On the Bus

Burlington Post Misses Real Story on Transit

2012-02-17T08:38:00.002-06:00

Tim Kelly’s story on the Burlington Transit (BT) Master Plan Update last week (see http://www.insidehalton.com/news/article/1295131--city-transit-overhaul-proposed) had a lot of excellent information in it but missed the real story?

That story is this:

The BT system has been grossly underfunded relative to other systems for some time. The major changes talked about in the story work out to about a 2% increase in support to the system each year. Those increases will still keep Burlington way behind other municipalities.

Rather than repeating Councillor Sharman's gibberish re" industrial age, cost effective ..." one ought to ask why we can't make the same kind of commitment to building community that other cities make.

Kelly was reporting on a February 6th information meeting where the city’s transit consultant’s power point presentation was unveiled. The Post talked to Doug Brown at this meeting. Doug, a member of the Steering Committee that is overseeing the development of the Master Plan, is also a transit user. He told the Post that the main problem was the City continued to underfund transit and that Burlington had the lowest per capita expenditure on transit among all cities.

But rather than using Doug’s informed comment they chose to use Sharman’s remarks and provide less informed background from others.

The Post’s anti transit bias, or is just ignorance, is long standing.

Doug Brown reminded me of a long 2-part article they ran on traffic congestion last June. This article focussed primarily on improvements to the traffic signal system and further road widenings as a way of easing congestion - but only had a brief mention of transit, mentioning the Transit Master Plan near the end of the article.

In another instance a few years ago they published inaccurate statements from one council member about the cost of transit and when the error was corrected refused to print a clarification.

Anyway I have no editor here and tend to shoot my mouth off here (as bloggers are supposed to do) but I make an attempt to back up my arguments with facts. Stay tuned.

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Public consultation begins next week on the Master Plan. Here are some meetings that are scheduled. Hopefully there will be more.

Wed. Feb. 22 - Burlington Senior's Centre (2285 New Street, Wellington Room) from 2:30 - 4:30 p.m. presentation at 3 p.m.

Wed. Feb. 22 - Burlington City Hall (426 Brant Street, Room 247) from 6 - 9 p.m. presentation at 7 p.m.

Thur. March 1st - Aldershot Arena (494 Townsend Ave., Community Room) from 6 - 9 p.m. presentation at 7 p.m.

Mon. March 5th - Tansley Woods (1996 Itabashi Way, Community Room #2) from 6 - 9 p.m. presentation at 7 p.m.

Keeping up with the BT Master Plan #4

2012-01-31T10:20:00.000-06:00

Somepeople do crosswords, sudokus or maybe some useful tasks around the house on aweekend.

Notme. This past Sunday I’m looking at thelatest Burlington Transit ridership statistics in order to understand why someof our city’s decision makers think big cuts need to be made.

Hereare some facts I’ve pulled from the numbers.

Fact #1: Paid Ridership is up 7.01% over 2010.

Ridershipis now over 2 million paying riders over the year. My recollection is that total ridership was atthat level over twenty years ago.

Fact#2: Boardings now number in excessof 3 million per year or an increase of over 10% since the previous year.

Digging through the numbers it is interesting(to me anyway) to break it down into daily totals and try to get an idea howwell used our buses really are.

Fact #3: Burlington Transit Route #1 is One Busy Route

Forexample, looking at weekdays you can see that the #1 bus is boarded threethousand and fifty times (3,350) each weekday. This route is by far the busiest (it was added to the system relativelyrecently in the nineties). Route #1 takeson 1,441 transfers on average each day. If you ride it you’ll know that there are some times of the day you’llneed to stand. You’ll also know that itis a relatively slow route as it runs from Appleby GO to downtown Hamilton.

Fact#4: Burlington Transit Route #10 is the Second BusiestRoute.

Withan average of over 2,000 boardings on each weekday use was up on this route nearly9% in 2011. Ward 5 Councillor PaulSharman has advocated for changes to #10, specifically taking it off Spruce Avenue, thestreet where he lives. One thousand fivehundred and ninety eight (1,598) riders ride on this route on average each dayover the year. Sharman was elected with 1,503 votes in the2010 election.

Fact #5: BurlingtonTransit Routes #2, #5, #6, and #8 are all up.

Alongwith BT routes #3 and #4 these are the main routes in the Burlington Transit system. Route #3, the fourth busiest was down lastyear by about 4%. Route #4 dropped by ten passengers per day. These decreases are, I’d suggest, prettyminimal.

Toomany numbers?

Perhaps,but it is worth taking a look at real data in advance of the annual groundless drone from querulous city decisionmakers going on about those “empty buses.”

Keeping up with the BT Master Plan #3

2012-01-23T19:23:00.000-06:00

I JUST DON’T GET IT

The Steering Committee for the Transit Master Plan has met twice this month to look at various reports from the consultant.

Apparently there is no final report yet although a full Council event is scheduled for February 6th to provide a briefing on the documents and work of the consultant.

