MetroTHINK
A few weeks ago I began to feel that this blog needed a refresh. I originally started writing here in 2006, just after the Ontario government created the agency now known as Metrolinx. I had high hopes for the agency to improve public transit across the GTA, improve coordination between municipalities, and end cycles of ad-hoc planning.
While the debate over the future of transportation expansion within the 416 seems to suggest that Metrolinx's ability to end cycles of ad-hoc planning is limited by the willingness of successive councils to build upon the plans of their predecessors, I do believe that the agency has been successful. After many years, the Ontario government used the agency as a vehicle to plan and fund transit expansion projects. The agency encouraged us to think outside of our municipal boundaries and deal with transportation problems that extend beyond the jurisdiction of a single transportation provider. Finally, the agency developed a long term transportation vision that dealt with the big picture - not just transit planning for a single corridor.
Whatever comes of the debate occurring in the 416, I believe Metrolinx will play a key role in continuing to integrate transit systems - even if they wish to deal with their own internal issues by themselves. The TTC will continue to expand regardless of the debate, as will Brampton Transit, Durham Region Transit and the rest of the transit providers. However, Metrolinx will be key in making sure someone who lives in Brampton can connect to Toronto without having to travel through Markham first.
While this blog was originally a vision for what Metrolinx could be, it was never meant to be exclusively about Metrolinx and transportation. Throughout the years I've discussed land-use planning, urban design, architecture, heritage conservation, politics and plenty of other urban issues that I feel make cities and towns unique and exciting places. I'd like to continue to talk more about those issues, but I have recently felt that the name I selected too strongly branded me as a one-dimensional Toronto-based transit blogger. This is why I've chosen to give this space a refresh.
Visions for the GTTA is now
MetroTHINK. It's a "subtle" reminder of where I came from, but I feel it gives me the freedom to explore many different topics on the places and spaces we all call home - wherever that may be.
MetroTHINK is all things urban and regional.
Right now I've used some wonderful Wordpress plugins to migrate all the posts over to the new blog
www.tinyurl.com/metrothink, and some more wonderful plugins to redirect all the Blogger traffic to the new site. The Visions for the GTTA website is still online, since it's literally a vision for the GTTA that I hope may one day be realized. I will eventually find a way to redirect the RSS feeds, but in the mean time please update them accordingly.
2010 may have been a year of global economic slowdown, but hopefully 2011 will see the sun shine brightly on the glass skyscrapers, lively parks and stately brownstones in cities all over the world.
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| The CN Tower's reflection in Waterpark Place |
Labels: admin, last one out please turn off the lights
Visions For The GTTA
The Metrolinx Regional Transportation Plan was approved in 2008, and, when fully implemented we will finally have a regional transportation system that responds to our needs. We will have a fast, frequent and expanded regional rapid transit network that brings rapid transit to within 2 kilometres of 90% of the population, and higher-order transit connectivity to the Pearson Airport district from all directions, including Downtown Toronto, Midtown Toronto, North York and Mississauga City Centre. We will have an expanded Union Station to handle the crowds of the expanded rail service, and a complete walking and cycling networks with bikesharing programs to eliminate the need to drive short distances. We will have an information system for travellers to eliminate the "I don't know when the bus runs" excuse, and we will have a region-wide integrated transit fare system that breaks down actual and perceived barriers between transit systems. We will have a system of connected mobility hubs where people can live, work and play in sustainable communities, and we will have a comprehensive strategy for goods movement to ensure that our economy doesn't choke in congestion. Finally, we will have an Investment Strategy to provide immediate, stable and predictable funding to ensure that all this comes to fruition.
The transportation network is a limited resource, much like timber or petroleum or fresh water. Rather than cut down all of the forests in the country to satisfy our need for paper, we made a decision decades ago to recycle our old paper into new. The transit network needs to be treated similarly. We cannot continue widen our local roads until we have a freeway in every community. We have to "recycle" our transportation network by making more efficient use of it. This will mean disruption to local businesses during the construction phase and it will mean taking lanes away from car drivers. When the alternative is excessively long commutes, an economy that can't ship goods to market, and an environment that we only talk about in stories to our children, we have no choice.
