14.50 would let you ride all three lines all day Friday. But they do even better. For twice that price, or C$29, a group of up to 5 people (including children) can travel all day Friday on that fare. That means that split 5 ways, the group fare would cost each individual just C$5.80 for all-day travel. In US dollars, that beats even Chicago's METRA, and this one is good on weekdays too!
Now on a different subject, I have come up with several options for the itinerary. We will follow the itinerary as published unless the transit agencies throw us a curve and close a line, or some other catastrophe occurs. The options are ways that you might find it easier to join us if you can't afford the time or money to spend the entire period of the Fest with us.
- Option B (as in Buffalo) will be the intinerary you've already seen, which includes both Syracuse on Wednesday, overnight in Buffalo, and the NFTA light rail on Thursday.
- Option A will be to skip the Pre-Fest and travel directly from eastern cities to Toronto on Thursday, July 15th.
- Option C (as in Chicago or Cleveland) would be for those coming from the west. HaRRy is already in this class. These people would take the eastbound LAKE SHORE LIMITED that departs from Chicago on Wednesday, July 14th, and travel to Buffalo, getting there the next morning. They would take a city bus from Depew Station and join the "B" group downtown to ride the light rail.
You can make your own options too. For example, one person from Chicago is considering taking the LAKE SHORE eastbound one day earlier, and joining us in Syracuse instead of Buffalo. It might even be conceivable for some to do the Pre-Fest only, joining us for Syracuse and Buffalo, then returning home afterwards. Or you may choose to leave Toronto on the MAPLE LEAF on Sunday morning instead of Monday morning if you have committments on Monday elsewhere.
I will be adding to my website in the coming weeks some information on how to get from Buffalo's Depew Station to downtown Buffalo, how to travel between Niagara Falls and Buffalo by bus (for those who wish to stop off at Niagara Falls to kill time during a layover), and how to get around Syracuse for those who might be there for a few hours. Syracuse has a huge shopping mall, Carousel Center, about 1/2 mile away. You may wish to take a cab or city bus between the station and mall.
I'd like to know if you plan to come to this Fest. If you have not already contacted me, please e-mail me and let me know if you definitely can make it, tentatively might come, or definitely cannot participate. If you can come, which option might you follow?
As I've said before, having the Fest on "foreign' soil, in a place that is mostly new to me, presents many challenges in planning the meet. Still, I forsee a wonderful time to be had by all as we ride the rails of Toronto in July.