What a day we had on July 1st thanks to you! Our vivaNext teams attended both the Kanata Day festivities at Fairy Lake in Newmarket, and the Canada Day Home Show in Richmond Hill. Our teams spent the entire day talking to hundreds of enthusiastic residents – perhaps even you – who expressed great excitement about vivaNext projects and the urban transformation they will bring to York Region. Everybody had such great questions for us, which we were only too happy to answer.
We also had a lot of fun handing out thousands of informative pamphlets and bookmarks, handy magnetic whiteboards, and of course, delicious treats. After all, what’s a birthday party without treats. Our vivaNext mime was at Fairy Lake in Newmarket as well to entertain the kids while moms and dads spoke to our vivaNext team members.
In case you missed us on Canada Day, here are a few photos we thought you’d enjoy seeing!
Traffic slowly moving along Highway 7 in York Region.
If you think that your commute is taking longer, you’d be right and the bad news is that you’re not alone.
A recent survey conducted jointly by the Ontario Ministry of Transportation, the City of Toronto and the Regions of York, Durham and Peel confirms that average speeds on highways and roads all around the GTA are decreasing. On average, a trip now takes 11% to 21% longer than the exact same trip in 2002.
While this figure applies to the entire GTA, one of the worst long sections of highway is travelled by many York Region residents every day. The section travelling southbound along Hwy. 404 from 16th Ave. to Hwy. 401 during the morning rush hour is the slowest long stretch of highway in the GTA. Motorists see an average speed of 31km/h along this stretch during the morning peak period. Driving along Hwy. 404 during peak hours takes 3.5 times longer than during times when you are able to drive at the posted speed limit.
But York Region roads are not just congested by drivers heading in to and out of Toronto. The study looked at Highway 7 all the way from Durham to Peel Region, an 88 km stretch, and found that three of the five slowest sections were in York Region.
Average speeds on Hwy. 7 through York Region are often almost half of the posted speed limit and not just during rush hours. The study found that driving on Hwy. 7 in the middle of the day is almost as slow as driving it during the morning rush.
The simple solution as we see it is to get more people out of those cars that are causing the increase in congestion and get them on fast, convenient transit.
Do you agree that traffic is getting worse? What are some solutions?
Part of the total transit system in Portland, Ore.
While we enjoy talking about our projects, it’s also important to highlight some of the other positive transit initiatives that are going on around the world. Before we first launched Viva, we looked to other cities to see what lessons we could learn. One city that provided inspiration was Portland, Oregon.
Fred Hansen, Portland transportation manager, was recently featured on The Agenda with Steve Paikin talking about the “total transit system”. He said it’s not only about reducing travel time, but it’s about being able to properly plan your trip by knowing exactly when a transit vehicle will arrive. Portland uses light rail, commuter trains, streetcars and buses to move people.
They also have something called “frequent service”, meaning no matter what day or time, a vehicle will be there within 15 minutes on a frequent service route. Hansen said that when people can count on a vehicle arriving, they have seen triple-digit increases in ridership. Portland uses GPS so riders can go online or call to find out exactly what time a vehicle will arrive.
But Hansen said what they really want to do is create neighbourhoods – that it’s all about livability. A residential community is not just a place where people sleep or have a meal, but it should also be a place where people can get a glass of wine or a cup of coffee. The downtown core shouldn’t just be a place where people work. It should also have services and places for people to live. Transit has to reflect the community and be a part of the streetscape.
While the program focused on how Toronto can learn lessons from Portland, I would like to highlight the initiative of Portland and say that we hope to bring all these ideas to York Region and more. In fact, many of the ideas were initiated with phase one of Viva including using GPS so riders can know the exact arrival time. VivaNext will continue to build on leading industry standards that ultimately improves quality of life.
The ideas Hansen talks about are the same ideas we talk about around the office every day. We are using transit to lay the ground work for communities where people don’t just live, but also work and play. That is the end goal, transit is the medium.
What do you think of what Portland is doing? What other good ideas do you think we can copy from other places in the world?
I encourage you to watch the full conversation between Fred and Steve. It is followed by a panel discussion about how to share the road.
A bus in Curitiba stops to pick up and drop off passengers. Notice the dedicated lanes and the station that allows for level boarding at all doors.
Curitiba, Brazil, home to over 3.5 million people in the greater area, has one of the most used and advanced bus rapid transit systems in the world. In fact, about 75% of the city’s commuters use the system for their daily trips to work. That’s a big contrast to the Greater Toronto Area where about 22% take transit according to Statistics Canada.
