The Way to Toronto's Heart is Public Transit!

A message to local Liberals, provincial Liberals and even federal Liberals. People want public transit funded! In a recent poll 74% of people in Toronto said that they would favor a 0.5% sales tax increase if it meant that the money would go to public transit in Toronto. With all areas having a majority of no less then 67% of people supporting it. If the Liberal party of Canada wants to get back the riding rich city of Toronto and it's suburbs it has got to jump on the public transpiration system.

Environics’ Darren Karasiuk said this debate has made people more willing to consider a tax to pay for transit expansion.
“I can’t think of a time transit and transportation has received as much attention as they have in the last few months,” he said. “The public recognizes this as an issue and they’re ready to think and have a meaningful conversation about it.”

Public transit is the way to go when it come to improving the environment , the economy and traffic. Liberals have somewhat seen this opportunity by proposing a high speed rail system, but if Liberals want to get the daily commuters of Montreal we have to look at local transportation and infrastructure. Remember the Stephane Dion 70 billion dollar infrastructure fund . We need more policies like that were people can see the results right before there eyes. It seems the public is ready for it and so should the Liberals be.

The poll’s suggestion that 905 voters back the tax may be its most important finding. The suburbs are the key battleground in provincial and federal elections. They also have less transit infrastructure and far lower ridership numbers than the city.

Read more here

Harper Thanks!

I definitely am no Conservatives, but I give credit where credit is due. Stephen Harper and the Conservative party is definitely not the best for the country, but thanks to Harper the Conservatives will tomorrow announce that they will put a plan to replace the aging bridge. It will cost about 1 billion to rebuild a new bridge. I and the Mayor and most Montrealers think this is overdue. We need a new bridge and we need it now. The money that went to try and repair the Champlain bridge was pointless. So I won't say this very often, but thank you Harper for something Montreal really needs.

Replace the Champlain Bridge.

The Champlain Bridge is crumbling down. We need to replace the structure now! Before something bad happens. Because of problems with the bridge the city will lose productivity amounting 2 billion dollars. The Conservative party is moving slowly and not planning to do much.

 So far, federal Transport Minister Denis Lebel has only said the government is studying all options.

 Among the options are a new bridge — with a $1.3-billion price-tag — or a $1.9-billion tunnel.

20 billion in trade crosses the busiest bridge in Canada every day, and yes 1.3 billion is a lot of money, but not doing anything like the Conservatives isn't safe and make the city lose more money and jobs. We need to replace the bridge if we don't soon even if the bridge doesn't collapse the economy of Montreal will be in danger of collapsing. This bridge problem get's bigger every day. the longer we try to ignore it or place small band aids on it the more money we lose and the more problems we will face.

"The Champlain Bridge is really a key piece in the economic engine of the greater Montreal area," said Mai.

 Read more here

Our Crubbling Infastructure!

Our Montreal mayor is right we need more money into Infrastructure I quite frankly am happy to see that the Montreal mayor has taken an unpopular stance on increasing fees in order to help Montreal infrastructure. Montreal needs infrastructure help. The Federal Government should help, by increasing the Gas tax. Even if this will be a tax on motorist over 80% of the Montreal population are worried about the infrastructure in Quebec. I think paying more for the oil to drive a car  more safely in Montreal sounds like a good deal!

"When you look at citizens' comments, when you read the newspapers, citizens are feeling insecure — they're worried," Tremblay said.

Fixing this problem will take time considering economist predict that the cost of fixing all of the Infrastructure in the city will cost 120 billion, but we need to start (stop) now putting little band aids on the issue (that) will only make it cost more in the future. We need to start helping our infrastructure not only in Montreal, but also in Toronto, Vancouver and other major cities that need help now!

"When I talk to my colleagues in other big Canadian cities it's the same issue — we have a $120-billion hole...

Read more here

Bixi will Expand into Westmount

Since a few years ago, Bixi has become an integral part of Montreal. During the spring and summer, you can always see Bixi stands in the street and many people use them as a part of getting around the city. For the third year straight, the service will be expanded. This time to Westmount. I would like to see them expanded even further, along with more bike paths. Bixi and bicycle paths composes a good part of sustainable development in Montreal. We need to reduce the number of cars on the road and that means more bicycle paths.

MONTREAL - With Bixi poised to announce five new stations in Westmount and likely at least two more in Notre Dame de Grâce on Tuesday, cycling advocates are shifting focus to their next goal; a safe route across the Décarie Expressway. 

Westmount Mayor Peter Trent was pleased to confirm his successful negotiations to bring Bixi to Westmount for about $235,000, a lower price tag than initially proffered by Montreal’s public bicycle sharing system.

Read more at the Montreal Gazette.

Related articles

• Bixi bike-sharing returns to Ottawa-Gatineau (cbc.ca)
• Bixi bike-sharing program ready to roll in Toronto (thestar.com)

Popular High Speed Rail

A survey done for the American Public Transportation Association shows that 62% of adults would use high speed rail if it were available to them. Only 11% would not use it. Again, another poll comes out assuring support in large numbers. Barack Obama has listened to these polls and to the experts and has proceeded to invest money in high speed rail. Stephen Harper has not. However, Ontario and Quebec have and there is a chance that they might use United States money to build high speed rail. However, that is speculation and would only happen if Democrats take back the House and retain control of the Senate. Building high speed rail would be a great achievement for Canada and the Conservatives would be able to garner support if they build this project.

Today U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced the distribution of $2.5 billion for high-speed rail projects nationwide, and the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) released the results of a large travel survey which shows that nearly two-thirds of adults (62 percent) said they would definitely or probably use high-speed rail service for leisure or business travel if it were an option. The survey, among 24, 711 adults, was conducted for APTA by Synovate.

