A failing grade in parking requirements

News

Part 3 in a week-long series on parking in the City of Waterloo draft zoning bylaw.

Update: we have heard that  staff have admitted an error in the draft bylaw and are reviewing the proposed parking requirements for schools.

Kids can’t drive. So why should schools need more parking than a shopping mall?

The current City of Waterloo zoning bylaws require 2 parking spaces per teaching area when a new school is built. But the proposed draft bylaw changes up the formula, requiring 4 parking spaces for every 100 square metres of floor space, plus an extra 5 spaces for visitors parking [1], which is more than what the City requires of Conestoga Mall. (more…)

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parking deck

Housing and parking minimums – or why the rent is too damn high

News 3 Comments

Part 2 in a week-long series on parking in the City of Waterloo draft zoning bylaw.

The City of Waterloo’s current and proposed zoning bylaws require significantly more parking for apartments and townhomes than what is needed, raising the cost of housing.

If you live in a house, odds are your family owns two cars, and you’re almost guaranteed to own at least one. But if you live in an apartment, a quarter of you own no car at all, and few of you own more than one. (more…)

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Halfway there…

News

Show your support for light rail and TriTAG

Just over two weeks ago, we told you about TriTAG’s fundraising campaign to help us continue to advocate on your behalf for more transit, protected bikeways, and better walking conditions to make our communities great places to work and live. As a thank you for your support, we’re making special button pins patterned after ION light rail station designs.

We’ve just reached the halfway point of our campaign. Here’s what we’ve accomplished so far:

  • $2,874 raised from 77 community members like you – that’s 57% of our goal of $5,000!
  • More than 1,000 ION buttons claimed including:
    • 25 limited-edition “UW goose” buttons
    • 7 framed button display sets
    • 3 ION route maps

Do you want to help TriTAG make Waterloo Region a better place to walk, bike, or take transit? Please consider making a contribution of a few dollars if you can. $5 gets you a button for the ION light rail station of your choice, a $25 donation gets you all 19 stations.

To find out more, visit our Indiegogo campaign at http://igg.me/at/tritag and help us spread the word!

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ION station buttons

Light Rail, News, TriTAG

Update: ION station buttons are now available from our online store!

Show your support for light rail and your neighbourhood pride

You’ve seen the construction, the tracks getting put in the ground, the stations falling into place.

At TriTAG, we’re excited to soon be able to get around town with rapid, frequent transit service. For the last six years, we’ve been advocating for more transit, protected bikeways, and better walking conditions to our cities to make our communities great places to work and live.

We want you to share your excitement for the transformation happening in our Region, while helping us to take our efforts to the next level.

We’re creating buttons for each stop along the ION light rail route. Inspired by the anchor wall designs, these buttons will feature a unique pattern for each ION station, letting you show off your neighbourhood pride. We’re giving these buttons as ‘perks’ for your support of our Indiegogo campaign. You can get the whole set, or special collections featuring different neighbourhoods and places along ION.

ION station buttons

We’re looking to raise $5,000 to continue TriTAG’s advocacy efforts through incorporation as a not-for-profit and better engagement with the Waterloo Region community.

To find out more, visit http://igg.me/at/tritag.

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Big Changes for Bridgeport, Erb, Caroline, and Albert

Cycling, News, Walking

There’s going to be another major road project coming to Uptown Waterloo.

Reconstruction of Bridgeport, Erb, Caroline, and Albert.

That’s right. After LRT construction wraps up in 2017, and after the King St improvements bring protected bike lanes to King St in 2018/2019, the city and region will be replacing aging services underneath Bridgeport, Erb, Caroline, and Albert, and are taking the opportunity to revisit the design of these streets as they cut through central Waterloo.

Here’s a look at what’s proposed, (page 46, 12MB PDF) and below we’ll talk about what works, what doesn’t, and what needs serious improvement.