Like many bus rapid transit systems around the world, Curitiba’s buses are in their own lanes and move unimpeded by congestion and traffic signals as they have signal priority. They have a pre-boarding fare payment system and level boarding that works similarly to a subway, allowing for the fastest boarding possible and; therefore, less time between buses and higher capacity. People pay their fare and enter an elevated tube-shaped station. They say their capacity for a line is 36,000 riders/hour, which is similar to a subway.
Curitiba has not always had a transit vision. In the 1940s, the city had envisioned growth built around the car. But in the 1960s, a ballooning population made the city rethink expansion. A new vision was adopted that put strict controls on urban sprawl, reduced auto traffic in the downtown core and developed a convenient and affordable public transit system. They also changed the idea of a city growing outward from its city centre to development being built along corridors that branch out from the centre.
The system is credited with reducing the number of auto trips per year by 27 million. Curitiba uses 30% less fuel per capita than other cities in Brazil and has one of the lowest rates of ambient air pollution. Their system has been the inspiration for systems in Los Angeles, Bogota and Panama City to name a few.
Our goal is to provide you with the best possible rapid transit system. We can’t be like them weather wise (they have an average winter temperature of 13 degrees), but we can have a rapid transit system built around corridors that is fast and convenient.
What did you think about Curitiba? Can you imagine 75% of people in York Region taking transit for their daily commute?
VivaNext representatives Devon (left) and Kyle getting ready to talk to people at our tent at the Aurora Street Festival.
We spent this past Sunday at the Aurora Street Festival and what a fun day it was. Even though the weather was calling for cool temperatures and rain, the light showers stopped just as the festival began and the sun even came out for a little while in the afternoon.
This all made for the perfect day to take a stroll down Yonge St. checking out all the vendors, interacting with the mimes and stilt walkers, scaling the rock climbing wall and eating all the terrific food. We had our blue vivaNext tent set up at the north end of the festival to hand out magnetic whiteboards, candy and, of course, talk to people about our projects, which include two subway extensions, two light rail lines and rapidways.
While the magnetic whiteboard give-a-ways were a huge hit, I’ve got to say that people seemed most excited when we told them about the future of rapid transit in York Region. The majority of their comments included “it’s about time” and “wow, that’s going to be great.”
It was so exciting to see the look on people’s faces, especially teenagers, when we told them that subways, light rails and rapidways are planned for York Region.
We also had a mime on stilts at our booth, who was very entertaining and great with the people who were out for the festival. With his painted white face and a ton of energy, he joked around with people and created quite a stir around our tent.
At the end of the day when we were beginning to pack up, we talked about how we enjoy doing events like this because we get to talk to residents about projects that are going to transform their communities. VivaNext is so exciting because it is going to improve people’s quality of life and help manage future growth.
Thank you to everyone who stopped by our booth to say hi and learn about vivaNext. I hope you enjoyed the festival.
An aerial view of a TRAX LRT line in Salt Lake City, Utah with dedicated, transit-only lanes. This is similar to how the Leslie/Don Mills corridor line will be designed.
Imagine a light rail line that could take you from Danforth all the way up the Don Mills/Leslie corridor into Richmond Hill. That was one of the transit projects identified by Metrolinx near the end of last year as part of the master plan for transportation in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.
The light rail line study is now underway and we want your input. We are having a public meeting on Wednesday, June 10, where we will present our plan for the York Region portion of the line that will run on Leslie from Steeles to Highway 7.
The City of Toronto and the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) are currently undertaking a preliminary planning study to identify an LRT route in this corridor from Danforth to Steeles. Although we are conducting different studies, we are working with staff at the City of Toronto and TTC on the light rail line.
Similar to our vivaNext rapidways, the LRT vehicles will operate in their own right-of-ways – enabling them to safely speed past congested traffic, no matter what time of day.
Like all of our projects, we want to ensure that anyone with an interest in the study has the opportunity to get involved and have their voice heard.
What do you think of a light rail line through this corridor? Join us in person for the meeting or, if you can’t make it, let us know your thoughts by commenting on our blog.
For more information on light rail transit or the current studies please see our website
The meeting will be held:
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
6:30 to 9:00 pm
Hilton Garden Inn
300 Commerce Valley Drive East,
Thornhill, ON
An LRT vehicle traveling through the streets of Melbourne, Australia.
We all know that traffic congestion is getting worse. The major arteries, including Yonge St., Davis Dr. and Highway 7, are packed during peak hours of the day and congestion is only expected to get worse. That is a key reason why York Region is taking steps to improve rapid transit and build livable cities.
We wanted to know what you had to say about congestion, so we recently conducted a survey.* When asking York Region residents how they rate traffic congestion on a 10-point scale, over 75% of them said it was between a six and a 10, where 10 was high traffic congestion. In fact, four times more people rate traffic congestion as “high” than rate it as “low”. And almost 25% of the people surveyed rated congestion as an eight on the scale.
