A Day in the (car-free) life
An errand that most people wouldn’t bat an eyelash to include into their daily schedule had me planning my day around it.
You see, I had to make my way out to St. Clair College’s main campus in south Windsor the other day. Back in my auto-centric days, this trip would have taken me around 45 minutes round trip to drop off the two forms necessary for my enrollment. Now that I’ve shed those 4500 pounds of steel and plastic in lieu of public transit, cycling and my feet, that same trip ended up taking me three and a half hours.
To be fair, the long time away from home was partially due to a very long line-up at the registrar’s office, but nonetheless…
Now, I find myself navigating the city using “alternative” methods of transportation (when did walking become “alternative”? Couldn’t everyone, at some point in the day, be considered a ”pedestrian”?). Today, my trip was hosted by none other than Windsor Transit.
I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t “transfer” well. Seeing how I’ve situated myself in the hub of activity in Windsor’s core, I rarely find myself without a direct connection to most of my regular destinations. The University, downtown, even my parents’ far-flung condo way out by the Windsor Yacht Club are all reached without needing to claim a transfer ticket from the bus driver. Today, however, my need to connect with the Dominion 5 meant standing out in the cold for nearly 20 minutes in both directions. Transfers are wonderful things (sarcasm, indeed) and a killer of new transit users. My choice of footwear left me wiggling my toes for most of the trip, trying to warm up. I’m actually thinking of buying old-man galoshes. A fashion statement few drivers could get away with.
I do not regret my car-free decision, however. I just need to get used to it. The opportunity for reflection and planning that the long commute gave me facilitated the accomplishment of many tasks. Reading the latest issue of Spacing magazine cover-to-cover (twice), organizing the receipts in my wallet and composing two articles for SD were all taken care of without worrying about rear-ending the person in front of me or adjusting my rear-view mirrors. There’s many quality things we’ve given up by taking on the responsibility of driving.
Observing our built environment out the windows of the bus while commuting from downtown to south Windsor was like investigating a freshly felled tree for its rings. Time is etched for all to see in concentric circles around Windsor’s older neighbourhoods. Starting the trip from the waterfront surrounded by buildings built in the ‘20’s, we traveled south along Campbell Road, morphing into Dominion Boulevard. This transition through time, decade by decade (save the ‘30’s -nobody was building anything, anywhere, right after the depression) was demonstrated by the waves of construction and the aesthetics of the day. Strange how one of our biggest complaints about today’s suburbs is the monotonous designs and building materials used to bring them to life, yet it seems every decade illustrates the same observations in different forms. From the healthy inventory of turn-of-the-century foursquares close to the riverfront to the ‘50’s ranches in south Windsor, the trip was punctuated with evidence that developers were never keen on thinking outside the box - regardless of what era they worked in.
Aside from the built-in creature comforts of the homes as our trip progressed, the further south we travelled also showed declining evidence of foot traffic. Unshovelled snow is a wonderful way to trace the routes that pedestrians make between snow storms. The evidence shows just how good community planners predict the ways people will walk through a community. When constructing new developments, public works should wait until the first winter so they can know exactly where to install the sidewalks for maximum usage. Out here in the suburbs, however, it also show whether people walk at all.
I am finally getting back feeling in my toes (to those people who neglected to shovel their walks, I hope my calls to 311 renewed your sense of civic duty) so there was no permanent damage from the trip. There are many, MANY improvements to be made to our transit system. We need to inspire more people to take the plunge to become riders, and until we begin to make positive strides in route design/infrastructure and frequencies they won’t come. Back in 2006, Transit Windsor adopted a plan to address aspects (from lack of bus shelters to the planning of our communities) of our aging system with an eye towards increasing ridership. I’m hoping that change will come as citizens become enlightened to our social and environmental problems, but I will accept the alternative of more people reluctantly giving up their cars due to their expense.
This writer’s sold, though. I find myself turning down rides to continue my car-freedom. Once I got out of the mindset of darting everywere at the last minute in my car, a leisurely bus ride or walk has become part of my daily routine - one that I would be loathe to give up now; cold feet or not.
