March 17th, 2010
The current street design paradigm in this city seems to assume that one of the biggest opponents to bike lanes on Toronto’s major arterials are the local store owners who will raise hell at the thought of losing on-street parking. A new report released this week by the Clean Air Partnership challenges this, and demonstrates that in Bloor West Village businesses would not suffer if bike lanes were installed.
A study conducted in the area showed that 44% of merchants believed there would be “no change” in their customer base if half of on-street parking was removed and replaced with bike lanes. This number becomes slightly more convincing as an additional 10% of merchants thought they would probably experience increased business as a result. Thus, a majority, albeit a slim one at 54%, of merchants in Bloor West Village feel they would not be hurt at all by installing bike lanes in place of parking. Similar results were found when merchants were given the option of using the reduced parking space to widen the sidewalks.
The study also showed that numbers of customers arriving by means other than cars was greater than what most merchants anticipated. While only 21% of visitor respondents in Bloor West Village had arrived there by car, 61% of merchants surveyed estimated the number would be higher.
Visitors in the area showed similar numbers in support for altering the streetscape with 43% supporting the idea of replacing parking with bike lanes and 15% suggesting using the space for wider sidewalks. Not surprisingly, support for reducing parking was less amongst those who had driven to the area, it was not however uniform as 48% of those who drove still supported the idea of replacing parking with either bike lanes or widened sidewalks.
Interestingly, a relationship was also found between mode of transportation and spending habits.
…continue reading Bike lanes would help Bloor West Village businesses
11 Comments | Leave a comment
| Email this post
Permalink for Bike lanes would help Bloor West Village businesses
Posted by Marcus Bowman
Categories Cycling, Neighbourhood, Pedestrian
March 17th, 2010
Editor: Spacing is pleased to showcase films from the NFB’s online screening room. The NFB will be occasionally posting films here that explore our public spaces, Canadian or international cities and anything urban. The NFB is one of Canada’s greatest resources; watch movies for free online at NFB.ca.
Check out What on Earth!, an Oscar-nominated animated short from 1966 by Les Drew and Kaj Pindal.
This animated short proposes what many earthlings have long feared – that the automobile has inherited the planet. When life on Earth is portrayed as one long, unending conga-line of cars, a crew of extra-terrestrial visitors understandably assume they are the dominant race.
7 Comments | Leave a comment
| Email this post
Permalink for Watch NFB: Oscar-nominated animated short, What on Earth!
Posted by Matthew Forsythe
Categories Watch NFB
March 17th, 2010
On January 1, 2010, the TTC raised the cost of adult tokens and cash fare by 25 cents. On March 20 2010, GO Transit will raise fares by 25 cents per single-ride ticket, with a corresponding fare increase for 10-ride tickets and monthly passes. But despite these fare hikes, and sustained ridership levels, both will be cutting service in March and April.
To be fair, this isn’t quite the 1990s, the so-called “lost decade” for transit. Most customers, apart from GO train riders with slightly longer rides, will not notice much of a change. There is yet little sign of a transit “death spiral” of higher fares, reduced ridership, and service cutbacks that plagued much of that decade.
The TTC’s surface route cuts are minor, and most of the cuts occur during the peak period. A handful of routes will actually be seeing minor service improvements during off-peak service periods, particularly on weekends, based on ridership counts. The precedent set by the Ridership Growth Strategy 30-minute standard for nearly all surface routes remains.
But some routes - where overcrowding is still a very common occurance - will be affected. For example, the 96 Wilson is seeing one bus cut from each of the A, B, and C branches - or three buses in total during the AM and PM peaks. Two sources I spoke with - a senior staffer inside the TTC, and one outside the TTC - confirmed that the cause of the cuts are due to the common problem of poor ridership forecasting.
The expectation was that the 25 cent fare increase (one of the highest in recent history) would reduce ridership, hence some cuts on the highest-frequency rush hour services. The good news is that TTC ridership is still growing, even despite the fare increase and other customer service frustrations. The bad news is that earlier service projections and resource budgeting requires buses (and two streetcars - one each from the 505 Dundas and the 506 Carlton) to be pulled off the road.
It will not be until September when the next major service changes will be implemented, though seasonal changes (an annual response to reduced loads over the summer period, reduced demand on the 196 York University Rocket, increased demand on the waterfront routes and the Exhibition routes) will still go ahead.
GO Transit, on the other hand, will be making far more significant schedule changes, “to meet the needs” of a “growing ridership.” This bit of transit double speak actually translates into some major service cuts: cancelling several bus routes, cutting service on some other routes (beyond the usual seasonal service reductions on the Highway 407, Guelph and McMaster routes), and increasing run times on other buses and trains.
Despite the usual claims that a fare hike will help to pay for current operating costs and “provide improved services needed for our growing ridership,” these changes mostly represent cuts that reduce service instead.
…continue reading GO and TTC: Pay more for less
6 Comments | Leave a comment
| Email this post
Permalink for GO and TTC: Pay more for less
Posted by Sean Marshall
Categories Transit
March 17th, 2010
An unprecedented collaborative report mapping the concentration of artists in Canadian cities was released last month. The study was a result of the collective effort of the cultural departments of the cities of Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver. Published by Hill Strategies, and based on data from the 2006 census, the report paints a fascinating picture into the make-up of Canada’s artistic and creative communities.
