Nothing like the rail thing
TToronto on right track in ballpark-travel link, travelling student says
“Rail and baseball are kind of connected … both do this job of giving people an experience where they can all come together.” JACOB WALLACE
With the Rogers Centre and Roundhouse Park, Toronto was a picture spot for Jacob Wallace.
The journalism student from American University in Wash- ington, D.C., is spending the early part of his summer studying the connection between baseball and rail travel through the Summer by Rail program — an initiative by the Rail Passengers’ Association, the oldest and largest advocacy group in this field in the United States.
Toronto was the 12th stop on a 40-day, 19-stadium excursion for Wallace, which started in Miami at the end of May and ends in Seattle on July 1. The goal is to emphasize to baseball fans, travellers and the general public that there are ways to get aaround without cars after arriv- ing in a city by train.
Wallace said the Toronto leg is one of the high points of his journey. "Toronto has definitely been one of the best,” Wallace said. “You have a variety of options ffor transportation here. It’s also just a really exciting city to be in. I’ve really enjoyed my time here. This has been definitely one of the highlights.”
Wallace has walked, taken public transit and used biketo share get and to major-league ride-share programs and minor-league ballparks. “I’ve really come to enjoy all of the minor-league games that I’m going to,” he said. “I just think minor-league teams do a really great job of connecting ttheir communities, and I think that’s so important. Another reason that rail and baseball are kind of connected is that they both do this job of giving people aan experience where they can a all come together, and I think minor-league teams do a really good job of bringing their local community together and integrating themselves into the fab- ric of that community. It’s been really cool to see.” Growing up in Texas, Wallace was a Texas Rangers fan. He got to see the Blue Jays, who have developed a rivalry with the Rangers. beat the Washington Nationals on Friday night. His family also has season tickets to see the Frisco Roughriders, the Rangers’ Double-A affiliate. He’s reliant on cars to get to those games, though. “The only way to get anywhere was by car,” he said. “They’re putting in more light rail and stuff, but it was a caraddicted culture. Then I moved to Washington, D. C., for school and I couldn’t bring my car with me, and so I learned to be able to rely on public transportation in order to get around and now I’m used to it. I actually don’t miss (driving) much at all, so it hasn’t been a big deal for me on the trip.” along the way Wallace meets elected officials, advocates and small-business owners to find out “what tools the communities need to bolster their local with infrastructure.” While he said he hadn’t talked to many officials in Toronto. he did try out a variety of transit options. arriving on a VIA train from Wind sor before using the GO train, street cars and subways. Fans who drive cars to the ballpark, wherever it may be located, generally have the same concerns, “The people he said. who drive, universally their biggest complaint is traffic and then parking as talked well. A to lot where of Ra people there’s who public I have transportation options available, a they’ll do that because they A prefer that in order to en- joy the experience of going to the game.” Wallace has found that the more comprehensive the transportation system is in a particular to, “There the city, more like are fans a the couple use one it. in of Toron- cities like Cincinnati, where they have the baseline of, like, a streetcar that’s got a 31⁄ 2- mile loop,” he said. “It’s nice and people use it, but what you hear a lot is the more service there is, the more use it gets. And I think people sometimes think if they just start out with one tiny little line then it’ll immediately be a smash hit. It requires support and funding and that sort of stuff in order to create a robust transportation system like it is here in toron to.”