Looking into the future, by KaroliK

Some of our Metronauts contributors came together at the invitation of our friends at TRAC this past Saturday to discuss the future of Metronauts.ca.  Since our site activity dropped off in December, many have been asking the question – “What’s going on with Metronauts?”.  This post is a summary of how we got here and an invitation to our community to guide our future direction.

This site was originally conceived as a community space to discuss issues and plans contained within the Metrolinx Regional Transportation Plan alongside its public consultation process.  With Metrolinx as a major sponsor, my role was to help create the platforms for community engagement, including this site, and to help steward the community. With that project completed (and with my role as a consultant to Metrolinx now done) it is time to reflect on what this place is, who we are as a community and what we might do together in the future.

I will retain my role as steward of the Metronauts brand and the metronauts.ca web domain, but I am looking for proposals and leadership from our community about what the future of the site could be. I intend to step into a supporting role for the best vision and plan for the future.

The role of Editor-in-Chief is now open. We are looking for proposals from the right person with the vision, energy, leadership and ability to help us realize the potential of this site.

There are several key assets and strengths we can build from:

• metronauts.ca domain and the playful and engaging Metronauts brand
• a beautiful visual identity and strong design direction from Alistair Morton of Peapod Studios
• a strong core of content with some talented and passionate contributors
• an informed and active community of commenters who engage in intelligent discourse about the issues they care about
• a strong readership: 16,675 absolute unique visitors, 69,691 pageviews and 1,324 comments since August 1st, 2008 (the Google Analytics graph below charts weekly site visits over this period)

We need your feedback. Please leave a comment and answer some key questions:

• (more…)

I think we can all agree that we need a better transit system in the GTHA – no one is debating the need for a grand vision. But, there has been a lot of passionate debate about specific projects and how they should be constructed. Over the past few weeks, three specific issues have stood out in particular:

1. What should we do with the Sheppard corridor? Should the original subway vision or the new light rail vision be fullfilled?
2. What should we do with the Scarborough RT corridor? Should it be refurbished with Skytrain or conventional cars, or should it be replaced with a subway?
3. What should we do in the Mississauga City Centre? Should the future light rail line run to the terminal, or should the terminal move to meet the future light rail line?

There have been very vocal arguments on both sides, and I don’t see a reason why Metronaunts can’t host some of that spirited debate. Since it’s not in the spirit of the community to descend into a flame-war, I’d like to try to guide the discussion by laying out some relevant facts and asking community members to answer a question (keeping those facts in mind, of course). In a way, it reminds me of an academic examination – hence the “discuss with examples.”

So here we go: (more…)

First of all, I urge you to check out a Metrolinx Regional Transportation Plan public meeting and open house if you haven’t already had the chance to. It’s your chance to see details of The Big Move up close, give your feedback directly to the agency, and even chat personally with high-ranking Metrolinx staff members. Information about upcoming meetings are available on the Metrolinx web site.

At the public meeting at the International Centre on Tuesday, I found myself in a small, diverse discussion group giving and listening to feedback on the RTP. One of the members of the group was a representative from the Weston Community Coalition, a group primarily opposed to the Airport Rail Link proposal known as Blue 22. Since the improvements necessary to implement a Union-Pearson train will also allow for GO service expansions to Brampton (the closest station to my family home), Georgetown and beyond, I thought I might weigh in to look at the issues and see how we can collectively move forward to improve transportation in this corridor for all.

If you can recall the proposal, Blue 22 would have run trains every 20 minutes or so from Union Station to Pearson Airport, making only one stop at Bloor GO (to connect to the subway). The trains would have been refurbished Budd Rail Diesel Cars, be operated by SNC Lavalin, and would have charged a $20 fare. The community group representing local residents raised several concerns about this proposal, and while they may have been painted as irrational vanguards of the status quo by some, the group’s points are reasonable and deserved to be addressed. (more…)

It has been just over a week since the relaunch of this site, and we’ve seen some fantastic growth in readership (over 3,600 visits) and comments (253 and counting) with new contributors volunteering. As the online community grows, we want to make sure it is a healthy community.

This post has a few principles and tips for how to add value to the conversation. It boils down to this:

• Be real
• Respect each other
• Find solutions for the future

Read more after the jump.

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