Thanks for sharing this councillor. I think there's one more key to recovery (and it's also one OC Transpo is trying to address with New Ways to Bus): frequency. I was shocked to see that the average transit trip is 45 minutes. I understand some of this is because people use transit for longer trips, but that seems very high (and makes me wonder what it is in similar cities). We need to start working towards making transit competitive with the private car for short trips, not just long commutes.
Thanks for your recent posts highlighting points from the transit study. I appreciate the effort it takes to do this.
One of the points I noted is the city goal to encourage development around transportation points. I think this is a great planning objective. Hopefully that includes both housing and the businesses to serve residents. From my perspective it is easier for a city to facilitate intentional residential development but harder to create an environment that is conducive to small business development. I am curious to what extent the city’s development plans take this into account.
Thanks Dennis, that's an excellent point. It has been a problem in recent years – where land zoned as "mixed use" ends up being built almost entirely with housing. My understanding is there is work being done through the zoning by-law update to require a minimum percentage of mixed use in land that is zoned as such.
Thanks for sharing this councillor. I think there's one more key to recovery (and it's also one OC Transpo is trying to address with New Ways to Bus): frequency. I was shocked to see that the average transit trip is 45 minutes. I understand some of this is because people use transit for longer trips, but that seems very high (and makes me wonder what it is in similar cities). We need to start working towards making transit competitive with the private car for short trips, not just long commutes.
Absolutely! The "New Ways to Bus" network does put an emphasis on frequency of key routes ... this is a good step forward but still many routes that are running at 30-minute or 60-minute intervals. Here's a map of the frequent route network (15 minutes or more frequent) https://www.octranspo.com/images/files/maps/network_maps/LRT-Frequent_Map_14March_2024_(MASTER)_1.pdf
Thanks for your recent posts highlighting points from the transit study. I appreciate the effort it takes to do this.
One of the points I noted is the city goal to encourage development around transportation points. I think this is a great planning objective. Hopefully that includes both housing and the businesses to serve residents. From my perspective it is easier for a city to facilitate intentional residential development but harder to create an environment that is conducive to small business development. I am curious to what extent the city’s development plans take this into account.
Thanks Dennis, that's an excellent point. It has been a problem in recent years – where land zoned as "mixed use" ends up being built almost entirely with housing. My understanding is there is work being done through the zoning by-law update to require a minimum percentage of mixed use in land that is zoned as such.