Posted January 20th, 2010 by Michael Druker
If you are interested in what we are doing in Waterloo Region and would like to share your suggestions in person, or better yet to figure out how you can contribute to TriTAG’s activities, please come out to our public meeting next Wednesday. We will discuss transit and active transportation issues we expect to be dealing with, and chart a course for ongoing action.
The meeting will be at the main Kitchener Public Library in Meeting Room B, on Wednesday, January 27, at 7:00pm. (Details are also on Facebook.) We hope you will join us.
(This time has changed from the initial posting.)
In Cycling, News | 1 Comment »
Posted January 14th, 2010 by Michael Druker
He’s said it before, and he’ll say it again: John Shortreed likes buses. You might say he even wrote the book on the subject! Mr. Shortreed is a retired civil engineering professor, who worked for decades within the context of the post-war transportation planning mindset. During the tenure of Mr. Shortreed and other transit planners of the same era, streetcars were replaced with buses, transit use plummeted, highways got built through downtowns, and sprawl became ubiquitous. And actually, it’s not really true that he likes buses, since he’s publicly admitted that he doesn’t “have time to take transit” (though he lives next to the Route 7 mainline). Is this really someone who is fit to give transportation advice for the 21st century?
But he’s written his screed against light rail, and it deserves a response, so I will provide one by considering his points one at a time. Read the rest of this entry »
In Light Rail, News | 3 Comments »
Posted January 13th, 2010 by Michael Druker
In 2009, Regional Council did not support a recommended budget issue to address overcrowding, so Grand River Transit transferred 4000 annual service hours to its heaviest used routes from its lighter-used ones — yet overcrowding remains a serious problem. Regional Council is again being presented with a budget issue to address ongoing overcrowding, with a request for a meagre 2900 additional service hours in 2010.
When a bus leaves a would-be rider behind, that helps turn that rider off transit as a viable means of transportation. At a time when Waterloo Region is actively attempting to promote transit services and increase ridership this is not acceptable. By hindering the perception of transit, persistent overcrowding also has the potential to decrease support for transit funding, thereby exacerbating the problem. Particularly during a time of recession, it is critical that transit is available to those who need it. And considering the longer term, investment in transit is more cost-effective than is the road expansion that insufficient transit spurs. Hard economic times are an opportunity for the encouraged growth of transit, and there is a cost to failing to take advantage of that opportunity. Hopefully Council realizes this and approves the recommended budget issue.
This November, we asked people to send in photos for the Sardine Challenge, and we’d like to thank all who participated. The below photos should help illustrate the situation on a number of Grand River Transit’s routes.
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People Loading Onto the iXpress at Charles St Terminal – 7:00pm
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An Overcrowded Route 7 bus travelling from Uptown to Downtown – 4:00pm
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People Waiting at a Route 12 Bus Stop – 10:00pm
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An Overcrowded Route 12 Conestoga Mall Bus – 11:30am
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An Overcrowded Route 12 University and King Bus – 9:15am
In Buses, News | 2 Comments »