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I told you it will happen this way, having to plan every trip but you found the same rewards and nuisances that I have come to like and dislike about those long transferring bus rides, a liesurely eyeballing of our city.
The other nice thing is that I didn’t or don’t have to worry about a car not starting this morning! Just layer and bundle up and off I go.
Bus shelters at major transfer points would go a long way, clearing all bus stops of snow the length of the bus, so that exiting seniors or mother’s with strollers or anybody else doesn’t have climb up a snow bank and then climb down the snow bank to be greeted with unshoveled sidewalks.
What I am saying is that Transit Windsor is putting its pasengers in harms way and the risk of injury by having them exiting the bus by climbing up and then down snow banks and it could be a matter of time for a lawsuit.
But then Chris, I have never waxed poetically as you have above!
I think you need to go t TSC and get some warm walking boots and keep your shoes in your backpack.
I would love to take the bus but it would add 1.5 to 2 hours to my day as I would either have to transfer or ride my bike to the main route. That’s not all the transit company’s fault though; it’s hard to have direct routes when no underground or light rail was planned for and with so much sprawl the buses have to make all these weird routes.
As you know, Chris, I have to do the same type of thing today, for the same reason. I have to go to Alicia Mason and pick up my HS transcripts, since my old HS WD Lowe is closed and their records are stored at Mason. Then, after putting down my 5 quid and grabbing the forms, I need to get over to the U, and then home, all the while having a nice raging cold.
But I relish the ride, the time for reflection and the time to listen to some new music on my trusty mp3 player, so its not all that bad. Chris, you truly are a soldier of mass transit : )
Chris is a newbie but a welcome soldier for this generation. I’ve lived without a car in this city for twenty years and walk back and forth to work on daily basis.
Yes, take VR’s advice and get yourself a good pair of waterproof winter boots, with Transit Windsor the wait could be longer than twenty minutes!
My wish list is: that every bus stop has an LED screen or such to tell you when the next bus will be along at that stop. And the other one is calling out the stops along a route, sometimes on a crowded bus it is hard to see or look for your stop.
Having the LED screen that shows the eta of the next bus would have been a welcome measure that night 5 years ago I had to wait for a bus in a blisteringly cold sleet storm for over an hour.
The stop I was at had no bus shelter. I remember feeling my coat freeze up, it was like wearing a suit of armor. Apparently the Ottawa 4 bus had trouble starting in the bad weather, hence the hour long wait…
Always dress warmer than you think you should. I learned that the hard way. Thankfully nights like that have been very few and far between.
the Ottawa 4 must be the grand touring route of all routes. I had to go out to Naylor’s and the only bus the gets you there is the Ottawa 4. I saw more neighbourhoods in a one way trip than I have in years. And it still didn’t get me as close as I had liked, still had a long walk over to Jefferson then south on Jefferson two very long blocks, and that lonely, unsheltered bus stop at Queen Elizabeth to come home. Standing there for thirty minutes. Felt like a hooker standing there, locals staring to see who you are and why are you standing there.
No wonder no one wants to use Transit Windsor.
That stigma is one of the largest obstacles to clear when it comes to increasing transit ridership. In larger metro areas, transit (subway, streetcar and bus) is an accepted methods of getting around - by everyone. We need to get rid of that “second-class citizen” mentality.
Once you see business people riding the bus carrying their briefcases, you know you’ve overcome that stigma.
By golly, I think he’s got it! As for mass transit, I believe that you have hit the nail on the head Chris. Once mass transit moves from a necessity to a choice you know that you have succeeded.
Your statement rings particularly true here in Charlottetown. I live in, what many locals consider to be, an afluent neighbourhood. (We went with the by the cheapest house in the most expensive neighbourhood theory when we bought it!) Within 500m of my home are 2 bus stops that are regularly filled with business people waiting for their trip downtown. Federal employees and other “suits” bundled up to wait for public transit. That, in and of itself, it why Charlottetown’s transit system is ahead of its’ growth projections and is on the verge of becoming a profitable enterprise, something that very few (if any) transit systems can claim.
