Bike Walk Bus Toronto

 I have talked about this regularly in past posts, but I hate when people visit another city, come back to Toronto, and say "oh, Toronto sucks!" I don't disagree that Toronto has many, very serious issues, but takes like this lean into what I like to call 'tourist vision'. You view Toronto negatively because you experience the short falls across the city, especially since you probably have to experience a commute. You view other cities positively because you are only seeing the curated image that the city puts on. If you spend all your time in Le Plateau, of course you will see Montreal only positively. You never have to experience a commute from Pointe-aux-Trembles to West Island, so you don't care to give those negatives space. The REV along St-Denis. While Montreal has had a lot of success with their pedestrian- and cyclist-first policies, uneven distribution of safe infrastructures across the city create a gradient of what parts of the city are more import...

 Hello! This blog post is a small break from my recent series about Montreal. It had been a bit since I visited the Waterloo Region, and since my last visit, the city has gotten Neuron-branded e-bikes and e-scooters. Since I had a coupon for Neuron, and the LRT was down through downtown Kitchener, I figured now would be a good time to try out an e-scooter. As well, because I regularly use BikeShare in Toronto and Bixi in Montreal, I would be able to compare the micromobility systems. Having taken my first ride on Neuron, from Laurier--Waterloo Park LRT Station to Charles Street Bus Terminal, I can say that I really did not enjoy the system. The focus on technology over functionality, and the overpolicing of mobility outside of cars makes the system unenjoyable, and quite the hassle to use.  In this blog post, I will outline some of my problems with the e-scooters, and offer suggestions on how to make micro-mobility work in Waterloo Region. Apologies for the portrait photos, as...