Concept plan for the reconstruction of Erb/Bridgeport/Caroline/Albert

Concept plan for the reconstruction of Erb/Bridgeport/Caroline/Albert

Major changes include:

  • A multi-use trail along the north side of Bridgeport/Caroline linking the King St bike lanes to the Laurel Trail at Erb
  • Narrowing Caroline north of Erb St to two lanes, and adding a new sidewalk on the East side
  • Narrowing Albert from two lanes to one, with a northbound bike lane and parallel parking
  • Changing Albert/Erb to a T-intersection
  • Sharrows on Erb St from Caroline to King

What Works

Adding a multi-use trail along Caroline provides a great bicycle link between King St and multiple trail entrances for Waterloo Park, and finally allows northbound cycle traffic up Caroline.

Crossing Albert on the north side of Erb will be made much easier. The current multi-lane off-ramp nature of Albert St is dangerous, making walking around the old Police Station unpleasant. The new T-intersection design reduces crossing distance, turning speeds, and even introduces new green space.

Reducing Caroline to two lanes helps solve the problem of traffic backing up in the right hand lane of Bridgeport east of King. Now traffic intending to go beyond King will use the centre lane, while those turning onto King and Regina Streets will be on the left and right hand lanes, distributing traffic better across the three lanes.

Potential Improvements

Albert St still needs a legal way to cycle southbound. By moving the parking to the east side of the road, there could be a contra-flow southbound bikelane on the west side, with the northbound lane shared between cars and bicycles, with a more appropriate use of sharrows. This also puts the parking on the traditional right-hand side, which will be easier for drivers to use. Parallel parking is tricky enough, and even more so when it’s on the opposite side of the car.

If the bicycle route along Bridgeport/Caroline is a multi-use trail, then why is there a southbound on-street bike lane and bike box approaching Erb? There is no way for bicycles to access the on-road bike lane from the trail, and if they could, it would be unsafe to merge cross the constant stream of right turning traffic. The intersection design assumes that cyclists are on the road instead of the multi-use trail, when the reverse should be true. We can’t keep ending trails at crosswalks, asking cyclists to dismount to continue. With the first cross-ride in Waterloo now in service at Erb/Peppler, there is now precedent for a two-way crossing on the west side of Caroline, which will finally allow the connection of the Laurel and Iron Horse trails.

What Doesn’t Work

Erb St, unfortunately, has a long way to go.

Erb, as proposed, with many lanes and large excessive shoulders.

Erb, as proposed, with many lanes and large excessive shoulders.

The sharrows proposed for Erb St are inappropriate. Sharrows work on low speed roads, not major high-speed multi-lane arteries. Sharrows are not a replacement for dedicated cycling infrastructure, and 2016 should be the year we stop pretending they are.

The width of Erb St is drastically wider than the planned use. There is no need for 3 through lanes and a painted shoulder lane. Staff mention a potential possibility for on-road cycle tracks, “without the need for additional construction,” but it would require waiting for “a separate, broader study to consider implementation of a two-way cycle track on Erb Street from Caroline Street to Margaret Avenue [which] will be completed by the Region of Waterloo in the future.” In the meantime, Erb will remain gratuitously wide.
A pedestrian crossing at Erb/Albert is dismissed, because there are fewer than 250 people crossing day, a number that is unlikely to change if Erb remains wide and hostile. Bridges are not built by counting the number of people swimming across a river; crosswalks should not be dismissed because few are willing to unsafely cross a high-speed 4-lane arterial.

An alternate concept for a right-sized Erb St featuring a shared bike and turning lane.

An alternate concept for a right-sized Erb St featuring a pedestrian crossing, and a shared bike and turning lane.

Here is a potential way to correct some of these issues. The right hand lane of Erb is used as a turn lane for the WTS entrance, and for King St. To prevent the speeding, cars cannot use it to drive from Caroline to King, only allowing cyclists to continue through, in what will now be a much lower-speed lane. The painted shoulder on the north of Erb is now removed, with the sidewalk moved south where it was. A pedestrian crossover is installed at Albert, allowing direct access from Albert to The Shops at Waterloo Town Square.

