{"id":54058,"date":"2016-02-05T14:00:43","date_gmt":"2016-02-05T19:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?p=54058"},"modified":"2016-02-05T14:10:31","modified_gmt":"2016-02-05T19:10:31","slug":"54058","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2016\/02\/05\/54058\/","title":{"rendered":"The challenge of getting to the bus stop"},"content":{"rendered":"

Adapted from\u00a0a post in Marshall’s Musings<\/a>, the author’s personal blog.<\/em><\/p>\n

In the Greater Toronto Area, we have a fixation on building transit, especially subways, but we’re less interested in transit operations, especially local bus routes. But the majority of TTC riders take buses at least once daily, and the local bus stop is the first point of contact with the transit system for many riders. Sadly, there’s often very little thought put in to accessing local bus stops.<\/p>\n

Needless to say, transit has a harder time in the suburbs. Suburbs are\u00a0built for the car, laid out with crescents, cul-de-sacs and winding street systems meant to discourage through traffic in\u00a0residential areas. Backyard fences line arterial roads, safe pedestrian crossings might be a ten or fifteen minute walk down the road. These factors, often known as the “last mile problem”<\/a> can make it difficult for people living in subdivisions and near busy streets to easily access\u00a0a nearby bus stop. GO Transit’s solution to the last mile problem was simple: it\u00a0built giant parking lots and garages<\/a> and developed a successful commuter rail system that expected its riders to park their cars at its stations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Last year, Streetsblog USA asked\u00a0its readers to vote for the<\/a><\/span>\u00a0sorriest bus stop in America<\/a>,\u00a0and some of the submissions are truly awful. But in the Greater Toronto Area, there are many examples of poorly designed or located bus stops. I’ll mention two: one in Brampton and one in Scarborough, but there are hundreds of stops in the Greater Toronto Area that could use some attention.<\/p>\n

Intersections like the one at Steeles Avenue West and\u00a0McMurchy\/Malta Avenue in Brampton<\/a>, which, granted\u00a0isn’t as bad as the StreetsblogUSA submissions,\u00a0is just one\u00a0example of how not to get people out of cars and onto public transit. Some thought into placing bus stops and improving access to local transit is necessary.<\/p>\n

I like Brampton Transit and what they’ve been doing over the last decade in my hometown. Since\u00a02005, the suburban transit agency began to re-organize its routes into a grid system, improved schedules, and introduced\u00a0new\u00a0connections to Toronto and Mississauga. In September 2010, Brampton Transit introduced Z\u00fcm, a network of limited-stop bus routes. My hometown’s bus system was no longer a joke.<\/p>\n

With the\u00a0introduction of Z\u00fcm, and combined with other service increases, Brampton Transit ridership increased by nearly 30 percent<\/a> in the last five years (2011-2015). This increase is significantly higher than the rate of Brampton’s population growth over the same time period.<\/p>\n

In September 2015, the 511 Steeles Z\u00fcm bus was extended west from Shoppers World to Lisgar GO Station in Mississauga; standard Zum shelters were installed along the corridor, including the intersection of McMurchy Avenue,\u00a0Malta Avenue, and Steeles Avenue West<\/a>. The existing bus stops for local bus routes were relocated to the new shelters, like the one seen below.<\/p>\n

\"img_8800-001\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Both bus stops were installed\u00a0on the east side of the intersection. The trouble is that pedestrian crossings are prohibited on the east side, due to the priority given to motorists at this suburban intersection. Therefore,\u00a0transit users may have to cross the intersection three times to get to and from their bus; with several rental apartment towers, townhouses, and compact single-family housing, this is not a low-density neighbourhood.<\/p>\n

\"img_8797-001\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From a traffic engineering rationale, this traffic arrangement, which has existed for about a decade, makes sense. The majority of traffic is on busy, six-lane Steeles Avenue. From the north, most traffic on McMurchy Avenue turns east (left) onto Steeles, while Malta Avenue is a short stub, serving a small townhouse development on the south side of Steeles Avenue.\u00a0Eventually, Malta Avenue will continue south, hooking up with another section of the same street. For now, a dormant farm field separates the two streets\u00a0and awaits development.<\/p>\n