As for this ex-Windsorite — instead of asking for the $100+ a month for a parking pass as part of my 1 year review, I’m going to ask for a $60 a month bus pass. Savings for the company, savings for me and increasing the ridership of public transit by one more briefcase toting suit
Exactly, Urbanrat! Standing in the sideways blowing sleet that night on a lonely dark street in East Windsor I did feel very awkward, as well as bloody cold. People were driving by, even slowing down to get a look at this poor sap standing out in the ice rain. It made my blood boil. It also made me feel like some sort of undesirable or lower class person, which I know I am not. Taking public transportation should never make people feel that way but I did on that cold dark night.
Hopefully they streamline some routes and add more shelters. Ridership will increase as our economy continues to adjust and more seniors move down here, drawn by cheap housing, etc.
Robert Moses, the great destroyer of New York City and the surrounding cities, Brooklyn et al, purposely led the charge of keeping the poor out of the burbs, by designing bridges to these new burbs so that public transportation couldn’t service them. You had to be middle class or better, the car was king, and sidewalks were not built to keep the poor out. To walk was to be poor and an alien in an alien landscape. That’s why anybody that uses a bus in the burbs, is eyeballed…you aren’t suppose to be there! Thus be the design of sub-urbs across North America for 70 years!
So, why is Transit Windsor servicing these burbs, for teens to young to drive yet, so they can get to the Mall! Transits Windsor’s secret bus terminal is Devonshire Mall That mall has more direct bus service than any other private or public company in Windsor! There’s no bus service right to the door of the 400 Building, lots of parking lots though! Not even the 1C drives to the door of Metropolitan Hospital, which is heavily used by seniors or the poor for medical service, it drops you off a good block away on Tecumseh and the Met doesn’t clean their sidewalks of snow.
If you make a choice to live in the burbs, you’ve made a choice to be unevenly and heavily subsidized by public money for your choice, you shouldn’t be so greedy as to demand more of the public purse in wanting public transportation to your door.
Every burb in Windsor has been subsidized by the poor, with the cash grab going into building all the roads they can’t travel and still this city is investing in the burbs, a new arena, new roads to service it and old Windsor is still paying heavily for those developments in the east or as I now call it The New Tecumseh West, were the car is still king!
It is starting to appear that Eddie Francis personally has abandon anything west of Lauzon for development consideration, even Greenlink, Gateway or whatever DRIC, are all building for Lasalle, (Windsor’s big box development in East Lasalle) which the “any bridge” outside of Moroun’s enhanced span would service better than Windsor’s west end or downtown! Except for his personal investment in 29 Park, a nightclub downtown, which means he wants to keep the status quo downtown.
Good note of the hospital route. In Cardiff, Wales there are several buses that route directly to the hospital doors…senior residence, stops at the senior centre, then on to the hospital and back.
Ahh, yes, Robert Moses. He also wanted to destroy the lower east side and much of Greenwich Village when he proposed the “Lower East Side Highway” initiative in the 50s, but thankfully that was defeated soundly and the most distinctive part of NYC remains. Now in NYC, taking the subway is the preferred mode of travel, as people who own cars and try to get around in Manhattan are looked upon as slightly crazy. Over there, you have to buy the land your parking space occupies, sometimes for a quater of a million dollars in extreme cases, or the cost of parking is just included in your lease, but it gives your 2500 dollar a month rent a nice boost. In New York, you can buy an month long subway pass for 76 dollars. I wonder which one any sane person would chose? ; )
Here in Windsor, we arent so fortunate. Here, even the most rusted out, sputtering bucket of bolts that barely gets saftied is preferred to taking mass transit. This begs a very interesting sociological question: Why? Why is driving a barely usable car in some cases considered more “acceptable” than taking a bus in this city?
