Bikember - Bike Month continues

Don't put away the bikes until after Bike Month in Toronto. After that, I think the City's bylaw requires you to throw your bike in the garbage. I wonder if the EcoCabs pictured above do that Cash Cab thing?

BIXI bike docking at Union Station

WNBR 2011

I think the rear tire needs a little air!

Spring is coming, Sun sometimes shines

Spring loves me, she loves me not.

I know that we will soon feel the warmth of the sun, even though Spring has literally sprung (a leak), and snow and hail have fallen. Annual flowers have just started to peak out of the ground in our garden and robins are looking for worms in the grass. Here are some Toronto buildings kissed by the sun.

Down at Union Station.

Another jungle bus stop at Union Station.

Global Village Backpackers Hostel on Spadina.

I love the often photographed Flatiron Building. The distinctive triangle shape, the colour and the mural on the side overlooking Berczy Park. See more pictures of the Flatiron building after the jump (click on Read More>>, below).

Keeping watch at Union Station

The GO Transit security team keeps a sharp eye on passengers, including me, on an open section of rail line at Toronto's Union Station.

After the snow the sun returns

Afternoon sun reflected onto Union Station.

Half the working population of Toronto stayed home during Wednesday's predicted blizzard. Toronto was protected from the full fury of the storm, probably because of Groundhog Day, and the next day dawned bright and sunny.  No massive piles of snow blocked pedestrians or cars; we survived Toronto, we survived.

Queen Street West Hot Dog trucks look okay.

Some pigeons huddle for warmth at the entrance to the PATH system at City Hall. They really want to crap on some weather forecasters.

TRON Legacy 3D

Disney's TRON Legacy will be coming out December 17, 2010 - the images from the movie are freaking cool and I wish I had a light cycle. This poster is hanging in Union Station. Jeff Bridges plays two parts including a digital, younger looking, bad guy.

Make Local Hunger Disappear

Scott Hammell waves to children that had just donated food to his Free the Children Food Drive in Support of the Daily Bread Food Bank. Scott is a Magician ("entertain and inspire") and is living in a giant glass box at Union Stations. His box is quickly filling up with non-perishable food donations which will soon make him disappear as the space fills with a wall of cans. Probably the best type of magic - giving to those who are less fortunate.

Avatar at Union Station

Workers were busy installing Avatar's Hometree deep in the heart of Union Station. I was looking around for some unobtanium so I started to cut down the big fake tree and for some reason the guys got mad. Oh, the ironimium!



April 22 is the date of the Blu-ray and DVD release.

No GO Transit - Signal Problems Bring Delays

I was heading out to Union Station when a coworker showed me an email saying that signal problems had temporarily shut down some GO Trains - just in time for rush hour.

This is what Transit Toronto said of the issue "A major disruption to all GO Train service is currently underway. As a result of problems affecting CN’s signals and radio communications, GO Transit has had no choice but to suspend all GO Train service at this time, affecting thousands of commuters heading home during the afternoon rush hour."

Hoping that the problem would be fixed I ventured out in the very light snow that had started earlier in the day. I went in the entrance off of Bay Street and noticed that there were a ton of people around the customer service area. They really weren't announcing any problem over the intercom, however the display boards showed a number of Wait and Cancelled status alerts. Not knowing if things were soon to be fixed or if I should look at alternative ways of getting home I just hung and explored.



Eventually trains started to come into Union and they announced each one over the loudspeakers. My train showed up about 30 minutes after it usually arrives. Lining up on mass on the platform, standing 6 or more deep, we waited for the train to stop and the doors to open and then the river of people poured into the two sets of door in each train car. All in all we left Union Station only 15 minutes past the official departure time so the delay was minimal. As a bonus the bus arrived at the last station just after we arrived.

PS You can check the status of GO Trains and Buses on their website here.

Cab Umbrella

On one of the few warm days in Toronto I happened upon a cabbie sitting in his taxi holding an umbrella out his window trying to keep cool. He was waiting for a fair at Union Station.

Funky folding bike - it's still bike month

A new store called Saved by Bikes has opened in the First Canadian Place (concourse level in the Path System) selling bikes, not just any bikes but some cool and unusual bikes just made for the urban environment. Their display of colourful folded up bikes along a wall drew me into the store.

The Strida Folding Bike collapses down into a pretty small package that can be stored under your seat in a GO Train (GO Transit says this ... Can I bring a folding bicycle onto a GO Train? Folding bicycles are allowed on all GO Trains, including during peak-period travel times and within Union Station at any time. Cyclists boarding peak-period trains with folded bicycles are asked to follow some simple etiquette tips to ensure this pilot project is a success), or by your desk in the office - it doesn't have a metal chain so no leaking oil.




I hear that Union Station has now built a secure bike locker, which I have been unable to find yet (on York St). The locker is not free and you cannot leave bikes for longer than two days, etc, etc (I will update this post when I find more info on the bike storage).

One bike had no chain but instead used a drive shaft, another had a built in solar lighting system.



While it could be argued that bikes may not actually save the world, they could certainly help the planet and their riders in many ways.

Toronto Sun Credit Card Newspaper Box

I was surprised to see a fancy new Toronto Sun newspaper box with a gizmo for accepting credit cards to purchase the paper - somebody is working hard to get that 50 cents from the news reading public.



The high tech box was located right outside of Union Station and the first thing that caught my eye was the unusual look of the sleek machine - instead of the traditional red box. Looking closer I discovered that it accepted credit cards.

Now I myself have been reading paid newspapers less and less while going online more and more. One of the reasons that I stopped buying the Sun was that when you bought it at the store you had to pay 53 cents instead of 50 cents. If you tried to buy the paper out of the box a good percentage of the time the coin operation failed and it either kept my money or gave me back my change and wouldn't let me get a paper - both of these options made me less than happy. UPDATE: I went to a SUN box yesterday to finally buy a paper and of course it would not work - and I tried a few times.

Now that the business model of newspapers seems to be failing the old way of doing things has been replaced with less news, less newspaper and increased costs to cover the loss of advertising revenue. To continue selling less and less of their newspapers they may have to substantially raise the cost of each paper - no wonder they need the ability to take credit cards.