{"id":3474,"date":"2008-08-17T10:30:08","date_gmt":"2008-08-17T14:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/2008\/08\/17\/edmonton-riders-union-starts-transit-revolution\/"},"modified":"2013-01-21T14:08:12","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T19:08:12","slug":"edmonton-riders-union-starts-transit-revolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/08\/17\/edmonton-riders-union-starts-transit-revolution\/","title":{"rendered":"Edmonton riders&#8217; union starts transit revolution"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm1.static.flickr.com\/207\/511957616_770fb7a736.jpg?v=0\" height=\"375\" width=\"500\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In the aftermath of Toronto&#8217;s brief <a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/04\/25\/ttc-workers-to-strike-at-midnight\/\">transit strike<\/a> earlier this year, the idea of a transit riders&#8217; union gained some support with commenters on a few local blogs. But blogging didn&#8217;t lead to action so Toronto remains rider union-free.<\/p>\n<p>Given the angry place from which many who proposed a riders&#8217; union were coming, it doesn&#8217;t disappoint me that the talk was empty. If a union had been launched at that time, the major focus would have been on TTC employees. That debate has raged time and again online and in print but, to me, focusing on workers is a red herring. What we need, in the briefest terms, is well-funded capital and operating budgets for our transit system and, from there, we need rider-focused service improvements.<\/p>\n<p>These aren&#8217;t revolutionary ideas but it seems like it could take a revolution to bring them to life.<\/p>\n<p>In Edmonton, there is a transit revolution of sorts underway.<\/p>\n<p>As the City of Edmonton embarked on a review of its public transit system with the goal of expansion, residents formed the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.true.apirg.org\/index.php\">Transit Riders&#8217; Union of Edmonton<\/a> (TRUE) in the spring of 2007 to lobby in the interest of transit riders. In an interview last year with Edmonton radio station <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cjsr.ualberta.ca\/\">CJSR FM<\/a>, one of the unions&#8217; earliest members, Brian Gould, listed off TRUE&#8217;s initial mandate.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Building a transit-friendly city and curbing urban sprawl, keeping the system affordable for those who need it most, planning more efficient routes, extending late night service, reducing pollution from vehicles, ensuring transit police are accountable and in touch with the needs of transit riders, and supporting increased promotional materials to increase transit ridership.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Judging by the more than three dozen <a href=\"http:\/\/www.true.apirg.org\/pressroom.php\">media clippings<\/a> on the TRUE web site, the group has filled a major void in Edmonton&#8217;s civic consciousness with that ambitious agenda.<\/p>\n<p>TRUE&#8217;s largest undertaking to date has been a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153<a href=\"http:\/\/www.true.apirg.org\/shadowreport.php\">shadow report<\/a>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that was released at the same time as a major consultant&#8217;s report on how the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.edmonton.ca\/portal\/server.pt?space=CommunityPage&amp;control=SetCommunity&amp;CommunityID=218&amp;PageID=0\">Edmonton Transit System<\/a> (ETS) could expand its operations. According to TRUE, the report commissioned by the ETS was focused on building a fiscally efficient model, even if that came at the expense and inconvenience of existing and future transit riders.<\/p>\n<p>The shadow report, in contrast, engaged a panel of 24 transit riders who range from high school student to low income senior. Tied together by a team of three editors with varying degrees of transit and planning knowledge, the 24 panelists represent the diverse needs and expectations of transit riders, and their unique comments are cited throughout the report to maintain the rider-focused perspective.<\/p>\n<p>The outcome of the shadow report is a compelling read. It strikes me as similar to the work done by Toronto transit activists on the <a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/01\/21\/the-continuing-saga-of-the-queen-car\/\">Queen streetcar route<\/a> earlier this year, though somewhat more populist in its approach.<\/p>\n<p>While it isn&#8217;t clear exactly what impact the TRUE report will have on Edmonton city council, this initiative is an inspiring example of a transit riders&#8217; union that leverages the knowledge of transit activists while harnessing the power of the grassroots. It&#8217;s the kind of riders&#8217; union I could get behind.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-style: italic\">Photograph by <a href=\"http:\/\/flickr.com\/photos\/thbl\/\">THBL<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the aftermath of Toronto&#8217;s brief transit strike earlier this year, the idea of a transit riders&#8217; union gained some support with commenters on a few local blogs. But blogging didn&#8217;t lead to action so Toronto remains rider union-free. Given the angry place from which many who proposed a riders&#8217; union were coming, it doesn&#8217;t<a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/08\/17\/edmonton-riders-union-starts-transit-revolution\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"sr-only\">&#8220;Edmonton riders&#8217; union starts transit revolution&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4037,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8],"tags":[10019,10024,10022,4889,45,10020,21,316,10023,10025,19,10021],"class_list":["post-3474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","category-transit","tag-brian-gould","tag-cjsr-fm","tag-dozen-media-clippings","tag-edmonton","tag-funding-cities","tag-major-consultant","tag-other-cities","tag-queen","tag-station-cjsr-fm","tag-the-true","tag-toronto","tag-transit-riders-union-of-edmonton"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Edmonton riders&#039; union starts transit revolution - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/08\/17\/edmonton-riders-union-starts-transit-revolution\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Edmonton riders&#039; union starts transit revolution - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the aftermath of Toronto&#8217;s brief transit strike earlier this year, the idea of a transit riders&#8217; union gained some support with commenters on a few local blogs. But blogging didn&#8217;t lead to action so Toronto remains rider union-free. Given the angry place from which many who proposed a riders&#8217; union were coming, it