ONTARIO BIKE TRAIN...MONSTERS...AIRLINE PASSENGER RIGHTS

The Bike Train Initiative is announcing ticket sales and a new route for southern Ontario for this season.

Passengers ride in normal style on VIA Rail trains and their bikes are safely secured in a baggage car with bike racks, and Bike Train staff on board help with information and cycling maps.

The Toronto-Niagara Greenbelt Express runs on eight weekends from June to October, while the Ontario North Bike Train, a Toronto to North Bay pilot project, runs Aug. 7-10.

Tickets for Niagara are $62 return, with kids 11 and under riding for free. The train stops in Toronto, Niagara Falls and St. Catharines. The North Bay train costs $153.

Seating is limited. Visit www.biketrain.ca for schedules and more information.

HERE THERE BE MONSTERS

Sculptures of a mythical Inuit sea goddess and a painting of a lynx-like water spirit are among items in a new summer exhibition at the Canadian Museum of Civilization, according to Canadian Press.

"Mythic Beasts: Dragons, Unicorns and Mermaids" highlights the role of fantastical creatures in cultures around the world, CP reports.

"A large green stone sculpture created in Cape Dorset, Nunavut, shows the goddess Sedna with webbed fingers and with braids flowing above her head. Another sculpture, in grey stone and created in Clyde River on Baffin Island, shows Sedna swimming like a bird over the sea floor. 'The Mishipashoo' is the title of a 1960 painting by Norval Morrisseau, who once described a religious experience in which he met the water spirit in a dream."

Also on tap: Sasquatch and Ogopogo, who is said to lurk in Lake Kelowna in British Columbia.

A press release from the museum says European monsters and Asian dragons are different, which is kinda interesting. Apparently European dragons are "smelly, fire-breathing, evil monsters," while their Asian cousins are "benevolent deities that bring good fortune and control the rain," .

The exhibit opened May 15 and runs until Sept. 20.

PASSENGER BILL OF RIGHTS

Progress is being made in Parliament on a proposed bill of rights for airline passengers. Likewise, the U.S. Congress is finally tackling the issue of passengers who get stranded on tarmacs for hours on end or have other problems.

U.S. officials are considering three initiatives, according to the New York Times: requiring airlines to provide passengers trapped on grounded aircraft with food, water, working washrooms and medical treatment, as well as potentially an option to get off the plane after three hours; setting up a consumer complaints hotline and publishing the phone number on boarding passes (can't you just see the cell phones buzzing?) and requiring airlines to disclose a flights' on-time record at the point of purchase.

Interesting moves all around. It'll be interesting to see if the U.S. airline industry tries to come up with a bill of rights of its own, as has happened in Canada.

According to the Times, U.S. government data showed that 7,150 flights in the U.S. last year spent two hours or more on the tarmac before taking off, while 1,231 sat around for three hours.

Canada's airlines have said they'd be willing to let passengers get off the plane if delays are longer than 90 minutes, but only if it's safe and practical. Which sounds like a pretty big loophole, as who on a plane is really able to determine what's safe and practical?