Category: Transportation

UVic’s CARSA and McKenzie rebuild host open houses

Seems it is the season for open houses and we have a lot of them:

For the next stage for teh CARSA project at UVic, including its parkade:

Saturday, April 28
St. Aidan’s United Church
3703 St. Aidan’s St.
noon – 3 p.m.

Monday, April 30
Mount Doug Secondary School, multi-purpose room
3970 Gordon Head Rd.
5 – 8 p.m.

Tuesday, May 1
UVic Student Union Building, Michele Pujol room,
University of Victoria
11am – 2 p.m.

Wednesday, May 2
Cadboro Bay United Church
2625 Arbutus Rd.
4 – 7 p.m.

And for McKenzie road rebuild (from Gordon Head Road to Cadboro Bay Rd.), we have an open house today:

The District of Saanich Engineering Department will host a Public Information Session on Tuesday, April 24, 2012 between the hours of 4:00 and 7:30 p.m. at the University of Victoria Student Union Building, 3800 Finnerty Road, in the Michele Pujol Room (A121).

What I read last week

I try and stay on top of new research which pours in. Usually I fail, but here are the papers I managed to get time to read last week:

Emergency Response and Street Design Initiative
Lead by the US Congress of New Urbanism(CNU), this report is a call to new urbanists and fire departments to talk more about traffic calming, especially street narrowing. Many emergency responders, including fire departments, oppose traffic calming because it is perceived to slow response time. Anecdotally, I know from speaking to residents along Hampshire Road that the Oak Bay Fire Department was instrumental in preventing traffic calming on that road, which is heavily trafficked, and has major speed issues. This report is part of CNU’s Emergency Response and Street Design Initiative. More information about the topic can be sen on the Strong Towns blog under “fire trucks“.
[download id=”14″ format=”1”]

Transit Bus Life Cycle Cost and Year 2007 Emissions Estimation Final Report
This report, although 4 years old, looks at life-cycle costs of various types of buses, including compressed natural gas (almost unknown amongst Canadian transit agencies, but popular in the US), various types of diesel, and diesel hybrids. The biggest problem with the report is that it doesn’t account for the massive spike in fuel costs in 2007, which changes life-cycle costs considerably. Still, an interesting read.
[download id=”13″ format=”1″]
(note: Although I downloaded the original report from Proterra, an electric bus manufacturer, the report is from the US Federal Transit Agency and the West Virginia University’s Center for Alternative Fuels, Engines & Emissions)

One All Candidates done, one to come

Well, one all candidates is done. Speaking last was the distinct advantage of getting to listen to everybody else, but you do get to stew in your own nervousness for over 20 minutes while everybody else talks. Jason Ross of ModernDemocracy.ca was there again with his video cameras, which was excellent, so those you following at home can see. I tried collect all the questions I could while they came up, and I think I managed to get most of them:

  • Child care – How are you going to provide more spots?
  • Secondary suites
  • Traffic on the avenue – How are you going to deal with heavy traffic on the avenue and surrounding residential streets
  • Young families – How do you attract more to Oak Bay
  • Affordable housing – How to you provide more
  • Town hall meetings – Why haven’t we had more?
  • Oak bay lodge
  • Smart meters, and health
  • Deer issue – What is Oak Bay and the CRD doing about it?
  • Community engagement young families – How do you engage young families in the community
  • CRD accountability
  • Sewage infrastructure
  • P3’s water/sewage – Do you support keeping water and sewage infrastructure and operation public
  • Composting -When is it coming to the rest of Oak Bay?

Thanks to everybody that came out. If you missed it, we have another opportunity next Tuesday, November 7th, 7-9pm, at Emmanuel Baptist Church. Thanks to the North Henderson Residents Association and the Community Association of Oak Bay for hosting these.

UVic Students’ Society Municipal Candidate Survey

Dear Candidate,

On behalf of the over 17,000 undergraduate students at the University of Victoria, we are sending you this survey comprised of questions that are hot-button municipal issues on our campus. We invite you to fill out this survey and return it to us by Sunday October 30th at the latest. We will disseminate the information provided to students and youth in Greater Victoria. Thank you for your participation and assistance engaging students with municipal issues! Feel free to attach your answers on a separate page. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.

Sincerely,
Dylan Sherlock

Director of Finance and Operations
University of Victoria Students’ Society

What will you do to increase affordable housing for students in your municipality?
To help provide more housing for students and seniors, I would legalize secondary suites and laneway houses. Also, I would work with other municipalities and seniors levels of government to get funding restored to help build new apartment buildings and student residences at UVIc and Camosun.

