Bike Walk Bus Toronto

 Hey pals! It's been quite a while since I wrote a blog post. I hadn't been particularly inspired, and I have been taking adventures less frequently due to it being winter. Fortunately, I have finally found a topic to talk about. Recently, I returned from a short trip to Montreal. In the bit of downtime I had, I decided that I would try out the new SRB Pie-IX, also known as 439 Express Pie-IX. This bus rapid transit installation opened in November after many years of (highly-disruptive) construction, aiming to improve finally improve service on the Pie-IX corridor. Montreal had long experimented with different services along this stretch, including the 505 R-Bus, which was removed in 2002 after a number of pedestrian fatalities. While I have a few concerns with the SRB, I think overall it is, and will continue to be, a huge success. In particular, when I compare it to York Region's VIVA Rapidways, the SRB is able to accomplish more transit-specific goals while being much si...

 Despite living quite close to the 'Shops at Don Mills' outdoor mall, it's a place a rarely go to. Even during high school, I never met the question "Want to go to Shops?" with enthusiasm. In spite of my opinion, many people seem to love this place. So, I figure it's time to explore why I consider the Shops at Don Mills a failure. And yes, it deals with my hatred of cars. A Brief History The old Don Mills Centre was a strip mall that opened in 1955, at the southwest corner of Don Mills Road and Lawrence Avenue East, in North York. Successive expansions of the mall led to it being enclosed in 1978. This mall was a typical neighbourhood mall, not unlike Parkway, Agincourt, or Sheridan. I have a vague memory of this mall, but I was so young when it was fully open. The enclosed Don Mills Centre mall. In the early 2000s, owners Cadillac Fairview decided they wanted to renovate the mall and make it an outdoor lifestyle center. This opened in 2009. I would generalize...

 Hey pals! A few months ago, I made a trip up to Port Perry. It's a cute little town, and I had a great time doing my readings on Lake Scugog with an ice latte in hand. To get into town, I went through Uxbridge on Durham Region Transit, but took GO Transit home. The infrequent, and frankly, inconvenient schedules make navigating on transit in North Durham Region difficult. In this somewhat short blog post, I will explore some of the challenges of North Durham faces, and how they can be significantly improved upon with little additional resources required. Background and Issues Two routes operate in North Durham Region.  I wish DRT made good route maps so I don't have to use this random clipping anymore. The first route is Durham Region Transit's 905B. While most 905 service stays south of Windfields Farm, service every 90 minutes runs up to Uxbridge via Port Perry, using Simcoe. This route also includes a stop at ONTechU/Durham College North Campus when travelling to and fr...

 Recently, I was reading a blog post from Youtuber RMTransit , where he spoke about how GO Transit's train offerings being west-heavy create some operational issues at Union Station. I think it's a good piece, but I wish that he had explored a bit more into how GO Transit's service overall is west-heavy. I'm not saying that service is entirely adequate (especially between Hamilton and Kitchener), but the GO Transit west of Toronto is far more useful than east of it. I bring up Kitchener and Guelph as cities that are not within the Greater Toronto Area, but instead sit in the larger Greater Golden Horseshoe. In the east, there's only one city that really comes to mind here: Peterborough. Peterborough's 85,000 residents is smaller than Guelph, but the service quality is exponentially worse. Guelph has a station on the Kitchener Line, and is served by GO bus routes 29, 31, 33, and 48. Peterborough, however, is only served by the 88 bus. You can obviously make an ar...

  This is a blog post I've been meaning to write for quite a while! Every year, there's a video on Tiktok that goes somewhat viral where a college student questions why their parking isn't free on campus when they pay tuition. At base level, this seems like a valid question. However, when you expand the conversation to include equity, and what is constituted a good use of space, free parking on campus is very difficult to justify. In this blog post, I make four arguments that, when combined together, make a good case for why parking on campus should remain unchanged. Particular focus will be given to my school, York University, as well a quick look at a particular project at the University of Toronto. Lots and lots of parking at York University. Laying out some facts I think before making my arguments, I have to lay out some important facts about driving and parking that will make my case more clear.  The first of these facts answers the question of who drives more. As can ...

 Hello! Often touted as something 'new' and 'innovative,' on-demand transit has been around for many decades . While this transit plan works for low-density areas with minimal, since the COVID-19 pandemic, many agencies are replacing conventional routes with on-demand for the sake of efficiency. This on-demand 'creep' may have made sense when ridership bottomed out in the spring of 2020, I find there is a bit of disconnectivity encouraged by over-reliance on it.  In this piece, I will explain some key points related to on-demand transit, and then briefly look at four transit agencies, and how they are using (or struggling to use) on-demand and conventional transit effectively. What is on-demand transit? As the name suggests, on-demand transit is when, instead of the bus running on a schedule, it operates more like a taxi. A customer requests the bus, usually by calling the agency or using an app, and within a window, it picks the passenger up. Two things can hap...

 Hey everyone! A few months ago I wrote a piece here about some of the changes that the TTC has planned for 2023, subject to feedback. The first round of consultation is now complete, and TTC has modified some of the proposals. Additionally, a number of area studies have been complete that hope to refine service on a larger scale, which was proven a success by the Junction study a few years back. In this piece, I will outline my thoughts on these changes, and provide some of my opinions on what could change. I have submitted these comments to the TTC, and I hope that you submit some of your thoughts as well! Some Notes Just a few notes before I start. Firstly, the changes that will be coming with Line 5 are not featured here, and have for the most part been confirmed. I haven't spoken too much about it on here, but I am broadly supportive of the plan, albeit with a few issues around Laird and Science Centre Stations. Secondly, the TTC has provided some information on hours of serv...