Tag Archives: promoting sustainable transportation

Cranking Up Connecting Dots Again

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Well THAT took long enough. Forgive the egregiously long time between posts, dear readers, but I just wanted to let you know that the hiatus is over. I’m in the process of writing and cranking up Connecting Dots again. Over the last year, family concerns behind the scenes–plus many nifty new projects at work–meant that my focus needed to shift… Read more »

Snapshots from Vancouver’s CUTA Transit Conference: Integrating Mobility

CUTA 2016

The Canadian Urban Transit Association (CUTA) recently held its annual conference and giant transit trade show from November 5-9, 2016 in Vancouver, B.C. Billed under the title “Inspiring Sustainable Change,” the conference focussed on changing technology, climate, demographics and customer expectations when it comes to cities and how they move. I had an opportunity to attend part of the conference… Read more »

Accelerating the Sustainable Built Environment with BC’s Real Estate Foundation

REFBC Sustainable Built Environment Workshop

I recently had the excellent opportunity to participate in a workshop hosted by the Real Estate Foundation of British Columbia (REFBC). Called “Accelerating Progress Towards a Sustainable Built Environment,” the workshop was geared at figuring out which actions should be our united priorities when it comes making our communities more sustainable. I’ve been to many other events that showcase sustainability… Read more »

Dear Kevin: Welcome. And Good Luck.

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Kevin Desmond

I was interested to see TransLink’s announcement last week that the organization has hired a new CEO, Kevin Desmond. Currently the General Manager for Seattle’s King County Metro Transit, Kevin is set to take on the Vancouver area’s top transportation job on March 21, 2016. The announcement of Kevin’s hiring got me thinking about what I would tell him if… Read more »

The Three Community Characteristics of Highly Successful Transit Systems

Think quick!  What are the most important elements of a really great transit system?! Chances are if you just answered that in your head right now, you might have said things like: frequency, directness, reliability, easy fare payment, easy to use and understand information, consistency, comfort or safety. Some of you might have answered “convenience,” which I would then have… Read more »

When Your New Prime Minister Rides a 40′ Limo

Working as I do in the field of transit, it’s been an interesting few weeks since Justin Trudeau won the Canadian national election to become the leader of our country.   Transit and spending on civic infrastructure that could help sustainable transportation of all kinds were two big themes of his campaign, and a bus was also part of his first… Read more »

Five Great Books on Cities and Community for Younger Citizens

This post is a love letter to my five all time favourite kid’s books about cities, neighbourhoods and community. Well worn and ragged, each has been well tested at my family’s house and and are the kind of picture books that can be enjoyed over and over again by younger citizens and their older fans alike. Important to me, none… Read more »

This Just In: Sinister Mime Plot Creating Transit Havoc

Mime Bus

Disassociated Press, BIG RIVER, BC: A rogue gang of sinister mimes is being implicated in an evil invisible force field plot that has left a trail of passed up passengers, mashed feet and hoarse bus drivers in transit systems across North America. Not since the all-mime population of the small European hamlet of Kopfschmerzen accidentally trapped itself in a 20-foot-tall… Read more »

On Bike Parking and the Kindness of Strangers

The other day while gingerly nestling my bike against another unknown person’s at a bike lock up it crossed my mind that no car driver would ever tolerate parking their vehicle by rubbing it up against someone else’s. I started to grumble and launch into an internal diatribe.  But then I stopped and thought again.  Because maybe this wasn’t something… Read more »