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By GO Transit to Milton for the Day - Execution

I leave home at 6:30, and it is as light as it was when I was leaving at 5:30. So goes the year!

At this hour in the morning the dump trucks are lined up along Bay Street waiting for a construction site to open at 7:00. They have left the bicycle-lane open, but for this half-hour at least Bay Street northbound is reduced to one vehicular lane.

A lousy shot, but the queue of dump trucks extends off to the west of Bay Street. One by one these trucks will cross two southbound and one northbound lane of traffic to get to the construction site.

I reach Adelaide Street and find a CP-24 news cameraman waiting for the antenna to fall from the Trump Tower. He is “posed” for this shot, but he had previously admitted that his job was to wait for the thing to topple a million storeys and catch for the Breaking (hah hah!) News.

I find the whole thing stupid, really. It isn’t swayin’-in-the-wind.

Three minutes later a gun-toting police officer orders me off the street. The PATH is closed so we can’t walk underground, and so I make a detour around the financial block.

I blame this on the lawyers. Everyone is ready to be so scared that the financial core of Canada’s biggest city is shut down (How do we get to our bank/insurance/office?) because no-one is technically capable of going on the roof and looking at the thing? Or anchoring it with a few safety cables?

Don’t we have duct tape in Toronto?

This is a city that thinks it would be a good idea to bid for the Olympic Games.

And then close them for two days because of a minor flap on, or over, a flagpole.

The GO Bus leaves on time at 7:20 and I take another shot of the buildings on the north side of The Gardiner because I am on the north side of the bus. The buildings on the south side completely block the view of, and access to, the Toronto Harbour on Lake Ontario.

The condominium blocks look like fierce warriors blocking the way.

We make our way along the QEW and turn up, I think, Mavis Road; we’re on Mavis Road at some point. We are express from Union to Erindale so nobody is getting on or off, but I wonder how one knows where the bus stops are.

Obviously if you are getting ON the bus you look for a bus stop, but if you are traveling to Auntie Elsie’s at 12345 Mavis Road, how do you find out the name of the street (assuming an intersection) that holds the nearest stop?

We have traveled along Thomas Street in Streetsville to reach the GO station; my how Thomas Street has changed in 25 Years!

Bonus! The bus travels up Millcreek Drive to the Meadowvale GO station. I snap a blur of 6789 where I used to work under contract at Comark.

We continue on to Derry Road and I spot a sign “Escarpment Country”; strangely, this excites me. I mean, it’s just Milton, right?

We reach Milton and I have another question: I boarded at the start of the route and tapped my card. If I get off at this, the end of the route, does the system just charge me the default whole-of-route anyway? The bus driver seems to think yes, but that I would lose my 10% discount. What 10% discount?

And here I am starting off on my day of confusion.

I was under the impression that the GO bus went to the downtown core of Milton. It doesn’t. It stops at the GO station about a kilometre or so from the business area, perhaps one-and-a-half kilometres from the Town Hall.

I wanted to go to the Town Hall to get a bus map and buy a day pass, so I asked the GO bus driver where the business district was. “Just walk down that street”. Thanks. I set off towards That Street.

On the way I met a local couple who confirmed the direction, but suggested I get a city bus because it was a long walk, “at least fifteen minutes”. “Thanks”, I said, “I need the exercise”, and bless ‘em, they laughed.

As I walked I noticed a GO bus stop. Odd. There must be another GO bus that comes along here FROM the GO station and into the business district. I must ask later ...

I walk for about ten minutes and spot a local #2 bus going past me, back towards the GO station. I walk a bit further then spot a #6 coming towards me, heading to the GO station, so I think: Why not just catch this bus and transfer to one that will take me to the Town Hall?

So I hop on, pay $3.25 cash and the driver has DOZENS of bus maps (see later) and says I should transfer to the #2 West, grabs his CB radio and tells #2 West to wait for him because he has a passenger-transfer.

Then he walks down the bus to give me a paper transfer.

Around about this time I start to fall in love with Milton Transit.

We reach the GO Station – I walked away from here 20 minutes ago – and I hop onto the #2 West and express my desire to go to the Town Hall. The driver says he can drop me off near there on the way out, but nearer on the way back, and I think what the hell! I’ve paid for a ticket I may as well start riding the buses, so we do a glorious loop of part of Milton and I get dropped off at the Town Hall about 35 minutes after arriving in Milton.

Here is my effort to get to the Town Hall. The first thick line at the top-right shows me walking north from the GO station to Main Street East. I turn West and walk along Main Street until I catch the #6 eastbound bus (thin line) back to the GO station. Next I hop on the #2 (thin line) and head west back along the path I’d taken a few minutes before.

The #2 Westbound route travels its route around Derry Road and drops me off at the Town Hall – marked with the letter “A” near the top-left corner of this map image.

I walk around a bit of the Town Hall but am not sure of the #2 Eastbound, but I recall a bus stop on Millside Drive and walk there to wait for the #2 Eastbound that takes me back to the GO Station.