What are your priorities for public transit, and how do students fit into these priorities?
I want to see the Victoria Regional Rapid Transit project, LRT out to the West Shore, under construction within the next three years. I would work with BC Transit to speed buses up using stop reduction and signal prioritization on their busy routes, especially those into UVic. I would also work with UVic and the provincial government to get a new transit exchange built at UVic, as the current exchange is at capacity. Both of these will help students travel faster and easier to campus.

What are the solutions to congestion and lack of capacity in the public transportation system?
Part of the solution is moving the buses faster, through signal prioritzation, but there are other steps that can be taken. Those
include adding more buses on busy routes and building a new transit exchange at UVic. All of these require the provincial or federal
government to step up to the plate and provide some capital funding. However, if it comes as a request of the region as a whole, it is much more likely to succeed.

How do students fit into local community development measures?
Students are a vital part of a vibrant Oak Bay, and a vibrant Greater Victoria. We need to talk more with students when it comes to the new Oak Bay Official Community Plan and the Active Transportation Plan.

What will you do to improve the sustainability of the operations of the municipality?
Oak Bay has already been working on making our recreation centre more sustainable, but we need to extend that work into our other
municipally-owned buildings, such as the town hall. I would also continue to acquire, where possible, hybrid and electric vehicles for the municipal fleet.

What is your position on bicycling and pedestrian infrastructure?
I am strongly in favour of more bicycling and pedestrian infrastructure. I was a member of the Citizen’s Advisory Council for the CRD’s Pedestrian and Cycling Master Plan, plus I am a member of the Municipality of Oak Bay’s Community Initiatives Committee, which is tasking with improving active transportation in Oak Bay. We recently passed an Active Transportation Plan, and I  committed to getting much as possible of the Active Transportation Plan and the PCMP built in the next three years.

How do you see recreation services for students in the municipalities improving?
We need to continue the region-wide recreation pass, as it has been a great success. We also need to keep offering student rates at our recreation centres. One place where students could play a key role is with inter-generational relationship building from UVic and Camosun to Monterey Centre, which caters primarily to the older population.

How will you increase student voter turnout in municipal elections? Are you willing to commit to campus poll stations by 2014?
To start, the municipal councillors need to be on campus more, both as candidates and as elected councillors, through teaching and other experiential learning programs. I strongly support campus polling stations in 2014 and would start work immediately to hopefully make that happen.

How will you better include youth in decision making process of the municipality?
We need to go out and do more community engagement, both using newer technologies, but also going into the places where people already are, which includes both UVic and Camosun campuses. Also, I would support getting more students engaged with the municipality as part of their studies with more experiential learning.

What is your position on open data initiatives?
I believe that  open data is very important, as it allows citizens to get more engaged in government, and gives them a better picture of how their world operates. However, open data must be done to allow the greatest possible reuse of the data, so must not place undue
restrictions on commercial activity or require onerous reporting.

What is your position on harm reduction services?
I strongly support harm reduction services, and given the recent Supreme Court ruling, would welcome safe consumption sites within
Greater Victoria. But we must remember all four pillars, and continue to fund outreach, detox, and housing for addicts wishing to move on with their lives.

What is your strategy for dealing with homelessness and the lack of subsidized housing? What is your position on outdoor camping?
I support dealing with the homelessness problem by dealing with the housing problem. More rental housing stock, available to all income levels, is the only way to truly end the housing crisis. I am torn with regards to outdoor camping in public parks in urban areas, because while I support the right to be housed, I am concerned about the long term ecological effects of camping if it spreads into sensitive ecosystems such as our Garry Oak Meadows.

How will you increase food security in the region?
We need to stop removing so much agricultural land from the Agricultural Land Reserve, and actually respect our urban containment
boundaries. True food security cannot happen without these steps. Within Oak Bay, I support finding more space for allotment gardens.

Greater Victoria Cycling Coalition candidate questionnaire

The Greater Victoria Cycling Coalition has sent out a questionnaire to all council candidates. They are making the answers available online, but I thought I would post them here as well.

1. Do you ride a bicycle?
Yes, Leisure/Occasional
Yes, Exercise/Health
Yes, Commuting
Yes, Sport/Competitive
Never

2. Are there any changes that could be made to cycling infrastructure that would encourage you personally to ride more often, or more year-round?
Although there aren’t any changes that would make me ride more, it would be a nice to have a little rain.

3. If never, are there any changes that could be made to cycling infrastructure that would encourage you to start riding?
I already bike.

4. How would you rate existing bicycle facilities in your municipality?
Poor
Fair
Good
Great
Excellent

5. What are the greatest weaknesses in your municipality’s cycling infrastructure? What needs to be addressed immediately? In the next 5-10 years?
Our greatest weakness is our lack of facilities that make cycling comfortable for all users, not just the strong and fearless. Thankfully the PCMP has addressed this, by creating a plan that caters to all levels of cyclists. Within the next year, I would like to see the CRD and the municipalities agree to the strongest funding level, which includes the creation of an active transportation office.  Within the next 5-10, we should have the recommended level of separation of facilities on all of the Primary Intercommunity Network defined in the PCMP. We also have a pair of part-time bike lanes, on Henderson and on Cedar Hill X Rd., that need to be converted to full time bike lanes, and no further part-time lanes should be installed.

