Toronto Train/ Bus Station Query

I'm staying at Residence Inn Toronto Downtown/Entertainment District
which is on 255 Wellington Street West Toronto, Ontario M5V 3P9.

How far is it to the closest bus station where I can purchase Greyhound
tickets?
Also is there a Train station nearby?

Thanks!
--
Am I the only Gareth Slee?
http://garethslee.blogspot.com/

Gareth Slee wrote:
I'm staying at Residence Inn Toronto Downtown/Entertainment District
which is on 255 Wellington Street West Toronto, Ontario M5V 3P9.

How far is it to the closest bus station where I can purchase Greyhound
tickets?

The main Greyhound terminal is at 610 Bay street, 1.5 miles from your
hotel. - easy to get to on the subway (Tube)

Also is there a Train station nearby?

Union station, 65 Front Street West, is only a half mile from your hotel
It is also a major subway terminal.

From your hotel you can easily walk (few hundred yards) up to King St.
where you can take public transit a TTC street car to the subway or to
any major city location.



--
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TheNewsGuy(Mike) wrote:

Gareth Slee wrote:
I'm staying at Residence Inn Toronto Downtown/Entertainment District
which is on 255 Wellington Street West Toronto, Ontario M5V 3P9.

How far is it to the closest bus station where I can purchase Greyhound
tickets?

The main Greyhound terminal is at 610 Bay street, 1.5 miles from your
hotel. - easy to get to on the subway (Tube)

Also is there a Train station nearby?

Union station, 65 Front Street West, is only a half mile from your hotel
It is also a major subway terminal.

From your hotel you can easily walk (few hundred yards) up to King St.
where you can take public transit a TTC street car to the subway or to
any major city location.

Thank you for that Mike.
Is Bay Street considered a safe area? I'll be arriving early evening at
Toronto.
Maybe safer to travel to the Greyhound terminal the following morning?
Is the local Taxi cab service reliable?

--
Am I the only Gareth Slee?
http://garethslee.blogspot.com/

Gareth Slee wrote:
...
Thank you for that Mike.
Is Bay Street considered a safe area?

Yes. Downtown Toronto is no problem.

I'll be arriving early evening at
Toronto.
Maybe safer to travel to the Greyhound terminal the following morning?

By the time you are checked to your downtown hotel you might be too
tired to venture out - remember the time zone change, too.

Is the local Taxi cab service reliable?

Yes. There are a lot of taxis around the hotels in the tourist area you
will be in.





--
===========================
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http://sawyer.xtreemhost.com/

Seinfeld Trivia, Lists, and Scripts
http://seinfeld.xtreemhost.com/
===========================

TheNewsGuy(Mike) wrote:

Gareth Slee wrote:
...
Thank you for that Mike.
Is Bay Street considered a safe area?

Yes. Downtown Toronto is no problem.

I'll be arriving early evening at
Toronto.
Maybe safer to travel to the Greyhound terminal the following morning?

By the time you are checked to your downtown hotel you might be too
tired to venture out - remember the time zone change, too.

Is the local Taxi cab service reliable?

Yes. There are a lot of taxis around the hotels in the tourist area you
will be in.

Thanks again Mike!
I'll take your advice and purchase the bus tickets the following
morning. We're going to the Canon Theatre that night and I understand
it's quite close to the bus station?

--
Am I the only Gareth Slee?
http://garethslee.blogspot.com/

Gareth Slee:
I'm staying at Residence Inn Toronto Downtown/Entertainment District
which is on 255 Wellington Street West Toronto, Ontario M5V 3P9.

How far is it to the closest bus station where I can purchase Greyhound
tickets?

"Mike":
The main Greyhound terminal is at 610 Bay street, 1.5 miles from your
hotel. - easy to get to on the subway (Tube)

Also is there a Train station nearby?

Union station, 65 Front Street West, is only a half mile from your hotel
It is also a major subway terminal.

From your hotel you can easily walk (few hundred yards) up to King St.
where you can take public transit a TTC street car to the subway or to
any major city location.

The subway in that area follows a U-shaped route. I will show it as a
line of # signs against the grid of streets; stations are marked O and
labeled in block capitals.

University Av. Bay St. Yonge St.
# | #
# Bus | #
# Station | #
Dundas St. # | # DUNDAS
--------------------O---------------+-------O-----------
ST. PATRICK # | #
# | # Canon Theatre
# | #
# | #
# | #
Queen St. # | # QUEEN
--------------------O---------------+-------O-----------
OSGOODE # | #
# | #
ST. # | #
King St. ANDREW # | # KING
--------------------O---------------+-------O-----------
Wellington St. # | #
--------------------#---------------+-------#-----------
Front St. # UNION | #
--------------------################O########-----------
Union | |
Station | |
(trains)

Of course you must view this in a monospaced font. The diagram is
more or less to scale. From Front to Dundas St. is about 3/4 mile.
Your hotel is near the left edge of the diagram, maybe 1/2 mile west
of Yonge St. Only relevant streets are shown.

