A Short Walk Along King Street In Waterloo And Kitchener

Opening day for Waterloo Region's iON LRT service. And a beautiful day it was. iON is a new rapid transit service which links the cities of Kitchener and Waterloo in South Western Ontario. The region is approximately an hour's drive to the west of Toronto via the infamous Highway 401.My thanks to everyone working for the GRT, GrandLinq, iON and the Region of Waterloo for the great opening festivities and all the friendly and informed staff at all the station stops assisting us hapless passengers. And of course for all the years of dedication to make this day possible.In this video I am walking the distance between iON's Waterloo Public Square Station and Grand River Hospital Station in Kitchener. This route follows a sizable portion of the iON's King Street alignment between the two cities. The stretch also somewhat duplicates the alignment of the former street railway (streetcars) which served these communities from the mid 1890's until 1946. After which the line was abandoned in favour of electric trolley buses. Followed by diesel buses by the early 1970's. UNTIL NOW!As an aside, I was privileged to ride on the very first open to the public tram out of Fairway Station - there were four (4) special VIP trams that preceded us - after the opening ceremonies. But ours was the first passenger tram to traverse the entire line - Fairway to Conestoga Stations, through both cities. I got there early you see.