Letting go of the private car | OpenFile

Letting go of the private car | OpenFile: "Taking away private parking from the development was a measure to keep costs down and attract the local, community-minded demographic developers aimed to attract.

By mid-November, all 96 units available at market rates had sold. The 12 remaining units will be sold at below-market rates, the sale of which will be managed by Habitat for Humanity and Portland Hotel Society Community Services.

“Each parking stall costs approximately $50,000,” architect Gregory Henriquez says. Paring down parking to 15 stalls was a considerable savings. But selling parking spots was more difficult than attracting condo buyers.

“We sold all the units without the parking stalls, and then sold the parking separately afterwards. One hundred and eight people didn’t buy a parking stall. I don’t think we could sell them all,” he says. “It shows you how we overbuild parking in our city.”"

Breathe Toronto - Rally for Transit City

Breathe Toronto: "RALLY FOR TRANSIT CITY! Come together on Sunday, December 19th to demand loud and clear that City Council save Transit City, and proceed with the biggest TTC expansion in recent history as planned. As the last Council unanimously endorsed (including Ford!) Event posting: CLICK HERE

Toronto as we know it is under attack. As of his first day on the job, Rob Ford has begun disassembling years of hard work put into making the TTC a more accessible, wider reaching and faster service that was about to embark on its biggest expansion in decades. An expansion that would help reduce traffic and take thousands of tailpipes off the road, with certainty to seriously reduce the illness and death that result from living in the exhaust fumes of so many cars and trucks, as well as taking a major chunk out of our city’s contribution to Global Overheating. All of that came crashing to a halt on day one as Ford cut City funding for Transit City, effectively killing the project. Unless there is a drastic and positive response from the people of this City."

Supprimons les tarifs de transport à Montréal - Gratuité contre inégalités

Supprimons les tarifs de transport à Montréal - Gratuité contre inégalités: "Ce site défend l'accès libre et universel aux transports collectifs. On y refuse la discrimination fondée sur le revenus et l'inégalité d'accès aux ressources de la communauté. Y est contestée la place de l'automobile et la menace qu'elle fait peser sur la population. Le droit à la mobilité est une revendications de premier ordre. L'essors de l'environnement urbain et la lutte aux changements climatiques demandent des actions immédiates. Pour ces raisons nous réclamons la gratuité des transport publics pour les usagers et usagères de la STM.

Pour faire avancer le monde... "

First Blog Post: Proud to Be Pink

A big thanks to the ftpeditors who invited me to post on this blog. I'm looking forward to sharing posts and talking about the transportation revolution with you! - Trasie

I confess, I'm a button-a-holic - but that's the topic for another blog post!

On today's to-do list: order a button from Spacing Toronto.

If you missed it, here's Don Cherry's speech (at the Torontoist) that he delivered at Toronto City Council's recent swearing-in, which explains why several people on my social media feed are also ordering buttons.

Oh, and insert celebratory "Our Mayor/Council Rocks" post here: they lowered the cost of low income transit passes! 

(Cross-posted at Witch-Ways, where I've been crafting magic on the internet since 1994)

Toronto's new mayor prefers his gravy train underground | Pembina Institute

Toronto's new mayor prefers his gravy train underground | Pembina Institute: "Estimates for building a new eight-kilometre stretch of subway east from the Don Mills station hover around $400-million per kilometre (including new stations). In stark contrast, building light rail transit along the same stretch would cost about $90-million per kilometer, or less than a quarter of the cost."

If the war on the car is over -- why does it keep killing us?

Tragedy on a road in Italy: A drugged driver killed seven cyclists | NewsKF: "A driver under the influence of drugs hit a group of cyclists in the middle of a race on a road in Italy. Seven people died and four others were injured. The driver was driving without a license. Police suspended his license a few months ago, for committing many irregularities in traffic."

More proof: transit fares are not for revenue

The following article gives good reason for not installing turnstiles or using smartcards. First, turnstiles and smartcards do not deter fare evasion; secondly, the estimated $5 million revenue loss due to fare evasion is less than the estimated $12 million to $15 million annual operating costs of the turnstile/smartcard operation.


Paying $15 million annually to recover $5 million in evaded fares is just plain stupid!

Read more on Rail for the Valley...