If you attended or viewed last week’s City Council Budget Committee, though, you would be inclined to think that what is in the report really won’t matter. Comments from at least two of the Council members at the meeting would suggest that cuts to the system are a foregone conclusion.

Why, you ask?

It seems that dollars must be found for a second downtown parking garage and for shaving and paving roads. The portion of federal gas tax funding to transit must be reduced.

The impetus for this all seems to come from what the public has asked of Council and is apparently laid out in the new Strategic Plan.

I promise to take a closer look at this plan right after I complete this posting but a quick glance turns up these statements.:

We are striving to “Increase the number of people who cycle, walk and use public transit for recreation and transportation.” (page 2)
We’re looking to measure success by looking at “rider satisfaction with Burlington Transit”(page 2) and “more use of Burlington Transit.”(page 4)
We want to ensure we are “environmentally sustainable” and one way to achieve this to “implement a plan to reduce the city’s greenhouse gas emissions.” (page 12)

Sounds like a request for more and better transit to me. But, as I say I’ll take a closer look for all that shave and pave stuff. In the meantime I worry that this consultant’s analysis will end up being ignored like other consultants before.

And I just don’t get it. For more see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9V6cEdvQHp0

Keeping up with BT Master Plan #2

2012-01-17T20:51:00.000-06:00

Any analysis of the Burlington Transit needs to start with the significant and ongoing underfunding of the system.

Dillon, the consultant working on the current Master Plan, would have looked at the dismal numbers from a 2008 review carried out by another consultant (the IBI Group.)
Here are a few of the things IBI concluded after analyzing 2006 data.

“Burlington provides a low service level and as a result has low ridership.”

“Taxpayers pay less for transit in Burlington than most other cities.”

“Burlington Transit needs to significantly increase service levels.”

Specifically, on fares Burlington (at $2.08) had the highest average fare. The average among the peer cities was $1.58. The comparable figure for Oakville was $1.76.

On cost to the taxpayer the average Burlington taxpayer handed over $36.36 a year back then; $5.06 less than the average Oakville resident. Both systems were still well behind the peer average of $46.18

And that survey showed we provided less service than other places. On a per capita basis Burlington provides about 48 minutes of service per year. The peer average is about 66 minutes.

Those are just a few snippets. For more see
http://burlbus.blogspot.com/2010/11/real-facts-on-burlington-transit.

Analysis Ignored

But if you thought this kind of analysis would be a springboard to better results think again. In spite of that input from three years ago and similar input from yet another consultant (iTRANS in 2006) things have not improved.

New data covering 2010 was gathered by the Canadian Urban Transit Institute (CUTA). CUTA is a national organization that works to strengthen public transit's contribution to the quality of life, environment, health, mobility and economic development of Canadian communities, and to help members fulfill their mandates.

Their data shows that:

• On fares we’re tied for the highest the same as Oakville really but at $2.18 for our average fare we are way off the peer group average of $1.61.

• On cost to taxpayer Burlington is now at $41.92 per capita and continues to fall behind. Oakville has invested in transit in recent years and has reached $59.26. The peer average stands at $61.30

• On the amount of service provided Burlington remains one of the lowest in the peer group; even when assessed on a per capita basis.

Given all of the above would you be surprised that this current consultant, while acknowledging the need for increased investment in transit, actually calls for less money?

I`ll have details next week.

Keeping up with BT Master Plan #1

2012-01-12T07:14:00.000-06:00

The City of Burlington is reviewing transit again. Residents might be better served by more frequent reviews of other bigger ticket items like, say roads or important governance issues like term limits. But I digress.

The Plan purports to provide a framework for Burlington Transit for the coming 10 years. (Read more about the Master Plan here http://cms.burlington.ca/Page7311.aspx)
The last review was completed more than five years ago and I’ve argued in this blog and at http://whenthemayorsmiles.blogspot.com/ that it was largely ignored by Burlington decision makers.

If you are putting together a plan you’ve got to have a consultant, right? So Council engaged Dillon Consulting to do the work. Over the past months Dillon has pursued what they call a community engagement process talking to riders, drivers, and councillors, doing research and putting a lengthy draft report together which they recently presented to the Steering Committee.

Long time transit advocate Doug Brown is one of two citizen representatives on the Steering Committee. For many years Doug has been calling for a significant increase in transit funding and service to enable Burlington Transit to increase its ridership.

This is particularly important now since the province has mandated intensification. An amendment to Halton Region’s Official Plan (called ROPA 38) calls for significant intensification on the condition that the transit modal split rises to 11% by 2031.

Currently Burlington Transit’s modal split is around 1-2% having fallen over the past 25 years from a high in the mid-eighties of 7%.

Like me Doug Brown believes that transit use in Burlington is low because of poor service levels and high fares caused by this municipality’s underfunding of our transit system.

Doug and I got together and chatted about this over the holidays. He expressed concerns.

“The consultant recently presented a preliminary plan to the Master Plan Steering Committee that makes cuts to the system. But we need significant increases in service hours and resources to achieve the large increase in transit ridership required in our own Official Plan.”

