The 7 branches of route 7

Rationalizing Route 7 – Efficiency Over Cuts

Buses, News, Transit 3 Comments

Load on a 7E bus from UW to King via Columbia

In our last post, we advocate that cost savings for GRT can be found through further rationalization of GRT routes instead of cuts to existing services. By reducing duplicated efforts, better service can be provided at reduced cost. There are many places we believe this is possible, and chief among them is the Region’s mainline route, the 7.
We’ve been advocating for a rationalization of the Route 7, for several years now, and in light of this year’s service improvements, it’s time to look at how the case for Route 7 rationalization is stronger than ever. In brief, a problem of high-volume local east-west demand around the universities leads to service reliability problems, requiring duplicated service to make up for late buses. Duplicated service (i.e. empty buses following full ones) inflates the operating cost while increasing wait times. Rationalization of Route 7 represents an easy win to separate different demand patterns, providing better service for everyone at the same cost, while also minimizing “Bus Roulette” when the next bus cannot be easily predicted. Route 7 in the university area is a case where Human Transit might say that “‘transferring’ can be good for you and good for your city”. (more…)

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iXpress loves you and wants you to be happy

GRT 2014 Budget Opportunities

News, Transit

Last night there was a public input session for the Region of Waterloo 2014 budget, following the release of the first budget draft. This is what we presented there on the subject of transit funding:

The Tri-Cities Transport Action Group believes that it is very important for the Region of Waterloo to continue on its present path of transit improvement. This requires investment, but not making that investment will be costlier in the medium and long term. Still, we recognize the difficult budget decisions that must be made. Therefore we commend staff for the recommendations before you, which have avoided cuts to investment that could jeopardize the momentum of, and confidence in, iON or iXpress.

While it can be disappointing to see proposed cuts to hours of operation and frequency on certain routes, we are heartened that route rationalization is a major consideration. We feel there are a number of other opportunities for change, similar to the kinds of network changes that have been made recently when iXpress routes are introduced.

(more…)

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Community News, and Some Light Reading

News

Last night, a public consultation centre was held at the Waterloo Memorial Recreation Complex about Uptown Streetscape Improvement. More information can be found on the City of Waterloo’s website.
On the subject of protected cycling lanes in Uptown, TriTAG’s Chris Klein was interviewed on CBC KW’s The Morning Edition. Audio link here.

Tonight from 6 to 8PM at Waterloo City Hall the city will be holding an open house on the Waterloo trail network including an interior trail loop.

Here are some other things we’ve been reading lately:

Streetsblog: Pedestrian Crossings: What We Can be Doing Better
The Atlantic Cities: What We Can do About  Kids Killed By Cars

The Atlantic Cities: A Tour of a Whole Country That Has ‘Transformed Itself for Cycling’
The Atlantic Cities: The City Where Bicycles Rule the Road (and how it got there)
Take The Lane: How Many Cycling Communities Are There?
Spacing: (Toronto) Cycling Think & Do Tank: Cyclists, Public Space and Auto-Amnesia
Bike Portland:  Bike trips up 15% on NE Multnomah after installation of protected bike lane
Take the Lane: Signage is vital for cycling infrastructure

Seattle Transit Blog: Transit: The Next Generation
Human Transit: why are americans driving less? better communication options!
Human Transit: frequent network maps: the challenge of one-way pairs

Bike Portland: Low-Car, Upscale
The Naked City: Can light rail reshape this auto-oriented corridor?
Stop and Move: When Parking Minimums Attack

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Could King Street look like this in the future? (courtesy ActiveTrans)

Could Uptown be Waterloo’s first protected bike way?

Cycling, News 2 Comments

Uptown streetscape: lots of room for improvement. (image courtesy City of Waterloo)

Do you bike through Uptown Waterloo? What if you could ride along King Street protected from traffic by a curb and parked cars?

In a few years, King Street’s pedestrian-hostile four lane thoroughfare will be a thing of the past between downtown Kitchener and Waterloo Town Square. Implementing ION will mean removing two of those lanes.

In light of this, the city of Waterloo (in partnership with the region) wants to improve King from Erb St. all the way up to University Avenue. Their plan: trim the redundant road lanes that would dead end in Uptown, and use the room to provide better access for people on foot or bike. The goal: create a friendlier, safer Uptown with space for people to move around, shop, and enjoy the scenery, while smoothing traffic flow along King. As part of this plan, the city proposes to paint traditional bike lanes of sub-standard width in between rows of parking and road lanes heavy with cars and buses.

We think they could do a lot better: instead of sandwiching cyclists between open car doors and moving traffic, why not use those parked cars to protect people on bikes? King Street may be the perfect location for Waterloo to implement its very first protected bike lanes.

Could King Street look like this in the future? (courtesy ActiveTrans)

Protected bike lanes are paths for bikes along roads but separated from traffic by a curb, parked cars, or other barriers like planters. With as many as 60% of people interested in cycling but concerned about safety, protected bike lanes are cycling infrastructure for the rest of us. And their popularity has exploded, in places like New York, Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa, and Montreal. Even Guelph has installed curb-protected bike lanes on part of Stone Road: providing a friendly space for bikes has greatly reduced the amount of people riding their bikes on the sidewalk.

