Toronto eh?
Someone asked me recently to write a blog about Toronto, and I thought, how do I do this? What would people be interested in knowing about this city, and why? And how do I make it good? I have no clue! I guess I will just start writing something and see where it goes.
So without further ado:
TORONTO: The good, the bad, and the ugly.
When I am eating a nice meal, I really like to eat what I like the least first (frozen veggies, brussel sprouts, asparagus, etc.) and keep the really yummy parts (juicy piece of steak, piece of pie vs the ice cream, the better of the two flavours of gelato that I am eating, etc.) for the end. So in the same way I will tell you first about the bad and the ugly and finish off with the good.
The Bad and the Ugly
There are definitely some bad things to be told about Toronto. The first thing that comes to mind is the transit system known as the TTC (i.e. Toronto Transit Commission). The extent of the subway is ridiculously small (see map here). There are only three lines, one of which isn't bad because it goes along the main street of Toronto from all the way west to all the way east. The yellow one's layout doesn't seem to make too much sense, and the purple line is so ridiculously short it's virtually pointless. Also, in general the schedule that they give for buses is completely meaningless, with buses sometimes arriving exactly between two scheduled departures (e.g. 15 minutes late given a 30 minute departure interval). Finally, the TTC must be the only public transportation system I've heard of whose monthly pass doesn't actually reduce the cost of riding it if you take it 5 days per week twice a day. They worked it out so that you have to use it 6 times per week at least to break even! (it is a bit better now, since they increased the cost of a regular fare :-S ). I believe we can blame the provincial government of Mike Harris a few years back for this sad state of affairs, since I believe he was the one that majorly reduced funding to public transit.
Next bad thing: smog. With the combination of warm temps during the summer, the big big lake Ontario, and such parking lots as Highway 401, the air gets pretty thick and soupy. As an avid cyclist, I have personally experienced the effects of smog, which manifest themselves as very sore lungs and particulate matter collecting in your mouth as you ride. Not very pleasant! Check this link at around rush hour, and you'll see part of the problem. I don't exactly know who to blame for this, if anyone, but I'm sure that all these rich yuppies driving SUVs all by themselves to work aren't helping, the crappy transit, as well as the massive urban sprawl that we have here. There is an amusement park north of Toronto that was once out in open fields...it felt so far away back when I was little. Now it is surrounded on all sides by monopoly houses. :-(
What else is bad? A few small things, the dirty streets on Spadina Avenue, Scarborough is not great, and Mississauga is boring. There are a few rough neighbourhoods like Regent Park that you should avoid.
Also, as a relatively new city, there are no real monuments to go and visit as they have in older cities around the world, even cities like Montreal. This can make Toronto a pretty boring place for tourists. The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) isn't all that impressive, and the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) isn't great either (although the new architecture they're adding is interesting to say the least). Once you've been to the CN tower there's really nothing to see. However, if you are a smart tourist and you really know how to explore a city's lifestyle, or you know someone here, it can be great (but more on this later).
That's it for today. Stay tuned for 'Toronto: the good'. I may even add some photos in the next post! After I figure out how to do it.
So without further ado:
TORONTO: The good, the bad, and the ugly.
When I am eating a nice meal, I really like to eat what I like the least first (frozen veggies, brussel sprouts, asparagus, etc.) and keep the really yummy parts (juicy piece of steak, piece of pie vs the ice cream, the better of the two flavours of gelato that I am eating, etc.) for the end. So in the same way I will tell you first about the bad and the ugly and finish off with the good.
The Bad and the Ugly
There are definitely some bad things to be told about Toronto. The first thing that comes to mind is the transit system known as the TTC (i.e. Toronto Transit Commission). The extent of the subway is ridiculously small (see map here). There are only three lines, one of which isn't bad because it goes along the main street of Toronto from all the way west to all the way east. The yellow one's layout doesn't seem to make too much sense, and the purple line is so ridiculously short it's virtually pointless. Also, in general the schedule that they give for buses is completely meaningless, with buses sometimes arriving exactly between two scheduled departures (e.g. 15 minutes late given a 30 minute departure interval). Finally, the TTC must be the only public transportation system I've heard of whose monthly pass doesn't actually reduce the cost of riding it if you take it 5 days per week twice a day. They worked it out so that you have to use it 6 times per week at least to break even! (it is a bit better now, since they increased the cost of a regular fare :-S ). I believe we can blame the provincial government of Mike Harris a few years back for this sad state of affairs, since I believe he was the one that majorly reduced funding to public transit.
Next bad thing: smog. With the combination of warm temps during the summer, the big big lake Ontario, and such parking lots as Highway 401, the air gets pretty thick and soupy. As an avid cyclist, I have personally experienced the effects of smog, which manifest themselves as very sore lungs and particulate matter collecting in your mouth as you ride. Not very pleasant! Check this link at around rush hour, and you'll see part of the problem. I don't exactly know who to blame for this, if anyone, but I'm sure that all these rich yuppies driving SUVs all by themselves to work aren't helping, the crappy transit, as well as the massive urban sprawl that we have here. There is an amusement park north of Toronto that was once out in open fields...it felt so far away back when I was little. Now it is surrounded on all sides by monopoly houses. :-(
What else is bad? A few small things, the dirty streets on Spadina Avenue, Scarborough is not great, and Mississauga is boring. There are a few rough neighbourhoods like Regent Park that you should avoid.
Also, as a relatively new city, there are no real monuments to go and visit as they have in older cities around the world, even cities like Montreal. This can make Toronto a pretty boring place for tourists. The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) isn't all that impressive, and the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) isn't great either (although the new architecture they're adding is interesting to say the least). Once you've been to the CN tower there's really nothing to see. However, if you are a smart tourist and you really know how to explore a city's lifestyle, or you know someone here, it can be great (but more on this later).
That's it for today. Stay tuned for 'Toronto: the good'. I may even add some photos in the next post! After I figure out how to do it.
posted by a bike rider in the big smoke at 11:45 p.m.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home