Whew! Now I can start my day.

Dizzy!

In fairness to the GO Transit driver, I did ask him how I should walk to the Town Hall. I did not ask him about buses, otherwise he surely would have told me that we were AT the bus terminal. Not his fault.

But I will think next time that a regional bus system PROBABLY terminates at the hub of the local transit system.

Here is the interior of the bus; neat, pretty, clean, tidy, lovely. A pleasure to ride.

The downside of the seats in the rear is the frame that splits the window; it is right in line with my eyes, which means I have to slouch to get a full view of the outside.

Seats forward of the centre doors have full windows, which I enjoy.

Here I am at the Town Hall.

The Town Hall is set in a lovely little park. That’s the war memorial which I meant to visit on my way out, but was distracted by a little grotto.

The main entrance to the Town Hall. The doors look more like a service entrance and I was worried too that they “looked locked”, but once they swung open I was inside a modern LEEDS building; the old building has been gutted but the façade remains and is beautiful.

Here’s a view of the park lying to the west of the Town Hall. I didn’t return here to eat my lunch in the bandstand.

Once I’d chatted up all the smiling and lovely ladies inside the town hall I headed off to inspect a grotto. This shot, on my way in, was taken through the glass walls of a corridor. The adjacent door was locked.

The ladies were fun.

First The Information Desk: “Hello, can I help you?”; “Yes please; I’d like to buy a one-day bus pass”. “Oh! I’m sorry; I’m new here I don’t know about that; we’d better go and ask Molly”.

She rises and starts walking with me towards another counter behind which are two young ladies.

I’m such a flirt. I call out “Hello Molly!”, and then to the one who stares at me (age about 25) I say “It’s been a while!”. Such a puzzled look until it dawns on them ....

Molly: “Hello, can I help you?”; “Yes please; I’d like to buy a one-day bus pass”.

Molly sends me over to the cashier.

Cashier: “Hello, can I help you?”; “Yes please; I’d like to buy a one-day bus pass”. “Certainly!”.

I start to say what a wonderful day I’m having; “I’ve not been here three minutes and already I’ve met four absolutely delightful” – and the next lady swivels around to see what’s going on – “five absolutely delightful young ladies”.

Much laughter, and we are joined by another customer, an older lady but still way younger than me, who joins us in laughter.

I picked up the Community Map from the Town Hall.

The Community Map is a better map than the Rider Guide map because the Community Map shows all the street names. As well, about a hundred places of interest are marked on the Community Map

The Rider Guide on the other hand has the complete schedules for all the bus routes.

So I ended up using the Rider Guide at the end of a trip to determine my next bus, and the the Community Map during the trip to follow my route.

Here is the south-east corner of Milton as shown on the Rider Guide, especially the section for routes #3 and #4.

Here is the same area from the Community Map. The bus routes #3 and #4 are shown (in their correct colour) but notice the extra detail of street names, parkettes and numbered attractions.

And this shot was taken from outside the locked doors. How does he DO that? Yes, that’s my signature orange shoulder-bag sitting in the gateway.

The ivied wall is glorious and this is, perhaps, the best part of a morning; the sun is risen with promise, the air is still cool, the lawns are dewy-soft.

I move through that gateway and am greeted by another quadrangle. My guess is that this space was the original building, but the interior structure is removed completely, leaving a green courtyard.

I walk out of the Town Hall and towards the parking lot; there HAS to be an alley-way alongside the church, that will lead me to the main street.

Sure enough, and temptation lies in wait. “Please Come Again” the sign says, and I did, but they were still closed. And Empty.

Here I am approaching the bus stop on Millside Drive for the #2 Eastbound so I can head back to the terminus and begin my day in earnest.

I like the bus stops with their simple route map and departure times. My camera tells me it is 10:16 and the route map tells me the bus will be along in 16 minutes.

Buses run at 1/2 – hour intervals.

The detail map at the top tells me “You are Here”, which is handy. I suppose that every route map in every shelter has bears this indication.

The shelter sports a copy of the system map.

There is in place a sub-system that meets commuters from the evening GO Train and drops them off at home! Sadly I clipped the most interesting text at the top. I gather that on boarding the bus you tell the operator where you want to be dropped off, and the driver optimizes the route to please each and every passenger. I was tempted to hop on such a bus to see how it works, but was distracted by the Troy’s Temptress.

Here is my not-yet-validated bus pass.

I note that it is pass number 5270, and I think that Milton can’t have sold bus passes at the rate of over twenty a day. Later on I ask one of the roughly 25 drivers on routes if he clips a daily pass each day and he screwed up his face, shook his head, and said “No! No Way!”.

So, five thousand bus passes since the scheme started, I guess.

(As I was typing up these notes it dawned on me that they couldn’t sell that many passes because the lady at the information desk, new on the job, had not yet met that question)

I note with interest that this serves as a family pass and wonder if I should start a family to get maximum use out of my day pass.

I note too that the conditions do not state that the pass is non-transferable, which double-negative resolved means that it is transferable I could use it all morning to ride the buses while you explore the main street, then in the afternoon you could ride the buses and I’ll explore the library.

