Upcoming events!

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There are a lot of interesting events coming up in Metro Vancouver that are not to be missed.

February 26th – Transit rally in Surrey

When: Tuesday, February 26th, 3:30 – 5:30 pm
Where: Central City Plaza, Surrey
More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/269514203177301/

Surrey’s CiTI (Citizen’s Transportation Initiative) is organizing a rally at the Central City Plaza. There will be speakers, music, and a march around the city centre. The group is advocating for better public transit service in the community.

March 1 – Carbon Talk: A mayor’s vision of how to fund regional public transportation

When: Friday March 1st, 12:30 – 1:30 pm
Where: SFU Harbour Centre Room 1700, 515 West Hastings St
Register: http://i.sfu.ca/nlbfsW
Live Webcast: http://creative-services.sfu.ca/broadcast (registration not required)
More info: http://www.carbontalks.ca/events/public-carbon-talks/walton

Richard Walton, mayor of the District of North Vancouver and Chair of Translink’s Mayor’s Council, will deliver a Carbon Talk introducing his vision for funding public transit in Metro Vancouver. Registration is required.

March 2 – Imagine Surrey

When: Saturday, March 2nd, 11:00 am – 3:00 pm
Where: City Centre Library, Surrey
More info: http://surreylibraries.ca/5593.aspx

An open house event in Surrey’s downtown, featuring numerous guest speakers, and family fun!

Casino talk: Brantford, Toronto, Surrey

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Brantford's Casino

Brantford’s casino


The Toronto Star has an interesting article today regarding the effects of the casino in my hometown of Brantford, Ontario. The article is quite even-handed, and I just wanted to share my thoughts and experiences growing up in Brantford with the casino.

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Car use significantly down in UniverCity

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The UniverCity recently released the results of its 2012 resident survey. While there is plenty of interesting information contained in the report, a few things stuck out for me.

  1. Private vehicle use continues to be the main mode of transportation for UniverCity commuters, but fell to 41%, a decrease of 10 percentage points from 2010. Given the City of Vancouver’s goal for private car use to be at 33% by 2020, I would say that the UniverCity is a shining example of how the entire region can meet these goals.
  2. Public transit use fell by almost the same amount as private car use. This may seem somewhat surprising as car use continues to fall, but the report attributes the continued increase of those walking to work as eroding the numbers of both transit and private vehicles. This points to the success UniverCity has had in attracting employees of SFU to live on the mountain. While in the long run the goal may be for a diverse community with many families not linked with SFU, the fact that many individuals can now walk to work who would otherwise likely be driving up the mountain each day is very encouraging.
  3. Modo, the car share service on the mountain, has made some progress. 1 in 5 residents have used the co-op at some point, though most individuals use it infrequently.

While there is still room for improvement, the results of the latest resident survey show that if a community is developed in the right location, with the necessary links to alternative forms of transportation, people will leave their car in the garage. The UniverCity is leading the way in providing housing alternatives in Metro Vancouver for those who wish to decrease their dependence on the private automobile.

Street design elements: Tree grates

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I believe that the smallest of factors can often influence the experiences we have with our streets. Visually interesting street design elements can often play a big part in this. I will be periodically posting photos I have taken all over Metro Vancouver of examples of street design elements, both good and bad. I will update as I get more photos, and please feel free to email me any examples you’d like to see on the blog.

First up: tree grates. These are something I barely notice until I see striking examples. Some of the photos below show that there is a real opportunity to use tree grates to reflect the history of a neighbourhood, or to help in the branding of an area. Click to see the photos.

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Cameron Station on the Evergreen Line?

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The city of Burnaby is looking to maintain the possibility of a future Skytrain station on the Evergreen Line between Lougheed and Burquitlam. The potential station, at Cameron Street, would serve the current and proposed high density developments to the north of Lougheed Town Centre, not to mention the mall itself.

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Cycling and transit use see big gains in Metro Vancouver

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Translink has begun to release the results of their 2011 trip diary survey of 22 000 households in the region. While cars are still the overwhelming leader in mode share, there are encouraging signs that active and sustainable modes of transport are increasing.

