Week in review: October 8, 2016
Consultations and feedback deadlines
- GRAND RIVER TRANSIT: 2017-2021 Business Plan, comments due October 14
- MOVING FORWARD:
- CAMBRIDGE:
- GTHA: Next Regional Transportation Plan
- MAPS: Regional cycling map, first edition in need of feedback
- GROWTH: Coordinated land use planning review (deadline extended to October 31)
- IRON HORSE TRAIL: Central section improvements, Victoria Park Pavilion October 25
- OMB: Ontario Municipal Board Review
Cycling
Cyclists don’t follow the rules of the road? Maybe it’s time to change those rules (Tom Babin)
“Yet streets are already governed by different rules for different users, such as laws that require slower speed limits for big trucks, or that mandate school buses to stop at uncontrolled railway crossings. Rather than demonize cyclists for their inability to conform to rules designed for cars, laws should recognize that riding a bike is different than driving.”
Feds launch task force on cycling and pedestrian safety (Ottawa Citizen)
L.A. street makeover shows road diets work (NextCity)
Majority of Torontonians favour bike lanes, new survey suggests (The Star)
Transit
Turnaround: Fixing New York City’s buses (TransitCenter)
Pushing back on apathy about bus service (Human Transit)
“If you want to know why your bus system isn’t better, the answer is almost always that not enough people care, and that in particular, not enough influential people care. Sure, there are other kinds of resistance, but those can all be overcome when civic leaders decide that better bus service is important.”
New option may see LRT in service as scheduled in late 2017 (570 News)
Like a bright daffodil, a new bus stop emerges from the King Street chaos (Luisa D’Amato)
Region approves transit and fare enforcement plan (The Record)
WMATA finds biking and walking improvements near Metro stations pay off (MobilityLab)
A technical follow-up: How we built the world’s prettiest auto-generated transit maps (TransitApp)
Why it will take more than light rail to fix US transit (NextCity)
“The process begins by creating clear objectives tailored to each place’s needs. For all the flaws under the post-World War II approach, reducing congestion was a clear governing principle. Now cities and regions need to go back to the drawing board and formalize new objectives. Is it designing denser communities that support shorter distances between places? Is it to improve the amount of regional jobs people can reach in a given timeframe? Is it removing the physical barriers that separate communities? Whatever the objectives might be, each community must define accessibility on its own terms.”
Parking
Parking lots are an incredible waste of space. Here’s how to end them (Motherboard)
Lots to lose: how cities around the world are eliminating car parks (The Guardian)
Land use
No shortage of land for homes in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (Neptis Foundation)
Smart growth planning looks up and not out (Community Edition)
Kitchener homeowners should learn more about RIENS (Frank Etherington)
Other headlines
Waterloo traffic calming plan proves divisive (Waterloo Chronicle)
Victoria Park to get continuous stretch of sidewalk (The Record)
Rod Regier appointed Waterloo Region’s commissioner of planning (CBC News)