Categories
Infrastructure Roads Toronto Walking

Deadly by design: Supertest Road

On Tuesday, January 21, a 26-year-old woman was struck and killed by the driver of a tractor-trailer at the corner of Supertest Road and Alness Street in North York. According to police, the truck driver was making a right turn from Supertest south to Alness when he hit the pedestrian. Last week, I paid a […]

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About me Cycling Toronto Walking

Survey says… Torontonians demand safer streets

A mock-up of a re-imagined Danforth Avenue, Summer 2019 Yesterday, I met with fellow road safety advocates Keagan Gartz, executive director of Cycle Toronto, Gideon Forman from the David Suzuki Foundation, and Jessica Spieker, from Friends & Families for Safe Streets. The occasion was to publicize a new poll commissioned by the David Suzuki Foundation […]

Categories
Brampton Design Ontario Toronto

Some love for Ontario’s municipal flags

The flag of the City of Toronto, designed by Renato De Santis, is an example of a very good civic flag I was in Orillia last week, mainly to check out the new Simcoe County Lynx bus system. While there, the flag flying from the Opera House (formerly the city hall) caught my attention. Most […]

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Ontario Toronto Transit

Disappearing GO-TTC fare discount a major blow to regional transit in Toronto

Updated January 22, 2020 The TTC-GO fare discount will officially come to an end on Tuesday March 31, 2020, with the TTC and Metrolinx unable to come to agreement to keep the fare subsidy going without provincial support. As I argue below, this is a major blow to any hopes for an integrated regional transit […]

Categories
Ontario Toronto Transit

Unfair GO fares on the Highway 407 Corridor

Since 1967, GO Transit’s primary focus has been its commuter rail lines radiating from Downtown Toronto, sometimes to the detriment of other transit needs in the Greater Golden Horseshoe, with bus routes complementing and supplementing that rail network. But twenty years ago, the regional transit service launched a new bus route that connected York University […]

Categories
Toronto Transit

A farewell to Toronto’s CLRV streetcars

The CLRV streetcars were the first transit vehicles I remember riding. Though the new streetcars are larger, fully accessible, and air conditioned, I will miss the CLRVs.

Categories
Roads Toronto Walking

Islington Avenue: deadly by design

Memorial to 77-year old Pasquina Lapadula in front of her apartment building on Islington Avenue north of Finch On Thursday, November 29 at 6:30AM, Pasquina Lapadula left her Islington Avenue apartment building and crossed the street in front of her home. Soon after stepping out, she was struck and killed by the driver of an […]

Categories
Infrastructure Politics Roads Toronto Walking

Zero vision in suburban Toronto

Though the city of Toronto has made some progress towards safer streets recently, the lack of police enforcement of traffic laws, the reluctance to spend serious money on road redesign, and the attitudes of some city officials continue to be obstacles towards making Toronto a safe place to walk and cycle. As part of the […]

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About me Cycling Roads Toronto Walking

Addressing the Toronto Police Services Board

Earlier today, on behalf of Walk Toronto, I made a deputation to the Toronto Police Services Board addressing the lack of traffic enforcement in the City of Toronto. After criticism from organizations such as Walk Toronto, Cycle Toronto, and Friends and Families for Safe Streets, the Toronto Police now plans to initiate a “Vision Zero enforcement […]

Categories
Maps Toronto Transit

A review of GO Transit’s fare structure

Since 2015, GO Transit’s fare structure has improved. However, fares continue to rise faster than the rate of inflation, and there are serious fare discrepancies across the network.