When asked about solutions, the largest percentage of respondents said that more and better rapid transit was the answer. People also cited bicycle lanes and more roads as other solutions.
It sounds like we are on the right track to providing those who work and/or live in York Region the solutions they need to avoid congestion.
What do you think about traffic congestion around York Region and what else should be done? Tell us what you think.
*Survey deemed accurate to within 5 percentage points
Many cities around the world are experimenting with ways to make their communities more livable. Here is an interesting example from Vauban, Germany, where cars are practically forbidden. And yes, the name is spelt strangely similar to Vaughan.
The community is built on the site of a former military base as a mixed-use development where transit and cycling are the preferred methods of commuting. In fact, all the cars are parked in a parking lot on the outskirts of town. Seventy per cent of people chose to give up their cars and 57% of people sold their cars when moving to Vauban. It is a community of 5,500 people that live in a rectangular square mile. The rectangle shape makes it ideal for running a light rail through the city that is close for everyone to walk to.
According to the article in the New York Times, it is an attempt to separate suburban life from auto use. Something called “smart planning”. Not only is this idea good for the environment, but people that live in the community say they are less tense and happier.
This is one of the more bold experiments I’ve seen, but the question is whether it can work in North America. A similar experiment called Quarry Village is set to begin on the outskirts of Oakland, California. They promote it as a more enjoyable place to live that is close to the Bay and California State University. To date, over 100 families have showed their interest in the community out of the 1,000 planned homes.
While we are not aware of any experiments this bold in Canada, I firmly believe that they have the right idea promoting mixed-use development. York Region residents won’t be moving into car-free communities where their cars are kept on the outskirts of town any time soon, but we are on the right track using transit to lay the groundwork for mixed-use developments so people can rely less on their vehicles to get around.
Could you give up your car if you lived in a community like Vauban? Does the idea appeal to you?
An artist rendering of what the live-work-play community at Markham Centre will look like when complete. Rendering courtesy of the Remington Group.Construction at Enterprise, which will be within walking distance of the above rendering of Markham Centre.
Are you tired of sitting in congested traffic trying to get to work or to visit with friends and family?
I don’t like to think that we are simply designing and building a rapid transit system. We are helping to create live-work-play communities. That’s the basic term for living in a place where everything is nearby. The goal is to create more time in your life and reduce reliance on a vehicle to get around.
Other names for this concept are a mixed-use development or new urbanism. The idea is the same: it is about making communities that let you live within walking distance of work, shopping, restaurants, cinemas, parks and other activities. And when you do have to travel, there are transit options nearby such as subways, rapidways and GO trains.
Unlike many parts of Europe where it’s the norm, it will no doubt require a mind-shift from many Ontarians. But I can tell you that it’s already starting with the youth. They get it from a logical, environmental and social standpoint. I get the sense that they place greater importance on quality of life and that excludes sitting in a vehicle for hours every day.
This shift has also started in our local communities – Markham, Mississauga and Richmond Hill for example.
What examples have you seen? What are your kids saying about it?
Rendering of a vivastation showing the middle section, which will be enclosed and heated.
As you might have already heard, we are currently working on a video where the lead architect of the new vivastations talks about the design of the shelters for the rapidways we will be building over the next few years.
Since that video is not yet completed and there’s growing interest in how the vivastations will keep people protected from the weather, I wanted to take some time to talk about a few features of the new stations. In a way, here’s a trailer of the video…
There will be three different sections (modules) in each station. The middle section will be completely enclosed and heated, blocking the wind, rain, snow and cold temperatures.
Extensive consultation with the public told us that comfort and keeping warm are very important to riders, which is reflected in the design for the new service.
The stations will be large enough to provide adequate personal space and there’ll be an overhang reaching above the vehicles to protect people boarding and alighting on rainy days.
The stations are also more environmentally friendly. Energy efficient LED lights will brighten the station at night. The enclosed section will have automatic accessible doors at each end of the enclosure. They will still have sensors to open automatically, but as you can see in the picture, the hinged doors are on the side of the enclosed section. This will keep heat from escaping when someone triggers the sensor by walking along the platform. Accessibility has also been top of mind during the design process, ensuring that the platform and station design are accessible for individuals with disabilities.
Each platform will be 55 metres long with a 27-metre glass and steel canopy structure in the middle. This will make the stations easy to find and the curved canopy will blend well into the natural streetscape.
Last week, we had a full day of production, shooting interviews and b-roll for the video. Watch for the finished product on our website in the coming weeks.
