November 9, 2010

8 Nov 2010

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Recent TCAT activities and news items:

  1. Walk21 Conference - TCAT in the Hague!
  2. Toronto's New Council Views on Active Transportation - a Clarification
  3. Environmental Commissioner Debates Road Tolls – VOTE
  4. NEW TEA Campaign: Help Us Keep Council Green
  5. 'Lovin’ Montreal’ - Copenhagenize features Montreal
  6. Toronto Board of Trade Political Speaker Series presents: Andrea Horwath, Leader of Ontario's New Democrats, "City in Gridlock: Fixing the Region's Transit System"

1. Walk21 Conference - TCAT in the Hague!

In a recent TCAT News made a donations appeal for travel funds to present two TCAT research reports at the Walk21 Conference in the Hague, Nov 17-19, 2010. In response, we received several generous donations amounting to over $6,000!

Elana Horowitz, TCAT Steering Committee member, will present Stephanie Tencer’s research into community walkability audit tools for the City of Toronto.

Nancy Smith Lea, TCAT Director, will present the results of Clean Air Partnership’s two Bike Lanes, On-Street Parking and Business research studies in two locations on Bloor Street in Toronto. These studies were designed to determine the public acceptability and potential economic implications of reallocating road space from on-street parking to widened sidewalks or bike lanes. Nancy’s paper summarizes and compares the results from the Year 1 Bloor Annex study and the Year 2 Bloor West Village study.

Both of these papers will be published in the Walk 21 conference proceedings.

We are so grateful to our generous donors who have given us the opportunity to attend this important conference and share our research results. TCAT does not have a stable source of core funding, so this type of venture would not be possible without this support.

At TCAT everything we do is motivated by a vision of cities that are safe, convenient and enjoyable place to walk and cycle. We believe that active transportation is central to making vibrant and competitive cities that are also sustainable, accessible, and healthy for all. If any of the many activities that TCAT engages in holds value for you we urge you to donate today.

Any donations in support of TCAT's work will receive a tax deductible receipt from Clean Air Partnership. You may donate online by clicking here.

2. Toronto's New Council Views on Active Transportation - a Clarification

Last newsletter, we discussed how the newly elected City Council fared in the TCAT Election Survey. It has been brought to our attention that some of our reporting may have been misleading. To clarify:

  • The item may have unintentionally mislead readers to believe that there is strong support on the new council for active transportation since we reported percentages in terms of number of councillors who responded to the survey instead of total # of councilors
  • While almost 1/3 of the elected councilors completed the survey, there was an obvious geographical bias in who – elected and unelected - completed it:
    • Of those elected, all 11 Toronto-East York councillors completed the TCAT survey, but only 4 of the 33 Councillors from Etobicoke-York, North York and Scarborough did so
  • Because of the response rate it would have been more accurate to report that strong support was expressed by downtown Councillors while the majority of suburban Councillors chose not to respond to TCAT's survey

Spacing also examined the new council’s position (along with Mayor Ford and the new school trustees) on AT based on responses to TCAT’s election survey in Dylan Reid’s article “The new council on walking and cycling”.

3. Environmental Commissioner Debates Road Tolls – VOTE

Environmental Commissioner of Ontario Gord Miller takes on journalist David Menzies in The Mark. In an online debate, “Should Canada Charge Road Tolls?” readers can vote for the person she or he believes won the debate.

Miller argues, “But, it's not about road tolls generating a cash grab . . . it's about reducing unsustainable gridlock. You don't have to be an anti-car crusader to care about these issues.”

Read the whole article and cast your vote!

This isn’t the first time the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario weighed in on the debate. In 2009, the ECO released its second Annual Greenhouse Gas Progress Report 2008/2009: Finding a Vision for Change. The report stated, “However, the ECO believes that any serious attempt to reduce tailpipe emissions must consider the potentially significant role of road pricing in this effort.”

This year’s annual GHG progress report featured an entire section on road pricing: “Transportation and the role of road pricing”.

4. NEW TEA Campaign: Help Us Keep Council Green

Toronto Environmental Alliance (TEA) has embarked on a new campaign to ensure the new City Council protects current environmental initiatives and makes the environment a priority.

TEA is asking Torontonians to write a letter to their councillor and have created a form letter to help you out.

5. 'Lovin’ Montreal’ - Copenhagenize features Montreal

After hearing that Montreal has become a great city for cyclists, Copenhagenize posted a video of a busy intersection, some street art and pics of bikes and cycling infrastructure.

Copenhagenize points out that: “Like in over 130 cities around the world, a bike share system has kickstarted the return of bicycle to the city. In Montreal's case it's the Bixi. In October 3 million trips had been registered so far this year.”

Check out the post here.

6. Toronto Board of Trade Political Speaker Series presents: Andrea Horwath, Leader of Ontario's New Democrats, "City in Gridlock: Fixing the Region's Transit System"

On December 8, Andrea Horwath – Leader, Ontario’s NDP – will present, “CITY IN GRIDLOCK: Fixing the Region's Transit System”

A recent Board of Trade report identified that commute times in Toronto are now worse than Los Angeles, New York and London. Affordable and reliable public transit is key to Toronto's competitiveness and prosperity. Join Provincial NDP Leader Andrea Horwath as she makes the case for a successful, longterm transit partnership between the City and the Province. The NDP Leader will discuss why an effective transit system is the life-blood of our economy and why we need to confront the challenges of building and funding new infrastructure.

Date: Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Time: 7:30 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.

Location: Toronto Board of Trade, Downtown Centre, 1 First Canadian Place

Register here.

Cycling events:

Walking events:

If you know of other cycling or pedestrian related calendars to include, please let us know by e-mailing info@tcat.ca

TCAT News - Help spread the word!

TCAT is continually looking to increase its list of supporters. It helps to be able to say how many people and organizations support the work we do when we speak with City Councillors, City staff, and the media, or put out a publication. Please send this message to any groups or individuals you think would be interested in learning more about TCAT, receiving our weekly e-Bulletin, or volunteering with TCAT.

To learn more about TCAT, visit our web site at www.tcat.ca, e-mail info@tcat.ca or call 416.392.0290

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