Oshawa

Oshawa is a city of 160,000 people (2016) in southern Ontario, 50 km east of Toronto.

Understand
The name Oshawa originates from the Ojibwa term aazhaway, meaning "the crossing place" or just "(a)cross".

While Oshawa is rapidly becoming merely the eastern edge of Toronto's sprawling surrounding urban area, it was long best known for manufacturing motorcars. Col. Sam McLaughlin established the McLaughlin Motor Car Company Limited in 1907 as the successor to his father's McLaughlin Carriage Company. He became director and vice president of General Motors Corporation in 1916; the Oshawa factory became General Motors Canada in 1918. The last Oshawa-built Chevrolet Impala, Cadillac XTS, Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra vehicles will hit the road in 2019, ending a 112-year history which inspired Oshawa's former mottos "The City that Motovates Canada" and "The City in Motion".

Today, Oshawa is an education and health sciences hub. The city is home to three post-secondary institutions (Durham College, Trent University Durham and University of Ontario Institute of Technology) and to Lakeridge Health Oshawa, Lakeridge Health and Education Research Network (LHEARN Centre) and the Oshawa Clinic, the largest, multi-specialty medical group practice in Canada.

By car
Oshawa is on Highway 401, exits 415 through 418. All interchanges exit to Bloor Street in the city's south end. Highway 2 (King Street) is the main street of downtown Oshawa.

By train

 * Oshawa GO station is served by:
 * Routes operating to Oshawa:
 * Between Montreal and Toronto including stops in Dorval, Cornwall, Brockville, Kingston, Belleville, Cobourg, and Oshawa. Operates multiple times daily.
 * Between Ottawa and Toronto including stop in Smiths Falls, Brockville, Gananoque, Kingston, Napanee, Bellevile, Trenton, Cobourg, Port Hope, and Oshawa. Operates daily.
 * Provides all-day half-hourly train service to/from Toronto, plus various long-distance bus routes. Fares vary by distance; Oshawa to downtown Toronto (one-way) via GO Transit is $11.20 (cash, as of 2019), half-fare for seniors, plus ~10% discount for Presto card users.

By bus
Intercity express bus service in the Montréal-Toronto corridor stops in Whitby, an Oshawa suburb, at the Whitby GO commuter rail station. Express bus service from Greater Toronto Area to Oshawa are provided by GO Transit.

Learn
Oshawa is home to two post-secondary institutions, the University of Ontario Institute of Technology and Durham College. They share a campus on the northern side of Oshawa.