The bus stop sign also tells me that Milton supports the Trans-cab scheme which I met first in Peterborough

I hop on the #2 West and the driver clips my day-pass and we set off – Back to the GO Station, where we pause for a minute or two before continuing on to reach the north-east corner of Milton.

The water-tower is a familiar landmark for me after thirty years of driving along this stretch of the 401-Highway at Milton.

I am now well aware of the volume of traffic over the drivers’ CB-radios regarding passengers wanting to make a connection; “Please hold for ...” and so on.

The Peterborough system obviates this with the scheme of not releasing their twelve vehicles until all 12 bus-bays (routes) are occupied. In Peterborough you CAN NOT miss a connection. In Milton you can, unless you are fully aware of the driver’s agreeable ability to help you make your connection.

I used this several times during the day, shamelessly, and it made my visit so much better.

We pulled up in Milton Crossroads centre and the guy sitting behind me got off. Empty-handed.

Strange, I thought, he was eating breakfast out of a paper bag. Sure enough, on the seat behind me were two free newspapers, a brown paper bag, and a coffee cup.

It speaks highly of Milton Transit that at 10:45 in the morning I got up and carted his garbage off the bus and into a waste-bin.

Less than two hours into riding-the-buses and I feel like a proud citizen of Milton and want to keep MY buses clean.

Which made me think of some of the local systems I’ve ridden that have a waste-bag at the front of the bus. As you can see from the photo, there are no waste-bags on Milton buses. I saw the driver take the paper transfer at each boarding, so we don’t have paper transfers floating around on the floor of the bus.

Another nice touch!

Here we are back at the GO Station where I have a few minutes to wait for my next bus. I want to ask the GO ticket agent about the GO Bus signs I saw along Main Street, but the terminal building is closed. It opens for three hours 5:50 to 8:45 each weekday morning.

Commuter Trains run OUT of Milton TO Toronto in the morning and return at night, but you don’t need to buy a ticket to get OFF the train, and to hell with anyone who wants to ask a question about buses at any other time.

“Ask one of the many GO Bus drivers” I hear you say; but there are none around. They have let themselves into the locked terminal and are having a snack or reading a paper ... or using their tablet or phones.

I’m not sure if the WiFi extends outside the building, but there are no seats near the building anyway.

I have lost track of the bus I’m on. I think it is a #7 which will take me to the south-west corner of the city.

One side of the bus has stippled windows. Boo!

I sit on the clear side, but it is difficult to see any sort of detail to the left.

I couldn’t resist another shot of the clean, neat and tidy seating.

Behind the driver’s seat is a rack full of bus maps, close to two dozen. Later on in the day I saw racks with only a dozen, some with only six maps, but every bus I rode on had maps, and even if the bus didn’t have a map, the driver, I am certain, would have waited in the terminal while I begged a map from another bus’s driver.

I was taking a lovely set of interior photos; the driver had popped over to the mall for three minutes, and a ladywithson came to the bus and started asking questions. I am dressed neatly and I suppose she mistook me for the driver.

Because there are plenty of maps, I grabbed one and showed her where we were, and said I thought she wanted the #4, but she should check with the driver. She thanked me and walked towards the #4.

My driver returned and I explained my role; the lady returned and asked the driver if this bus went down Thompson Road.

“Yes” says the driver, then “You got on at Laurier, right?”. He had remembered the lady from, say, an hour ago. “Hop on. I’ll drop you off”.

Much thanking all round between all parties. But this is my thank you to Milton: to recognize in this page the care that drivers in Milton take to shepherd and look after their passengers needs.

Such is Milton, where the bus driver not only knows where you want to go, but recognizes you as a passenger from earlier in the day, AND remembers where you boarded the bus.

Phew!

Large parts of Milton look just like Mississauga, and the newer and middle-aged parts were probably built at the same times, and show the designs of their period.

Here is part of The Niagara Escarpment. The bit at the left-hand side of the photo might be “Rattlesnake Point”

Here, as we turn a corner into, I think, Savoline Boulevard, is another view of the escarpment, appearing in this photo as a tree-covered ridge. But at each side you can see (but not in this photo) the cliffs that form the boundary.

Still and all, it must be much nicer pedaling to school with a green hill in view instead of trudging the gritty streets of a large city.

Note the white car parked in the lane.

The white car is parked in the parking lane.

To the left of the parking lane is the cycle lane, and to the left of the cycle lane is the through-lane, in which our bus will travel.

The three-lane system is used all over Milton, as far as I know.

Milton has TWO cranes ( Guelph had only one)

Again, very much like Mississauga, or Brampton.

I took this shot not for the shape of the houses, nor for the street furniture, but for the solar panels. I spotted the house a ways off, and you can see the edge of more solar panels through the leaves of the tree, just above the dormer windows.

This bus had only a dozen bus maps.

Wake up Toronto! If Milton can do it, and Milton is younger and smaller than Toronto, then Toronto can do it, right?

