Scarborough

Understand

As late as the 1950s, "Scarborough Township" was largely rural. A piece of road from Oshawa to the current Highway 2A in Scarborough's east end had been built as freeway by 1939, but until 1956 this traffic poured onto Scarborough surface streets such as Kingston Road (at the time, the main motel strip for traffic from the east) or Danforth Avenue on its way across the Don River into Toronto.

As the city grew, suburbs gradually sprawled north through Don Mills, east into Scarborough and westward through Etobicoke and across the county line to Mississauga, largely following the freeways and an east-west subway line first opened in 1966. Toronto surpassed Montréal in size sometime after 1976, becoming Canada's largest city. As the easternmost point still within Metropolitan Toronto, the city of Scarborough was unofficially nicknamed "Scarberia" through much of the 1980s. In the 1990s Agincourt, a neighbourhood in the northern portion of Scarborough, was nicknamed "Asiancourt", as it had become a third Toronto Chinatown, accommodating an influx of immigrants arriving from Hong Kong before its 1997 retrocession to communist China. Since then, huge amounts of suburbia have sprawled northward into Markham and eastward into Durham as the city expanded. The six former Toronto boroughs, from Scarborough to Etobicoke, were annexed to the City of Toronto in 1998.

Getting there

All Toronto-bound traffic from points eastward (such as Montréal) enters the city by road and rail through Scarborough.

By car The borough's major freeway is Ontario Highway 401, Canada's busiest highway. Twelve lanes of chaos are packed at peak hours with motorists from the eastern suburbs (such as Pickering and Oshawa in Durham) all flooding into the city at once. The north-south Highway 404/Don Valley Parkway does not enter Scarborough, but runs just west of it. Exiting the 404/DVP onto any of the eastbound cross streets, from Steeles Avenue south to the lakeshore, should take you across Victoria Park Avenue into Scarborough.

By train VIA Rail stops at the Guildwood GO Transit station on Kingston Road on its way into Toronto from Ottawa and Montréal. GO Transit offers regular commuter train service to Toronto and throughout the GTA (from Oshawa to Hamilton or Niagara). Main train connections are at the Rouge Hill, Guildwood, Eglinton, and Scarborough stations. The Stouffville line offers limited rush hour service to and from downtown Toronto with stops at Milliken, Agincourt and Kennedy stations in Scarborough.

By bus Durham Region Transit, toll-free: +1 866-247-0055. DRT route 900 provides bus service to University of Toronto Scarborough and Centennial College Morningside campuses from Pickering. And DRT route 920 services Centennial College Progress campus and Scarborough Town Centre from Oshawa. (updated Jan 2024) With the temporary closure of the Scarborough Centre Bus Terminal until about 2030, the following bus services have various on-street, curb-side stops near Scarborough Town Centre (mall) and near 1 Scarborough Centre Station. on Line 3 Scarborough:

2 GO Transit, 300 Borough Drive (west side of Scarborough Town Centre, mall entrance #7). GO Transit runs bus service from Hamilton and Oshawa to Scarborough. (updated Aug 2023) 3 Megabus (Coach Canada), 156 Borough Drive (stop in front of Scarborough Civic Centre Library entrance). All Montré

Getting around

The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) provides bus and subway service throughout Scarborough and all of Toronto. On subway Line 2 Bloor-Danforth, all stations from Victoria Park to Kennedy Station serve Scarborough. On Line 5 Eglinton, all stations along Eglinton Ave E between O'Connor Station and Kennedy Station serve Scarborough. In 2023, Line 3 Scarborough/Scarborough RT was replaced by buses and will not reopen. Bicycle routes cover most of Scarborough as well as the rest of Toronto. You can rent a bike with Bike Share Toronto. With a day's worth of cycling, it is possible to cycle most of Scarborough.

See

1 Rosetta McClain Gardens, 5 Glen Everest Rd (Bus 12 from Victoria Park Stn (subway line 2) to Kingston Rd & Glen Everest Rd). Formal gardens with rose gardens and a rock fountain surrounded by a pergola, with spectacular views of Lake Ontario from the top of Scarborough Bluffs (updated Mar 2017) 2 Scarborough Historical Museum, Thomson Memorial Park, 1007 Brimley Rd (bus 21 from Kennedy Station on subway line 2). W-Sa 11AM-5PM; Su 11AM-7PM. Scarborough Historical Museum has a small collection of rural 19th-century buildings. Free guided tours are offered during the hours of operation. Free entry. (updated May 2022) 3 Bluffer's Park and Beach (Scarborough Bluffs), 1 Brimley Rd S (Bus 12 or seasonal weekend/holiday bus 175 both from Kennedy Station). On a 14-km stretch along the shoreline of Lake Ontario. The highest cliff is 65 m (213 ft) and the views of the waves crashing along the shore are beautiful. Definitely a must see and there are no entry fees but parking is paid and very limited on summer weekends. Warning for those walking in: There is a steep road down to Bluffer's Park. Bus 175 eliminates the steep walk.

4 Guild Park and Gardens (formerly known as Guildwood Park), 201 Guildwood Pkwy (bus 116 from Kennedy Station on subway line 2 to the Guild Inn stop). The park has some beautiful gardens holding the pillars and facades of many elegant temple-like buildings that were demolished to make way for glass and steel skyscrapers. (updated Dec 2015) 5 Osterhout Log Cabin, Guild Park (at the edge of a wooded area on the western side of the park). Augustus Jones, who surveyed Scarborough, built this cabin in 1795. This is the oldest building in Scarborough, and the second oldest in Toronto after Scadding Cottage in Exhibition Place in the Harbourfront district. (updated Feb 2016) 6 Milliken Park, 5555 Steeles Ave E (entrance at McCowan Rd; bus 53 from Finch Stn (subway line 1) or bus 129 from Scarborough Centre Stn). Beautiful park with a large pond, marshes, wi

Do

1 Rouge National Urban Park, Meadowvale Rd, ☏ +1 416-264-2020, [email protected]. A federal park full of nature and wildlife, featuring a sandy beach, forests & rolling hills where visitors can hike, swim, canoe & fish. (updated May 2022) 2 Rouge Valley Conservation Centre, 1749 Meadowvale Rd (bus 85B from Don Mills Stn (subway line 4) or bus 86A from Kennedy Stn (subway line 2)). (updated Jan 2016) 3 Rouge Beach, 195 Rouge Hills Dr (Bus 54, 54A, 54B to Starspray). (updated Jan 2016) 4 Thomson Memorial Park, 1005 Brimley Road (at Lawrence Avenue East; bus 21 to Britwell Ave), ☏ +1 416-338-4386. Nature paths through wooded ravine along the West Highland Creek, ball diamond, multipurpose sports field, tennis courts, picnic areas, off-leash dog area, wading pool and playground. 5 Morningside Park, Morningside Ave (bus 116A, 116C from Kennedy Stn (subway line 2); between Kingston Rd and Ellesmere Rd). Large park with a creek running through a forested area; trails, picnic areas, playgrounds & a splash