Yes, Chris we do need to erase that stigma of using mass transit, but how can we do this? Perhaps as Urbanrat said, re-examining the routes, connecting more lines together, and having proper service to govt buildings and hospitals for one. How about proper service to schools as well? What about free admission for children under 12 and seniors? More bus shelters, LED displays, which are very common in other cities. More frequent service, no matter what day it is, or what time of day. People who dont have a car sometimes have to go somewhere on a sunday after 6pm, but unless you have another way, then you are up a creek.
Another glaring problem is that the people who decide whether or not to change the bus lines, add shelters, add LEDs, cost of admission, etc, do not take the bus themselves. Therefore, I ask how can the legislate that which they do not use themselves? Lets see more people who make the rules be true to their word and use the very services they so readily legislate.
Windsor may attract a few more riders with better routes or nicer shelters, but not the critical mass we would need to reach the kind of change necessary.
Windsor’s transit dilemma is very straight-forward. Driving is cheap! Free parking is more prevelant than parkland and gas keeps on going down in price. We may have some of the most expensive auto insurance rates in the province, but still not expensive enough for people to think twice about their methods of mobility.
Once our real estate reaches the price levels of a New York or Toronto (as if!) we may start to see people getting on the bus more frequently, but until then - we’ll still see part time Tim Horton’s employees leasing brand new vehicles while living at home with their parents well into their 30’s. For some reason that is more socially acceptablein this city these days.
Driving is still too cheap in this city. This reality should not stop us from working towards a better transit system, though. It just shows that maybe we shouldn’t compare ourselves to mega-cities and be happy with a less expansive and elborate system to call our own.
I think, a case study of Boulder Colorado is needed. The results they have achieved in transit ridership are incredible.
Key highlights:
High frequency simple routes.
Subsidised by parking fees/
Multi-model system.
Bottom-up customer focused.
Public transit is an alternative to car travel not a service for those with no other choice.
http://www.streetfilms.org/archives/hop-skip-and-jump-aboard-a-boulder-bus/
i agree with most of the sentiment i read so far but i believe one aspect that remains to be addressed is just how the “idea” of public transit is perceived and represented. not only is driving cheap in this city it is advocated. as an auto town we encourage our 19 year old kids to lease a new “reliable, safe” vehicle. this is slowly changing as loans become scarce and multiple auto families diminish. riding the bus needs to become “COOL”! major ad campaigns would work wonders in a time where extra money for second or third vehicles in the family are diminishing and the price of gas fluctuates by dollars not cents anymore. servicing issues and new hardware or technologies would become affordable in a system that increased profitability simple by increasing ridership through advertising. imagine a day where catching a bus after last call downtown is not only available but an extremely popular and financially viable alternative. i walk often to work and in my daily routine but i also have a car and very infrequently take public transit. i am more prone to advocate for a car sharing idea in this city than i am advocating increasing services for transit windsor. i may have to actually take the bus today ironically. personally i have another reason why i don’t like taking the bus…..everyone just seems so bloody miserable. it is a major downer. they should start offering a smile discount for all riders, may actually encourage more ridership.
Trivia Sunday, sorry for the straying but few in Windsor know this:
First international phone line opens
BY ZLATI MEYER • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • JANUARY 18, 2009
Can you hear me now?
If you answered yes — and you live, work or spend time in area code 519 in Ontario — here’s the reason why:
The first international telephone line in the world opened between Detroit and Windsor on Jan. 20, 1880.
A year later, almost to the day, the Michigan State Telephone Co. (later Michigan Bell and now part of AT&T) was founded to deal with long-distance calls, and Detroit’s first public pay phones were installed.
On Sept. 15, 1881, Detroit telephones made history again, when a 75-mile phone line stretching to Port Huron — among the longest on Earth — debuted.
No word about what the first U.S.-Canada phone conversation was about, but chances are, it wasn’t to order a pizza.
