Map by C. Livett and adapted from Network 2011 DRL plan.

The Downtown Relief Line (DRL) continually falls somewhere between long-term planning and long-term lore when it comes to heavy rail infrastructure ideas for Toronto.  While the idea lay dormant for a generation, we now seem to be back in an era when it has come out of its fabled state and into some vision of long-term reality.  While it might not be something on the average Torontonian’s radar yet, it is once again being seriously discussed, not only on transit blogs and forums, but also in some halls of power.

The DRL was first studied in the mid-1980s as part of the Network 2011 transit plan for what was then Metro Toronto. The line was envisioned to connect Union Station with Pape and Dundas West Stations by running large portions of the line at grade via mostly existing railway right-of-ways which would also help to significantly reduce the cost of such a major investment.  The DRL would, in effect, have created a second, wider subway ‘U’ for Toronto, and thereby taken enormous pressure off the existing system.  For instance, if one were coming from the east, one would have the option of switching lines at Pape instead of Yonge-Bloor Station for a quick ride downtown.  The DRL could also be thought of as a heavy rail version of the King streetcar, but following a wider route and playing a more regional role.

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Photo by Stephanie Fysh

Taxis. You see them everywhere and they’re an inescapable part of the local transportation system.

You hop in a cab when it’s raining and you’re in a rush to get to your next meeting a few miles away. You (hopefully) call a taxi after a night out partying and you’re in no condition to drive.

You may not think of them every day, but taxis are essential to any region’s transportation network.

But all is not well right now in taxi-land.

I recently had the chance to speak to Roger, a Toronto independent taxicab owner, about a legal battle between the City of Toronto and the city’s airport taxi operators, and the role of the Toronto Taxi Industry Association in that battle.

While Toronto’s taxi battle is taking place in the courts, far away from the sight of most people in the city that use cabs every day, the ramifications of the eventual ruling will have an impact on all of us.

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A couple years back, I was looking for an easy way to commute from my home in Little Italy to my office near Dundas Square.  I had learned very quickly that most commuting isn’t fun – even biking during rush hour, as I came to realize, involves sitting in two-wheeled traffic.  This didn’t make sense to me: given how much time I spent travelling, why shouldn’t I have fun on my way to wherever I was going? For really circuitous reasons including a love for Michael J Fox and a then-shaky belief that you can still learn new things after you turn 25, I ended up one day teaching myself to ride a longboard.

A longboard differs from a conventional skateboard in several dimensions, including its length, wheel diameter and width, and size of its trucks (or axles).  Whereas a traditional skateboard requires the front wheels to be lifted from the ground in order to change direction, a longboard’s geometry allows for long, s-turns that come pretty close to surfing or snowboarding on concrete.  (As a tradeoff, most longboarders are unable to do any skateboard-style tricks with their boards).  On a longboard, the rider is able to generate much more speed than on a traditional board, which means a longboard is more functional for use as transportation.  And that is the really short story about how I ended up as a commuting longboarder.

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Should cyclists be allowed to use the elevators to bring their bicycles onto the subway?

I think so, provided they are not crowding out people who use mobility devices. Carrying a bike up or down stairs can be very difficult especially after a long ride, and sustainable, multi-modal trips could be just what the doctor ordered for this region.

Should subway stations be integrated into buildings where possible?

I also thing so. Subways stations should be placed close to planned and development, as stand-alone station buildings aren’t necessarily the best use of the land. Taking it to the next step and putting subway station entrances into malls and office buildings results in a synergy where the property management company gets guaranteed traffic in front of their retail spaces while the TTC saves money on building infrastructure and accessible facilities. This seems to have worked well in many locations, and passengers have enjoyed the ability to walk from the subway to their office indoors for years.

But, what happens when the property management company bans bicycles or other objects from their buildings?

Today, I observed what appeared to be a security guard for a downtown mall (I won’t say which one) escorting a gentleman with a bicycle out of the building. It appeared that the gentleman brought the bike inside in order to use the elevator to get to the subway. At this particular station there is barrier-free access to the station using only public property, but what about a station like York Mills, where the only barrier-free access from the street is through an office building – where it is their prerogative to ban certain items from their property.

On one hand, there is no dispute that the mall is private property and that the property management company has the right to welcome or turn away any visitor of their choosing (within reason, of course). On the other hand, aren’t they infringing on reasonable freedom of mobility?

In the gray area between private and public property, who has control and who should have control?

Image source: Flickr user “naturalkinds” and is licensed under Creative Commons

Taking the King streetcar back to the subway last week because of the rain.

As I speed downtown on the subway, I often wonder what wonders I’m passing above me. Am I passing a vintage clothing store where hipsters are searching for that one-of-a-kind pair of jeans? Am I passing a little Thai restaurant that could fill my palate with unforgettable flavours? Am I passing a local florist selling a dozen roses for that special someone?

