I was driving to the office from the Junction last week, and I passed a brave individual waiting at this bus stop on Parkside Drive:
I immediately thought to myself, “what an undignified and silly bus stop.” There’s a little bit of paving so you have a place to stand while you’re waiting, but how do you even get there?
There are no sidewalks actually leading to said bus stop, and so you really only have two options: 1) jaywalk or 2) cross at some far away intersection and then walk unceremoniously on a narrow strip of grass and dirt on the side of a busy street.
Not surprisingly, this was the first time I had ever seen anyone waiting at this stop even though I take this route all the time on my way to and from Junction House.
I recognize that I was operating a motor vehicle when I saw this guy waiting for the bus. But I also took transit last week. And I know that we have it in us to do much better than what you’re seeing in the above street view photo.
It’s also a reminder that while High Park is really great, we need to work on its edges. Both the urban edge that I’m describing above, and the built form that surrounds our magnificent park. High Park is an urban park, but we seem to be a little uncomfortable with that idea.
BRANDON DONNELLY 
As a long-time resident of parkside (just a couple of blocks south of there), I can tell you that parkside isn’t friendly to any user, not even cars and trucks. It’s little more than a busy highway where people speed.
I think it would need to be requalified as a local street to make any difference. The fact that it currently is a major North-South artery that people use to cross the city, makes it very difficult to make it more friendly to pedestrians, cyclists, etc.
The problem is: there aren’t many major North-South corridors that allow people to cross the city.
The removal of the rush hour lane during the pandemic was a step in the right direction, but the whole street would have to be remodeled, in the fashion of Bloor street or Roncesvalles for it to become more friendly to all users. The challenge with this is that viable alternative to cars have to be offered as a result. As long as transit sucks in Toronto, we’ll be facing the same growing pains.
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I also live a 5-min. walk from the park. Torontonians like to think of themselves as ‘progressive’, but they show who they really are when they vote.
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Pingback: How would you make this street better? – BRANDON DONNELLY
Needs change over time – The Park could easily give up 20-25 feet on the west side, allowing for a continuous sidewalk, 2-way bike lane, SAFE bus-stops and if they want to claim a bit more, perhaps a wider roam allowing for 2 full lanes and a parking section all along the east side for residents of Parkside as well as guests at the Park itself. The diversion could happen at Bloor and Parkside and continue to The Queensway underpass. People may cry foul for the 0.7% of the park that gets converted (25′ x 5110′ = 2.93 acres / 400 acre park) but with vision zero being at the forefront of the city’s agenda, I can imagine tragically losing 1 less person (or child like we did a few years back on Lakeshore just below the park) is worth the trade off.
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