Most of the streets shown are dead straight in this area, and the few
curves that there are aren't important now. I have marked the train
station, bus station, and Canon Theatre.

As noted, there are streetcars along King. (There are also streetcars
along Queen and Dundas and buses along Bay, but you won't likely use
those. The Bay bus is less frequent than the subway.) I expect that
when going somewhere from the hotel you will either (1) walk north to
King and get a streetcar, then transfer to the subway; (2) walk to
St. Andrew station and get the subway, (3) walk all the way to your
destination, or (4) take a taxi.

I should note that in this area essentially all major office buildings
and major shops are connected by underground passages, which are mostly
lined with shops. From Metro Hall, on King St. roughly north of your
hotel, during shopping hours you could actually walk indoors all the
way to the bus terminal, to Union station (railway or subway), or to
any of the other four subway stations from St. Andrew around to Dundas.
However, I would not recommend doing this unless you found it desirable
to avoid some bad weather. While the system (called PATH) does have
signs and route maps posted, they are not very easy to follow, and in
places the experience is kind of like taking a long walk through an
airport terminal.

What you do want to know if you're taking an inter-city bus is that you
can walk indoors from Dundas subway station to a building called the
Atrium on Bay, and from that to the bus terminal.

Now some transit details.

Because of the U-shaped route, to travel between (for example) Dundas
and St. Patrick stations, you board a SOUTHBOUND train in each direction.
Incidentally, Dundas station has separate fare barriers for northbound
and southbound trains (it's the only one like that on the system), so
be sure to use the right entrance. At Union station the train directions
are signposted as YONGE NORTHBOUND and UNIVERSITY NORTHBOUND.

The TTC is a flat-fare system with transfers included. A single ride
is $2.75. Stores, and human fare collectors at subway stations, will
sell you tickets or tokens (they are equivalent except that tokens
operate the automatic turnstiles at subway stations) at 5 for $11.25
(= $2.25). Machines at subway stations will sell you 4 tokens for $9
if you pay with a $10 bill or 8 for $18 if you pay with a $20 bill.

If you start your ride at a subway station and will transfer to a
streetcar (or bus), then after entering the barrier, take a transfer
(i.e. transfer ticket) from the dispenser just inside (it's red).
When you board the streetcar you just show it to the driver. Note:
transfers are only good for changing vehicles within the same journey,
not for stopovers or return travel.

If you start your trip on a streetcar, you must have a ticket or token
already, or else you must pay the single-ride fare and change is *not*
given. Once you pay, you can then ask the driver for a transfer. At
the subway station, just show this to the fare collector.

Have a good trip.
--
Mark Brader "You can do this in a number of ways.
Toronto IBM chose to do all of them...
why do you find that funny?" --D. Taylor

My text in this article is in the public domain.

Gareth Slee wrote:

I'm staying at Residence Inn Toronto Downtown/Entertainment District
which is on 255 Wellington Street West Toronto, Ontario M5V 3P9.

How far is it to the closest bus station where I can purchase Greyhound
tickets?
Also is there a Train station nearby?


The train station is quite close to your hotel, but unless your destination
is on the main corridors you are probably better off taking the bus.
Canadian rail service is infrequent and usually runs late. Bus service is
much more frequent and tends to run on time.

Dave Smith wrote:

Gareth Slee wrote:

I'm staying at Residence Inn Toronto Downtown/Entertainment District
which is on 255 Wellington Street West Toronto, Ontario M5V 3P9.

How far is it to the closest bus station where I can purchase Greyhound
tickets?
Also is there a Train station nearby?


The train station is quite close to your hotel, but unless your destination
is on the main corridors you are probably better off taking the bus.
Canadian rail service is infrequent and usually runs late. Bus service is
much more frequent and tends to run on time.

Well I'm looking to travel to Niagara and then onto Cleveland OH.
I'm hoping the buses won't be fully booked for my dates (10th Feb and
12th Feb) .

--
Am I the only Gareth Slee?
http://garethslee.blogspot.com/

Gareth Slee wrote:

The train station is quite close to your hotel, but unless your destination
is on the main corridors you are probably better off taking the bus.
Canadian rail service is infrequent and usually runs late. Bus service is
much more frequent and tends to run on time.

Well I'm looking to travel to Niagara and then onto Cleveland OH.
I'm hoping the buses won't be fully booked for my dates (10th Feb and
12th Feb) .

There are only 2 or 3 trains each day from Toronto to Niagara Falls. Buses
run almost hourly. The Niagara Falls train and bus stations are across the
street from each other, in the old downtown business area, which is pretty
seedy. It is about 2 miles down river from the falls.

Dave Smith wrote:

The Niagara Falls train and bus stations are across the
street from each other, in the old downtown business area, which is pretty
seedy. It is about 2 miles down river from the falls.


Any idea what would be the best way to get from the bus station to the
Sheraton On The Falls Hotel?

--
Am I the only Gareth Slee?
http://garethslee.blogspot.com/