Each city has its own trends in the way its artistic and creative communities have located. Vancouver had the highest overall percent of artists at 2.3% but has its artistic community spread widely throughout the city. Toronto has by far the largest artistic community; it is home to one in six Canadian artists. Toronto has also seen its artistic neighbourhoods shift slightly since to 2001 to different areas of concentration. Montreal has perhaps the most densely located artistic community and is home to three of the country’s top five artistic employment postal codes. The Montreal neighbourhood of the H2T postal code (northward from avenue du Mont-Royal to avenue Van Horne between St-Denis and Jeanne-Mance) is the most artistic in Canada with artists accounting for 7.8% of its workers, ten times the national average. Ottawa and Calgary have artist concentrations closer to the national average, interestingly they also both have the largest income gaps between artists and the rest of the workforce and the largest percent of female artists. Maps of these trends are shown below.
…continue reading Artists in the Canadian urban fabric
3 Comments | Leave a comment
| Email this post
Permalink for Artists in the Canadian urban fabric
Posted by Marcus Bowman
Categories Creative Spaces & Places, Montréal, Other Cities, Spacing Ottawa, Vancouver
March 16th, 2010
Visiting Chicago last weekend I thought it might be a good idea to take some notes for Spacing. This would be, I thought, in line with Matt Blackett’s 2007 post and Shawn Micallef’’s two posts from 2006, and after all isn’t it always a good idea to keep an eye on your sister (city)? So, in that spirit, here are some “do’s” from Chicago. Originally I thought it would be good to do an urban “do’s” and “don’ts”, but … I didn’t manage to come up with any “don’ts” in the end so looks like we’ll just have to make do with a list of “do’s”.
DO: Many tall buildings that relate to one another. While it is hardly an original point, it is always worth pointing out the vibrancy of a compact cluster of tall buildings. There can so much hesitancy in Toronto around building tall that it sometimes seems like we need to be reminded of the value of heightened density, even if only from a purely poetic perspective, never mind the practical aspects.
…continue reading Notes from Chicago
21 Comments | Leave a comment
| Email this post
Permalink for Notes from Chicago
Posted by Duncan Patterson
Categories Other Cities
March 15th, 2010
On the morning of the now-infamous $100 million press conference, a Metro Morning producer called me at 6:30 am and asked if I wanted to speculate on air about rumours that David Miller was either going to resign or jump in the race.
When Matt Galloway posed the question, I braved all and opined that the mayor was going to run, citing, as evidence, his recent screed in NOW Magazine.
Almost a week on, I am happy to report that I was largely correct.
No, he hasn’t registered, and no, he won’t be on the ballot. But Miller last week unambiguously inserted himself into the 2010 mayoral campaign (not to mention the work of the next council), thereby creating a strange and unseemly dynamic in a race that’s already looking fairly ugly. And he did so by choosing to position this piece of budget-related news in such a conspicuously political way.
Miller, of course, is looking to burnish up his record as the term winds down. And there’s little doubt that by trumpeting this in-year surplus as evidence of sound fiscal management, the mayor was taking yet another crack at pressuring Queen’s Park into a deal to cover half the TTC’s annual operating shortfall, which he’s taken to describing as “the provincial share.”
Yet by laying out part of a spending plan for the next term of council (including the false promise of a TTC fare freeze), Miller was directly challenging George Smitherman and Rocco Rossi, who’ve been outspoken in their critiques of the city’s financial problems and had no choice but to turn up at City Hall on Tuesday to respond with their own spin (”emotional turmoil,” “lamest of lame ducks,” etc.).
…continue reading JOHN LORINC: The other election campaign
27 Comments | Leave a comment
| Email this post
Permalink for JOHN LORINC: The other election campaign
Posted by John Lorinc
Categories 2010 Election, City Hall
March 15th, 2010
As the West Don Lands neighbourhood continues to take shape, Waterfront Toronto is being forced to reconcile with the unique challenges of the area. One such challenge has been how the area will interact with the elevated overpass that carries Richmond, Adelaide and Eastern Ave through its heart. To the north of the overpass will be a Toronto Community Housing (TCHC) project and the River City condo development, while the heart of the new neighbourhood, including the athlete’s village for the Pan-Am games and the expansive new Don River Park will be built to the south. Thus, ensuring that the overpass does not become a barrier will be an important element of the neighbourhood’s success.
Mitigating the negative affects of the overpass will not be easy as there are significant psychological misgivings about such dark spaces with low ceilings. Underpass Park aims to address both the problems and importance of the site, and plans are very promising. Construction on the 2.5 acre site will begin in May and will cost $5.3 million with completion slated from Spring of next year.
…continue reading WATERFRONToronto unveils Underpass Park
20 Comments | Leave a comment
| Email this post
Permalink for WATERFRONToronto unveils Underpass Park
Posted by Marcus Bowman
Categories Pan-Am Games, Parks, Public Art, Waterfront
