Basically ridership increased by 82% in Q1 of 2011 (compared to Q1 of 2010).  That’s with the same transit net budget as we had in 2010.  Since ridership is up higher than expected, net cost in 2011 may actually be less then the net cost in 2010.   So we may spend less money and transport substantially more people.  Win.

Also, only a third took transit for GO (so that gets rid of the “people only take transit for GO”).  A full third of the trips were non-peak mid-day trips.  Q1 2011 numbers back up the transit FAQ here. 

This really belongs in Why My Hair Dont Grow No More.  Want to see why kids alone aren’t responsible for my hair loss? Well, read on.  Some days Murphy strikes hard and everything that can go wrong, goes wrong (and then some). 

I am about to leave for the Transit Open House today when I notice that my mother-in-law has parked her car behind mine, blocking my car in the garage.  I try to call my wife but she doesn’t answer.  Sadly, there’s no all-day transit on Scott Blvd so for a few minutes I think I can’t go. 

“No wait”, I tell myself, “I can walk to the hospital and take route-2”.  The hospital is 1.4kms from my house, not the end of the world. 

So I run to the basement and accidentally pick up the new map, one effective September 7th. I noticed that the bus was due soon, so I run to the hospital quickly.  Fortunately, I get there just as the bus pulls in and I catch the bus.  This is where the drama starts.

The bus goes somewhere else, not where I expected (of course, I looked in the new map).  So now I am stuck in the bus, $3 short (I did not have exact change), going further away from where I needed to be.  Well, the bus goes all around (old route is horrible) and takes me to the GO station.  I ask the driver and he tells me to take route-2 going the other way.

Foolish me, I expected route-2 to go west on Main, which would take me to my destination.   Oh no, that would be too easy. The bus starts to go back towards the hospital using same route it took to get to the GO station.  I patiently waited for 10 minutes and finally at Laurier and Ontario, I panic and get off.  The bus had retraced it steps and logic dictated that it would continue to do so, ending up at the hospital.

Logic would be wrong. 

Oh what do I see when I get off?  Instead of continuing on, the bus turns north on Ontario towards the Main St.  “Argh”, I go to pull my hair and realized I had already lost it. 

Now I am 40 minutes late, $3 short and steps away from where I got on the bus.  I hopelessly see the bus racing towards my destination as I contemplate what else could go wrong.

So I start another 1.5 km walk and finally arrive an hour late.  Did I mention I couldn’t run because I did not want to sweat?   I had to walk fast enough to get there quickly but not so fast that I would sweat. 

So there. My story of how I walked to the Senior Centre from home and still spent 30 minutes in the bus, getting a tour of Milton I really did not have time for. 

At least I made it to the open house in time to be yelled out (not literally) by four very nice ladies in their 80s about how the town doesn’t listen to them and doesn’t give them a proper transit system. 

Milton Transit will host four (yes, 4) Public Information Sessions to announce new transit routes and other changes:

Wednesday, August 18
• 2:00 – 4:00 pm, Milton Seniors’ Activity Centre
• 7:00 – 9:00 pm, Milton Sports Centre

Thursday, August 19
• 2:00 – 4:00 pm, Milton Public Library (Beaty Branch)
• 7:00 – 9:00 pm, Town Hall

I will be there for three of those sessions (fourth one conflicts with the Wind Turbine Public Open House). You can see new transit routes in the community map (warning: large file).  Hope to see you there.

Image on the left is from Woodinville, WA.  On the right is from Ballard, WA.  Both in the Greater Seattle Area.  Which one do you think is efficient for people, emergency response vehicles, transit and traffic?  In fact, research shows that traffic goes up when there are cul-de-sacs in a community.  Also, another research shows that as neighbourhoods become walkable, more people start walking and biking (makes sense).

Milton actually discourages cul-de-sac.  A resident during door knocking asked why because she liked them.  Luckily I found this picture that really says it all. 

I attended the Halton Region Transportation Master plan 2031 (The Road to Change) workshop in June.  They just sent me the summary report that includes individual feedback and subsequent comments.  You may find it helpful or interesting.

The report is here. 

For those interested, you can find new transit routes here:

[Click the above image to see a larger version]

Good news: Express bus service on Scott Expressway Blvd should start on March 8th (all-day will follow in September). 