Doug hopes that citizens will join with him and others in the struggle for better transit by commenting on the proposed Transit Master Plan and opposing higher transit fares.
We've put together a video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0GbertmAUgre for more information.

I am going to try to get something out on this blog each week (Wednesdays, I hope) as the Burlington Transit Master Plan gets rolled out. It will include info on any proposed cuts and enhancements. Please join in with your comments and ideas.

Reading Reports and Thinking about Capacity

2011-11-30T10:09:00.001-06:00

I’ve been reading a lot of reports lately. It is hard to keep up.

Sometimes the mind wanders from report to report looking for where they might connect. Do they?

First a story:

Many years ago (1995 perhaps) when I was a Burlington Councillor we were looking ahead to when Rebecca Street in Oakville and New Street in Burlington would be connected. (Actually reconnected as, I believe, they were one continuous stretch about 90 years ago).

Anyway I asked a City of Burlington senior engineer whether we should be concerned that there might be safety issues involved with some many more cars whizzing along this stretch in East Burlington/West Oakville. Not to worry, he stated with confidence, we’ve got plenty of capacity out there.

In that context I was interested in the All State 2011 Safe Driving Study that was released yesterday(http://www.allstate.ca/NR/rdonlyres/8AA5B28E-E67F-4E4A-8A9F-DB88BEA42FD9/0/SafeDrivingStudy_BackgrounderFINAL.pdf). Burlington ranked tied for 24^th of 45 cities based on collision rates. That is pretty much where it was in the last survey. (Interestingly, neighbouring Oakville had a 23% improvement rate.)

Another fascinating report is the Ontario Municipal Benchmarking Report (http://www.ombi.ca/wp-content/uploads/OMBI-2010-Performance-Benchmarking-Report.pdf). Released early in November it compares 16 participating municipalities, mostly in Ontario, using a number of different indicators. Looking at the Roads section we see that Halton (Burlington and Oakville aren’t involved in this benchmarking) is near or at the top in the category of operating and maintenance costs for roads. We’re spending 33% - 180% more than the median.

And a report just out from the Canadian Urban Transit Association documents that Canadian public transit ridership is up 4.93% as compared to the same January to June period last year. The impressive growth is due to improvements in increasing the capacity and quality of service of transit services, according to CUTA President and CEO Michael Roschlau.

So do these reports connect? I think they do. Our roads around here aren’t getting any safer while we continue to spend more dollars on them in order to maintain that capacity (for cars) that the Burlington Engineer bragged about in the mid-nineties. But investing in transit seems to be working – in other jurisdictions at least – and offers the potential to save us money and make our roads safer.

But here in Burlington it appears that political pressure will result in a flatlining of transit when a consultant’s report comes back next year.

And so it goes.

Oakville - Investing in Transit

2011-10-25T06:36:00.000-05:00

We have argued beforethat if investments are made in transit people will use it.
(http://whenthemayorsmiles.blogspot.com/2008/03/old-blogger-old-bus-and-same-old-story.html)

A tweet by Oakville CouncillorJeff Knoll brought a recent Town of Oakville media release to my attention. The media release seems to support the value of making investments in transit.

Oakville notes at 17%gain in ridership since they launched a “new transit design” in 2009.

Last weekBarry Cole, Director of Oakville Transit, told Council that ridership isexpected to top 2.8 million this year. Anew monthly record of 272,000 riders for the system was set last month.

Therelease quotes Oakville mayor Rob Burton:

"Aninvestment in Oakville Transit is an investment in the future of our community. Council committed to make Oakville the mostlivable town in Canada and public transit plays a key role in achieving thatvision - both for its environmental benefits and to meet the challenge ofmoving a growing population more efficiently. It's all about finding a balancebetween being efficient in service and in funding."

Colepresented new data which he believes shows how efficient Oakville Transit is:

**Compared toother municipalities they’re well below the average of $92.48 at $74.82 when takinginto account the cost of service per hour.

**On a costper capita basis Oakville is on average for service hours versus the dollaramount the municipality contributes for transit service.

**And they’re“right on target” with 1.17 hours of service per person (average is 1.25 hoursper person) and $59.26 contribution per person (average is $59.89 per person).

It isalso interesting to note that Oakville is planning for the future with their newtransit facility. It has been built with the capability to store 175 buses, apparently enoughcapacity to service the future transit needs of that community for the next 25 to 30years.

Concerns with Local Public Transit

2011-10-20T11:05:00.000-05:00

I check the twitter search feature most days to see what isgoing on with transit at least from the perspective of tweeters I follow. Usually I find unhappy riders.

Earlier this week, for example, Tanya posted this:

“Thx for making memiss my train, Oakville Transit. The best part was whenwe pulled into the station just in time to see the train leave.”

This response is a pretty regular; 4 or 5 times a weeksomeone tweets off about Oakville Transit. Usually the language isn’t as nice/clean as Tanya’s.

