Above is a ‘walkshed’ map of potential future rapid and express transit services in Waterloo Region. A walkshed is the area that is accessible by walking a certain distance to or from some point of interest, in this case, transit stops.

The RT network (in red and orange) is derived from the plans by the Region’s Rapid Transit Initiative, while the iXpress network (in blue) is guesstimated from proposed 2013 service, the GRT Business Plan, and the Regional Transportation Master Plan. The code used to generate the walkshed map is hosted on Github.

future-gtfs: Tool for augmenting GTFS datasets with potential future transit routes and service frequencies. I’m using it to create data needed to help demonstrate the benefits of Waterloo’s future Rapid Transit service through something like OpenTripPlanner.

animate-gtfs: Script I made for generating an animation of GRT bus service.

There is a remarkable difference in the quality of the two roads for bicycle users. Granted, Davenport road was completely resurfaced, while aging asphalt on Margaret received only a new paint job. But beyond potholes, differences in quality between the two remains stark.

Davenport’s bicycle lanes are wide, salient, and are cleared of snow with the rest of the road. Margaret’s lanes are narrow and bizarrely curved in places to accomodate the occasional parked car, faded and poorly marked, and often used as a place to dump snow.

As someone who rides a bicycle year-round, the maintenance on Margaret Ave can be infuriating. Below are just a few images taken last week:

Fast-forward fifteen years from now. King Street is still busy, and the parking lot is full, but that no longer bothers you. You find your ride in a light rail vehicle relaxing as you glide to a stop at Cedar and Charles. A wide promenade to lead you to the market awaits, lined with shops and cafes. The street has been closed to traffic today, and vendors have set up tables here outside the market to keep pace with demand. You catch the eye of a friend – she’s just come downstairs from the flat she recently moved into on Cedar Street – and she invites you to join her at the little cafe below her new place. You grab some patio chairs and chat for a while before parting ways to browse the many shops and vendors. Arms loaded with food, you head back to Charles Street. As the train approaches, you remember you’ve forgotten the cheese! No worries, another train will come again in just a few minutes.

This is just one of many place-making opportunities that light rail will bring Kitchener and Waterloo Region, identified in the Central Transit Corridor Community Building Strategy. Over the last year, the three cities, the Region, and its consultants have been hearing from stakeholders and the public about the things we love about our communities and how rapid transit could help enhance them as they grow. The input from all these workshops and open houses has been compiled into a breathtaking vision, with one final opportunity for feedback before the report goes before Regional Council.

If you haven’t had the opportunity to attend one of the Community Building Strategy open houses, (advertised on portable signs all over the place these past few weeks), I strongly encourage you to see the draft strategy at www.centraltransitcorridor.ca and send your feedback to the Region. If you’ve been on the fence about light rail, I believe this vision will convince you of rapid transit’s potential when combined with wise choices in transportation infrastructure and land use to make Kitchener, Waterloo, and Cambridge even better places to live, work, and play.

I’m excited for the future of our Region, and proud to have contributed to its plans through the Central Transit Corridor Community Building Strategy. I hope you can be too.

Mike Boos is a citizen of Kitchener who looks forward to riding a train to work on days when his bicycle has a flat tire.

From January 1, 2012 to present. Note that locations are approximate and that not all collisions are published as police reports.

I was privileged to participate as a citizen in workshops for the community building strategy in the spring and am impressed with the work that has gone into it.

The vision for the community transformation that will accompany rapid transit being presented in the draft strategy is both breathtaking and well within our grasp.

This future of better transit, roads, paths, and intensification is what will keep me and my family rooted and working in Waterloo Region.

Which is why I’m alarmed that a small minority who oppose rapid transit in the region has grown increasingly noisy as of late.

If this is allowed to continue unanswered, I fear regional council may forget the groundswell of support in 2011 for rapid transit, and this future may be lost, extinguished by those whose vision is too narrow to look beyond the status quo.

I would encourage everyone to attend the community building strategy public consultations, or visit the website at centraltransitcorridor.ca.

Catch the vision, contribute to it, and speak up once again for a better future.

Today, even as the public and governments begin to once again recognize the social, economic, and environmental value of active transportation, we continue to fall under the illusion that people must yield to the ‘needs’ of cars. As pedestrians continue to be hurt and killed by cars, police and radio ads implicitly blame victims with reminders to “wear bright clothing” because somehow choosing to walk helps contribute to a “dangerous combination.” This is absurd and diverts our attention away from the real source of the danger.

The truth is that most of the time, if a motorist “didn’t see” a pedestrian, they have failed to operate with the level of caution and care warranted by the weight and speed of their vehicle and the conditions of the road. It’s why driving is a licensed and regulated activity, while walking is not. Let’s remember to watch vigilantly for pedestrians the next time each of us gets behind the wheel.