6. What improvements to cycling infrastructure in your municipality will you promote and support if you are elected?
We need more cycling routes,not only on the major routes, but also on quieter parallel streets. We also need more end of trip facilities, especially covered and secured bicycle parking. We need to link into existing bicycle lanes on Fort, and boulevards on Haultain, but also push ahead and leapfrog the City of Victoria and Saanich.

7. If you are an incumbent, what have you done in your last term to improve conditions and/or facilities for cyclists?
Not an incumbent

8. The Capital Regional District’s Regional Pedestrian & Cycling Master Plan sets a goal of 25% transportation mode share for cycling and walking. Do you support the CRD Master Plan?
Yes
No

9. Which parts of the CRD master plan would you work towards implementing during your next term?
As much of it was possible. I strongly support not only working on the various infrastructure projects, but also the creation of an active transportation office at the CRD. Hopefully we will see a good portion of the regional gas tax money in the next few years going to working on various aspects of the PCMP.

10. Are there any changes to the bylaws or bylaw enforcement in your municipality that affect cyclists that you would recommend?
The parking bylaw needs to be changed not only to require bicycle parking (including work on making certain that that parking s installed correctly, as City of Victoria is working on right now), but also changing the motor vehicle parking minimums. Oak Bay also needs to have a policy so that in all new road construction, more vulnerable users such as pedestrians and bicyclists are considered before cars.

11. Do you see any potential for cycling tourism in your community, and if so, how do you see that evolving?
Oak Bay has part of the Seaside Touring Route, but also has many destinations that make cycling tourism very attractive. We need to work to make certain that various destinations have attractive and safe routes to them, but also have end of trip facilities at them most recently, partially at my urging, the Kiwanis Club of Oak Bay installed new bike racks near their Tea House in Willows Park, which massively expanded the amount of bicycle parking at Willows.

Oak Bay releases Active Transportation Plan

Oak Bay Council last night approved the Active Transportation Plan, a first for the municipality. Developed by Boulevard, based here in Greater Victoria, the plan covers walking and cycling, as well as touching on public transit.

I will have more to say about in the next day or so, but I wanted to post it here so other’s could read it. Please ignore the comments on the side of the page, they are my notes.

[download id=”10″ format=”1″] And sorry about the size, I wanted to upload at a high resolution so that the maps came through.

UVic proposes giant parking increase

UVic, after a decade of slowly drawing down their parking supply, and reaping the rewards for doing so,  has decided to build a giant parkade on north-end of campus. Why is UVic proposing this now? What hass changed that they need so much new parking now? What happened to their much-vaunted sustainability?

The crazy part is that it isn’t even needed. Although there are a few place around the campus that might need a few fixes (such as Arbutus Rd.) there certainly isn’t some giant crisis that only a new parkade can solve. Nor is the proposed parkade in a good location – the north side of the. campus away from most of the buildings. UVic’s own 2010 Traffic Audit ([download id=”9″ format=”1″]something I worked on), says this

The results from the 2010 survey document the continued positive trends with decreases in total automobile-related trips and large increases in both pedestrian and bicycle trips.

One of the big questions is this – Why bring it forward now? I suspect that like the Baptist Housing folks who are replacing Oak Bay Lodge, UVic hoped that it could slide it under the radar in the quiet summer months. Not to mention getting approval before the next municipal election, due November 19th.

Even sadder is that UVic is currently stonewalling BC Transit on a new transit exchange at the university, something that BC Transit desperately needs to expand transit service for the students and staff of UVic, but cannot due to lack of space. BC Transit even started a process to get public opinion on where that transit exchange might go (something I wrote about in April). But UVic claims to have no funding for any new exchange. So where is the funding for this parkade coming from? It is explicitly tied to the sport centre, approved in a referendum of UVic students in 2009.

Thankfully, it appears that UVic run into no small amount of opposition from the local community, causing Saanich Council to delay the proposal until the fall.

Remembering Allan Cassidy

Although there are many things that Allan will be remembered for, it is his deconstruction of the recent Oak Bay Beach Hotel rezoning that will stay in my mind for the longest. With his usual style, he looked at the list of zoning variances and then the two plans and asked, quite simply: Why did these two things not agree with each other? End result: away goes Kevin Walker to come back with a complete list. Details matter.

I have no idea why that little episode happened, but I do know one thing: this was one of many ways Allan made our community better. And while, he and I disagreed on bike lanes, he always had a good reason why. So goodbye, my former Beaver leader. Thank you for your service.