Send Your Feedback

These are just some of the suggestions that we have, but we’re sure you have more. Please send your own feedback, and be sure to attend the upcoming public information centre.

Feedback should be sent to:
Mr. Jim Ellerman, jellerman@regionofwaterloo.ca
Project Manager, Capital Projects
Regional Municipality of Waterloo

Mark Christensen, mchristensen@walterfedy.com
Project Manager
WALTERFEDY

Public Consultation Centre #1
Wednesday, January 27th, 2016
5:00p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
The Canadian Clay and Glass Museum
25 Caroline Street North, Waterloo

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Regional budget 2016

News, Transit 2 Comments

The Region of Waterloo has now passed its budget for 2016. You may have seen headlines in the news about a bus to Hanson Ave, a discounted bus pass for Conestoga students, and discounted passes for refugee children, not to mention the ongoing light rail construction.

But there’s more happening in this year’s budget. Here are a few things we find in the Grand River Transit budget:

  • Introduction of electronic fare cards this year to replace tickets and passes
  • Installation of transit priority measures to keep buses on schedule
  • Relocation of the Cambridge Centre bus terminal to Hespeler Road to make ION aBRT more direct in 2016
  • A new bus garage will be built near Northfield and University to help GRT deploy buses to Waterloo routes
  • New stop platforms and shelters in 2017 for the future Ottawa iXpress
  • A new bus terminal at the University of Waterloo ION stop, to be completed in 2017
  • Realignment of the Fairway bus terminal and improvements to Conestoga Mall terminal’s pedestrian connections to integrate with the ION stops, to be completed in 2017
  • A new bus terminal at the future Block Line ION stop in 2017, where the 201 iXpress will likely begin and end its route

The GRT capital projection includes costs for facility renewal at Charles Street Terminal up until 2020, giving us an idea of when planners anticipate the terminal’s functions will be fully transferred to the Victoria Multi-modal Hub.

For active transportation, about $15 million is projected to be spent on cycling facilities in conjunction with planned road rework projects over the next five years. An additional $12 million will be spent on new sidewalk construction, both as part of road rework and separate projects. For 2016, about $4.4 million will be spent on cycling and walking, coming entirely out of development charge reserves rather than property taxes.  Projects anticipated for 2016 include multi-use paths along Franklin in Cambridge, protected bike lanes for Manitou Drive in Kitchener, and sidewalk infill on Westmount between University and Columbia.

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Shifting gears for climate in Waterloo Region

Cycling 2 Comments

TriTAG sees itself as an organization focused on transportation issues. That’s not to say that we don’t have concern for environmental issues, but that we look at a wide range of benefits from improvements to how we get around, not just environmental – we’re also motivated by the impact transportation has on quality of life, public health, safety, social justice, economic growth, government spending, and even civic engagement.

All that said, we acknowledge the reality of global climate change, and our responsibility as a community to respond to it. World leaders have just adopted an agreement that will require sustained reductions in carbon emissions. Changes in transportation will play a role in how emissions are reduced, and walking, cycling, and transit can and should play a large role in that.

Transportation in Waterloo Region accounted for 1,467,858 tonnes of carbon emissions in 2010, or 40% of the Region’s total. The Regional Transportation Master Plan is anticipated to bring about 75,000 tonnes of emission reductions by the end of 2020, through the introduction of ION light rail and more iXpress bus routes. These changes are expected to increase transit ridership from about 5-6% today to 15-17% by 2031.

By comparison, the Region’s targets when it comes to active transportation are far more modest. (Even ‘wimpy’, according to the Easy Riders Cycling Club.) If the Region’s targets are met, it would only increase cycling mode share from 1% to 3% by 2031. From a climate perspective, this sort of change barely registers.

But cycling could play a much greater role in reducing emissions in Waterloo Region. A poll of Ontario residents last year showed that 67% would cycle more if their community had more and better cycling infrastructure. (more…)

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market

Travelling toward better land use

News

Sometimes, the key to better transportation options isn’t transportation. New provincial legislation and updates to the Greenbelt and Growth Plans may help pave the way to more walkable, bikeable, and transit-supportive communities.