The route should be Main Street –> Scott Blvd (going South) –> Dymott (going West) –> Savoline (going North) –> McDougall (going East) –> back up on Scott (North) and then Main. 

I am one step closer to selling my second car.

Is there any Town as small as Milton that has as many traffic lights on major arterial roads disrupting traffic flow?  Driving through Thompson from Derry to Main is an agonizing exercise in patience.  Sadly, Derry on Western part of Milton is turning into the same thing.  Tremaine, Savoline (coming soon), Scott and Bronte.  That’s four lights in about a km and a half.  There’s a busy rail track blocking traffic in between that I did not mention.

Seriously, did these subdivisions need both Scott Blvd and Savoline Blvd? Couldn’t just one connector road in the middle of the subdivision have served the purpose?   It’s not just traffic flow, it makes transit harder too.

It would’ve been better to build connections to Tremaine, Main, Loius St Laurent and Britannia up front to distribute traffic load.  

These are just some random ideas from a resident (me), meant to be a starting point for brainstorming.  I will post it on hawthornevillager as well to start a conversation.

• Transit should be a big part of the urban design.  Drive along Derry, houses facing Derry should’ve been medium density, 3-4 storey condos and townhomes.  More people next to major arterial roads –> more transit customers.  That’s a missed opportunity, but lets fix it for future surveys.
• Will it help if people with monthly passes had an option to use a taxi in case of emergencies (eg. Go train came in late and the last Milton bus left). Basically if the transit could guarantee that you’d never be stranded, perhaps more people would be open to it?
• Go to large employers, offer them a discount and give their employees monthly passes.  Promise them good bus service.  Wait, isn’t town of Milton itself a “big employer” in town :)? Hint, hint! 
• Investigate vanpool (I used to commute from the Snohomish County to the King County in WA. King County has 1,031 vanpool vans that provided 2.7 million rides at a cost of $0 to the municipality.  Snohomish County’s website explains the program.
• Consider charging for parking along the Main Street and Go station after a majority of residents have access to a reliable transit service.
• Consider limiting the number of parking spaces an employer can provide within the urban part of town (I personally don’t like it and if I were asked, would vote against it, but it worked for the City of  Redmond). 
• Another extreme opinion, that I am against, is to increase the subsidy up to 100%.  The town runs buses and people can ride them for free.  Nothing beats free.
• Plan new subdivisions with transit in mind.  I have written more about this in my “urban plan” series. 
• I wonder if, on routes with low ridership, running a couple of hybrid minivans is cheaper than running a large bus that costs not much less than half a million dollars to purchase. 
• EDIT: Should Milton think about running dynamic routes?  If you need a bus, you call a number, enter the stop # and go to the stop.  Based on demand, routes automatically adjust themselves to move people as optimally as possible.

Overall, I think transit ridership will naturally go up as the Derry Green Business Park comes online, Milton Education Village gets started and generally more people and jobs move to Milton.

So here are some of my ideas.  What are yours? 

Milton does have a decent trails plan. But is it integrated as part of a larger transportation network with deadlines?

Ultimately Milton must provide an alternate (read: non-driving) mean of getting from any point in the town to any other point in the town. Only then will many residents consider chugging their cars for bicycles.

However, for that to happen, Milton will have to prioritize alternate means of transportation just as much as it prioritizes roads for cars. I’d like to see Milton transform itself into the most walk-able and bike-able city in Ontario.

The issue of transit came up on a hawthornevillager forum.  Transit absolutely needs to be part of the larger infrastructure plan (which takes into account not only roads, but also walking and cycling). That infrastructure plan itself needs to be a part of a larger Urban Plan.

This upfront planning will allow Milton to consolidate townhomes and condos (low to mid-rises) around major arteries.  Cities that have successful (and financially efficient) transit systems do so by increasing population density around major transit routes. 

Derry is a major artery into and out of town and yet if you drive on Derry, most construction you see around Derry is single family homes. New subdivisions have condos, village homes and town homes, but these are scattered all over the subdivision instead of being consolidated around transit routes.

That means two things:

1) either most people have to walk a lot to get to a bus, which isn’t always practical (and is a disincentive)
or
2) The town has to make buses to inside neighbourhoods to reach more people, which makes transit inefficient (and is a disincentive)