Why Durham region is going the microtransit route during the pandemic
Most Greater Toronto transit agencies have responded to COVID-19 by suspending low-ridership routes and reducing service. But Durham Region Transit has a different recovery plan. [TVO.org]
Bramptonians Shouldn’t Have to Beg to Cross the Street
With consistently high ridership growth over the last few years, Brampton Transit has proven to be one of Canada’s greatest transportation success stories. However, transit can only be really successful if it is easy to access. Here, Brampton has failed miserably. [Bramptonist]
Planes, trains, and automobiles (sort of): Getting to and around northern Ontario without a car
On a 58-hour trip by bus, train, and mini-bus from Toronto to Thunder Bay, you’ll get a close look at the countryside — and at the challenges of intercity travel. [TVO.org]
How Ontario helped invent the modern highway
The Queen Elizabeth Way was the province’s first superhighway — and it helped pave the way for road-safety innovation. [TVO.org]
The good and bad of Ontario’s two new university campuses
New suburban campuses will create economic opportunities — but only one of them seems to have been planned with people in mind. [TVO.org]
How intercity bus service is failing Ontarians
The government touts its funding for transit, but those in rural and northern areas are being left behind. [TVO.org]
How Toronto’s newly proposed wards will shake up the city
I created an static and interactive maps of Toronto’s proposed new ward boundaries in 2016 and commented on how they may have changed civic politics. [Torontoist]
Mapping Toronto’s legal rooming houses
Rooming houses are an integral form of affordable housing, but often overlooked. [Torontoist]
Mind the gap: How cities can make physical distancing work
What can municipalities do to support residents who have to stay two metres apart? [TVO.org]
Prison labour, postwar road trips, and Gasoline Alley: Highway 11 turns 100
It’s 1,785 kilometres long and a century old — get to know one of Ontario’s most important motor routes. [TVO.org]
Remembering the Rogers Road streetcar
In 1974, the Toronto Transit Commission abandoned the Rogers Road Streetcar, which served the former City of York. It was supposed to be the last streetcar route abandoned by the TTC. [Spacing]
Here’s why property taxes in Brampton are some of the highest in the GTA
I explain why my hometown has high property taxes — and what it can do to reduce the burden on residents. [Bramptonist]
The secret behind Brampton’s transit success
Public transit ridership is stagnating across North America, but in Brampton, it’s on the rise. I explain why. [TVO.org]
Metrolinx’s suburban plans for an urban transit system
A critique of planned transit station designs. [Spacing]
Not in my front yard: The controversy of installing sidewalks
It might come as a surprise that nearly 25% of all local streets in Toronto don’t have a sidewalk. And many more only have a sidewalk on one side of the street. I mapped every sidewalk in the City of Toronto for this deep dive. [Spacing]
Streetcars of desire: why are American cities obsessed with building trams?
In the arms race of urban transit, streetcars are back in favour. I took a grand tour of Detroit, Cincinnati, Atlanta and Tampa to find out why. [The Guardian]
Sean Marshall 