While I was on that bus the driver told me a bit more about the system.

Bus routes #3 and #4 both serve the south-east corner of Milton.

During off-peak hours they are the same vehicle and driver, and during these times the one vehicle services two routes.

Sometimes a bus doubles up. Suppose some unforeseen delay with the #7, then the #6 route will cover both the service loops for #6 and #7, since the loops are adjacent, and this can continue until “normal service can be resumed”.

What a clever arrangement.

Notice that the #3 bus leaves the terminal at 10:10, works its loop, and arrives back at the terminal at 10:38.

The driver flips the route sign and the bus becomes the #4 which leaves the terminal at 10:40 and makes its loop and arrives back at 11:08.

Just enough time for the driver to flip the bus route sign back to #3 and leave the terminal at 11:10 ...

I found this fascinating, more so to learn that 6/7 and 5/8 use the same principle. That means that I can board the #5 route and stay on that vehicle for an hour while it covers two routes. For me!

Further, the driver of the 3/4 route could move himself to the 5/8 route and drive that vehicle, or he could remain on the vehicle and switch the routes to 5/8. Very flexible indeed.

So here I am on the #3 bus mooching around the south-east corner. Suddenly we flash past a branch of the Milton Public Library. I race forward and ask the driver “You’ll be back here in thirty minutes as the #4 bus, right?”; he agrees; “And then in a hour’s time you’ll be back here as the #3 again, right?”; he agrees. So I jump off at the next stop and walk back.

What a deal! If the branch library only interests me for thirty minutes I can be on my way again; otherwise I can be on my way in sixty minutes. Half-hour service!

Keep your eyes on those three flat rocks in the front garden bed; we’ll return to those in a moment.

The library branch is new and looks good from the outside.

I walk around and find a row of study desks.

Who could study with this delightful greenery right outside the window?

I take the opportunity to ask about Milton’s “Read and Ride” program. This program allows children 14 and under with a library card to travel free on Milton Transit during the two-month summer vacation. All that is needed is a free sticker for the library card, then that card serves as a bus pass.

Think of it this way: Both the systems, Transit and Library, are owned and run by Milton Town Hall, and so the accountants can be trusted to juggle the beans do the sums and no one is out of pocket; in particular the Transit system doesn’t lose because the management (Milton Town Hall) can absorb or manage the slight loss in fares.

Think of the benefits: The Town of Milton encourages youngsters to use the library AND to start using Public transit.

Milton is a smart town. It would suit me fine.

I watched a two-year old, oblivious to the world outside, pulling out a book with each hand, then pushing them back in. He moved to the left, tugged out two books, pushed them back in. He is “at the library” “taking out books” and “returning them”. A reader feels joy at seeing this behaviour.

I leave the library and check my telephone to confirm the time, check my bus map to confirm that the #4 bus will be along in four minutes time to sweep me up (I think the bus routes are short enough and that buses are rarely off-schedule, except for snow-storms).

Sure enough the #4 sweeps right past me IN THE OTHER DIRECTION.

I was looking to the south, from whence I’d come, waiting for another north-bound bus to appear.

I am sitting on the flat rock outside the Branch Library, marked with the letter “G”.

The green line, northbound arrow represents the #3 bus of which I leapt thirty minutes ago.

The magenta line, SOUTHBOUND arrow represents the #4 bus (physically the same vehicle that dropped me off 30 minutes ago) which flew by me as I stared in the other direction not two minutes ago.

Aaaaargh!

Well, there’s nothing for it but to open my lunch box and start eating chicken-and-rice and some grilled cheese sandwich. And a ginger –snap cookie to cheer me up!

After which I decide I have time to walk a few stops for post-lunch exercise and digestion. My little stroll is marked with the paler green line.

So I took another photo of “Mississauga”, but it could be “Newmarket” or “Aurora”.

Then I thought “I don’t have one of these plants at home”, so I stole a flower-head (or seed head) and wrapped its prickly presence in the sports section of The Toronto Star.

On my walk I was able to get a much better shot of the three-lane marked road system. It operates in both directions.

Maybe drivers are more conscious of “dooring a cyclist” if they have had to cross over the cycle lane BEFORE parking the car.

It would be interesting, had Milton the data, to find out if dooring was reduced on roadways marked in this way.

As well I got a chance to take a snap of an easement that looks like a Hydroelectric pylon corridor, but could it be for a new bypass? Surely not?

This view is looking west and yes, that is the Niagara Escarpment in the distance, three or four miles away.

Here is the view looking east, and no, that is not the Milton Water tower in the distance; that feature is to my left, as I stand taking the photo.

I walked on, thinking of these cookie-cutter streets and my mind wandered off to John Grisham’s story “Skipping Christmas”; a cheerful story about a street neighbourhood in such a cookie-cutter cluster of houses

Then I turned a bend and there was almost, Frosty The Snowman, left on the roof way after Christmas.

I came across several street signs bearing what appears to be a poppy. I must ask about this.