When we think of transformative changes in transportation, we might imagine solid things like trains, more frequent buses, bike lanes, or multi-use trails. But in addition to infrastructure or transportation routes, land use planning and growth management can have a profound impact on how we’re able to get around.

Cycling mode share vs density in Waterloo Region and the Greater Golden Horseshoe.

Cycling mode share vs density in Waterloo Region and the Greater Golden Horseshoe. As density increases, the percentage of people who bike increases by an order of magnitude. Data source: 2011 Transportation for Tomorrow Survey, Data Management Group.

It’s not hard to see why. If the places where you live, work, shop, or go to school are all closer to each other, you’re more likely to choose to walk or bike between them. Likewise, if there are more people coming and going from a particular place, it’s more likely that more frequent transit can be sustained in that area, which in turn makes transit a more attractive choice. If the densest areas in your city or region lie along a line, then transit can become very attractive for trips along that line.

Waterloo Region has led the province in growth management and land use planning – the province relied heavily on the expertise of the Region in developing the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe. We have a higher target than most nearby municipalities for intensification – that is, the rate of development that takes place on previously developed land as opposed to building over farmland or natural areas (‘greenfields’).  In building light rail along the central transit corridor to attract development, we’ve also aligned our transportation planning with our desired land uses. Our Official Plan was challenged by greenfield developers at the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB), which threw our community-supported plans for growth into question for a time.

Last week, the Smart Growth for Our Communities Act was passed in the Ontario legislature, making amendments to the Planning Act and the Development Charges Act. Some of these changes limits the ability for Official Plans to be challenged at the OMB, which will help to protect our municipalities’ ability to guide development in ways that encourage greater walking, cycling, and transit use.

The rules around what municipalities can charge developers for infrastructure to service new construction, called development charges or DCs, are also changing. Previously, the Region could only charge 90% of the cost of new transit infrastructure (e.g. new buses, shelters, facilities, etc.) to developers, now they will be able to charge for the full amount associated with new developments. On top of this, the way in which this amount is calculated is changing from being based on a ten year historical demand average to a ten year forward-looking projection of demand based on planned development. This means that as the Region plans for increased transit ridership, it can charge based on what level of service it plans to provide in the future, not on what it provided in the past. It also means that the Region can apply DC funds towards new services, like extensions of light rail into Cambridge.

Ontario is also conducting a 10 year review of the Growth Plan, and its Advisory Panel led by former Toronto Mayor David Crombie has just released its report of recommendations. While shy on specifics, the report has many recommendations we hope the province adopts because of the positive impact they will have on transportation choice. These include:

  • Investigating and applying increased intensification targets to better support transit and reduce congestion (Recommendations 10, 14)
  • Reduce barriers to intensification and affordable housing, including parking minimums (Recommendation 12)
  • Identify strategic areas with planned or existing transit for intensification (Recommendation 15)
  • Support transit-supportive developments with federal and provincial investments in infrastructure (Recommendation 16)
  • Provide direction to create mixed-use employment nodes that are safe for walking and cycling, and connected with transit (Recommendation 25)
  • Use the goals of the Growth Plan, the Greenbelt Plan, and the Big Move in setting infrastructure investment priorities (Recommendation 59)
  • Improve coordination between the Growth Plan and the Big Move, which could include prioritizing land use planning around Regional Express Rail (Recommendation 60)
  • Clarify and strengthen requirements for Transportation Demand Management in places like GO station areas, urban centres, etc. (Recommendation 62)
  • Reduce barriers to walking and cycling by recognizing these as essential transportation modes and requiring municipalities to plan for them (Recommendation 63)
  • Direct Metrolinx and municipalities to better integrate their transit systems (Recommendation 64)

As Brent Toderian says, the best transportation plan is a great land use plan. Let’s hope Ontario takes these words to heart when guiding our municipalities in how they grow.

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