Burlington Transit seems to escape criticism. Until lately that is. Now here’s one from Max on Oct 13th.

“Screw you Burlington Transit, I'm late for workAGAIN because of you. This is crap and I want my $ back. 20 min late? COME ON–“ More concerns follow from Max on the 13^thand then by gripes from three different individuals on the 15^th 16^thand 18^th.

What is going on here? I’ll be the first to admit this twitter snapshot is in no way scientific. We all get peeved from time to time and ifwe’ve got a phone in our hand and a twitter account it is pretty easy to tweetfrom the lip.

Being older, and arguably more mature, I wait before I putforward my more reasoned and rational personal tales of woe. Besides I don’t have a smart phone.

My Story

A couple of weeks ago I was late for work.

My route is about 75 minutes door to door. A short trip on the #4 west connects me withthe #1West at Appleby Station. Fromthere it’s a long ride which could be driven in about half an hour but I canfinish my morning paper and maybe even get a little work done. Monday’s trip was fine.

Tuesday, instead of my Monday strategy of sprinting acrossFairview (at Appleby) to cut off the Hamilton bound #1, Irode into Appleby Go and then, like Tanya above, watch the #1 pull out just as my bus glides toa stop. I need to wait 15 minutes forthe next route. For me, on this day at least , this is not a big deal.

The Tuesday trip home from Hamilton is a bigger concern. Clearlybehind schedule, on Plains Road near theold Canadian Tire our driver asks if anyone needs to go to the Aldershot GO. Some do – a good thing for those 4 or 5passengers waiting there for our bus which would otherwise have trundled along Plains leaving these riders to hopeanother connection will be by in 15 minutes.

But worse is to come. As we approach Brant Street thedriver helpfully tells disembarking passengers that they should hurry to catch the southbound Brant bus. Buta short distance later (perhaps 300 metres) we are advised that any passengerswanting the 2 North should disembark and hurry across 4 or more lanes of rushhour (5:15 p.m.) traffic. Several takethis risky jaywalk through the traffic.

This is no way to run a transit service. Drivers are expected to drive routes that haveunrealistic scheduling. Passengers loseout.

For years issues like this have been raised with City Hall. Perhaps the current review will address suchconcerns and council will do something about them.

Notes on Stop Signs

2011-09-25T12:00:00.001-05:00

I’ve finished Part One of the book Stop Signs: Cars and Capitalism on the road to economic, social and ecological decay. (http://www.fernwoodpublishing.ca/Stop-Signs/)

In the book the authors, Bianca Mugyenyi and Yves Engler, tour North America observing and documenting the enormous and adverse impacts of the car on our society.

I had intended to review the book but the combination of the density of its facts and depressing (but largely accurate message) made me wonder if just laying out some of these facts on this blog over several postings, and in no particular order, would make sense.

You can decide. So here it goes.

SUVs

*The British Medical Journal wants warnings on SUVs “to advise potential purchasers of the increased risk of severe injury and death to pedestrians associated with these vehicles.”

*The Wall Street Journal reports that U.S. deaths of kids being backed over by vehicles is way up. From 1998 - 2002 there were 138 such deaths. From 2002–06 there were 474; an increase of 243% which can be largely attributed to SUVs.

Empty Stores

*Wal Mart, which can’t be imagined without the car, has undermined city centres. This company sits on vacant stores rather than letting a competitor get hold of the property. Across the U.S.A. there are 150 of these large stores sitting empty according to the Wall Street Journal.

Drive Thrus

*The first drive-in church opened 50 years ago and now nurseries (where you can purchase trees), drive through mortuaries and even one drive through strip club (on Route 22) serve the car driving public.

Go Fast with Dubya

*Thirteen states with 75 MPH (120km/hr) speed limits voted overwhelmingly to re-elect George Bush in 2004.

Cars are Heavier

*There’s been a significant gain in the weight of cars. In 2006 the average weight of a new car was 1878 kilograms making it 181 kg heavier than the 1997 models and 453 kg more than cars form the eighties.

More U.S. Data

*The U.S. represents four per cent of the world’s population and uses half of the world’s gas according to the San Jose Mercury News.

*In Outgrowing the Earth author Lester Brown claims that adding those two million cars to the U.S. fleet each year requires the asphalting of an area equal to nearly 400,000 football fields.

*Eleven million gallons of gasoline are spilled in daily runoff every eight months affecting 40 percent of surveyed waterways.

*New York City residents are big transit users which means they spend less off their income on transportation than people in any other American city - 15.3% as opposed to 23.2% in Tampa.

Disposing of a Car has Impacts

*“Getting rid of a car can generate up to a third of its life cycle energy costs and as much as a fifth of a car’s total pollution.” La Presse – Aug 27, 2007

The above is just a sampling of the distressing facts in Stop Signs. I’ll come back to it again.

Transportation and the Ontario Election

2011-08-11T09:52:00.000-05:00

There never seems to be much serious discussion of transportation matters during provincial elections.

