Week in review: April 17, 2018

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Consultations, feedback, and events

• CYCLING:
  • CycleWR Meet & Greet for the new cycling coalition for cycling, April 29
  • Your ideas wanted for a “minimum grid” of protected cycling routes
• GO: Transit Town Hall with MPP Catherine Fife, April 18
• ION: Stage 2 public consultations, May 8, 9, 10
• TRANSIT: 2018 network changes, due April 20
• GROWTH: Guidance on the growth plan and intensification targets, due May 7
• KITCHENER:
  • Comprehensive review of the zoning bylaw, April 30 and May 8
  • Urban design guidelines, feedback due May 15

Cycling

A few of us from the CycleWR team are off to the Ontario Bike Summit this week, thanks to the generous sponsorship of the Berlin Bicycle Cafe.

TriTAG member Mike Boos is interviewed about the challenges of shifting people to use different transportation modes, the recent doubling of the share of people cycling, and why twice as many people cycle in Waterloo as in Kitchener.

• Franklin bridge project proceeding without city changes (The Record)
• Poll shows Ontario voters care about biking issues, advocates say (The Star)
• The slow road through climate change (University of Waterloo)
• Edmonton’s new bike lanes installed at ‘municipal light-speed,’ NYC transportation guru says (CBC)
• Ghent - changing the whole circulation plan overnight: a strong political decision (Copenhagenize)

Transit

• No LRT service until at least December in Waterloo region (CBC)
• LRT delivery delays have cost the Region $25 million (The Record)
• Greater Toronto Airports Authority and Metrolinx announce commitment to work together to study regional transit and passenger centre connections (Pearson Airport)
• The potential of autonomous electric buses (Strong Towns)

Vision Zero

• Alarm bells raised about safety of Chicopee Hills school crosswalk (CBC) When you want to make a place for schoolchildren to cross the street, but you’re unwilling to let traffic slow down even a little to make sure they are safe.
• Toronto cyclist seriously injured in crash supports NDP road safety bill (CBC)
  • Bill 37, Protecting Vulnerable Road Users Act (Legislative Assembly of Ontario)
• ‘Cannot happen again:’ changes called for after bus crash at deadly intersection (570 News)
• #MeToo: Woman (and her child) on foot (big orange bike)
• Cycling injury risk in London: A case-control study exploring the impact of cycle volumes, motor vehicle volumes, and road characteristics including speed limits (Accident Analysis & Prevention) Less traffic + more bikes = fewer collisions
• Factors associated with cyclists’ self-reported choice of lane position (Transportation Research Part F: Psychology & Behaviour) “Taking the lane” can be more dangerous in a single lane with no parking - like along much of the ION corridor.

The shape of our cities

• Years-long wait in patio rules along LRT may finally be over (The Record)
• Uptown Waterloo BIA hires new executive director (The Record)
• Former BlackBerry buildings pull new investors into Waterloo Region (The Record)
• A housing crunch is dashing dreams in Kitchener-Waterloo (TVO)
• Toronto developers hope to build a better townhouse (Globe and Mail)
• Ontario’s housing minister believes cities will use new zoning powers wisely. Toronto sets out to prove him wrong (TVO)
• When it comes to garbage trucks, bigger is no longer better (The Star)
• How much parking near transit is too much parking near transit? (Planetizen)

The road ahead

• The Great Democratization of Transportation – The Fourth Wave (Gabe Klein)
• As new transit startups take over streets and sidewalks, cities need to step up (Curbed)
• After Facebook, ‘Smart Cities’ need a regulatory reckoning (CityLab)
• Cities need to band together on self-driving cars (Slate)