Milton has small parkettes spattered all over the place, and cycle-foot trails are marked with thick black lines. Most parkettes seem to be cyclable, which means a cyclist can travel off the streets and take short-cuts.

This little gazebo is such a place, although I wished there was a seat in the shade!

Here is part of the map I picked up at The Town Hall. The larger parkettes show up well, not so well the tint green spaces.

So here is a close-up photo of where I was walking (bottom right-hand corner of the photo). The #3 bus is going to collect me at the intersection with Derry Road at the left-hand end of the date-stamp; then we will trundle around Trudeau Park.

And another chance to capture the three-lane system. I really like it, can you tell?

All day long I had trouble adjusting to the map. Milton is, of course, geographically smaller than Toronto. I am so used to looking at a TTC map and estimating travel times that I keep thinking the same thing in a smaller town. Throughout the day I am surprised by how much of a bus route I can walk before the bus catches me, or how quickly we move from one major intersection to another.

You’d think I’d have learned by now.

And so back to the terminal where I am waiting for the #5/#8 combination bus, so I wander across and take a snapshot of the tracks. The GO Trains pull up alongside the platform; the CN freight trains go thundering through on the other tracks.

The station building is, of course, still closed until 5:50 tomorrow morning.

I am struck by the number of times I was able to answer people’s questions: “GO bus to Meadowvale? Sure, go ask the driver of that bus (points to a GO bus)”. Not an expert, but a help.

The station building is closed which means, I think, that the washrooms are unavailable.

I began to think that Milton Town Hall could do worse than take over the GO station and staff it with a Town Hall employee.

The Milton employee could sell bus tickets, explain routes and schedules, and with minimal training deal with GO Bus enquiries for services passing through Milton; no need to be an expert on the Lakeshore service, but at least able to offer advice on buses in and out of Milton.

Perhaps a little canteen could open on demand to dispense bottles of water and snack bars.

Seats in an air-conditioned or rain-proof shelter are handy for older folks; I speak from experience.

Then I began to think that from the Milton Employee in the GO station, someone like me landing for the day could be sold a $3.25 ticket to ride the #2 West to Town Hall, and the transfer could serve for a reduction in rate. Whatever. Possibilities continue to spring to mind.

If GO Transit peak hour (5:50 to 8:30) is heavy, the Milton Town Hall employee could handle some of the questions, I’m sure.

And here is my #5 bus.

I hate these buses with their blanked-out windows.

From the inside you can see how little you can see, if you see what I mean.

Thanks, but no thanks.

I thank the driver and hop right off. Here’s a parting shot. Even out-of-focus I get a better shot than I could from the inside of the bus.

The Industrial Route has reopened (it’s after two o’clock) so I say goodbye to the driver and hang around the terminal waiting for the 1B.

There you go. Closed. Can’t use the washrooms. Can’t ask questions.

Across the way the Canada Goose does its thing, leaving it spread all over the grass.

And here we are on the 1B-Industrial route.

The industrial area is just like any other Canadian Industrial area. Oil- or electrically-powered factories, assembly plants, distribution warehouses.

Could be Mississauga.

Note the silo-like structure in the distance; more about that later.

New warehouses are being built.

Earth is scraped away (what do they do with the topsoil?)

On the edge of the Industrial Area the old houses stand out as defiant warriors daring the future to intrude.

I am often puzzled by the absence of seriously tall trees around the old houses; the house is old enough to have sixty-foot trees around it by now.

Beautiful but not at all coy and intriguing.

Here we are at the intersection of Boston Church Road and James Snow Parkway.

As we trundle to the end of the parkway the Niagara Escarpment says “Hello””

Another warehouse will block our view of the escarpment.

We box ourselves in.

I am done for the day bus-wise. It is time to explore the Main Library and the Main Street.

I start walking towards Thompson street and two different bus drivers wave to me as I walk; one I recognize from my early-morning trips; the other I recognize as the driver of the ill-fated #5 which I boarded and then exited without riding at all. The driver recognized me, even as a non-passenger and waved to me.

How warm and sweet.

As I walk from the terminal towards the library I am struck by the cookie-cutter suburb just beyond the railway tracks.

Here is a zoom shot showing the hint of family life behind the noise barriers.

I am at the corner of Thompson Road and Drew Centre (drive?)

Same corner looking north towards the Milton Centre for the Arts, which is also the Library.

Note how the Transit and the City Services have moved away from the downtown business core.

And here is a zoom shot of the library building.

I make my way around the north-face or front of the building and admire the bed of flowers.

Here is a view of the main doors for the Arts Centre, and to the left the Library Building.

Having checked my map and schedule in the library I decide to head back to the GO Station and catch the #2 westbound bus to the far end of the business district so that I can slowly stroll back, exploring the shops and end up ready to head home.

Approaching the terminal I take a better shot of yet-another of those silo-like structures. I think that they are all to do with concrete making. Milton must be the concrete-making capital of the world, judging by the number of silos with conveyor belts.

I am ready for the 13:55 bus with ten minutes to spare. Perfect timing.