Maybe this will change this year.

Lisa Seiler of GreenTrans has sent along information about a pre-election public meeting.

Transport Action Ontario will host a public meeting: Ontario Political Parties on Transportation Policy: A Dialogue with Voters.

It will be held Thursday,September 8, 2011 (7:00-9:30 p.m.) at Metro Hall in Toronto in Rooms 308/09. Metro Hall is at 55 John St.

Natalie Litwin (n.litwin@sympatico.ca) is the contact for more information.

A Panel will include Cheri DiNovo (NDP MPP for Parkdale-High Park) Frank De Jong (Green Party candidate for Davenport), and Frank Klees (Conservative MPP for Newmarket–Aurora).

Apparently the Liberal Party has declined an invitation to attend but, hopefully, that will change.

Questions and comments from the floor and from across the province will be welcome. Please consult the TAO website: transport-action.ca/ontario for further details as they become available.

Conservative Transportation Policy

2011-06-07T09:58:00.004-05:00

I was about to write about road tolls when the Ontario PC Party election platform came out. I’ve been told that they have a chance to become the government so I put aside childish things (i.e., thinking about road tolls) and decided to study the platform.

It is called Changebook because it’s mostly about change, get it? The sub-title Change: To Put More Money in Your Pocket just makes me feel those coins a-jingling in my normally empty pockets.

Let’s look at transportation policy.

One change called for - and this is a truly unique idea - is “to stop the war on the car.” I wish I’d thought of this one.

We need to do this because we are “spending too much time in traffic and not at home with our families.”

We have “roadways that just don’t work anymore,” there is a “jam every day” in Ottawa at 417 and 174, and in Northern Ontario Highways (#11 and #17) “grind to a halt whenever there is an accident.”

Let’s face it these guys have got down in the trenches (or I suppose that would be in the road medians) and done the research. Their conclusion:

“We need to tackle traffic congestion that only seems to get worse.”

To do this the Hudthats will come up with a transportation policy that is “balanced between public transportation and the cars we drive.”

They’d:

*Give out $35 billion for new infrastructure for innovative technologies to help reduce congestion.

*Send gas tax monies to communities that don’t get it now, because while they don’t have public transit, the families in these communities pay the gas tax.

*Respect the “unique priorities” of local municipalities “to choose between roads, bridges and transit.”

*Say pshaw to fifty year grand visions.

Imagine, I was going to write about the environmental and economic imperatives of developing appropriate road pricing strategies.

Make roads not war. Where do I sign up?

Free Transit on Election Day!

2011-04-04T15:58:00.011-05:00

I have just heard about this in the last few days.

It is an interesting idea but surely it is a little late to get it off the ground.

Vibrant Communities in Calgary (http://www.vibrantcalgary.com/) think we should have free public transit on E-Day (May 2). Their argument goes like this:

Most Canadians live in cities, and getting around is essential - never more so than on the day Canadians go to the polls to cast their votes.

"By providing free transit to all on May 2nd, the Federal Government can show its commitment to Canadians, to democracy, and to equality by giving us all a ride to the polls."

Free transit levels the playing field so that people living in poverty (3 million in Canada), those working more than one job with limited time to spare and those with disabilities who have extra challenges getting can more easily get involved in the democratic process, they say.

Their slogan is Our Right to Vote! Our Right to get There! and you can find out more at http://www.facebook.com/FreeFareElections and find them on twitter @freefareelxn41.

WHAT WE CAN LEARN ABOUT BUDGETS FROM OAKVILLE

2011-02-27T10:44:00.013-06:00

The budget cuts in Oakville referred to in a previous post involve stopping regular bus service an hour earlier at 11:25 p.m.

Tom Adams, Chair of the Budget Committee, argued that it wasn’t a real service reduction as a shuttle remains in place for the Go Station. If you want to travel somewhere else after 11:25 then you can walk, take a taxi or just stay home and eat cake, I guess.

This “not real service reduction” saves $94,600. A fare increase, in some categories, beginning in July adds $159,400 in revenues - although fare increases always result in fewer riders.

According to the Oakville Beaver Councillor Adams believes that some people think “transit is growing too fast.”

By making cuts Adams sees himself as a protector of the transit system. And by not allowing buses to alienate the good car driving citizens of Oakville we don’t have to worry about the kind of mass demonstrations we’ve been seeing in Cairo's Tahrir Square erupting at Oakville Town Hall – at least not until the next transit enhancements.

Oakville might see protests like this one in Taiwan (photo below*) if residents get riled about their transit system growing too fast.

To be serious though we can learn from Oakville.

Burlington budget meetings go this Wednesday March 2nd (7:00 – 9:30 p.m. at Tansley Woods Community Centre) and Saturday the 5th (9:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. at the Burlington Arts Centre.)

Consider coming out to these meetings and making your voice heard in support of community building initiatives like public transit. Let’s not allow the whole process to be hijacked by narrow minded individuals whose analysis of what makes a community good goes no deeper than bellyaching about their own property tax bill.