The Metrolinx RTP will reduce congestion, but it cannot solve it. As long as the region continues to grow, the demand on the transportation network will grow with it. As a result, we have to ensure that capacity grows with it. We do this by implementing the plan, extending and upgrade the projects we've built, then build other projects. Just as the plan says, we commit to continuous improvement. That's where the new Visions for the GTTA plan comes in. While the RTP will be transformative, the Visions plan seeks to extend that the other corridors across the Greater Golden Horseshoe region and the Province of Ontario. The coming days will bring a series of blog posts going into detail on each of my recommendations and "revolutionary actions". But for now, please visit
www.gttavisions.com; demand that your municipal, provincial and federal representative support Metrolinx and transit in the GTHA; and encourage our leaders to go beyond what is already planned in order to make our communities better places to live.
Labels: admin, GTTA plan
To a brighter 2010
As 2009 comes to a close, we stand as a region divided. The government is moving forward on transit projects like the Georgetown line improvements and the Sheppard East LRT, but many feel that these projects should not be constructed as proposed. Agencies like Metrolinx are delivering the transit improvements the government promised when they created it, but many feel that these agencies lack legitimacy.
Let 2010 be the year where we remember that, though not everyone will ever be pleased with the solutions we have proposed, we have moved forward on solving the problems we face. Let 2010 be the year of action because, like it or not, action is something we didn't have before.
Happy New Year!
Labels: admin
How I spent my summer vacation
Full disclosure time:
I spent the summer working at Metrolinx. It was an amazing learning experience and, while I wasn't in a planning position (my field), it gave me an opportunity to learn aspects of the transportation planning industry that I haven't yet been able to learn about in my course work. Having said that, I think I would be naive to say that the work experience didn't affect how I think about transit issues in the GTA.
I've always had a pro-Metrolinx bias, I've never tried to hide it, and it probably won't go away. I sincerely believe that, while no agency is perfect, the regional focus that Metrolinx has as its mandate is the only way we can achieve the transportation goals of moving people sustainably across the entire GTHA. We expect the population of this region to increase by about 2-3 million people. Intensification is a must, but there is no way we'll be able to accommodate that kind of growth within the 416 alone. We have to improve links within the 416, within the 905 and between the two. I'll be critical when I need to be, but the forward looking, positive and collaborative forum that I've tried to build this blog into will continue. Call me a trained seal (again) if you want, but these are the things I believe.
Now, to get back into the spirit of posting, here's one thing I observed over the summer:
In mid-July I cycled the Waterfront Trail from Burlington to Niagara Falls over two days and took the weekend GO excursion train back to Toronto, and was fairly impressed by the way the service was operated. Knowing that there would be plenty of cyclists taking advantage of this service (since Niagara has a very well-kept trail system), GO ran 10 car trains with 8 coaches available for passengers, the ninth coach (with tarp on the seats) became a bike car, and the cab car closed to passengers. This increased the amount of bikes that could be carried, but was only available to people who were travelling the entire way from Union to Niagara Falls - people getting on or off at intermediate stops had to mix it up with the passengers. By all measures the service was a great success, and was done fairly cheaply with platform expansions the only real hard infrastructure needed to make it happen (the concept of "quick wins vs full service on opening day" is something that I will address in a future post).
Looking to the southeast, the Long Island Railroad runs a similar excursion service. During the summer, the Cannonball has left NYC in the early afternoon and run express to the Hamptons - a 100 year tradition. The LIRR also runs local service to these same destinations, but by their own admission, the Cannonball remains their most popular service. As GO expands further into the Niagara Region, I suspect that an express will remain popular. Therein lies the question: should the GO express service to Niagara Falls have a name?
In the golden age of railroading the premier trains had names, with some remaining to this day. Is it time to bring some of these names out of retirement to give a bit more prestige to an already special service?
Labels: admin, cycling, daily travels, GO Transit
Announcing the new Metronauts.ca!
After some fiddling, Metronauts, the people who brought you the Transit Camp un-conferences this past summer, has relaunched their website,
Metronauts.ca. There, you'll find interesting ideas and discussions about the future of transportation in the GTHA, ideas on how to build a more livable urban environment, and the best tips and tricks from around the world on navigating the urban landscape. You might even find a post or two from yours truly.
Be sure to check it out and keep up the discussions!
Labels: admin
The winter of my mobile discontent
Those who know me well know that I am strong opponent of the way the mobile phone industry operates in Canada. There are only three true players, all of which offer roughly the same services for the same prices. I'm sure the industry will argue that there is competition and customer choice, but without one company innovating and raising the bar, the only choice is to whom I want to pay my exorbitant mobile phone bill.