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More details on the Brentwood redevelopment

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I wrote previously about the planned redevelopment of the Brentwood Mall into a high-density mixed-use neighbourhood with numerous high rise residential and office developments, a new high street, and a public plaza at the corner of Lougheed and Willingdon. In response to community feedback received concerning the new master plan for the site, city staff were asked to clarify a number of issues identified by concerned citizens. A new report was recently released which addressed these various concerns, and in so doing sheds some more light on what exactly is being proposed to replace the current mall.

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The world’s first living neighbourhood

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The UniverCity community has seen great success with the construction of the UniverCity Childcare facility, a building which meets Living Building standards by, among other things, contributing more water and energy than it uses, avoiding plastics and other oil-based products, and locally sourcing materials. The building is the most environmentally-friendly childcare in the world, and was built for 15% less than a traditional construction would.

The UniverCity is now looking to build on this success by designing the world’s first living neighbourhood, adapting the goals of the Living Building Challenge to the neighbourhood-level. The long term goal is to create the world’s first neighbourhood with a net zero energy, waste and water footprint.

“UniverCity will be home to the world’s most progressive and adaptable green building program, and it will act as a catalyst in the global transformation towards true sustainability. It will redefine green communities and raise the bar for successful urban design” – Jason F. McLennan, CEO International Living Future Institute

It will be great to see how this develops over time. It is an ambitious project which certainly cements the UniverCity’s status as a leading community for model sustainability. The project will not only make for an incredibly sustainable community, but an extremely healthy community as well.

You can read the press release here.

Get OnBoard BC!

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Translink’s funding issues are no secret. The agency relies on funding from sources which contradict their goals and objectives, namely fuel taxes, parking taxes and bridge tolls. Translink and Metro Vancouver are actively trying to shift mode share from personal vehicles to sustainable options (walking, cycling and transit) in the region. But successes in this lead to budget shortfalls.

The problem is that fuel taxes, parking taxes and bridge tolls (which in 2011 accounted for 31% of Translink’s revenues) all decrease as driving decreases. So on the one hand Translink is encouraging sustainable mode choices, but on the other, they need people to continue driving to maintain their budget. To make matters worse, as more people choose to take transit, Translink is pressured to provide better service and higher capacity, again, with lower budgets. It has turned into a vicious cycle.

Enter Get OnBoard BC. This campaign is focused on these funding issues for transit in the region, and aims to promote sustainable funding mechanisms for transit in Metro Vancouver. Get OnBoard BC is a coalition consisting of residents, students, workers, businesses and academics who all have a vested interest in regional public transportation. Some of the organizations currently associated with the campaign include the Surrey Board of Trade, Kwantlen Student Association, UBC Alma Mater Society and Sustainable SFU, among others.

Get OnBoard BC sees a number of options for improving funding for transit in Metro Vancouver. According to their website:

To see the construction of regional rapid transit, we need new solutions, including potential road use tolling and reallocations from current municipal and provincial taxes. Equally as important, any new funding mechanisms must be equitable, so that dollars raised in a region be targeted to the transit infrastructure of that specific region.

It will be interesting to see what kind of traction Get OnBoard BC can gain in the often very heated debates around transit in this region. If nothing else, this campaign shows that there are many advocates for transit in BC, and a diverse group of people interested in seeing the sustained growth of rapid transit in the region.

If interested, you can sign Get OnBoard BC’s petition here.

Get OnBoard BC is also on Facebook and Twitter.

Walkability and transit-oriented communities in Burnaby: Photos of a stroll around Holdom

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I had a package to pick up from Purolator in Burnaby last week, and seeing as they are located near the Holdom Skytrain station, I decided to take the train and walk the final 10 minutes to their offices. 800 meters surrounding a rapid transit station is the standard for what people are willing to walk to reach transit, and is where development should be concentrated to create successful transit-oriented communities. Given that the walk from Holdom station to Purolator was exactly 800 meters, I thought it would be a good chance to see how Burnaby is doing targeting development around rapid transit. Over the course of this short stroll, I saw some positive signs of transit-oriented development, as well as a number of issues which demonstrate where Burnaby, and most of Metro Vancouver, is falling short in utilizing the excellent regional rapid transit network.

My walking route, with Brentwood Town Centre on the left for reference.

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