Protected bike lanes are effective because they feel much safer for casual riders and their families. How safe are they really? One study took a look at protected bike lanes in Montreal, and found that they substantially reduce injuries while attracting riders from less bike-friendly roads. The University of British Columbia has shown that on top of being preferable, protected bike lanes get top marks for safety.

But what’s in it for Uptown? Business owners and merchants, who customarily focus on more parking to bring in customers, could stand to reap huge dividends from the presence of friendly bike infrastructure. A study of Bloor West in Toronto found that pedestrians and cyclists visit local businesses the most often and spend more money than motorists. New York created the United States’ first protected bike lanes on 9th Avenue and consequently, businesses there saw a 49% increase in retail sales. Closer to home, Waterloo’s ongoing intensification means that number of potential customers within walking and cycling distances of Uptown is growing rapidly.

Protected bike lanes are coming eventually: evidence keeps building on the benefit they can provide to our urban environment, and they’re starting to attract Waterloo’s attention. Councillor Melissa Durrell has said that she would like to see protected bike lanes and we agree with her.

This is where you come in. A good idea needs support! Visit the public consultation (and submit your feedback), and write your councillors. Tell them Waterloo needs protected bike lanes. To make cycling accessible and safe for everyone, and to keep our Uptown vibrant and healthy, we need to be heard: It’s time for protected bike lanes in Waterloo.

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The Return Of Douglas Craig

News 1 Comment

We at the Tri-Cities Transport Action Group would like to welcome Mayor Doug Craig of Cambridge back to the rapid transit planning process. It is unfortunate that Mayor Craig was, along with Councillors Galloway/Deutschmann and Regional Chair Ken Seiling, left out of the discussion and vote in 2011 after legal advice that there may be a conflict of interest.

Now that Mayor Craig has been given the all-clear to speak again, he is calling for regional council to order a staff report on how much it would cost to cancel the rapid transit project – which was approved by a strong majority of what remained of council in 2011. Mayor Zehr of Kitchener has called this “wrong-headed”. We would agree with him.

The fundamentals supporting LRT are the same (or better) than they were in 2011. In fact, regional growth projections have recently been raised to 742,000 in 2031, and 835,000 in 2041, as the Greater Golden Horseshoe’s population has expanded faster than projected. The need for Waterloo region to develop a meaningful and competitive transit network is greater than ever, and this goal depends on a fast, frequent, high-capacity rail service along our central corridor to both focus development, and to serve the demand created by it. The alternative nightmare hardly bears imagination: growing, unfocused traffic congestion across the entire region that will make intensification unmanageable, leading to continued sprawl, the destruction of our precious farmland, and massive infrastructure costs to support all those extra new neighbours, who, for lack of an attractive alternative, will not be on transit – but rather, in their cars.
(more…)

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Dog days of summer…

Buses, Cycling, News, Transit 1 Comment

It’s been a long and busy summer and all has been quiet on our blog. But there’s lots going on:

In a major step forward, the Region of Waterloo has signed a deal for LRT vehicles and even arranged to bring Bombardier’s demo model to downtown Kitchener for a few days. The project moves steadily forward, so far on budget and on schedule.

Speaking of downtown Kitchener, the King Street bike sharrows are in place. Have you seen them? Have you used them? Are they working? We’ll be working with the city of Kitchener later this year to measure their effect.

Cycling is on everyone’s radar these days. The newest edition of the Ontario Driver’s Handbook has a much expanded section on sharing the road safely with cyclists. Hopefully we’ll see them on shelves soon!

Finally, big changes coming to transit in Waterloo with the launch of the 202 iXpress across University avenue and expansion and alteration of other routes. We’ll see 15-minute daytime frequency– or better!– across all three iXpress routes, as GRT works its way towards a more robust and frequent grid transit system. All the details are here.

May your summer treat you well as you walk, cycle, transit and drive your way across Waterloo Region!

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Iron Horse Trail move, and going forward

Cycling, News 1 Comment

Monday’s Waterloo City Council meeting had many delegations (as well as written correspondence) speaking passionately against moving the Iron Horse Trail between Park and Caroline Streets to give Mady Corp. an easier parcel of land for development. Overwhelmingly, citizens lucidly explained the issues in the new trail alignment — two walls, poor sightlines at the 90-degree turn, a crossing of a parking garage entrance, and others — as well as in the development itself. Nevertheless, all opposed delegations made it clear that they support intensification in this area — but that they expect better, especially if major concessions are granted.

In our presentation, Mike Boos explained that aspects of the new alignment — the proposed 2.0m width for biking (separate from the walking section), the path crossing a driveway, and the 90-degree turn — are at odds with the City’s own Transportation Master Plan and the draft of the Ontario Traffic Manual Book 18 on cycling facilities (PDF). A representative from Mady actually responded that they would certainly increase the cycling width to 3.0m, adding that they were not aware of the needs of cyclists.

