News roundup: April 27, 2025

Here’s the latest in walking, biking, and transit news for Waterloo Region for the last several weeks. Subscribe to get updates delivered directly to your inbox! You can also follow us on Bluesky and Instagram.

What’s happening

• VOTE: Federal election day is tomorrow - Monday, April 28!
  • Everything you need to know about voting from Elections Canada
  • Check out responses from some local candidates in our candidate questionnaire
  • Transit and environmental groups surveyed the federal parties on key transportation questions
• WALK: Join one of many Jane’s Walks being held next weekend, May 2-4, in Cambridge, Kitchener, and Waterloo (Jane’s Walk WR)
• WORKSHOP: The City of Kitchener is holding an Approaches to Growth workshop on May 1 from 4:30 to 7:30pm at city hall. There is also a matching online activity if you cannot make it.
• JOIN: GRT is recruiting riders for a Transit Customer Panel to respond to feedback surveys

Walking, biking, and streets

• The City of Kitchener will place traffic calming measures at 18 hot spots, including six schools, as part of its Vision Zero road safety initiative. (The Record, City of Kitchener committee agenda, City of Kitchener summary)
• “Region of Waterloo speed camera program expands to new locations” (The Record)
• “Woolwich residents urge region to reconsider speed limits” (CityNews)
• New pedestrian ramp/connection is now open by Myers Road and Moffatt Creek Public School in Cambridge (Cambridge Today)
• “Amazon warehouse sparks traffic changes on Old Mill Road” (The Record)
• Major construction works will reshape Arthur Street through downtown Elmira (The Record)
• “How to use new e-scooters and e-bikes in Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge” (Around The Region)
• “‘Pause before you park’: Cambridge launches parking awareness campaign” (The Record)
• Dysfunctional Cambridge bollards on Dickson Street being removed after a decade, with plans for restoration paving (The Record)
• “Region initiates design study for pedestrian bridge on Kissing Bridge Trail in Wellesley” (The Record)
• “Waterloo urging the province to protect fresh water from road salt” (CityNews)
• “Ontario added 134 km of lanes to Highway 401. Its key bottleneck didn’t get better” (Global News)
• “Six Nations’ objections were omitted from controversial Kitchener wetland development” (The Record)
• Locally developed Cycling Guide navigation app announces 2.0 release (Cycling Guide, Interview with Radio Waterloo)
• A new website from U of T’s School of Cities maps transportation data from the 2022 Transportation Tomorrow Survey (GGH Transport Geography)

Transit

• GRT stop changes and spring schedule changes effective April 28, 2025 (GRT)
• GRT business plan
  • “Grand River Transit shares 10-year expansion plan” (CTV News)
  • Over a dozen delegations including TriTAG presented in a special public input meeting about the GRT Business Plan, largely supporting the plan or encouraging going beyond (Region of Waterloo minutes)
  • On our blog: Grand River Transit’s big vision could be bigger yet (TriTAG)
  • D’Amato: “Better public transit in Waterloo Region will make a big difference” (The Record)
  • “Councillors want Cambridge prioritized in transit plan” (CambridgeToday)
• “Phase 2 LRT shouldn’t be a question, Cambridge councillors say” (The Record)
• Kitchener Central Transit Hub
  • Region of Waterloo’s plan to remove homeless encampment at site of future transit hub (CTV News, CityNews, CTV News, City News, CityNews)
  • “Raised tracks and a new platform: What it will take to build Waterloo region’s new transit hub” (CBC News)
  • “Kitchener train signs disconnected at Lancaster Rail Crossing, removed for infrastructure work by Metrolinx” (CityNews, Metrolinx)
• A social media post showing someone riding atop a GRT vehicle on Hespeler Road has sparked concern from both law enforcement and transportation authorities (Cambridge Today, CityNews)
• “Opinion: Speed, comfort, low emissions: Europe’s expanding high-speed rail networks offer lessons for train laggard Canada” (Globe and Mail)
• “Opinion: Canada’s real comparative advantage is public transit. That should be our trade-war strategy” (Globe and Mail)
• Opinion: “Down with the BRT, long live the Bus” (Marco Chitti)
• “LETTER: ‘Guelph must not be left out of this new weekend service’” (GuelphToday)
• “The history of the bi-level coach: How a sketch on a bar napkin changed transit for decades to come.” (Metrolinx)
• “These Ontario voters want climate change to be a bigger issue in this federal election” (CBC)

The shape of our cities

• Kitchener’s Growing Together East plan approved by committee, enabling 35,000 homes and eliminating parking requirements in the Block Line, Fairway, and Sportsworld station areas (The Record)
• “Changes would allow highrises, 1,500 more units in new south Kitchener subdivision” (The Record)
• “Waterloo’s final suburbs near approval after years of delay” (The Record)
• “Cambridge residential zoning change targets housing for ‘missing middle’” (The Record)
• “Cambridge pushes for fair share of property taxes” (Cambridge Times)
• Cambridge has spent more than Kitchener and Waterloo combined fighting developments at the OLT. (The Record)
• “Parking concerns raised about affordable housing proposal in Hespeler” (The Record)
• “How Waterloo Region and Guelph dealt with the homelessness issue in 2024” (CTV News)
• “Two Conestoga College campuses to consolidate in Kitchener, Brantford” (CTV News)

Elsewhere

• Bus-lanes / BRT starting in London, Ontario (Sean Marshall, LFPress, City of London)
• “Councillors begin steering London transit through tumultuous times after dismissing previous commissioners” (CTV News)
• “Judge grills province on whether Toronto bike lane removals are ‘arbitrary’” (The Trillium)
• “Ontario government open to discussions with City of Toronto over removal of bike lanes” (CityNews)
• Wellington County: “Speed camera revenue won’t stay in municipality where it was generated” (Guelph Today)