Air Canada expands feeder bus network around Toronto

By Transport Action Ontario | Aviation

Starting on June 15, 2026, Air Canada’s network of feeder bus services in Ontario will expand to include Niagara, Sarnia, and Muskoka, with existing services from Kingston and Waterloo getting extra departures. In many cases, these are airports that had lost scheduled flight services in recent years.

By replacing very short haul feeder flights on small and usually cramped aircraft with a motorcoach with spacious 2+1 seating operated by its partner Landline, Air Canada is offering its passengers, and passengers ticked on Star Alliance partner flights through Air Canada, the opportunity to check in at their regional airport, board a bus, and ride directly to the airline’s hub at Toronto Pearson. The motorcoaches are also accessible, equipped with a powered lift for mobility aids.

All routes have early morning and late evening trips to provide connections to long-haul flights to Asia and Europe, and establishing what is fast becoming one of the larger motorcoach networks in southern Ontario appears to be another step in the airline’s journey to embracing intermodality, with through air-rail ticketing available in European destinations and involvement in Canada’s Alto high speed rail project.

A limited number of seats on these bus services are also available to book directly on the Landline website for passengers connecting to other airlines, at a cost of $49 for adults and $15 for children. Because this is a “land side” service and security screening still takes place at Pearson, these seats may also be used by passengers from cities like Sarnia, which has long campaigned for additional VIA Rail service, who just want to travel to Toronto and can then use the Union Pearson Express train, Eglinton Crosstown LRT, and TTC connections to get around the city.

Open Letter on ALTO HSR Route Options in Eastern Ontario

By Transport Action Ontario | Intercity Rail and Bus , Latest News , Uncategorized

There have been intensive discussions and concerns in Eastern Ontario about route selection for the ALTO High-Speed Rail proposal. Transport Action Canada has written an open letter to the media summarizing the various route and speed options that have been considered in the past, and identifying other key considerations like maintaining good conventional service and providing impact mitigation.

Our key message is to urge ALTO and Transport Canada to share their cost-benefit analyses and comparative business cases, as this will materially inform the discussions. The public has every right to scrutinize all this information!

Our letter can be viewed below:

Petitions to Fund the “Bear Train”

By Transport Action Ontario | Intercity Rail and Bus , Latest News , Northern Ontario

The Coalition for Algoma Passenger Trains, along with other stakeholders, have initiated petitions to the federal and Ontario governments to each fund 50% of the cost to restore passenger train service between Sault Ste. Marie and Oba Lake, in the form of the Mask-wa Oo-ta-ban (Cree for “Bear Train”. Here are the details of the petitions and how to sign:

The Coalition for Algoma Passenger Trains (CAPT) is now launching official federal and Ontario provincial petitions in support of Mask-wa Oo-ta-ban, the Bear Train (the passenger train).   When the petitions are signed by June 12, 2026 they will be presented by our MP Terry Sheehan to the House of Commons and by MPP Bill Rosenberg to the Ontario Legislature. The petitions support Mask-wa Transportation Association Inc (MTA Inc)’s applications for federal and provincial funding for Phase 1 of the restoration of the passenger train from Sault Ste. Marie to the south end of Oba Lake.  After the Bear Train successfully runs in Phase I, MTA Inc. will apply for funding for Phase II which will be extended to Hearst For the federal government there are English and French electronic and paper petitions. These petitions can be signed by citizens of Canada. People can sign both the paper petition and the e-petition. Federal Electronic petition links:Petition e-7001 (English) Pétition e-7001 (Français)We have also included a printable sheet with information and a QR code to support access to the e-petition. Printable E-Petition QR code and information sheet link:Printable E-Petition QR code and information sheetThose signing the e-petitions will be required to verify their email address in order to authenticate the signature. If the email is not validated, the signature will not count towards the petition. Please widely share the links to the e-petition with friends, relatives, and contacts. Federal Paper Petition links:Printable Petition e-7001 (English)Printable Pétition e-7001 (Français)or For the Ontario government there are English and French paper petitions only, no electronic petitions. These petitions can be signed by residents of Ontario. Provincial Paper Petition links:Printable Bear Train Petition (English)Printable Bear Train Petition (Français)You can print blank English and/or French Federal and Provincial paper petitions and ask your friends, relatives and other contacts to sign them. Please sign a petition to the Federal Government AND a petition to the Ontario Government.  Signed paper petitions can be dropped off at the following locations: -In Dubreuilville at the Civic Centre -In Wawa at the Civic Centre -In Sault Ste. Marie at: (a) Missanabie Cree First Nation, 601 Queen St. East (northeast corner of Queen and Brock)  (b) Algoma Country (334 Bay St.), Monday to Friday, 9AM to 5PM (c) NORDIK Institute (Elgin Tower, 390 Bay St.) on Wednesdays, 9AM to 5PM -Paper petitions can also be mailed to Coalition for Algoma Passenger Trains, 1254 Queen St. East  Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario P6A 2E7 Thank you for your time, efforts, and energy. Your support of this petition, Mask-wa Oo-ta-ban (the Bear Train), and the return of passenger rail to the North is appreciated and helps support passenger rail getting back on track. CAPT will continue to keep you updated on a rolling basis.