A way to subsidize public transportation and end the free subsidize ride of Free Parking
Implications of B.C.’s New Parking Tax
ntroduction
Recent provincial legislation in British Columbia to include a levy on commercial parking spaces may force commercial property owners to explore new measures for dealing with rising operational costs. As such, it is valuable for companies to be aware of these changes and what it means to their bottom line.
A Closer Look at the Parking Tax
On December 6, 2005, the Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority Amendment Act (B.C.) (the “Act”) was brought into force. The Act implemented a new parking tax on non-residential parking spaces and authorized the Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority (“TransLink”) to levy the tax annually effective January 1, 2006. The tax applies to common areas, loading docks, driveways, bike racks, green space and storage areas, but excludes universities, schools, hospitals, municipal property and churches.
Similar to property taxes, the responsibility falls to individual municipalities to collect taxes and to then direct revenues to TransLink. As such, parking tax assessments are included in municipal property tax notices and must be paid by the property owner along with, and in the same manner as, municipal property taxes.
TransLink has suggested various grounds for imposing the new parking tax, including the need to fund expansion of roads and transit services in the Greater Vancouver Regional District. The tax, in the view of TransLink, is an acknowledgement ofacknowledges the reliance of business owners on roads and transit systems to provide goods, services, staff and customers to and from their locations. TransLink also believes that a tax based on parking recognizes the demands that owners, tenants, employees, suppliers and customers of stores, shopping malls, business and industrial parks and other organizations place on existing transportation systems. Revenues from the parking tax are expected to fund $1.9 billion in transportation improvements over the next three years.
In the early 1990’s, Ontario imposed a Commercial Concentration Tax on commercial properties larger than 200,000 square feet and on commercial parking lots in the greater Toronto areaGreater Toronto Area. It but was repealed after about three years. As with the B.C. parking tax, Tax revenues were to fund transit and road programs. However, Oone of the major criticisms of this tax was that it generated revenues from Toronto businesses and parking lots that were used across the province. The B.C. parking tax has avoided this issue by directing the revenues to Translink.
Parking Tax Rate
The amount of parking tax owing is calculated by multiplying the parking tax rate by the taxable parking area of the site. The rate was initially set at approximately $1.02 per square meter, equivalent to about $30 per parking space per year. However, TransLink has since reviewed the figure and reduced it to $0.78 per square meter (or about $23 per parking space per year).
Challenging Parking Tax Assessments
The Act also allows property owners to file complaints where they believe they have been incorrectly assessed. Prior to implementing the new levy, TransLink created a parking site roll. A parking site roll provides information with respect to the ownership, location and taxable parking area for each property liable to assessment of the parking tax under the Act. Accordingly, the Act enables the property owner to file a complaint against an entry in a parking site roll on any of the following grounds: (1) an error or omission respecting the property owner assessed in the parking site roll; (2) an error or omission respecting the determination of taxable parking area or taxable parking spaces; (3) the improper determination of land or improvements as a parking site; (4) an exemption being improperly disallowed; and (5) an error or omission in the apportionment of property. All complaints advanced by a property owner will be governed by the provisions of the Assessment Act (B.C.), which oversees property assessments throughout British Columbia. To initiate the complaint process, a property owner must file a notice of their complaint with TransLink.
Conclusion
With the introduction of the parking tax and the shared belief that the tax will rise in the years ahead, business owners will face an indefinite increase in the cost of doing business. Owners of commercial and non-residential rental property will want to review the terms of their existing lease agreements to determine if they can pass on the parking tax to their current tenants. The standard form leases should also be revised to ensure that the tax is clearly passed on to tenants with respect to future tenancies. The tax should also be factored into annual budgets and operating cost estimates with a view to recover any increases in operating costs.
For further information, visit http://www.translink.bc.ca/ParkingTax/default.asp.
Shanah Ali is an associate in the Vancouver office of Lang Michener. She may be reached at 604-691-6836 or via e-mail at [email protected].
This article appeared in the Real Estate Brief Fall 2006 and was reprinted with permission in British Columbia Real Estate Law Developments. To subscribe to this publication, visit our Publications Request page.