My opinions are not based on observations from a distance. They are based on ongoing experiences which have frustrated me for more than a year, have involved three large corporations, and in my opinion, has resulted in no one being held accountable for the poor customer service I have experienced.
In August of 2006 I purchased a Sony Ericsson phone from Wireless Wave on the Rogers Network (names have not been changed, as those three entities are encouraged to contact me to refute what I say here and finally resolve this ongoing issue). The "white screen of death", an unresponsive state which many Sony Ericsson uses may be familiar with, forced me to send the phone in for service in March. When it was returned to me, the repair centre attached a technical bulletin explaining that it was normal for the phone to behave that way for up to 20 minutes during its normal use, and suggesting that maybe I was to blame.
When you shut off a car's engine after a typical drive, is it normal to have to wait 20 minutes before you are able to continue your trip? And if I was to blame, why is it that the phone had to be sent back after two months for the same problem when I continued not doing what Sony Ericsson said I was doing.
Either way, one month later, the third "white screen of death", combined with a complaint to the head office, prompted Wireless Wave to buy back to handset. I replaced it with a top-of-the-line Sony Ericsson - one which no poor reviews existed, even from a then Rogers employee. That was in June of 2007, and last month, I discovered that there must be serious quality assurance problems at everyone's favorite Japanese-Swedish conglomerate.
It has been more than one month since I sent my current mobile phone in for service, and due to some fancy bookkeeping by Wireless Wave, it was sent to their third party repair centre rather than back to the factory. But, I suspect it won't matter, as the authorized Sony Ericsson repair centre doesn't seem to have the ability to diagnose and repair the problem anyway.
As I stated before, of the three companies involved, not one has taken responsibility for this customer service nightmare.
Wireless Wave, at least in Brampton, has offered me nothing more than the bare minimum level of service. They take my product, send it to repairs, call me when it returns, and that's about it. However, I must commend the Erin Mills Town Centre location for its quality of service, kindness of its staff, and general responsiveness to my concerns. Having said that, I cannot excuse the loaner phone policy - a subject that I will return to shortly.
Sony Ericsson has offered nothing but token attempts to fix my phone thus far, and has a "software update should fix it" attitude. On than the speed at which you respond to customer complaints, I have not been satisfied with your product or your repair services. I understand that Sony Ericsson is a joint venture between Sony and Ericsson, but this experience has jaded my opinion of both companies.
Rogers Wireless also has a role in this debacle. They are content with passing any hardware malfunction off to the manufacturer, but in then end, it was they who certified the device and it is they who accept my monthly fees. When someone purchases a mobile phone, they purchase both a handset and the service. Some purchase a bare-bones phone, while others purchase advanced handsets to suit their unique needs. Regardless, it is a Rogers-branded phone and Rogers must take some responsibility when a Rogers-branded phone malfunctions.
Wireless Wave has offered my a loaner phone every time I have had to return a handset for service, but their collection of loaned phones offer bare bones communication. I purchased an advanced phone because I use advanced features in my personal and professional life. I may not be very important in the scope of the world, but I have a list of 200 contacts that I synchronize between my phone and my computer regularly. Since my loaner phone does not have that ability, I am not getting the full experience of the Rogers-branded service I bought into. If a soccer mom with five children gets into an accident, it would be irresponsible for an insurance company to only pay for the rental of a subcompact. Similarly, it is irresponsible for a company who sold you a $500 phone to expect you to repeatedly accept a $100 replacement for months on end. Both Wireless Wave and Rogers Wireless are responsible in this respect.
Perhaps when I begun writing this post it was about the mobile phone industry. However, it appears to have turned into a post about customer service in general. Either way, I hope that these companies shape up, as I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels as if they don't care.
Labels: admin
A series of seemingly random events that led to something very, very good
It was a sunny fall evening, on a westbound GO Train on approach to Malton station when I got the call that was the culmination of a day which was memorable for reasons far too many to list. Days before, I received a seemingly urgent email from Ed Drass, respected journalist. I knew that he was a reader of this blog, but none-the-less, the message surprised me. Days later, after following up on the message, I received the call. A gentleman greeted me, and quickly identified himself as Rob MacIsaac, chair of the Greater Toronto Transportation Authority (now known as Metrolinx). After a short conversation, he asked me if I would be interested in serving on the regional transportation plan advisory committee. Without hesitation and trying to remain calm and composed, I gladly accepted his offer, arranged an appointment to meet him, and upon hanging up, formed a smile that didn't leave my face for at least three days.