That kind of thinking got us into trouble during the nineties.

*Photo by My Hourglass http://www.flickr.com/photos/myhourglass/266237893/

Empty Buses in Oakville

2011-02-26T10:35:00.002-06:00

Oakville Transit Director Barry Cole showed Councillors photos he had taken of empty buses last week.

The occasion was the Town’s Budget Committee. During budget consultations apparently a “transit theme” had emerged.

I wasn’t there but the presentations made it clear that this “theme” was the result of input from concerned residents who while driving their cars around Canada’s most affluent municipality were scandalized that town buses were racing around willy-nilly with no one inside excepting the operator.

Mr. Cole’s pictures were intended to demonstrate that empty buses are a “natural occurrence” in the transit world.

They get empty when going in the opposite direction to rush hour peak flows and at the end of routes. Some times of day are less busy and some areas of the municipality have fewer riders. But as the Director pointed out the Town believes that all residents should have access to public transit.

Two consecutive slides entitled Now You See Them (an overflowing bus with many riders standing) and Now You Don’t (an empty bus) demonstrates what happens to a specific bus in a sixteen minute period.

There are many ways to measure how effective transit is but let’s be clear what an empty bus means:

“An empty bus is simply confirmation of the number of passengers on that particular bus at that particular time and place,” noted Mr. Cole.

One real measurement is spending by taxpayers. Oakville is on the low side compared to many other similar municipalities when measuring contributions per capita ($53.49 per year in 2009.)

A similar sized municipality – the one where I live - is much lower. Burlington’s comparable figure is $42.01.

Sure as spring’s arrival we can count on the annual “we’re spending too much on transit” natter will be coming to Burlington – and to your town as well.

I can’t wait.

Business and Transit

2011-01-26T19:23:00.004-06:00

As a freelance writer I’ve found when someone is not satisfied or confused about what you’ve written you often need a fallback position.

“Darn editor,” I’ll say. In a cross wind, that guy’s head whistles.

But this blogging business is a lonely one. Mistakes get made and with no editor around you sometimes need to raise your head and take a hard look into the mirror.

This blog is about public transit and I created it when another (critically acclaimed?) blog I’ve been doing for more than 4 years was getting filled up with transit stories and other things municipal were being squeezed out.

But your silly scribbler got confused and posted a recent (tongue in cheek) transit story over at http://whenthemayorsmiles.blogspot.com/ instead of here at the transit blog.

Who cares, right? To the serious stuff:

Having thought more of late about suburban transit I wondered why we don’t seem to have the business community support for transit that they do in other places.

For example, the Toronto Star interviewed Toronto Board of Trade CEO Carol Wilding recently and asked about Board of Trade priorities.

“No. 1 on our agenda is improving this city’s transit and transportation, there’s no question.”

Noting that we are dead last in North America congestion time with our 80-minute commute Wilding was firm:

“We need an integrated transit strategy for the whole Greater Toronto Area. It needs to work for all of us. It’s part of our livability.”

Meanwhile, here in Burlington we had a chance to establish a business school in the heart of our downtown, next door to the Transit Terminal and at the connecting point for most of our transit routes.

Instead, we allowed ourselves to get pushed around and put the school in one of the least transit friendly locations we could find (the South Service Road.)

How did that happen?

That‘s my transit thought/question for today.

Ms. Wilding also noted as a concern the growing gap between high-income and low-income neighbourhoods in Toronto

And wouldn’t you know it we have a little story at http://whenthemayorsmiles.blogspot.com/ on that matter.

Shelters and Sidewalks would be nice, eh?

2010-12-21T16:45:00.007-06:00

The other day Bob and Doug decided to ride Burlington Transit Route 6 North which we picked up during the evening rush hour at the corner of Cold and Frigid - more commonly known as Mainway and Guelph Line.

We had transferred from another route and the schedule suggested an eight minute wait for our transfer. Eight minutes stretched into twenty as Doug’s shadow nearly froze to the sidewalk. It felt a lot colder for the reason that that there was no bus shelter. You can see one in the background (on the other side of the road) but here, at a significant transfer point, there was no shelter and no bench.

There was a sidewalk, though, which can’t be said for the top of the route where #6 North connects with the Dundas 407 Go Carpool Parking lot. No sidewalks on either side of Dundas Street which makes it tough for pedestrians who want to catch the GO Bus to McMaster, York or Guelph Universities first thing in the morning, to take one possible scenario.

We ‘re ten minutes late when we reach the end of the route at the Burlington GO Station. While this tardiness may bother some your amiable and now comfy-warm hoser guides were unfazed.

Instead of applying criteria which factor in broad community good many want to evaluate this particular municipal service based on the coins in the cash box. The lack of customer focus we’ve encountered is often the hallmark of an underfunded system and often overlooked by decision makers.

Incidentally, from the “coins-in-the-cash-box” perspective this route appears to be a success. The bus had 13 different riders heading north and another 10 boarded at various points going south in the hour or so it took to complete the loop.