Public Transit Encouragement
From:
Victoria Transport Policy Institute
http://www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm112.htm
WIT AND HUMOR
An African farmer became impatient with his predicable life and unglamorous work, and decided to sell his property and become a prospector. He left his family and friends behind and spent years searching unsuccessfully for gold, silver and precious jewels.
Years later, the new owner of the farm noticed a bright stone in the small stream on the property. After admiring the stone’s beauty he put it in his pocket, and later placed it on the fireplace mantel, among other interesting curiosities, such as bird feathers and dried plants. After a few weeks a visitor noticed the stone, and on a closer look his eyes grew wide and he nearly fainted. “Do you know what this is?” the guest asked? The farmer replied that he thought it was an interesting crystal. The visitor explained that this was one of the largest and most exquisite diamonds he had ever seen. The two ran back to the steam and found many more such stones scattered along the bottom.
Eventually, the original farmer heard that the land he had been so eager to sell years earlier turned out to be one of the most productive diamond mines in the world. He had roamed the world looking for riches when a fortune had been sitting in his own backyard.
If the farmer had only taken the time to learn what diamonds look like in their rough state he could have started with his own resources, rather than traveling elsewhere in search of his dreams. In other words, it is often worthwhile developing what you have before abandoning it for something new.
DESCRIPTION
Public Transit Encouragement includes various strategies that give discretionary travelers (those who have the option of driving) reasons to choose transit. These include:
-Improve Transit Service, including more service, faster service and more comfortable service.
-Improved Stops and Stations, including shelter (enclosed waiting areas, with heating in winter and cooling in summer), seating, transit user information and wayfinding guidance, washrooms, refreshments, Internet services, and other convenience and comfort features.
-Transit-Oriented Development, so a maximum amount of mixed development occurs within convenient walking distance of transit stations and stops.
-Reduce fares and offer discounts (such as lower rates for off-peak travel times, or for certain groups).
-More convenient fare structures and Payment Systems using electronic “smart cards.”
-Commute Trip Reduction programs, Commuter Financial Incentives, and other TDM Programs that encourage use of alternative transportation modes.
-Amenities, such as on-board Wi-Fi refreshments services.
-Improve rider information and Marketing programs.
-Park & Ride facilities, including Bike Parking.
-Create a Multi-Modal Access Guide, which includes maps, schedules, contact numbers, and other information on how to reach a particular destination by public transit.
-Parking and Road pricing can provide financial incentives for transit use (Small, 2005).
Windsor Cordon (Area) Toll
How could we end our current regional situation where the tail wags the dog (i.e. Tecumseh and Lasalle blackmail Windsor into costly sprawl development)? How could we subsidise public transit? Answer: Windsor Cordon Toll.
Cordon tolls are fees paid by motorists to drive in a particular area, usually a city center. Some cordon tolls only apply during peak periods, such as weekdays. This can be done by simply requiring vehicles driven within the area to display a pass, or by tolling at each entrance to the area.
Road Pricing
Congestion Pricing, Value Pricing, Toll Roads and HOT Lanes
Victoria Transport Policy Institute
http://www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm35.htm
Hey Chris - I quite agree that the biggest hurdle to public transit in Windsor is the stigma.
I remember when our city council was debating the new terminal and statements such as “I used to take Transit Windsor when I was a student” and “no one wants transients hanging around their neighbourhood which is what will happen if we build the terminal at the Caron Avenue lot” went unchallenged.
Check out the Windsor Convention and Visitors Bureau office in the Hilton/Radisson walkway - they’ve installed a glass partition and a locking door to protect them since the Bus terminal attracts all sorts of people to the area. Not very welcoming to our city visitors….
Frankly, I don’t think I’m that unsavoury an individual (most of the time). JT
Toronto and the GTA - Trying to get it right!
Expect a smoother ride to work
AARON HARRIS/TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO
Crowd forms at Spadina station Dec. 15, 2008 to check out debut of TTC signs informing how soon the next streetcars are arriving.