So here I am, Andrae Griffith, serving alongside respected intellectuals, business and community leaders to carve out the future of transportation in the Greater Toronto & Hamilton Area. This is precisely what I sought to do when I began writing this blog many years ago - advocate for change. Now, I have been given the power to affect that change and I am truly grateful.
I would like to thank everyone who made this opportunity possible - from my family and friends who have always supported me, to professionals in industry who take time out of their busy schedules (hopefully not against their supervisor's wishes) to read my thoughts. A very special thanks goes to Ed Drass and the other architects of this opportunity. I am forever in your debt.
Over the next year, Metrolinx will be embarking on a public consultation process which will be second to none. Every citizen, from the Bay Street CEO to the general store clerk in Port Perry, will get a say on the future of transit and transportation in the region, with the end result being a long term plan that everyone can call their own. Stay tuned to the
Metrolinx website and to this blog for information on how to participate in the discussion process.
There is no doubt that this will be an exciting year for myself and for the region I call home.
Labels: admin, GTTA plan
Feds say Ontario will get $7.9B in infrastructure funding; enough for transit plan - Canadian Press
For once, there's good news in the paper!
According to a
story by the Canadian Press, the federal government is set to announce $7.9 billion in infrastructure funding for Ontario, almost $2 billion more than their share of MoveOntario 2020. This announcement essentially assures that 52 projects to build over 900 kilometres of rapid transit in the GTA will go ahead sooner rather than later, and that there will be additional funding for other regional centres.
MoveOntario 2020 was not only unprecedented in magnitude, but the plan's key strength is that it draws its ideas from projects already on the books - projects that had been proposed, vetted and were simply awaiting funding. While I don't necessarily agree with all of the particulars of all of the projects, MoveOntario 2020 is the best we've seen so far, and it's great to see that it has support from all levels of government.
The next 12 years will turn the GTA into one giant construction site, but the freedom from gridlock will be worth the wait.
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From now on, I won't be pasting entire newspaper articles into my posts. It should improve the readability, but there is a strong possibility that links to the newspaper articles will become dead after a few weeks. Feedback on this change is appreciated.
Labels: admin, GTTA plan, politics
An apple a day...
Those who know me personally know that Apple is slowly taking over me. After years of refusing to get an iPod, I purchased a 5th generation iPod video one year ago, and I've never looked back. Almost two months ago, I purchased an iMac, and I'm very happy with my purchase. Even though I have windows installed on it, I rarely use it - mainly because the only time my mac crashes is when windows is involved.
Yesterday, I saw an iPhone for the first time. Nicknamed the Jesus Phone by
Gizmodo, it's a smart phone with organizer, a wireless internet device with a specialized youtube player, and it's a widescreen video iPod - all with a touch screen. It will be my next phone when my contract with rogers expires in two more years. By then, European laws will require it to be unlockable, so
I'll be able to use it without fear even if Canadian cell phone providers don't carry it.Today, I popped into the Apple store in the Eaton Centre to check out the new iPod Touch - essentially an iPhone without the phone. This brings me to the whole point of this post:
I can confirm that
gttavisions.com and the blog display correctly on the iPod Touch. However, despite Apple's marketing, the version of the Safari browser on the Touch is the same as on the Mac or PC. When I clicked post a comment, it attempted to open a new window, then returned a "cannot open this page" error.
If Apple is listening (and I'm sure they have web crawlers who search the internet for blogs that mention them), I think a blogger and loyal customer like myself deserves a test unit to see if the iPod Touch can render my site in all locations. Consider it an investment.
I'm now imposing a moratorium on shameless attempts at free stuff for one week after this post is published.
Labels: admin, daily travels
gttavisions.com re-launch
I decided to give
gttavisions.com a refresh, and it's now sporting a cleaner, less cluttered look. I would like some feedback, so please don't hesitate to leave a comment. I've backed up the old layout, and I'm willing to switch back if there is enough demand.
Labels: admin
Market Research
In the past, I've published content in a format that can be viewed in Google Earth and on Google Maps. Google Maps is web based, allowing anyone to view the content within their web browser. However, Google Maps does not support all the features I use when creating route maps. You may have noticed that all the lines are blue and all of the place marks are red teardrops with black dots. This has prevented me from offering multiple lines in a single file. Also, Google Maps cannot handle large KML files, making the GTA Line in particular impossible to display.