Bob took in a couple of presentations on the Hamilton Street Railway’s attempt to come up with a policy on setting fares. Some analysis will follow next time.

Bob and Doug Ride BT Route #12

2010-12-11T12:26:00.004-06:00

Burlington Transit Route #12 is unique, perhaps, as it runs from one Wal-Mart (Appleby Line/#5) to the Go Station hard by the other Wal-Mart on Fairview.

We took the half hour trip in off peak time recently. Eleven other passengers joined us along the route.

We began our trip in a windswept parking lot where the town of Tansley once stood. There is no real evidence that this town ever existed although it is possible that the unfriendly, rundown bus shelter welcomed stagecoaches when a two floor schoolhouse educated students on the southwest corner back in the 19th Century. A new shelter and some route information is the norm for a good transit system.

Let’s talk about the eleven passengers. It is generally agreed that a bus carrying six passengers an hour has the same environmental impact as a single passenger automobile.

This bus had eleven riders in a half hour. Even if no one rode it the half hour after we disembarked it would be considered an environmental success. Bob and Doug get exercised when self appointed transit experts who clearly have been off planet on vacation since their last shorty pants bus trip claim no one is riding our buses.

Back to the route. It’s an interesting one; south on Appleby, cutting through Millcroft Plaza to pick up passengers a short hop from the Beer Store; then along Upper Middle Road past Tansley Woods Recreation Centre, Pearson and M.M. Robinson High Schools; slicing through Mountain Gardens to Brant Street.

South on Brant past the old Walpole Orchards a young mother with a stroller appeared to be trying to flag us down and while the thought of her waiting a half hour for the next bus was disheartening better then a risky trip across the multi-laned car packed thoroughfare.

Our trip ended at the GO Station at the large multi-level parking structure part of GO’s much ballyhooed “extensive parking facilities” expansion of 2008. An accessible tunnel took us under the busy CN freight tracks to the south side.

Presto - We're Seamless

2010-12-08T15:04:00.005-06:00

What are people finding out about Presto?

That ‘s the new seamless regional transit fare card system which allows customers to ride on any participating transit system without pre-purchasing tickets or having to search for the correct change.

I attended an info meeting in Hamilton yesterday – where the system is not yet up and running- and came away with concerns.

It looks like it is a system for commuters but not necessarily transit users.
For example:

*The six dollar upfront cost for the card is really a $16 cost as you have to load it with $10 minimum.

*There appears to be no such thing as a day pass.

*Traditional outlets will be almost non-existent

*And, the fact that we are evolving to a system without any paper tickets like everyone else in the world doesn’t really turn my crank.

Maybe I’m just a Luddite.

The other day I got to a Brampton mini bus terminal to buy needed paper tickets during morning rush hour only to find that the terminal didn’t open to noon. The fact that I could access a Presto Machine really wasn’t much help for me. I’ll need to make some adjustments. Many others who have fewer options than I will have to make adjustments as well.

In the New Year Hamilton transit staff are piloting some aspect of the program with the 500 Hamilton residents who regularly use HSR to connect with GO.

One advocate commented that while that was nice it seemed that for the rest of transit users - the vast majority – this new system was going to be a lot more complicated.

Bob and Doug Take BT Route 11

2010-12-02T16:59:00.021-06:00

The best way to understand how the Transit system works is to use it. I don’t remember who said that. Was it a member of Burlington Council?

Anyway, today I took off (eh) with friend Doug (pictured right) on a route we weren’t familiar with.

Burlington Transit Route 11 runs from the Appleby Go Station (South side) up to the First Pro Shopping Centre at Dundas and Appleby. It returns to Appleby GO as BT #15.

We had a little trouble figuring out which of four buses to get on as one (the one we wanted as it turned out) had no markings on it. But we asked another BT passenger and got help. Good thing too because where Bus 11 was parked, where you would usually find a schedule and route information, we were faced with a blank sign. (See below)

Off we went on this late mid morning off peak route. We didn’t care that we were 5 minutes late; we're in no hurry.

This route heads up Appleby, winds through the Orchard community and comes out on Highway #5 at Sutton then goes west. Twenty minutes after departure we glided into the lot. “Save money. Live better.” It’s Wal-Mart.

There were six other passengers on this 20 minute trip which by our count is a boarding rate of 18 per hour. Our fellow passengers were younger than us - much younger than us actually - so we figured this route was important to them as they likely didn’t have the option to drive.

Transit experts had proposed altering #11 route slightly so that there could be more frequent (better) service but the idea was rejected by 20 GO users at public meetings. Too bad.

We were about to board another bus when we noticed Boston Pizza. Wonder if they’ve got back bacon?

================================================================

We didn't find this sign helpful.

Aren't they supposed to look like this?

GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS IN ONTARIO

2010-11-23T09:35:00.001-06:00

Do you share my problem? All those reports put to one side that you hope to read and understand and do something about.

