If you look at a arial photograph of the residential areas in the historic downtowns of the GTHA and compare them to the areas built after the second world war, you’ll notice a few major differences. First of all, the streets in the downtowns are usually a neat, orderly grid, while the suburban areas tend to have winding, almost disorderly streets. Next, you’ll notice that the houses in the old neighbourhoods are build very close to the street and very close together, with garages (if any) accessible by a rear laneway. Newer suburban neighbourhoods tend to have houses which are setback from the property line in all directions, and the garages and driveways are often the most prominent feature of the front facade.

While this may be over simplifying the last 50 years of urban development history, the car is essentially to blame for this change. When we had to walk or take the trolley everywhere, development had to be compact and orderly to allow more people to live close to the streetcar stop. Now that we can drive everywhere, development can be more spread out, and walking provisions (front door close to sidewalk) can be replace with automobile provisions (garage close to street). Also, with land cheaper away from the transit stops, more of it can be devoted to each individual lot. Since lower density means more privacy, the suburbs pretty much sold themselves. While it was a foolish idea that has come back to bite us on the arse, we have to look forward. (more…)

Maybe you’ve seen them around the city before. Bikes with small wheels, tall handle bars and a tall seat post. Some have even called them clown bikes. But, there are more to these strange creatures than meets the eye…

Last spring my car died and though a complicated series of transactions my family replaced it with a mini-van. I was concerned about the ecological footprint left by a single occupant driving a van to the GO station every morning – and I was sick and tired of the soccer-mom jokes. Also, since my school schedule isn’t the same every day, I was concerned about the diminishing amount of available parking spaces at the train station after the peak hours. The solution was to try to get to the nearest bus stop for a one-seat ride to the train station – but in Caledon this isn’t easy.

It’s a 20 minute walk through the Highway 410 extension construction site to get to the GO bus stop, where I could take the Orangeville bus without having to pay an additional fare. This was perfect for the peak hours, off peak service was terrible. If I walked 10 more minutes along the rural highway I could reach a Brampton Transit stop with decent service for 50 cents on top of my GO pass – but service ended at 7pm made a drink after a tough midterm impossible. I would have to walk 40 minutes from my front door to a Brampton Transit stop where buses ran from the start to end of service all days of the week. Walking for 40 minutes to the bus stop, while great for the body, is unfeasible for commuting and all too common in the suburbs. A bicycle was the answer, but there were problems. (more…)

To some people who have spent their whole lives downtown the 905 might seem like something out of M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘The Village.’ Stray too close to Steeles and the monsters in their SUVs will jump out and grab you…

In a recent discussion board thread about improving transit in Mississauga, one opinion about the improvements already in place was that “unfortunately, the political response has been with absurdities like creating HOV lanes on the 403 (taking away an active traffic lane from an already-congested highway), dedicated diamond lanes, giving consideration to bicycles and other such nonsense.” While this might not represent the opinion of the average 905er, my 15 year experience in the suburbs suggests that sustainable transportation, as a culture, may not be the default frame of mind.

The 905 isn’t the most sustainable place to live. It’s not the most walkable or transit-friendly place to live either. But, it is a place where many people have chosen to live, and many more will continue to make that choice. It’s not going away, and if we want to transform this region into a place where sustainable mobility is the first and best choice, then we have to work within the confines of the low-density, car-oriented suburb. (more…)