NOT!

Once again I am thrown by the #2 route.

Now I knew this two weeks ago, that the #2 is a route that shuttles (as in loom and weaving work) back and forth THROUGH the GO Station. It is the ONLY non-radial route.

I knew that.

I know it.

But still I read the start time from the left-hand column of the schedule when I should have been reading the fourth column in from the left.

I have missed the real bus by three minutes, and now will hang around for almost half-an-hour.

So it’s off to the nearest GO bus driver to ask about the bus stops on Main Street. Apparently they are inoperative now, the service does not run along main Street. I wish someone would send along a couple of guys with a back hoe and a bin of clay to yank out the posts and fill in the holes. Shouldn’t take more than half a day ...

The bus station can be confusing. The bus shelters are marked with the GO logos, but the stands are marked with the Milton Transit symbol (and maps and schedules)

Here is another Milton Transit bus pulling up past a GO shelter.

Perhaps the system is in a state of flux caused by a recent shift.

The man in the blue jacket is studying my copy of the #21 GO Transit bus route booklet to find out the best way to get to Square One in Mississauga. More about that later!

At last! The bus driver drops me off at the corner of Main and (I think) Elizabeth Street and I begin my stroll eastwards, through the shopping district and back to the GO terminal.

Milton was originally a quaint little red-brick town.

Then came the commuters.

Newer buildings conform to the original style, which I think is a Good Thing.

Although this store is closed.

As was the “Recycled Reading”, remember?

A rapid rise in population turned Milton into a dormitory town, and like all red-brick towns that get shunted into dormitory-status, Milton has attracted Wal-Mart and yes, there is a Wal-Mart on the edge of town.

Within months after the arrival of a Wal-Mart store the mom-and-op retail businesses wither away, especially on the high streets of towns.

Rents go down in an effort to get some income from the vacant stores, and the Tarot-card readers and tattoo-parlours move in, along with the legal and accounting offices. The little cafes and diners dry up – there’s no more strolling-and-shopping.

If you do business here at all now, you drive up, park, dash into the lawyer’s office and then dash home again; or dash out to Wal-Mart to spend the cheque you just received from the lawyer.

Check it out next time you are in a small red-brick town that has only services in the main street; you will find a Wal-Mart on the outskirts of town

See also Port Hope which runs a shuttle-bus to Cobourg – which has a Wal-Mart and a service-oriented main street. Both Coburn and Port Hope have lost their retail stores along the main street.

This restaurant tagged my mind on account of my being unused to 2000 being used for anything but a street number. For most of my life “Established” has been followed by a number in the 1800s or 1900s.

And so back across the bridge. I’d crossed this bridge when I came to it earlier in the morning, walking to catch the #2 eastbound from Millside drive.

At the time I thought it a pity that truckloads of boulders and rocks hadn’t been dropped into the drainage culvert, just to give a natural rippling-brook look in the heart of town.

The photo is taken from where you see the green-backed “72” in my purple outline.

This is really “Sixteen-Mile Creek” which you would recognize from the QEW. Down at the QEW Sixteen-Mile Creek is a lovely river, and I’ve spent some time picnicking on its banks.

Above is the view towards the south as the creek makes its way, chafed in by concrete walls, to the south and Freedom.

I walk a little further and come to Troy’s Diner. Now I like diners, but today I have brought my own lunch and snacks, so there’s no need to spend money on fattening grilled or fried foods.

But a pot of tea would be nice and I deserve a bit of a sit-down. And I can read my Toronto Star for a few minutes.

So I take the obligatory photo and enter, and ask for a pot of tea, take a seat, and enjoy the break.

Well, the place is fascinating, walls covered with photos. Who knew that Milton was the first school in Canada, possibly the first school in the World to be named after a professional wrestler?

Whatever you do DO NOT enter Troy's diner. The waitress is a temptress and the manager is a demon.

I spent so much time enjoying the décor and drinking both my first and then my second pot of tea that I lost track of time, and next thing I knew it was too late for me to walk back to the GO Station and catch the 17:20 bus.

So what’s a traveler to do?

I had no option but to wait another hour, so I ordered the three-cheese omelette with a few trimmings and with eighty minutes to kill ate all the home fries AND the two rounds of toast ...

... and staggered back to the GO Station.

This is one of the houses built before the dormitory boom, and like many such houses on the main street, now houses a business.

I might have entered and had a Thai Massage but I’d already been seduced by one temptress today.

I must not forget to tell the story of the #6 route which in this part of town shares, or rather, used to share, the road with the #2 route.

Main Street west of Bronte is closed due to road works (see double-barred black lines) and so the #6 route reaches its regular loop by Ontario Street and Derry Road. The poor driver was trying to explain that there was a detour, but I kept drowning him out with “It matters not to me; it’s all new to me” and so on.

Only when I found myself scooting along Derry Road for perhaps the sixth time today did I realize what he was trying to tell me – that there wouldn’t be much newness at all, at all; indeed it would be more-of-the-usual than any other possible route.