One such report is the Ontario Environment Commissioner’s Annual Greenhouse Gas (GHG) report. (http://www.ecoissues.ca/index.php/Broadening_Ontario%27s_Climate_Change_Policy_Agenda.)

It came out in May and I put it on my to do list but I’ve just gotten to it this week.

And, OK, I haven’t read it (all); don‘t totally understand it but do feel compelled to do something about it. This is that - doing something - a little blog piece.

There is some good news in Gord Miler’s report. A couple of examples:

GHG emissions will be abut 25% lower in new cars that will be sold in 2016.

There is evidence that road pricing strategies can work. The Stockholm Congestion Tax, for example, has resulted in decreased emissions and improvement of air quality in that city. Swedes seem to embrace the battle against climate change in way hard to imagine here. Their goal for transit modal share is an incredible 75%. Right now 60% of all trips are on public transit.

But in other communities the results of road pricing are less clear.

Locally, a survey shows that 407 ETR motorists saved 4 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions plus 3 litres of gasoline and 33 minutes per trip as opposed to motorists taking equivalent trips on Highway #7. But what does this mean? It could be that putting more cars on private roads while presenting savings to car occupants does little for the overall picture.

NOW TO THE BAD NEWS

GHC emissions for the transportation sector in Ontario are up about 35% since 1990. Compare that to the industrial sector which has shown a reduction of 16% in the same time period - not encouraging. Transportation is now adding more that 60 megatonnes of GHGs to our environment each year versus 52 megatonnes for industry.

The Commish notes that “increased public transit is a key element in any climate change reduction plan” and yet earlier this year the province deferred $4 billion in public transit investments nearly half of what they had already been committed.

It is not looking good.

Real Facts on Burlington Transit

2010-11-02T18:24:00.004-05:00

Many watched dumfounded earlier this year when, at a public meeting, a Burlington (ON) City Council Council member stated, apparently in earnest, that taxpayer funding for transit had gone up 114% in five years.

The statement was wrong, of course, as any Burlington Transit (BT) rider could tell you. Although the Councillor’s “facts” were ultimately proven to be inaccurate the Burlington Post wrote it up like it was gospel. No public clarification was ever made by the Councillor or the Post.

At When the Mayor Smiles we deal in facts – well today anyway. Our numbers are real ones; taken from the Transit Operational Efficiency Review mentioned in my previous post. Let’s set the record straight.

That review compared BT to eight similar sized cities in Ontario. Here are some facts.

Average Fares

Burlington at $2.08 had the highest average fare. The average among the peer cities was $1.58. The comparable figure for Oakville was $1.76.

Net cost per Capita

The average Burlington taxpayer coughed up $36.36 of hard earned dollars in the year in question (2006.) But Oakville residents spent $5.06 more than that. They were still well behind the peer average of $46.18

Do the math. You’ll find that if the equivalent of one large Tim Horton’s coffee every two months was put toward public transit an additional $1.5 million could be invested into operating dollars. Putting that figure into perspective, the current annual operating expenditures are around $6 million dollars.

Hours of Service per Capita

We don’t provide much service. On a per capita basis Burlington provides about 48 minutes of service per year. The peer average is about 66 minutes.

Productivity

Councillors like to talk about efficiencies/functioning like a business/getting the best bang for the taxpayer’s bucks etc..

So let’s look at BT’s productivity. Burlington bus operators are productive averaging 1,512 revenue hours about the same as the peer average of 1,522.

Each BT supervisor who dispatches, monitors and controls operations is responsible for 22 operators. They’re working harder than the peer average (20 operators per supervisor.) Finally, each maintenance employee served 11,800 revenue hours as compared to the peer average of 9,713.

The report’s authors note that Burlington Transit ridership rates should be a lot higher (it is the lowest in the survey) and that the structure and amount of service need to change to attract more riders.

Message to Burlington Council: our system is under-resourced.

Will Burlington's New Council be Transit Friendly?

2010-10-29T13:23:00.009-05:00

The last one wasn't.

As the election results rolled in on Monday there was speculation at a local watering hole as to whether the new "team" will be better.

One could check out the survey on Community Development Halton's website (cd.halton.ca).

Put together by Poverty Free Halton candidates were asked about their support for transit and canvassed on other issues.

Unfortunately only two of seven victorious Councillors answered.

Rick Craven, who is generally supportive of public transit, responded positively.

Veteran Coucillor John Taylor, who isn't a supporter, continues to demonstrate his lack of understanding of how transit works.

Taylor is disappointed with what he says are poor results " despite millions of dollars invested."

Taylor's analysis runs counter to that of the IBI Group who studied Burlington Transit two years ago.

These transit experts said that:

*Burlington provides a low service level and as a result has low ridership.

*Taxpayers pay less for transit in Burlington than most other cities.

*Burlington Transit needs to significantly increase it service levels.

I'm hoping new Councillors will look at this report (TT 47-08 - Transit Operational Efficiency Review).

Some returning Councillors might benefit from a re-read.

What do you think?