January 20, 2009
TESS KALINOWSKI
TRANSPORTATION REPORTER
Complaining about the daily commute is practically a sport in the Toronto region.
But transit riders may find less to criticize by the time 2009 ends, as a more customer-based culture becomes increasingly common across the GTA.
Last week, the TTC launched email alerts, the latest electronic initiative in its customer-service arsenal.
While these information bulletins could mean a better trip for the 85 per cent of GTA transit users who ride on the TTC, regional transit authorities expect to deliver some good news of their own in the months ahead.
Here are some changes coming to the trains and buses this year:
TTC
Following on the heels of two route upgrades last year, the TTC has boosted service on 11 more bus and streetcar routes this month.
Along with the introduction of email alerts, text alerts will also become available this year, giving cellphone users who key in a bus stop number the lowdown on “real time” vehicle arrival times.
By June, riders should be able to buy fare passes online, and a long-anticipated trip planner is to launch online in July.
Next-vehicle arrival signs, launched last year, will continue to roll out across the city.
By year’s end, Victoria Park, Pape and Dufferin stations will be undergoing renovation as part of an ongoing program.
Although the first test vehicles aren’t expected until at least 2010, expect to hear a lot this year about the TTC’s new streetcars. The record-busting contract – worth between $1.25 billion and $3 billion – for 204 streetcars is expected to be awarded in April.
Riders can expect to see plastic shields around TTC drivers this year.
And parking fees will apply to Metropass users starting in April.
GO TRANSIT
Its bus service is to expand this fall on the Milton 401, Oakville 403, Oshawa Express and Highway 407 routes, and the Richmond Hill train bus, to alleviate overcrowding.
By fall, 12-car trains will be relieving rush-hour crowding on the Lakeshore line. Expanded off-peak service is slated for late this year or early 2010 on the Stouffville, Barrie and Georgetown lines.
A three-level structure will add 900 parking spaces to Whitby GO station’s 2,450. A five-level structure with elevators is in the works at the Aurora station to add 860 spaces to the existing 1,630.
By April, riders on all corridors will begin to see LCD signs in stations advising of service changes and delays, as exist now in some Lakeshore West line stations.
The Scarborough GO station will become the 50th of 59 stations to become fully accessible.
Appleby and Clarkson are scheduled for completion next year.
MISSISSAUGA TRANSIT
To provide faster trips on some of its busiest routes, the company will introduce limited-stop buses along Hurontario St., from Port Credit to Shopper’s World in Brampton, starting in May. They’re not considered express buses because they don’t have signal priority, said transit chief Geoff Marinoff.
A similar service will be introduced along Dundas, from Islington TTC station to Oakville. That should enhance service to the U of T Erindale campus and Sheridan College.
YORK REGION TRANSIT
The GPS that lets riders on their home computer or hand-held device access real-time arrival times on the Viva service is being expanded fleet-wide.
YRT has integrated maps so that its riders can use Google Transit to plan their trips, in addition to the rideQuest function on its website.
One of the system’s biggest innovations this year will be invisible to customers. YRT will be among the first in the region to establish a data warehouse so routing, ridership and scheduling information is available through one “dashboard” to managers.
The hope is to make the entire system more responsive to rider frustrations and problems.
OAKVILLE
The growing town is getting a transit makeover. As of Sept. 1, it will convert bus routes to a grid-based system rather than the existing radial routes emanating from GO stations.
It should make about-town and cross-regional travel on major routes easier, said transit director Barry Cole.
PRESTO
The province’s Presto smart fare card resurfaces in September for a field test at the Oakville and Bronte GO stations, in anticipation of an elaborate rollout to nine transit systems next year.
This test will use custom software, rather than the off-the-shelf variety tested last year in Mississauga.
About 600 regular adult riders will be able to load a dollar value onto their cards online and by phone to travel on Oakville buses, GO and the TTC.
Article here, plus interesting interactive maps:
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/573882