(I should add that this driver kept switching bus routes and seemed to be my personal guide for much of the morning!)

Anyway, that’s why I paused on my walk back to the GO Station to take the photo of the two timetables – to remind me to tell you about it.

There is no doubt in my mind that if you were standing here waiting for the #6 bus the #2 driver would stop. If you protested that you really wanted the #6 bus the #2 driver would probably put the bus in “Park” gear and manhandle you on board for your own good!

Which brings me to cyclists.

Milton has hundreds of short cycle paths threading through dozens or parkettes. The bad news is that almost all of these cycle paths continue on to, and from, the sidewalks. There is a culture in Milton of cyclists who believe that the sidewalks belong to them.

The young lady (not) called out to me from behind, and as I stepped back out of her way the gentleman (not) cursed me for not watching out for him.

They weren’t in any particular hurry, just two more cyclists whose day I ruined by walking on the side walk.

Shortly after this incident I walked under the rail lines (the new underpass under construction as I type) on the sidewalk on the south side (the north side is unavailable to pedestrians) and was strongly tempted to clothes-line a cyclist who was free-wheeling down the hill, one hand on the handlebars and the other arm clutching two cartons of beer.

I could have made a lovely mess of his day, one way or another. Or both.

I did get him to swerve dangerously close to the oncoming (eastbound) vehicles hurrying home, but was not good enough to get him to slide, on a raft of foaming suds and crushed glass, under the wheels of a truck,

OK. Glad I got THAT out of my system ...

Back at the GO Station with 20 minutes to spare I check my Presto card balance and consider it a shame that there isn’t a scroll-to-your-destination option so that I could check if I had sufficient balance for the trip.

Memo to Metrolinx: If you insist on implementing a half-baked scheme like Presto ...

Here I am at my bus stop with the route notices.

Here I am at the other side of my bus stop with the other side of the route notices.

Snap Quiz:

(1) Which eastbound route (to get me home) will be departing next from this stop?

(2) Which eastbound route (to get me home) will get me home fastest?

(3) Would I be better getting the 27A from Milton to Yorkdale or York Mills and getting the TTC subway home? (The 27F jumps onto the 401 highway at Meadowvale)

(4) Should I just catch the first #21 that comes along and pray that there isn’t a faster direct route (such as the 21B) that will roll up five minutes after we have left on the milk-run that (21B) might get to Union before the #21 I am sitting on?

(5) Is there any difference in price?

(6) Why is there no one here I can talk to about this?

(7) Why is Go Transit so confusing?

If you responded “I don’t know” to six or more questions, you are sane.

Just to give you a clue (or to confuse you further) here are three different GO Bus schedule booklets, each one serving Milton by a different set of routes.

If you didn’t know that there were three different sets of routes (not three different routes, but three different SETS of routes), ...

Note that the #21 and #27 sets BOTH travel along the highway 401.

Are you happy now?

While I am waiting for the Go Bus a GO train pulls in, and I weep, being Transilien-deprived. Oh! The Ile de France where the trains run in BOTH directions EIGHTEEN hours a day. To and from the dormitory towns every hour and down to every fifteen minutes on some lines.

Our bus pulls in and I have “just a few more questions”:-

(8) What about this Yorkdale bus that leaves from here? Can I catch it before or after this #21 bus to Union Station?

“Well, the Yorkdale bus service is ended for the day”. When I get home I check my timetables and see that the last bus left at 17:30.

Which is a pity because I could have left Troy’s Diner and although I’d miss the #21 to Union I could have caught the #27 to Yorkdale (or York Mills) and been home earlier by subway.

(9) What are my options for an Express bus next time I come to Milton?

“Not to sure about that; you might have to ask downtown”.

At this point I give up with a mental shrug and climb aboard.

We set off south down Thompson and I am pleased to recognize the street names I’d been reading throughout the day; east onto Derry Road, and the scrolling display kicks in with the voice-over announcement.

Sort of.

I am pretty sure I observed that:-

(1) The scrolling display showed the next stop when we were only fifty yards away from the stop, but continued scrolling two more times after we had breezed through the stop at 80 Km/hour. You blink, you miss it.

(2) Next we had two or three repetitions of the announcements that (a) Train schedules had changed and we should go check the web site and (b) students could get a 17% discount if they did something with their Presto card.

(3) By then we were about a hundred yards from the next stop so the voice-announcement would come on, followed by the scrolling display (repeat from (1) above.

All of which means that GO Transit had burdened the display with so much fluff that it was not able to do its job.

To my mind the voice announcement and scrolling display should come on the instant we pass the previous stop, to give passengers enough time to fold up their cell phone and newspaper, sweep away the sandwich crumbs, and gather their bags in preparation to descend.

In particular if you are unfamiliar with the route, the announcement “The next stop is Derry Road and” (wait for it, wait for it) “BUMP!RATTLE’th line” and a brief flash of “Derry Road and Ninth line” some five seconds before the green bus-stop post goes by your window is not much use.