doesn&#8217;tContinue reading &quot;Edmonton riders&#8217; union starts transit revolution&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/08\/17\/edmonton-riders-union-starts-transit-revolution\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-08-17T14:30:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-01-21T19:08:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/farm1.static.flickr.com\/207\/511957616_770fb7a736.jpg?v=0\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Adam Chaleff-Freudenthaler\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Adam Chaleff-Freudenthaler\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/08\/17\/edmonton-riders-union-starts-transit-revolution\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/08\/17\/edmonton-riders-union-starts-transit-revolution\/\",\"name\":\"Edmonton riders' union starts transit revolution - Spacing Toronto\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/08\/17\/edmonton-riders-union-starts-transit-revolution\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/08\/17\/edmonton-riders-union-starts-transit-revolution\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/farm1.static.flickr.com\/207\/511957616_770fb7a736.jpg?v=0\",\"datePublished\":\"2008-08-17T14:30:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-01-21T19:08:12+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/da656cba8e02a7aabb6c80c549dc7e72\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/08\/17\/edmonton-riders-union-starts-transit-revolution\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/08\/17\/edmonton-riders-union-starts-transit-revolution\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/08\/17\/edmonton-riders-union-starts-transit-revolution\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/farm1.static.flickr.com\/207\/511957616_770fb7a736.jpg?v=0\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/farm1.static.flickr.com\/207\/511957616_770fb7a736.jpg?v=0\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/08\/17\/edmonton-riders-union-starts-transit-revolution\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Edmonton riders&#8217; union starts transit revolution\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/\",\"name\":\"Spacing Toronto\",\"description\":\"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered  |  Toronto Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/da656cba8e02a7aabb6c80c549dc7e72\",\"name\":\"Adam Chaleff-Freudenthaler\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/73c02741f456d391a6979ebe8b8a600f?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/73c02741f456d391a6979ebe8b8a600f?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Adam Chaleff-Freudenthaler\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/wire\/?author=37\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/author\/adam\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Edmonton riders' union starts transit revolution - Spacing Toronto","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/08\/17\/edmonton-riders-union-starts-transit-revolution\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Edmonton riders' union starts transit revolution - Spacing Toronto","og_description":"In the aftermath of Toronto&#8217;s brief transit strike earlier this year, the idea of a transit riders&#8217; union gained some support with commenters on a few local blogs. But blogging didn&#8217;t lead to action so Toronto remains rider union-free. Given the angry place from which many who proposed a riders&#8217; union were coming, it doesn&#8217;tContinue reading \"Edmonton riders&#8217; union starts transit revolution\"","og_url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/08\/17\/edmonton-riders-union-starts-transit-revolution\/","og_site_name":"Spacing Toronto","article_published_time":"2008-08-17T14:30:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-01-21T19:08:12+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/farm1.static.flickr.com\/207\/511957616_770fb7a736.jpg?v=0","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Adam Chaleff-Freudenthaler","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Spacing","twitter_site":"@Spacing","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Adam Chaleff-Freudenthaler","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/08\/17\/edmonton-riders-union-starts-transit-revolution\/","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/08\/17\/edmonton-riders-union-starts-transit-revolution\/","name":"Edmonton riders' union starts transit revolution - Spacing Toronto","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/08\/17\/edmonton-riders-union-starts-transit-revolution\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/08\/17\/edmonton-riders-union-starts-transit-revolution\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/farm1.static.flickr.com\/207\/511957616_770fb7a736.jpg?v=0","datePublished":"2008-08-17T14:30:08+00:00","dateModified":"2013-01-21T19:08:12+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/da656cba8e02a7aabb6c80c549dc7e72"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/08\/17\/edmonton-riders-union-starts-transit-revolution\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/08\/17\/edmonton-riders-union-starts-transit-revolution\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/08\/17\/edmonton-riders-union-starts-transit-revolution\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/farm1.static.flickr.com\/207\/511957616_770fb7a736.jpg?v=0","contentUrl":"http:\/\/farm1.static.flickr.com\/207\/511957616_770fb7a736.jpg?v=0"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/08\/17\/edmonton-riders-union-starts-transit-revolution\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Edmonton riders&#8217; union starts transit revolution"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/","name":"Spacing Toronto","description":"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered  |  Toronto Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/da656cba8e02a7aabb6c80c549dc7e72","name":"Adam Chaleff-Freudenthaler","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/73c02741f456d391a6979ebe8b8a600f?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/73c02741f456d391a6979ebe8b8a600f?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Adam Chaleff-Freudenthaler"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/spacing.ca\/wire\/?author=37"],"url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/author\/adam\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4037"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3474"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3474\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37666,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3474\/revisions\/37666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}