In this world of deadlines and timetables, opting to take a parallel bus route instead of the subway could be taken as a sign of too much time on one’s hand. But, there is, at least to me, something deeply satisfying about seeing the city unfold before you. Heading uptown from Ryerson, I might enter the subway in the canyon of towering buildings and emerge among strip malls and power centres. On the bus, I can see the subtle changes from block to block. The evolution of neighbourhoods unfolds before my eyes. (more…)

My 2007 Veloteq Commander SHO

Last summer I caught wind of the Ontario Ministry of Transportation’s Power-Assisted Bicycle pilot programme and was immediately excited by the prospect of cruising through Toronto’s downtown streets without pedaling.  Though I love my bicycle, I’ve turned down too many social invitations to far-off regions of the city (like, ahem, Roncesvalles) because the bike ride would take too long and riding the TTC both ways would entail coming home early enough to not suffer waiting around for the next streetcar/bus/etc…

After some creative Google-ing, I had located the four downtown dealers of these wonderful contraptions and set off to check out Silent Rider, located just down from my flat – next to the St Lawrence Market.  As they had just opened I resolved to return in Spring to inspect a fuller range of models, and researched the larger picture during the winter.

It turns out that most e-bikes are manufactured from parts made in China.  Though power assisted bicycles may not be a new concept, even in China the electric scooter is a fairly new product – which means that technologies they employ are still evolving.  In Toronto there are just a handful of folks either importing scooters from China (like Blue Avenue – or from China through US distributors like Segway of Ontario) or bringing in parts from there to assemble into their own-branded models (namely, Daymak and Electro-Wheels) – but all of them pretty much use the same components, so the differences between ‘brands’ are more nuanced than with say, the combustion-engine motor industry.

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As a verified n00by to web2.0 technology, I recently discovered RSS feeds and  Google Reader. RSS feeds monitor your favourite websites for updates, which you can read in your bookmarks menu or software program, much like an ‘inbox’. This means that updates come to you and not the other way around. I was revisiting some of my “starred” updates and came upon an article in Life Without Buildings blog about a guerilla bus installation in England done by Bruno Taylor.

Here is the video of his installation. The swing was set up by throwing two chains over the roof component of the bus shelter and attaching a seat. Simple. Effective. The rest of the video records the behaviour of waiting bus passengers. Some people try it, while others barely bat a lash. Others just observe, and decline the opportunity to swing. What really interested me was the man in the beige jacket who was recorded at 2:10 minutes. He seems to be taken aback yet completely interested, pulls at the chains, examines its structure, then his interest immediately stops (2:28 minutes) and he turns his back on the swing and continues waiting with his fellow passengers. The guy after him takes a few pictures then hops on the bus.

Then the swing is removed, I assume, by the creator.

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Photo by Shawn Smith

Tickets eliminated signage

As the posters have probably already informed you, the TTC is eliminating tickets on September 29th, 2008.  For the ordinary transit rider, using up your tickets in advance of the deadline may be advised.  The elimination of the ticket will probably be felt most by the counterfeiters however.  Over the years, fraudulent tickets and counterfeit tokens have severely impacted the system.  The bi-colour “toonie” style tokens were introduced in 2007 to try to halt counterfeiting and the elimination of the ticket is similarly motivated.

In discussing counterfeit tokens and tickets in Toronto, it is worth considering that a secure fare system is extremely difficult to design and maintain.  This past summer, the Electronic Frontier Foundation defended MIT students who completed academic research where they uncovered security vulnerabilities of the Charlie Card fare system in the Boston area. The students were sued when they planned to present on the presence of vulnerabilities at a hacker’s conference.  Their presentation did not contain information which would allow someone to launch an attack and the gag order lawsuit was thrown out on August 19, 2008.  The involved parties can now work towards addressing the security vulnerabilities in the system.

Here in Toronto, we will be addressing one set of our own vulnerabilities as we say farewell to tickets.

What gets a person to ride a bike?

This is the $6000 dollar question (the average annual cost of owning a car). Some people need some mentoring and encouragement from a cycling enthusiast to get them started.  Others need to have bike lanes or be fed information about best routes. Others, still, are so set in their ways that getting on a bicycle seems like a far-fetched notion. There are many motivations to ride: saving money, saving the world, saving one’s waistline, or simply enjoying the pleasures a bicycle offers. Conversely, there are many barriers that discourage people from choosing two wheels over four. Safety, weather, distance, health, and facilities are but a few. I aim to explore these motives in this and future postings.

I started riding to work three years ago. Let me provide some context and back up to 1994. When I was in high school, my bike was stolen from my parent’s garage. At the time I didn’t really think it was cool or safe to ride anyways, so for a period of 10 years I didn’t bother to replace it. In university, I was oblivious to the precious minutes of extra sleep I could have had if I cycled to class, in breezy style I might add, instead of making the 15-minute trek by foot. Worse, I drove a navy 1988 Cadillac DeVille around town, an eight-cylinder boat of a car that downed 15L of black gold for every 100 km travelled.

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