After a day enjoying the sights of Niagara
Falls from the Canadian side, we decided to take a trip to the USA to see the Falls
from an alternative angle. In addition, we decided to take in a trip to Love
Canal, a contamination disaster that resulted in the introduction of the US
Superfund and is widely regarded as the birthplace of modern contaminated land
research.
Getting to Love Canal was complex, with no scheduled buses serving the specific settlement, but Google did take things to new heights of randomness when it suggested a 4.5 hour trip involving Amtrak trains for a distance of under 15KM, all because it refused to accept that walking across Rainbow Bridge (the link from Niagara Falls Ontario to Niagara Falls New York) was possible. A little lateral thinking found us paying our 50 cents toll (only to the Americans-entry to Canada is free!), passing through US customs and attempting to locate our bus stop. Google Maps got us to the correct intersection but here failed again, directing us to a bus stop not served by the 50, our intended service. Fortunately a kind local directed us to the correct location, and we boarded the number 50, with only a handful of passengers aboard. Most passengers got off as we progressed along the route towards Niagara Transit Centre, and we alighted under a nondescript road bridge and began our walk through Love Canal.
Exploration over, we arrived early at the bus stop and decided to continue away from central Niagara Falls to see the Transit Centre, and get out of the rain. With a bus less than every 45 minutes, we were in no danger of delaying our arrival back in Niagara Falls, and the Transit Centre provided a toilet stop and area to refill water bottles. That was all it yielded, other than a few bus timetables, and it was also devoid of buses and passengers as we re-boarded our bus and headed back to the City Centre.
Once we had arrived we started exploring the Niagara Falls Park, to compare it to the facilities on the Canadian side. No fancy WEGO buses, but the Parks Service were operating heritage diesel trolley buses on a 30 minute loop linking various attractions to the three car parks (parking lots!) on the other side of the Niagara River. The trolleys were running on a ten minute frequency, with an all-day pass costing only US$2 (or free if only being used as a car park shuttle). As I only had Canadian dollars I was charged a ten percent service fee, but they kindly held the trolley as I paid at the ticket office-no cash is taken on board. Issued with a bright green wristband to indicate the fare paid I jumped on for the loop. The ride was busy and bumpy but quite fun, with great views of the Horseshoe Falls and the American rapids. Trolley ride over we returned across Rainbow Bridge, then headed for our cruise operated by Hornblower Cruise Lines.
The bus network in Niagara Falls, NY, is severely lacking, more so than that in Niagara Falls, ON. Very few passengers were using the services, and frequencies were low and irregular. Even the tourist shuttle T55 ran less than hourly on a non-clock face timetable and from what I saw was not well used. It is clear that car use is so endemic that the public transport system, heavily subsidised, exists only for those who cannot afford a car, and this view was confirmed by the locals who we spoke to. Hopefully this is not the situation in other cities on our itinerary.
Getting to Love Canal was complex, with no scheduled buses serving the specific settlement, but Google did take things to new heights of randomness when it suggested a 4.5 hour trip involving Amtrak trains for a distance of under 15KM, all because it refused to accept that walking across Rainbow Bridge (the link from Niagara Falls Ontario to Niagara Falls New York) was possible. A little lateral thinking found us paying our 50 cents toll (only to the Americans-entry to Canada is free!), passing through US customs and attempting to locate our bus stop. Google Maps got us to the correct intersection but here failed again, directing us to a bus stop not served by the 50, our intended service. Fortunately a kind local directed us to the correct location, and we boarded the number 50, with only a handful of passengers aboard. Most passengers got off as we progressed along the route towards Niagara Transit Centre, and we alighted under a nondescript road bridge and began our walk through Love Canal.
Exploration over, we arrived early at the bus stop and decided to continue away from central Niagara Falls to see the Transit Centre, and get out of the rain. With a bus less than every 45 minutes, we were in no danger of delaying our arrival back in Niagara Falls, and the Transit Centre provided a toilet stop and area to refill water bottles. That was all it yielded, other than a few bus timetables, and it was also devoid of buses and passengers as we re-boarded our bus and headed back to the City Centre.
Once we had arrived we started exploring the Niagara Falls Park, to compare it to the facilities on the Canadian side. No fancy WEGO buses, but the Parks Service were operating heritage diesel trolley buses on a 30 minute loop linking various attractions to the three car parks (parking lots!) on the other side of the Niagara River. The trolleys were running on a ten minute frequency, with an all-day pass costing only US$2 (or free if only being used as a car park shuttle). As I only had Canadian dollars I was charged a ten percent service fee, but they kindly held the trolley as I paid at the ticket office-no cash is taken on board. Issued with a bright green wristband to indicate the fare paid I jumped on for the loop. The ride was busy and bumpy but quite fun, with great views of the Horseshoe Falls and the American rapids. Trolley ride over we returned across Rainbow Bridge, then headed for our cruise operated by Hornblower Cruise Lines.
The bus network in Niagara Falls, NY, is severely lacking, more so than that in Niagara Falls, ON. Very few passengers were using the services, and frequencies were low and irregular. Even the tourist shuttle T55 ran less than hourly on a non-clock face timetable and from what I saw was not well used. It is clear that car use is so endemic that the public transport system, heavily subsidised, exists only for those who cannot afford a car, and this view was confirmed by the locals who we spoke to. Hopefully this is not the situation in other cities on our itinerary.
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