After a meeting with some heated questions and discussion, Waterloo City Council approved the development re-zoning application and the trade of the Iron Horse Trail, in a 4:2 vote, with Councillors Melissa Durrell, Mark Whaley, Scott Witmer, and Mayor Brenda Halloran in favour, and Councillors Karen Scian and Diane Freeman opposed.

Roger Suffling, a professor of planning who presented on behalf of the Easy Riders Bicycle Club, has since weighed in with an excellent column on the bigger picture of the planning process. The editorial board of the Waterloo Chronicle has criticized the precedent the decision sets, and that of the Waterloo Region Record has pointed out that creative alternatives for that site should have been given due consideration much earlier.

In our experience and that of others who chose to present, the general trail-using public became aware of this proposal either through the last minute media coverage, or only after the decision was made. The only outreach to general users of the trail was a standard development application sign on the site. Neither were alternatives for development or routing at any point presented for public or Council consideration. Given that, it’s hardly surprising that there is a protest planned (see also).

Going forward, it’s clear there will be and needs to be substantial public involvement in the design of the corridor between Park and Caroline Streets in the new alignment. But with staff and Council saying that part of their interest was in addressing issues with the current trail alignment, there is also still the possibility for the City of Waterloo to consult with the trail-using public on creating additional alignments for cyclists through that general area that would avoid the issues we and others have pointed out in the new section.

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What you need to know about 155 Uptown and the Iron Horse Trail

Cycling, Light Rail, News 2 Comments

We’ve written before about the 155 Uptown development proposal, which is a 19-storey condo tower plan predicated on the City of Waterloo agreeing to a land swap to move a portion of the Iron Horse Trail. Worryingly, the staff report indicates that the City of Waterloo considers the Iron Horse Trail to be a purely recreational facility. And while there have been a couple of neighbourhood meetings and committee consultation, the general trail-using public has not been consulted about this plan, and most are probably not even aware.

Now is the time to speak up (or send in your written comments), as the proposal is coming up for formal approvals at two meetings on Monday, June 10. Here’s what you need to know:

Planning documents for the development, as well as the staff report and recommendation.

Disposition of the Iron Horse Trail property – formal meeting for the land swap decision on June 10.

Zoning by-law amendment – formal public meeting for development approval, on June 10.

Contact for City Council. Call or email councillors with your thoughts, in addition to providing comments through the formal meetings linked above.

We believe that land in close proximity to LRT stations should indeed be intensified, but with less parking, more active streetscapes, and more sensitivity to the surrounding transportation context than the current 155 Uptown plan. The City of Waterloo should not be making exceptions (and trading off public assets) to facilitate merely “transit-adjacent development”, and instead should focus on making actually transit-oriented development.

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bikelane

Supporting an evidence-based approach to cycling infrastructure

Cycling, News 1 Comment

As many readers may be aware, Kitchener is proceeding with a plan to introduce sharrows to King Street in downtown Kitchener, along with new bike racks, public events, and other measures designed to make promote cycling and improve the understanding of sharing the road among cyclists and motorists.

Image courtesy City of Saskatoon

TriTAG supports the proposals in the Cycling Facilities and Downtown Branding report – the City staff responsible should be commended with such forward-thinking initiatives and thorough analysis. We would like to speak in particular about the plan to add sharrows to King Street in downtown Kitchener, and the critical importance of measuring the effect of this improvement.

In 2010, TriTAG saw an opportunity to measure the effects of new cycling lanes and markers in the city of Guelph. Over the next two years, we were able to gather evidence that showed: More citizens chose to cycle, and fewer rode on the sidewalk. This report has been of great use to the City of Guelph – all from a few volunteers taking time off of work to sit in brisk early morning temperatures at the side of the road with clipboards. If we’d had the right resources to allocate to further study, we would have been able to accomplish even more.

The “Kitchener Cycling Branding and Downtown Cycling Facilities” report draws from the experience of cities like San Francisco, Miami Beach, Seattle, and Cambridge, Massachusetts. Experience there suggests that sharrows can work well where space is at a premium and traffic speed is low – but we lack study of local examples. In light of this, Kitchener staff, in collaboration with TriTAG and the Kitchener Cycling Advisory Committee, have developed a plan to measure the effect of sharrows in the downtown. We commend council’s support of the study – to assign a few hours of staff and volunteer time to measure the impact of this modest but important investment – because we believe that the sharrows approved for King Street can have a big impact – and that the city should have the proof to back up the success of their initiative.

Why stop here? We would love to see Kitchener take a more rigorous approach to measuring cycling traffic. Plans to gauge the effect of new cycling infrastructure over time ought to be routine. Our city needs to understand cause and effect if we’re going to live up to the cycling master plan’s vision of doubling cycling trips every three to five years. Learning what works is important – without measuring, we cannot truly say what works and what doesn’t.

As this report shows, we can learn from the experiences of other cities; with the addition of better measurement on our part, not only can we learn from our own experiences as well, but we can provide Kitchener’s hard data approach to measurement as a gold standard when other communities come calling to ask how we built a more efficient and complete cycling network.

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