CBC Books - Saving our cities from cars

CBC Books - Saving our cities from cars: "Cars are ruining cities. That's the premise of Taras Grescoe's new book, Straphanger: Saving Our Cities and Ourselves from the Automobile. And if North America doesn't aggressively change its transit course, cities like Phoenix, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Vancouver and Toronto could be in big trouble."

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Oil trolls rule Canada and the USA

Oil lobbyists approved Harper’s climate policy as ‘elegant’ approach: "OTTAWA — The federal government asked the oil and gas industry last fall to review its foreign climate change policies, which were then approved by lobbyists as “an elegant” approach, reveals newly-released correspondence."

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FCM - FCM welcomes NDP call for federal leadership on public transit

FCM - FCM welcomes NDP call for federal leadership on public transit: "The average Canadian spends almost 32 working days a year commuting to and from work. According to a 2011 report by the Toronto Board of Trade, Metro Montréal and the Greater Toronto Area have average daily commute times of more than 75 minutes. These are the worst commute times in a ranking of 23 world cities. That costs commuters dollars, time and lost quality of life. It costs businesses trying to move goods and connect with customers. It costs municipal taxpayers, who must pay to build more roads to support increasingly inefficient transportation. And it costs the national economy, because the more time people and goods spend on the road, the less they contribute to the economy."

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Global Montreal | Walkable cities are healthier, study says

Global Montreal | Walkable cities are healthier, study says: "Walkability was measured by a tool called the “Walkability Index,” designed to evaluate neighbourhood design features like residential density, retail ratio and land-use mix. It showed that the shape of neighbourhoods directly affected physical activity levels. According to Monica Campbell, director of Healthy Public Policy for Toronto Public Health, for every person in Toronto who preferred living in an auto-oriented neighbourhood, 12 preferred to live in a walkable neighbourhood. In fact, Toronto residents walked for utilitarian reasons 2.7 times as often and used transit 2.5 times as often, as residents in the least walkable neighbourhoods.

The situation was similar in not only Vancouver, but also for those living in suburbs.

“The neighbourhood has a strong effect on behaviour, in terms of how physically active they are and how healthy they are,” said Campbell. “What we find in our suburban areas is that people who live in that sprawled condition is that they have a greater body weight, the obesity rates are about 30 per cent higher.” "

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The Case for Permanent Free Public Transit | Halifax Media Co-op

The Case for Permanent Free Public Transit | Halifax Media Co-op: " Don’t forget that car travel is heavily subsidized as a matter of course, with governments across the country spending billions each year on highways, bridges, tax breaks for car companies and business that use vehicles, and the like. Construction of the Washmill Lake Underpass was approved by council last year even though it was $8 million over budget – $2.4 million more than the net increase to Metro Transit’s budget over the next 5 years, after the new contract negotiatied with the transit workers’ union.

Let's keep free transit on the agenda after March 31st."

Click Here to listen to the interview
Ben Sichel will be on New957 Radio Sunday Morning at 10am to discuss free transit
http://www.news957.com/
Follow @bsichel

Buses, ferries offer free rides after Halifax transit strike | CTV News

Buses, ferries offer free rides after Halifax transit strike | CTV News: "As part of the agreement, council said public transit would be free of charge for the rest of the month."

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Expand Car-Free Sundays (Waterloo)

A Better Vision: Saving Car Free Sundays from Jeff Outhit | Mike Boos: "Don’t let our representatives be ashamed of investing in healthy lifestyles, community, and civic pride. Our governments invest hundreds of millions of dollars locally on car-centric infrastructure that keeps us isolated and is slowly killing us. There should be no stigma for investing a comparably paltry couple thousand on promoting and celebrating a healthier lifestyle and future. As citizens, we should be open about supporting and thanking representatives who have the courage and vision to make these investments, and urge them to complement these events with more permanent active transportation infrastructure."

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Metro - What if transit were free?

Urban Compass by Colin Fast

METRO WINNIPEG

Metro - What if transit were free?: "Politicians and policy makers like to roll out expensive plans to build rapid transit to attract even more riders, but I have to wonder why no one is talking about the one surefire way to boost transit use.

What if it were free?"

Toronto - Transit City is Back!

Province to Ford: ‘Council rules supreme’ - The Globe and Mail: "In a very public affirmation of awkward relations between the province and its largest municipality, Premier Dalton McGuinty has denied Rob Ford’s claim that the province will proceed with the mayor’s transit plan despite a momentous city council rejection."

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Agents-provocateur uncovered at labor rally

 

Do you understand how agents-provocateur function? Can you spot them? Do you know what a false-flag operation is? If these terms are new to you, you must do some study, and soon. Black bloc and certain other groups provide a comfortable pond in which the provocateur fish can swim. They take advantage of the emotionally motivated and the naive. Keep alert.

Transit fare increase not sitting well with two City Councillors

CJOB 68: Manitoba's Information Superstation New: Local Story: "Saying low income bus riders just can't afford it, two Winnipeg City Councillors are fighting a transit fare increase coming June 1st. Harvey Smith and Ross Eadie say it's not too late even though Council has approved the hike. Smith will introduce a motion at the next meeting of Council asking the fare hike be rescinded or that council at least re-open the issue for debate"

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The climate tipping point - time for a revolution

The climate tipping point: "I agree with Gazette writer William Marsden that "it's time for a revolution" in our destructive treatment of our planet and in the Earth's need for us to radically change course so that it can heal itself.

We need free public transportation to greatly reduce the individual use of cars."

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Fare/Fair: CT Senior's Pass

New year, new transit fares. Calgary's transit rates are going up (from $90 to $94 for my monthly pass), but the big story is the senior's pass increase, which is going from $35/year to $55/year. (Low-income seniors are still able to ride for $15/year, and it should be noted that a senior's pass cannot be used for Access Calgary rides.) Meanwhile, in Halifax, the push is for seniors to ride transit for free, with a petition appearing on the mayor's website this week.

Personally, I'd like to see no fares for transit (recognizing that this would mean transit funding would likely come from increased taxes for all Calgary citizens, including myself). And because I work with seniors, I am very aware that their costs are increasing faster than their incomes are (even those not yet retired).

However, in this case, I think that the City of Calgary has made the right move. If we are to develop a transit system that works for everyone, it needs to be fairly supported by everyone. Giving seniors a break on the pass rate simply because they're 65+, in a world where more and more seniors continue to work after that age, no longer makes sense.

Instead, I'd like to see a move toward two transit rate categories (regular and low income) and then look at how transit fares can be reduced and/or eliminated so that more people can use transit effectively. This is what should be really be part of the discussion on Calgary Transit priorities in 2012 and beyond.

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

Quebec exports millions for cars and gas

Henry Aubin: Proposal to cut cars by 20% makes sense: "- The Quebec economy would benefit if some of the billions of dollars that Quebec motorists now spend every year on 100,000 additional cars and on 12 billion litres of gas - most of which money flows to manufacturers and oil producers outside the province - were instead used to purchase local services and made-in-Quebec goods. More jobs here, more tax revenues from people with those jobs, more prosperity for all."

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CUTA | Public transit ridership shows impressive increase in first half of 2011: CUTA

CANADIAN URBAN TRANSIT ASSOCIATION | Public transit ridership shows impressive increase in first half of 2011: CUTA: "TORONTO, Nov. 29, 2011 /CNW/ - Canadian public transit ridership statistics for the first six months of 2011 show an increase of 4.93% as compared to the same January to June period in the previous year, according to the Canadian Urban Transit Association."

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