Roundabouts can be a challenge for cyclists. As putting a bike lane on the outside of a roundabout invites dangerous sideswiping, it’s best to take the lane like any other vehicle when approaching a roundabout. Consequently, North American standards require that designated bicycle lanes end before the entrance to a roundabout. Unfortunately, when implemented in Waterloo Region, this presents two unpalatable options for cyclists. A curb cut onto the sidewalk and ring of crosswalks is provided for the timid. (If the expectation here is to dismount, it’s clear that it’s been far too many years since our traffic engineers have climbed onto a bike.) The other option is to merge with traffic when the bicycle lane ends.

This poses a safety problem. Cyclists are forced to merge in front of faster moving vehicles. While drivers are supposed to slow down for roundabouts, they don’t always do so. The implementation with the second roundabout lane, shown above on the right, is simply infuriating – it allows a car to enter the rightmost lane before the bike lane ends, which could cut cyclists off at the last minute.

It should be obvious that faster moving traffic behind should be watching out for slower moving traffic ahead, rather than having to turn your head to see if someone’s coming up faster from behind. (Not that shoulder checks are a bad idea, just that due diligence is easier from a car looking ahead rather than a bike looking behind.) It’s like how I was taught to ski down a hill: those downhill from you can’t see you, so yield if you’re skiing faster than them.

I’ve proposed a different way to ‘end’ bicycle lanes when approaching a roundabout, in a way that encourages this kind of behaviour, shown below. In the image on the left, the road markings imply that it is cars that must yield to bicycles ahead of them before merging into the roundabout entry lane. I’ve chosen ‘shark teeth’, which aren’t yet very common or well understood around here yet, but hopefully will become more so as time progresses. Shark teeth point in the direction of vehicles that are supposed to yield and show where they are expected to stop if necessary. Even if a driver is unfamiliar with this style of markings, it should be clear that they are leaving their lane for another and must merge carefully. This is made more obvious by the use of bike ‘sharrows’ in the middle of the lane.

The configuration on the right should be obvious: when a new lane is created for entering the roundabout, it should be a continuation of the bicycle lane so that drivers are required to think and can see cyclists better before merging occurs.

These aren’t big changes to the design of our roundabouts, but they could make a huge difference in terms of cycling safety.

The site, (shown above) will occupy the space between King and Duke Streets, and between the railroad tracks and Victoria Street, serving as a connection between GRT light rail and buses, coach buses, GO service, and VIA Rail. It is also proposed as a mixed-use development, with retail, office, residential, institutional, and civic spaces. Further, the Region desires to optimize the entire area for pedestrians and cyclists first.

The Planning Report and Urban Design Brief detail the governing design principles and desired elements, a smorgasbord of pedestrian, cycling, and transit amenities, public space, and urbanism. The pictures included in these documents show inspirations from other spaces around the world. For example, shown below are pedestrian features, including bus shelters, road crossings (including those for cyclists!), cafes and seating areas, and wide sidewalks.

Also included are examples grand concourses, bicycle facilities, and public spaces:

If these sorts of things are implemented well, the hub could easily become the gem of the Region.

The Region is also looking to preserve some of the heritage of the old Rumpel Felt factory on the existing site. The heritage study shows some wonderful features that should be retained, as well as detailing the fascinating history of all of the properties on and around it. (While it affords the Region a lot of flexibility in the design, it’s a real shame more of the orignal buildings, like the Lion Brewery, weren’t preserved.)

Finally, peeking into the noise and vibration study exposes some of the yet-to-be-finalized plans for the form of the site. Architects haven’t yet come up with a design (that would probably go hand-in-hand with finding private developer partners), but it gives us some insight into the proposed form. The highest-density piece would consist of two podium-towers, divided by a concourse and ticket hall up the middle to the tracks. The overpass above King Street would be accessible to pedestrians on both sides of the street, connected to the concourse. The middle medium-density block would feature retail space, a car and taxi drop-off, a terminal for inter-city buses, and secure bicycle facilities. The Rumpel Felt factory would maintain much of its outer facade (though the heritage document suggests some extra floors may be added above the main building), with what appears to be an access ramp to underground parking for the facility to the North, connected to Duke Street.

I’m excited about how these plans are coming together! This could be the crowning jewel among the many existing and soon-to-come developments in the district, including the Tannery, the Breithaupt Block, the School of Pharmacy, the Kaufman Lofts, and the upcoming plans by Momentum Developments to build a mixed-use tower kitty-corner to the hub. It is a good time to be living in Kitchener and the Region of Waterloo.