Keep your eyes on this high-speed blurry photo. I’ll be back in a minute. You are trying to focus on the sidewalk which has been marked out into two cycle lanes with directional arrows. The yellow posts are in the middle of one cycle lane; it is not a trick of photography executed by my Nikon Coolpix click-and-pray camera.

GO train stations (Pickering, Oshawa and I think Whitby, Cooksville etc.) are being equipped with multi-storey car parks.

Perhaps the TTC should invest in this scheme and build multi-storey car-parks across Steeles Avenue and filter out-of-towners onto the subway system.

In fact, given that it is an idea with great potential, the TTC has probable rubber-stamped the idea “Denied” using red ink.

OK I promised you a better view. Here is one of the posts set dead in the middle of one direction of the cycle path.

It is quite obvious that pedestrians are not tolerated on the sidewalk. Pedestrians have to take their chances staggering between the cars (rolling and stationary) in the vast car park.

PsychoCyclePaths!

I couldn’t resist the red sun setting through the haze to the west.

We pull into Meadowvale slightly ahead of the outcoming GO train. I note with interest that this is a rake of twelve carriages; whereas the Lakeshore trains seem to be only ten carriages. Who Knew?

After that we hop on the 401 and the 427 to get to the QEW; on the way out (route 21H) we came up through Mississauga, pretty well from bottom to top, but on the way back (21N) we just skim the top of Mississauga and then streak for home.

Which is odd, because the morning route was scheduled as 1h 35m but it travels the streets of Mississauga, whereas the highway route home is scheduled at 5 minutes longer.

We hammer along the Gardiner until Park Lawn when the driver drops off to Lakeshore Boulevard until Jameson, when we hop back onto the Gardiner. I noticed the Gardiner was stop-and-go. Is the GO Bus driver privy to minute-by-minute knowledge from his colleagues?

“The Ex” (Canadian National Exhibition) is in full swing, which is more than I can say for the demonstration wind-turbine which is, as usual, stationary. Great example of Green Energy, fellas!

As for the cost, I’m a little confused.

I thought my Presto card opening balance was $32.73; in the Milton GO station it was $19.46, which suggests $13.27 for this morning’s trip out. I hopped off the bus with a balance of $14.49 which suggests only $4.97 for the trip home.

Such a discrepancy.

Say $18 for the GO Bus, and $3.35 + $7.50 for Milton; roughly $30 for a jolly good day.

And here I am, off the bus, up the stairs and onto Platform 3. I couldn’t get my camera to deal with the floodlights so you’ll just have to trust me – that platform number, almost centre of the photo reads “3”.

If you don’t believe me you can hire a cab to take yourself out to Milton, wait for a GO Bus, ride back to Union Station, climb the stairs, and see for yourself.

Last Sunday I explored the UP Express and complained that one had to make a massive detour to get to the GO Bus station.

Here I am, fresh off the GO Bus, walking along Platform 3, and that is the UP Express up ahead of me, but to get on board I’ll have to spend five minutes walking partway along this platform, down another set of stairs, through the VIA rail holding pens, and then along the corridor to the skywalk, then back up stairs to get to what may very well be, by now, and empty UP Express platform.

Yes. I know that they are every 15 minutes but I’d rather spend 15 minutes at the airport (where my plane is) than at Union Station (where neither my plane nor my train is).

Yup. Platform 3, and the UP is horizontally to the left.

If you are a seasoned world traveler you are expected to know already that “41-47” is Toronto’s euphemism for “GO Transit Buses”.

Say bye-bye to the train.

I have circled in bright yellow the door through which I took my photo last Sunday.

And so, down into the belly of the beast. These corridors are certainly more attractive than the hospital-ochre that graced the Bay Concourse.

The signs are stark, but they do stand out. Even I can follow-the-logo on a bad day.

But I still wonder who decided to use a common preposition (did I get that right?) as a moniker for a train. Do people confuse The UP train” with “The EL(eveated) Train”?

Especially when it seems to be the opposite to the SUB-way train.

And so to the old Bay Concourse, closed the day the Para-Pan-Am games folded its tents and left town. There are huge barricades (well, taller than me so I can’t photograph over them) that block off the old ticket-wickets.

The stores that used to sell newspapers, cinnamon buns, coffee and lottery tickets are gone.

Have they gone out of business, or did they manage to secure a location somewhere else?

What happened to their employees?

And what about the tens (hundreds?) of thousands of commuters who used to stream through here off the GO trains and grab a coffee on their way to work before using the underground PATH system to cross the Front/Bay intersection? Have the trapped rats managed to negotiate new routes out of the maze?

Without a coffee?

Or a muffin.

I hop on a subway train for the four stops home.

I am sitting with my back towards what would have been “the engine”; that is, I am facing backwards, watching where we have been.

I burst out laughing at the new vocal announcement “Doors will open on the right”, and I know she is not talking to me, but to the passengers facing me.

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7092187927 CPRGreaves@gmail.com

Bonavista, Wednesday, June 03, 2020 8:05 AM

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