Connections

Pick a place where intercity services meet. For every scheduled arrival, see how long you would wait for each onward coach or train, and whether a local bus is running when you get there.

Waits allow at least 10 minutes to change, between stops up to 1.5 km apart in the same place. Trips after midnight count on the day they arrive, and the week repeats, so Sunday night connects to Monday morning. Trips heading back toward where you came from are left out. Local bus hours are the first and last departures at municipal stops within 800 m.

Every pair of services that meet at a place, scored on how long a traveller waits to change, across every arrival in the reference week. Worst first. Click a row to open that place above.

Score: each arrival scores 100 if the onward trip leaves within 45 minutes (allowing 10 minutes to change), falling in a straight line to 40 at 2 hours, 20 for a longer wait the same day, and 0 if the next onward trip is the next day or later. A pair's score is the average over every arrival in the week. Where the arriving service runs more often than the onward one (for example a GO train feeding a daily coach), travellers choose the arrival that fits, so the pair is scored from each onward trip instead: how long before it the last usable arrival gets in. A is 80 or more, B 60 to 79, C 40 to 59, D under 40. A pair is left out where changing makes no sense: the onward trip heads back the way you came, or goes where the arriving trip was already going. Timing fix: where the onward trip leaves up to 30 minutes before you could make it, the smallest hold (in 5-minute steps) that catches the most of those arrivals, and the score it would give. It does not check knock-on effects on other connections or on drivers' schedules.

Corridor comparison: ONTC and FlixBus

Add trips for a proposed or announced service and they appear below, marked as proposed, beside the scheduled ONTC and FlixBus trips. They are kept in this browser only; use Export to save or share them.

Scheduled times by town. A blank cell means the trip does not stop in that town. FlixBus and proposed trips that leave within an hour of another operator's trip are flagged.

Terminal use

Intercity trips on the chosen day, the bay each one is given in the chart above, and the nearest local bus. A connection is the next local bus leaving 5 to 50 minutes after an arrival, or the last one arriving 10 to 55 minutes before a departure.

Rail check: Northlander and Polar Bear Express

Onward services a passenger can catch after the train arrives, and services that feed into it, at stops within 1.5 km. Slack is how late the train (or the feeder) can be before the connection is lost. Move the delay slider to see which onward connections would be lost.

The earliest arrival by other published services (coach, bus, VIA, GO, FlixBus) between the same two communities, direct or with one change at another Northlander station, leaving up to an hour before the train.

Station pairs on this train with no other published way to travel within 20 hours of the train, so a cancellation would need replacement buses or another plan.

Choose the section of line that is blocked. The bridge coach meets the train at the first station, calls at each station on the way, and passengers rejoin a train at the last one. Road times come from the Ontario Road Network at posted speed limits, with the allowance you choose.

Disruption log

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Collisions and closures on each Ontario Northland corridor's highways, as listed by Ontario 511 since logging began, and what they meant for coaches. Planned work and ramp closures are counted separately.

Each calendar month in a few sentences, for reports to leadership: what Ontario 511 listed on Ontario Northland corridors, which corridor was hit hardest, what it meant for coaches, and the change from the month before.

Month by month

Templates for leadership reporting

Three templates for reporting to leadership teams: a service recommendation for decisions, a briefing note, and a service analysis. Each one puts the bottom line first, asks for evidence with sources and dates, and keeps each section to a word target. Pick a template, fill in the form, and download the finished document. Drafts stay in this browser; use Export to move them or share them.

Gap list: where service falls short of potential demand

Ranked by population and by how far residents drive to the nearest stop. Fly-in communities appear here with no drive time.

Each gap is matched to the model that usually fits its situation, using simple rules on distance, population, whether a direct trip already exists, days of service, road access and hospital access. Treat the suggestion as a starting point for a service design study, not a decision.

Practice library: what similar communities have tried

Rules and targets published by other agencies, and figures compiled from the cases above. Use them to set targets for a service design, not as Ontario requirements.