Today is the final day for official public comment on Metrolinx’ draft Regional Transportation Plan and Investment Strategy.  Metronauts blog authors are submitting their posts, along with readers comments, into the Metrolinx Limehouse public consultation portal.

You should really take the opportunity to leave your comments on the Metrolinx site. The RTP and IS documents are there and a series of questions are open for public comment. The future of $50 billion in investment and a future of sustainable transportation are up for grabs, so the time is now.

If you’re a blogger that’s been writing on these issues for some time, I encourage you to submit a summary of your posts along with links to the originals. This appears to be the most efficient way to get your thoughts and the comments of your readers onto the official public record.

I hear there is an open house about the proposed Yonge North Subway extension today, Wednesday November 12. It’s a small meeting for stakeholders, but open to the public. I wish I could give you a URL to confirm the details below — perhaps ttc.ca or vivayork.com will have something today. (See links below.)

These subway meetings are setting new standards in public consultation — but I know from personal experience that failing to put timely info on the web can affect turnout. For a public agency, it can’t be an afterthought.

Here’s all I have so far:

Date: Wednesday November 12, 2008
Location: North York Civic Centre, 5100 Yonge Street, Commitee Room #3
Time: 5 – 7 pm

Via ttc.ca: Public meetings

Via vivayork.com follow >> what’s new >> public consultation

This site is Flash-heavy and my browser seems to get indigestion after viewing it. I hear changes are planned, but in the meantime there is a great deal of info about the proposed Yonge extension and the public comments and questions so far.

Transit officials are welcome to leave more details of this meeting in the comments.

(Click image above for hi-res version)

As some of you already know, I have had the honour of sitting on Metrolinx’s Regional Transportation Plan Advisory Committee – a group of community representatives committed to providing the Metrolinx board with advice on the direction of the plan and analysis of the comments received by the public. In addition, we are committed to ensuring that the regional transportation plan public consultation process reaches everyone who has something to say. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for keeping the discussion alive, and I encourage all to continue offering ideas to make this plan the best it can be. There is are plenty of ways to get your voices heard, including the online portal, formal open houses to come this fall, and, of course, Metronauts events and the blog. Keep your eyes and ears open, as we’re about to enter a very exciting phase of the process.

Before I talk about the subject of this post, please keep in mind the following:

As I write this post (on thursday night), the draft plan has not yet been approved by the Metrolinx board of directors. As we saw with the white papers, the board could decide to delay the release to make modifications. I will be sure to update this post to reflect the formal decision of the board on Friday September 26th.

So here we go:

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