NORTHLANDER GREAT IDEA, BUT NOT WITHOUT RELIABLE TRAIN STATION
TARA COLLUM | Contributing columnist
I hear the train a coming, it’s rolling around the bend.
After the sad termination of the Northlander passenger service in 2012, there are new plans to get the train back on track. A maiden test voyage through Gravenhurst speaks to the public demand and political interest in getting the train wheels rolling again.
But where will the train stop? That might sound like an odd question. The Train Station, of course, right?
Here’s another question, where will you buy a ticket? Or check the schedule? In the past few years Gravenhurst has not had the best luck with Ontario Northland, and catching its bus can be a frustrating experience for riders.
Reliable public transportation is important to the tourism industry. For example, Metrolinx runs a GO Train excursion service from Toronto’s Union Station to Niagara Falls, which carries hundreds of tourists and sight-seers. It connects with local transportation and local attraction packages are also available.
I’ve been taking the Northland bus back-and-forth to the city for at least 20 years. I lost track of where to buy a paper ticket, preferring to buy one on my phone now.
But not everyone has a reliable internet connection, or a smart phone — or the ability to navigate often difficult websites. What are people with flip phones supposed to do? There shouldn’t be such barriers for a provincially-funded service.
After the closing of the counter at the Train Station, bus tickets could be purchased first across the street at Gull Lake Variety; and now at Gravenhurst Bait & Tackle, where the bus stop can now also be found.
It was very kind of the shop to reel in ticket sales. But it doesn’t lure them any sales, I imagine. The location is too far off the highway, inconvenient for the driver and puzzling for passengers. It’s far from the taxi stand, there is no seating, no lightning, no washroom, and no shelter from the elements. And not very many places to park for people picking up or dropping off passengers.
If the town finds a business to sell train tickets, will they also sell the bus tickets? Is it possible for the bus stop to go back to the station?
With the loss of The Station, Gravenhurst is no longer the meal rest stop location for the Northland, Bracebridge is.
Could this be renegotiated, so a suitable business could benefit from the passengers needing to buy food and drinks or snacks? Or other things they might need during their travels as they buy with their tickets.
All the while the renovated station sits empty. A Train Station whose fate is the source of constant debate.
Word on the street is the town of Gravenhurst charges high rent and taxes that make it difficult for a business to survive, especially restaurants that have razor thin profits. A few restaurants tried to take on the challenge, one despite a good menu, and free Wi-Fi ultimately couldn’t make a go of things.
I’ve only taken the train once. Right around the time it was announced the service would be discontinued. So I took it just to see what it was like.
I usually take the bus from Yorkdale, a much quieter depot than the rush of Union Station.
The train was a nice scenic ride, but it was hours late. Having a more reliable schedule is one hiccup being worked out by the Northlander operators and CN Rail before service resumes.
Serving bus and train passengers will hopefully be a good opportunity for someone.
I’ve been crabbing about the bus situation since the summer, and really hope that the train coming back to town will give me and my fellow passengers — and the driver — a proper bus stop again.
November 28, 2021 @ 2:19 pm
Any business taking over the Station will have to get some major rent concessions from the town if not free rent. You can’t make adequate revenue from selling coffee and some train ticket (most people will buy them on line) as most of the tenants found out over the last 30 years including the Gravenhurst Board of Trade the forerunner of the Gravenhurst Chamber of Commerce.
November 28, 2021 @ 3:37 pm
From 1969 to 1980, I took the train back and forth, from my home town of Gravenhurst to Toronto (to work) and back home again just about very weekend. I had no car. When the train stopped running (by-passing Gravenhurst) I could only think of the number of potential commuters not being able to visit G’Hurst, or going to T. O. for medical appointments. Prices for train travel has risen considerably from my train trips ($6 return trip). Now with the cost of vehicle gas, the current possible train cost of $30.00 + return is a lot cheaper than driving. Massive road congestion is a nightmare. A train station sitting empty for 9 years is beyond belief. If a train passes in front of the Gravenhurst station (from T.O. or going south from the northern areas) how hard is it to stop for 3-5 minutes to drop or pickup passengers? Train riding is more relaxing and no worries about snowy roads, or closed Highway 400 from accidents. I say bring back the train stop in Gravenhurst and I will be first in line to buy my train ticket to visit family and friends in worry-free comfort. I want to hear the train whistle ‘tooting’ and the conductor calling out “Next stop Gravenhurst.” Then I will know I am home.
November 28, 2021 @ 3:52 pm
Tara Collum has raised very good points in her column on the train station & bus service. And Christine Beasley-Crisp is spot-on with her additional comments — she should know since she has “been there and done that” if I remember correctly!
“Reliable” is the key to the whole thing! Can we bring back ‘reliable’ (such as it was/wasn’t) passenger service? Can we find a ‘reliable’ business to take over the train station? There are so many issues: 1. freight trains take precedence over passenger service, and passenger trains have to pull over to let freight trains rush by on their way to their destinations. That would not be an issue except that there are so few sidings now where passenger trains can pull in and wait, that sometimes the passenger train and its passengers had to sit for an hour or more before the freight train could overtake them let alone pass them. 2) In order to service “the north”, how far north would passenger service be extended? North Bay? Cochrane as it used to be? Gravenhurst is NOT NORTH! North Bay is BARELY NORTH IN THIS PROVINCE! Look at the back of the map of Ontario to find North! So is this to be a service strictly for Cottage Country or all the way north where it is badly needed? 3) Could we find a business — or even two to share the space — that would be engaged in some sort of enterprise that would allow the selling of tickets on the side with vending machines for snacks? 4) Could the Town reduce its rent by half to keep the building running and heated? (An empty building deteriorates fast!) 5) Could the Town ever understand that by expediting the flow of people to and from our town with a decent transit hub (bus/train/taxi station where people were sheltered while waiting), that the Town might stand to profit from that flow? All of these obstacles can be overcome — it takes the foresight and the will to do it!