Southwestern Ontario Forgotten in Transportation Upgrades

By Transport Action Ontario | Intercity Rail and Bus , Latest News , Southwestern Ontario

Transport Action Ontario (TAO) board member Ken Westcar recently published an op-ed about transportation in southwestern Ontario (SWO) in the London Free Press. Although the article expresses his personal opinions, they do mirror the opinions of Transport Action Ontario:

• The growing and aging population, the higher costs of car ownership and increasing road congestion all require action to improve pubic transportation in SWO.

• Despite extensive and well-researched input from a Task Force and from stakeholders like TAO, no transportation plan has emerged for SWO after over 6 years of study.
• Provincial budget announcements have contained no meaningful investments for public transport for SWO, in contrast to Greater Toronto and northern Ontario.

TAO will continue to urge completion of the SWO Transportation Plan and for investment in public transportation. For example, in 2025 we identified 5 low-cost rail investments in SWO that would improve passenger and freight operations. They continue to be good ideas that should be implemented.

Lessons Learned from Eglinton Crosstown LRT Project

By Transport Action Ontario | Latest News , Uncategorized , Urban Transit

The Toronto Eglinton Crosstown LRT (Line 5) started up on February 8, 2026 and has received mostly good reviews from the public.  However, as readers know, the $13 billion Design-Build-Finance-Maintain project was beset by many problems – $ 1 billion over budget, 6-years late, litigation, pandemic and community disruption.

There have been calls for a public inquiry, but Premier Ford has rejected this idea. There are also calls for an investigation by the Auditor General. A thorough review of the project could reveal opportunities for improvements in future Infrastructure Ontario projects to deliver on-time and on-budget.

At the Metrolinx board meeting of February 12, Metrolinx CEO Michael Lindsay spoke at length about lessons learned.  His remarks were not covered by the media, but are informative and summarized below:

• Private sector partner (Crosslink Transit Solutions) underestimated the risk at the time of bid.  Their bid was based on a 30% design.  Metrolinx has now changed its contracting strategy and is using mostly progressive contracts, where the private partner and Metrolinx work cooperatively on the design to develop a final price.
• Too much litigation.  As the project ran into trouble, the contracting partners turned to claims and litigation, rather than focusing on project completion.  More compromising is needed.
• Slow approvals.  As there are always surprises in underground work, processes need to be in place for quick approvals of alternate plans.  For Line 5, the big surprise was discovering cavities dating back to the 1950s in the concrete station box under Eglinton subway station.
• Need early focus on system integration.  There were interface issues between the civil infrastructure, the vehicles and the systems.  Need to focus early on final testing and commissioning.
• Avoid commercial disputes within the private partner.  There were issues between the partners forming Crosslink and should have been avoided.
• Need better public communications.  This includes cost ranges and schedule delays.

Mr. Lindsay said that Metrolinx has taken these learnings to heart and has implemented changes on its current projects, like the 4 subway projects current underway.  We certainly hope that is the case, and that the changes prove effective.  Metrolinx must also ensure that lessons learned are retained within the organisation and not lost due to institutional amnesia.