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OTOL Toronto RailFest 2004: 4/27 update


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#1 KevinKorell

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Posted 27 April 2004 - 09:45 PM

There has not been much news in the past 5 or 6 weeks about the Toronto RailFest. You should know that behind the scenes, planning still is going on.

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! :D ).

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.
Obviously Options A, B, and C would meet and be the same where the "B" and "C" groups board the westbound MAPLE LEAF at Exchange Street Station in Buffalo (the "A" group would already be aboard).

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. :)


Kevin Korell


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#2 KevinKorell

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Posted 10 May 2004 - 04:01 AM

Here is another update as of May 10th.

For those of you participating in the Pre-Fest (Syracuse & Buffalo), a list of hotels in Buffalo is now available. This is by no means a complete list, but I did go through whatever properties I could find online and analyzed them by price, location (proximity to Buffalo's LRT), and amenities. Staying in Buffalo won't be cheap, although you will see that I did find one chain hotel within a few blocks walk of the northern end of the LRT subway at SUNY that is much, much cheaper than the downtown hotels.

The main fest will necessitate staying in Toronto hotels for four nights, for those who wish to be with us on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. This is because of the schedule of the MAPLE LEAF (evening arrival in Toronto, morning departure). In Chicago last summer it was the opposite - a late morning arrival in Chicago on the LAKE SHORE LIMITED and an evening departure, so there were fewer nights in hotels because of the two overnight train rides. Again, Toronto won't come cheap. Alan is working on the hotel options for that city, and his analysis should be forthcoming soon.

In addition, I've now put up my analysis of transit costs. From this you should be able to figure out what you will be paying on the transit systems in Syracuse, Buffalo, and Toronto. Remember that Syrcause & Buffalo prices are in US dollars, but those in Toronto are in Canadian dollars. In the near future I will have a page dealing with conversion between the two currencies.


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#3 KevinKorell

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Posted 18 May 2004 - 04:33 PM

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!  :)

I lied. The above is not totally correct. After reading into this further, I have determined that while the Group Pass is indeed good for five people, it is limited to two adults. Therefore, the best deal for that day will be the DayPass for the Burlington trip, which is the longest of the three. This will cost each person C$14.50, which will be good for the entire day on GO TRANSIT. You're still paying for just one of the three round trips we will be taking that day! At current exchange rates, this is equivalent to $10.47 in US dollars.

More updates are now available via the OTOL Toronto RailFest 2004 Homepage:
  • As promised, I have split up the itinerary into three possible options, based on where you are coming from and how long you wish to participate. The index to the itineraries will guide you to each option.
  • AMTRAK fares have been added to the costs page.
  • Currency conversion between the US and Canadian dollars are now described on my currency exchange page. I will try to update the page twice a week, as the exchange rates change daily.
  • Also new, and by request, is a page dedicated to border crossing issues. This page provides links to the sites of the federal agencies in each country responsible for customs at the border crossing, as well as AMTRAK's page about crossing the border by rail.
Still to come is bus information for Buffalo, both for the Depew AMTRAK station and for Niagara Falls.


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#4 BillMagee

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Posted 18 May 2004 - 08:25 PM

Although most border crossings are usually routine, sometimes things can get dicey. My experience with the US / Canada crossing is that it is easy to get into Canada, but can be more difficult to get back into the USA. With Canada being a preferred means of entry into the US for various persons of ill repute, the crossing back into the USA from the north is sometimes more difficult than coming in from abroad. A couple of tips:

1. If you have a passport, take it. The passport permits the Federal Inspection Service to better identify you, provides them access to their database, and may save a lot of questioning. There is no better crossing instrument than a passport. If you do not have one, consider getting one if you even remotely foresee any international travel.

2. If you are taking a birth certificate as proof of citizenship, make sure it is the real thing and not a duplicate. An original birth certificate will have a raised seal, a copy will not. Many states (including my state of birth, Pennsylvania) only used to issue duplicate birth certificates. Originals were not routinely provided, and most people (including me) did not know the difference. I went through this particular hassle personally, though thankfully only while getting a passport, not sitting at a crossing point. If you do not have an original, get one from your state records department.

3. Remember that a driver’s license is not proof of citizenship. But, if you are presenting a proof that does not have a photo (such as a birth certificate), then a driver’s license may be used to prove that you are you.

4. If any of the group is a non-citizen US resident, take every piece of documentation you have. A colleague of mine who is a Canadian citizen living and working in New York State had a real tussle trying to get back into the US once and honestly thought he was not going to be admitted. And he is about as meek and techno-nerdy a looking a guy as there is (except, perhaps, for me).

5. If you are taking a new camera, video recorder, laptop, or anything of value that is made overseas, take some proof of purchase. FIS can assess duty on the value of the item unless you can prove you took it into Canada with you. Older stuff (more than a year or so) is probably safe, but something brand new could raise a flag with the FIS. Eventually, you will be able to prove your ownership and someday get your money back, but having a receipt in hand could save a ton of aggravation.

6. Check out the on-line version of the venerable federal brochure, “Know Before You Go.” This is the definitive work by the FIS for international travel. You can access it here.

One last border crossing trivia question.

Question: After first place New York JFK, which airport processes the second most entries into the USA?

Guesses: Los Angeles? San Francisco? Miami? All good guesses and all wrong!

Answer (and here's the tie in with this fest): Toronto Lester Pearson International (YYZ). For air travelers, the FIS has set up in major Canadian airports and processes entries to the US in while the travelers are still in Canada. You go through both US immigration and customs in the Canadian airport and then move to a sterile area to await your flight home. Technically, once processed, the passengers are now admitted to the USA and the flights then fly as domestic requiring no additional processing upon arrival in the USA. YYZ processes more entries into the USA than any other airport other than JFK.

#5 KevinKorell

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Posted 19 May 2004 - 12:44 PM

Still to come is bus information for Buffalo, both for the Depew AMTRAK station and for Niagara Falls.

The page detailing NFTA light rail and two selected bus routes is now available here.

Thanks to Bill M. for the additional border crossing tips. For me, I've never owned a passport because I have never left the North American continent. I plan to go through Customs with my birth certificate and my photo drivers license as secondary. For Michael, his birth certificate and a notarized letter from his estranged mother should suffice.


Kevin Korell


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