Google Earth is a standalone program using the same maps as Google Maps, but offers many more features including terrain, 3-D buildings, and even geographic links to Wikipedia articles. There is also a fairly large Google Earth community, with endless points of interest built into the program, as well as download-able content. However, not everyone has this program, and can bog down an older computer when viewing multiple layers of content.
I am contemplating moving away from Google Maps. Ideally, I would like to use Google Earth for the system map, and reduce the individual route maps to simplified versions, much like the
route map for GRT's iXpress. In order to avoid alienating my readers, I have posted the poll at the right so I can get a sense of the Google Earth penetration. I really appreciate your opinions, so please vote.
Labels: admin, GTTA plan
Web updates
I'm happy to release this major update to the website,
gttavisions.com. I hope you'll find that the links are easier to spot, that the maps are much more effective, and that the text is easier to read and give more information.
To fully experience the new update, you should download a free version of
Google Earth, the program I use for all my transit planning. Most maps can be viewed on
Google Maps, provided you have an updated browser, but some of the longer LRT lines can only be viewed by
Google Earth.
I am aware that the website may cause errors in certain browsers. You may see an "Active X Control Blocked" message when you view some of the pages. As far as I can tell, the Active X Control used is to animate the buttons for the links. I don't understand why it is considered a threat, but if you're not missing much if you keep it disabled.
In the long term, I'll be adding public domain images to further illustrate my points, but for now, I hope you enjoy this update.
Labels: admin, GTTA plan
Happy Holidays
I would like to wish all the very best this holiday season. Stay safe, and choose transit if you've been drinking. Expect a major update to
gttavisions.com as the year winds to a close and the new year begins - consider it my gift this season. Even if you don't celebrate Christmas, I'm sure you won't mind receiving a little token of my appreciation.
Again, happy holidays and a prosperous new year to all.
Labels: admin
Planning - Year One
I'm starting to think that my decision to transfer programs, from Mechanical Engineering to Urban and Regional Planning, was a decision that I will look back upon and smile about for years to come.
I received two papers back this week, and must say that I am very happy with the results.
In my municipal politics course, I received an "A" on the issue reaction paper, where I dissented from the argument that urban spaces should be designed to facilitate the interaction between people and the physical environment. I believe that the interaction between people is much more important. In my opinion, a community is nothing without people making social connections with others. The teaching assistant commented that it was one of only three "A" grades in the course.
In my urban and regional planning course, I received an "A" on the streetcar field research project, where we rode the 506 Carlton from end to end, observing land use patterns along the line. The paper seemed tailor-made to my interests, and I'm glad I did well on it.
I don't usually use this blog to talk about my personal life outside of my daily travels, but aside from some election coverage, which seems more of the same talking-points repeated ad nauseam
, its been a slow week for transit news, with one exception. Post on that to follow.
Labels: admin
Google Earth
If you visit my website -
gttavisions.com - and look at the route maps for the new routes I am proposing, you might notice that the images have been created using Google Earth. While the software is probably the best free GIS software available, it's not perfect.
Google Earth uses satellite photos to generate an electronic map of the world, allowing you to see your community with excellent resolution. You won't be counting the ants in the ant hill, but you can clearly see things as (relatively) small as the lines painted on the roads. But, like I said, it's not perfect.
- Some of the photos are old - for at least two years after the engineering building at Ryerson was built, the site still appeared as a parking lot.
- Some of the photos have discolouration - apparently, the waters near Woodbine Racetrack run red like blood.
- Some areas are not yet in high resolution - Long Branch is one area, which is odd, as most of rural Caledon is in high resolution.
- A phenomenon called map shear - Some satellite photos are not perfectly aligned with the photos next to them - even as much as several hundred meters in some cases.
The good news is that Google is continually updating the software, and as they do, I will be updating my route maps to make sure that the lines I've drawn are actually on roads, and not through buildings (currently, I have VIVA Purple running through the bedroom section of Ikea). It will be a slow process, but in the end, it will result in a much more detailed explanation of where my proposed transit routes will run. I also hope to make them available for download, so that anyone who wishes can take a closer look, and even do some armchair transit planning.
You can download Google Earth at (surprise surprise)
Google Earth's website.
Labels: admin, GTTA plan
Welcome!
Hello there. For the last little while, I had issues with the blog software provided by Yahoo! Geocities. It worked alright, but had editing error (I'm sure you've noticed the strange line spacing), and often I was not able to edit a post - I had to delete it and re-type it. So, I have migrated to blogger, and will fully transfer operations here within the next few days.
Labels: admin
