If you would like to see the renderings presented at the meeting for yourself click here or visit vivaNext.com, where you’ll also find a link to the Metrolinx website in case you are also interested in viewing the meeting agenda.
Many communities around the world are making an attempt at combating urban sprawl. An excellent example is in a town near San Francisco, California. They are preventing urban sprawl and revitalizing a formerly industrial waterfront by creating a pedestrian-friendly, transit-oriented city.
What separates Hercules from other cities is that they are reclaiming land that was previously used for other functions instead of building on unused land that is “green”.
The town is also taking transit-oriented development to another level with a transit hub that will include a ferry terminal, an Amtrak rail station and buses destined for surrounding communities. Next to the terminal will be homes, offices, restaurants, retail stores and public space. Having everything close by encourages residents to walk instead of using the car, shop locally and meet their neighbours.
Having transit options, especially going to San Francisco, is a step in reducing traffic on some of the continents most congested roads.
Reducing congestion and commute times are ideas the vivaNext project will also bring to York Region.
What do you think about Hercules and the new urbanism in this suburban town?<-->
In a recent blog posting, we told you about a survey jointly conducted by the Ontario Ministry of Transportation, the City of Toronto and the Regions of York, Durham, and Peel. It found that average speeds on highways and roadways in and around the GTA, especially along Highway 7, are decreasing due to traffic congestion and that the average vehicular trip now takes 11% to 21% longer than the exact same trip in 2002.
So what do you think? Do you agree with these findings?
Take a moment to cast your vote in our latest online poll. It can be found on any page of this blog near the top of the right side column or on the right side column on various pages of our website.
Speaking of our online poll, do you have a transit-oriented question you’d like to see asked in one of our upcoming polls? If so, please be sure to let us know. As with this blog and our Twitter and Facebook pages, we value the feedback we receive from you through our online polls!
We’re sure you’ll agree that summer’s the best. But we think vivaNext is the next best thing. How come? Because vivaNext will make it easier and faster for you to get to your favourite summer activities. Makes sense, huh?
To spread this great news, we’re running a contest called – you’ve guessed it – the Next Best Thing To Summer Contest. It starts today and runs through until July 31, 2009.
Each day, we’ll be giving away cool summer gear like water bottles, Canada’s Wonderland® passes, movie tickets, laptop bags and YRT\Viva two-zone passes. Then, at the very end, to top it all off, one lucky person will win the handy iPod touch® Grand prize, which will make it easy for him or her to get up-to-date vivaNext construction and project information wirelessly.
To enter, all you have to do is go to our website and use our interactive story to show us what your picture perfect summer looks like. It’s fun and it’s easy. You simply fill in the blanks of our story by choosing from a menu of drag-and-drop pictures. Each time you do, you’re guaranteed to giggle as each picture moves and makes a funny noise. For instance, if you choose theme parks as one of your favourite things to do in summer, when the picture is in the right spot, the roller coaster rides through a loop and the people in it scream.
But be sure to hurry because our Next Best Thing To Summer Contest ends July 31, 2009.
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?
On July 1, vivaNext teams will be out in the community at two different locations taking part in Canada Day celebrations and talking to local residents about our projects.
One of our teams will be at Fairy Lake in Newmarket for the Kanata Day festivities, where you can start the day with a pancake breakfast until noon for just $3 a serving. There will also be all sorts of other fun activities for the entire family to enjoy including inflatable bouncers, a bike competition, a baseball tournament, and live entertainment including our very own vivaNext mime. Then to top it all off, there will be the annual fireworks display presented by the Town of Newmarket.
Our second vivaNext team will be celebrating the day at the Canada Day Home Show in Richmond Hill. If you decide to spend the day there, be sure to drop by our booth to learn more about vivaNext. The Show’s taking place at the Sports Complex at 1300 Elgin Mills Road East from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
At vivaNext, we can’t think of a better way to spend Canada Day than with all of the great people who reside in York Region. We look forward to seeing you!
Ever wonder how vivaNext will transform our community? We will be holding a public meeting this evening to discuss the Davis Drive rapidway project.
With the adoption of the new vision for Newmarket combined with the future opening of the regional cancer centre and current conditions along Davis Drive, it is one of the first rapidways to get under construction this fall.
Join us tonight to see a futuristic time-lapse video that depicts the evolution over the next few years. Speakers will present information on how the rapidways will put the rapid into rapid transit including preliminary phasing for construction and Newmarket’s vision for the future. More construction information will be available in the fall closer to the time when it will begin.
This evening’s meeting will be an excellent opportunity to not only see these plans, but to have your say in person.
Whether you are a resident, business owner or just curious about what rapidways will bring to the Region, please come to the public meeting.
If you can not make it to the meeting, all of the information will be available on our website and feel free to share your thoughts with us right here on our blog.
We look forward to seeing you tonight.
Tuesday June 23, 2009
6:00pm to 9:00pm
Presentation at 7:00pm Newmarket Seniors’ Meeting Place
474 Davis Drive
Newmarket, ON L3Y 2P1
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.
The Ministry of the Environment recently approved the Environmental Project Report for the Yonge subway extension. We recently conducted a survey* to see how many people in York Region support a subway extension to Langstaff/Richmond Hill Centre at Highway 7 and Yonge. Eighty-nine per cent of residents said that they support the extension.
This is very similar to our online poll that shows over 90% of the hundreds of people who have responded thus far support the subway extension. These survey results reaffirm that we are improving rapid transit routes where people need them.
Are you one of these people who support the Yonge subway extension? Or do you think a subway line would be better built elsewhere? Tell us what you think.
*Survey deemed accurate to within 5 percentage points
