Week in review: July 22, 2017

Consultations, feedback, and events

• ION FIX-IT LIST: What details need correcting?
• KITCHENER:
  • Urban Forest
  • Volunteers needed for BikeCheck valet
• CAMBRIDGE: Transportation Master Plan
• TRANSIT: New Directions 2017-2021 Grand River Transit plan
• REGION: Trade-offs in transportation
• PROVINCE: Bill 139, Building Better Communities and Conserving Watersheds Act, comments due August 14

Vision Zero

After two children were injured by an impaired driver, Wellesley looks to improve the sidewalk-less street. If only all our municipalities responded to traffic violence in this way - or better yet, did more to prevent it in the first place.

• Unsafe streets’ new liability [International Journal of Traffic Safety Innovation]
• Car hits pedestrian and store in downtown Kitchener [CTV]
• Cyclist’s death renews calls for stricter penalties for drivers [The Star]
• Pickup truck driver beats 74 year old cyclist [Canadian Cycling Magazine]

Cycling

• Want more people to bike? Skip the sweet talk and build [People for Bikes]
• How one city’s big idea transformed urban cycling all at once [Shifter]
• Bikemaps.org wants to know your cycling woes [Guelph Mercury]
• The ideal cyclist [Greater Greater Washington]

Transit

Grand River Transit prepares to upgrade 60 bus stops this summer, thanks to federal funding help. Meanwhile, on the blog, we look at how the Region is mischaracterizing ION bus service in Cambridge as bus rapid transit, and why that matters.

• Province moving ahead with new Kitchener Line rail tunnel under the 401 to support increased service [Ontario]
• When it comes to transit use, it’s all about destination density [City Observatory]
• How transit agencies can stop worrying and love network redesigns [Streetsblog]
• 5 reasons to be wary of Elon Musk’s Hyperloop [CityLab]

Land use

A new condo building is proposed at Queen Street and the Iron Horse Trail. Meanwhile, suburban sprawl booster Peter Shawn Taylor discovers the downsides of single-family zoning when his neighbourhood gym is shut down by city rules.

• The high cost of free parking [Vox]
• If you’re renting a US city apartment without a car, 16% of your rent pays for parking you don’t need [Quartz]
• How green is my free parking structure? Not very [City Observatory]
• Getting real about climate change in planning policy [Urban Strategies]
• Rapid transit, transit-oriented development, and the contextual sensitivity of land value uplift in Toronto [Urban studies]

Road ahead

• Peak car? Driverless technology may actually accelerate car ownership [Guardian]
• Robot cars still a long ways off, students predict [The Record]
• Robo-Taxis face a major hurdle: messy passengers [The Star]
• Defending road pricing from public opinion [Planetizen]