Matt 🏙🚉🍁🚲

Cars aren't going away anytime soon, so in the meantime, I'll be advocating for a more sustainable design in automobiles.

Shawn Micallef: Doug Ford hasn’t needed a mandate to make major changes in Toronto. So why does he need one for Donald Trump? By framing his election call in terms of needing a mandate, Premier Doug Ford invites us to look back on all that he’s done to the city without such a mandate.

"If removing civic infrastructure created through a long and sometimes excruciating process of local democracy — and paid for by local taxpayers — didn’t need a specific mandate, why should negotiating with Trump?" #ONpoli

Photo of a cheerful summer day in a park in Amsterdam. The photo shows many cyclists, including two cyclists with a cargo bike carrying several children.

Feeling down or depressed? Do you have little energy?

Start cycling! Some uplifting facts:

Cycling:

🚲 improves quality of life
🚲 is a social activity
🚲 is a joyful activity
🚲 provides real freedom
🚲 reduces stress levels
🚲 prevents diseases
🚲 prolongs life expectancy

#BlueMonday

Separated Bike Lanes Means Safer Streets, Study Says — Streetsblog USA Cities that build protected lanes for cyclists end up with safer roads for people on bikes and people in cars and on foot, a new study of 12 large metropolises revealed Wednesday.

“Protected separated bike-lanes was one of our biggest factors associated with lower fatalities & injuries for all road users. If you’re going out of your way to make your city safe for a broader range of cyclists, we’re finding that it ends up being a safer city for everyone.” @usa.streetsblog.org

As a rider, I already hate transit wraps, but this is Hall of Fame stuff right here

Ontario transit agency explored naming deal for GO station with online gambling company: sources | CBC News Metrolinx pursued a potential commercial naming rights arrangement last year, involving an online casino brand and a downtown Toronto GO station, but the proposal was subsequently quashed, CBC News ha...

Incredible. Metrolinx was going to name a major station “Jackpot City Exhibition Station.”

Good on the minister for quashing this awful idea.

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

This video is for Doug Ford, and all those in my replies saying bike lanes "stop emergency vehicles from getting to their destination". They *allow* emergency vehicles to get to their destination, as seen here on Adelaide. They were designed with emergency services in mind.

Planners call it the "Popsicle Test" for a walkable, child-friendly neighbourhood. Can a child safely walk to a store, buy a popsicle, and get home before it melts?

Ironically, a place where you can text during your commute is...the ion.

I think we're the only 2 Cambridge residents on this app lol. Gotta represent. Cover all bases

Any place that has high enough pedestrian traffic to ban bikes from sidewalks should also have high enough bicycle traffic to provide them with protected lanes.

Someone needs to run this through one of those AI voice cloning tools

In summary, Ford's bike lane removals will, according to a new City Hall report:

- Cost $75 million in direct costs and sunk costs.
- Make traffic much, much worse for at least nine months during construction to remove lanes
- Have minimal long-term impact on car travel times.

Here’s the blunt reality — reasonably-sized electric vehicles need to be the future of cars, but cars can’t be the future of urban mobility.

Fewer cars.
Less driving.
More inviting mobility choices.
Better communities and cities.

These are the 4 pillars of the REAL urban transportation solution.

Should we outlaw SUVs? Over the last decade, global SUV ownership has doubled. In that time, the vehicles contributed more to the increase in global CO2 emissions than airlines, trucks, or heavy industry.

Over the decade ending in 2019, global SUV ownership doubled. “If it keeps growing at its current rate, increased SUV ownership will offset the entire emissions reduction from electric vehicles.” Plus they’re much more likely than smaller cars to kill pedestrians. www.fastcompany.com/90420280/sho...

I'm wrestling with that right now in KSH. I don't like either of those 2, but there's one I like a lot less, so I'm inclined to vote for the other. I also want to avoid being part of dragging us into a two party system, But I'm also not thrilled with my preferred party rn (federally, at least). Ugh

Can you get a medically induced coma even if you're fine? Think I'd rather sit out these next four years.

This is the Keddy Trail. A protected multi-use path up the Niagara Escarpment in Hamilton. It’s named in honour of Jay Keddy, a kindergarten teacher who was tragically killed cycling here when it was just a painted shoulder at the side of the road. Protected cycling facilities save lives.

Waterloo Region, Guelph or Ontario friends: one of our MPs, Mike Morrice, has a petition for the fed gov to hold the province more accountable for transit funding since they won't give any timelines for regional rail on the Kitchener Line. Signing is easy + fast:

www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en...

More details on the 'potential' HSR running through a corridor that contains ~ 50% of Canada's population. The RFP asks for a below 200km/h option and an above 200 km/h option. IMO, if you are going to build it, BUILD IT. 200+ or bust!

dailyhive.com/vancouver/to...

And 400-series highways have a design speed of 130 km/h, so complaining when people (somewhat) naturally drive the design speed of a roadway is like being mad that a jet flies faster than a crop duster... that's what it's designed for.

Doug Ford to direct Minister of Transportation to raise all 400-series highways to 110 km/h.

Higher speeds reduce safety, create more violent collisions, and reduce highway capacity as faster vehicles need more distance between them. This brings on the inevitable stop-and-go more quickly. If there's already congestion problems, then this feels like the last thing we need.

Visual showing the level of density allowed in SGA1 - SGA4 zones (orange), and comparing to other cities' densest as-of-right zoning (blue).

Kitchener, ON. Recent zoning reforms (Growing Together) are game-changing for as-of-right development, and is probably one of the most pro-housing policies in Canada (and likely North America).

Two columns: Normal Radical Under Normal Accepting road violence Accepting road fatalities Accepting pedestrian fatalities Accepting devastating losses to families Accepting excessive speed Accepting pollution Accepting gridlock Accepting the loss of youth mobility Accepting the loss of senior mobility Radical Wanting to stop road violence Wanting to prevent road fatalites Wanting to prevent pedestrian fatalities Wanting to prevent loss to families Wanting slower speeds Wanting less pollution Wanting less gridlock Wanting youth mobility Wanting senior mobility Its time to rethink what is considered normal

Culture Shift.

Content done with The Biking Lawyer

I want to get a starter pack going of people who post about news, events, politics in Waterloo Region so we can start to get the local conversation to be a bit more interesting. So far it's tiny. Who should I add?

Someone needs to tell totally-legit-businessman Doug Ford

There's no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing choices. The vast majority of winter days, especially nowadays, aren't mind-numbingly cold. This is Cambridge, not Iqaluit.

Close it permanently, resurface the street with cobbles, add some space for seasonal/ shorter-term pop-up stands and have rotating amenities that correlate with each season. Quite pleased to see (of all people) Cllr. Cooper push for this.

www.cambridgetoday.ca/local-news/s...

Starting to migrate from the old blue app. Hence, the follow from an empty account, if you're wondering. Formerly @matycake on the old blue app :)