Read the full results of the survey here.

Related articles

• Trainwreck: Canada's high-speed rail failure (ctv.ca)
• Yes, High Speed Rail is Still On the Way (treehugger.com)

Canada's Trainwreck

It has been almost fifty years since Japan has launched its Shinkansen, the first high speed rail line in the world and Canada now finds itself the only country in the G8 without a high speed rail network of some sort. This would allow for a two hour trip between Montreal and Toronto, instead of the present five to eight hours.
In 2009, EKOS found out that 88% of Canadians support high speed rail coming to Canada. That is because the benefits are clear. Besides providing more jobs and enriching the economy, high speed rail is ridiculously safe and punctual, with many countries offering a refund if a train is more than five minutes late. It provides a rival to polluting cars and airplanes, reducing transportaiton emissions. Investing in high speed rail would be a good thing for Canada. The studies are done, the benefits are clear. It's time to start building.

Dedicated high-speed rail lines are ridiculously efficient -- at least in Japan. Officials there point out that trains are punctual down-to-the-minute, even with 300 million riders a year.

They're safe. There has not been a single fatality in either the Japanese or French system. An average of seven Canadians die in road accidents every day.

Environmentally, there is no better way to move a large amount of people, unless someone builds a really, big bike.

Read more at CTV.

Biofue vs. Regualr gasoline.

Biofuel and regular gasoline are both two types of energy used for fueling cars. Energy is the ability to do work. In this case energy is the ability to move a car. Regular Gasoline is a non-renewable resource that many people tend to use for their car fuel. Biofuel is a renewable resource that comes from corn that farmers produced. Currently there have been many discussions about the two on which one is a better car fuel.

Biofuel has been seen as the solution for future car fuel, but in order to make biofuel you need energy. Meaning in order to make more Corn for biofuel you need to use energy to process the corn into a fuel, and currently most of the energy used to make this fuel is coal and natural gas which are non-renewable resources. The highest amount of corn based biofuel used in a car can only go up to 85% biofuel and 15% gasoline. Biofuel has a EROEI ratio of 1.34. (EROEI is the ratio of how much energy is invested to how much energy you get out) This means that for every unit of energy used to make the fuel you only get 1.34 unit of biofuel, so if you wanted to be really be green in using biofuel as the energy to make the biofuel rather than coal or natural gas you would be keeping ¾ of the biofuel you made this year into making more for the next year. Only ¼ of the biofuel you made would actually go to be made as a fuel. This shows that using biofuel as car fuel can’t work as it takes too much energy just to make it without using nonrenewable resources. Some would say that oil isn’t a renewable resource and we can’t keep using it. Yes that is true there will not be enough oil eventually to continue being a fuel or an energy source, but even if you convert every single field in the in the U.S into a corn field for biofuel you will not have enough biofuel to run the U.S. Oil may not be able to be an energy source in the future, but corn can’t even be the source of energy today.



Biofuel made from corn has been seen to be the solution to global warming. The theory is that if you use biofuel you will have a zero CO2 output in total even if a car running on biofuel emits CO2, but any CO2 realest when used is taken away because the CO2 was sucked up when the biofuel was a plant. This argument doesn’t hold water. When you actually put it to the test in the real world you see in order to have Biofuel you need to plant more crops, but where? If you take Grassland in the U.S, and change it into a field of Corn for biofuel CO2 even before you start planting will be released. Grass and trees stores Carbon in them in fact the amount of Carbon in Plants across the world stores 3 times the amount of Carbon in the atmosphere , so when plants are cut there Carbon goes out and is transformed into CO2 that goes out into the atmosphere. Meaning when you change grassland to a field of corn 134 Metric tons of CO2 will be released per hector. In order to actually pay off this 134 metric tons of CO2 it will take 93 years of using that land for Biofuel and nothing else. Changing jungles or rain forest into corn fields will take centuries to pay off the carbon debt. By this time there won’t be any oil left to mix the oil with biofuel. This proves that biofuel isn’t as green as it claims to be. Some would say that Oil is no greener. True, but if we instead plant more trees rather than making more corn fields we could have more forest sucking up more CO2 than the amount Cars create running on Oil.

In the future we should look at different sources of biofuel like cellulose a biofuel that comes from waste products, but having looked at the impacts that corn made biofuel can do environmentally, and seeing how inefficiently it is corn based biofuel is defiantly not the answer to Global warming or a proper alternative to regular gasoline.

Security vs. Incovenience

The new Scanners in Canada and all around the world have been given much criticism about it being to invasive. The criticism may have regrown with a recent passenger telling airport security during a pat down "Don't touch my junk". Now people should know these scanners are very important for people's security. People should understand that we have to have strong airport security if we want to stop terrorist attacks, but in the future the world will have to ask ethical questions on how far will we go to keep people safe. In the case of these scanners I find that they are necessary, and a majority of people agree with this in the U.S. In order to maybe stop future security measures countries across the world have to stop terrorism activities in some countries including in our own.  I am not supporting military action, but rather create more democratic systems in these countries to stop allowing these terrorist groups to continue to grow. put pressure on these countries to get there act together on terrorist groups or create sanctions on the government or dictatorship of that country.

Construction has Started

High Speed Rail lines are already under construction in Illinois! However, this is only the first part of the upgrade which will now allow trains to travel at about 180 km/h. Hopefully, there will be many more lines to come both in the US and Canada.

ALTON, Ill. (AP) - Illinois political leaders say construction now under way on part of a planned high-speed rail line linking St. Louis and Chicago is a job-creating first in the country.

Gov. Pat Quinn told reporters in Alton on Friday that upgrades planned between that Mississippi River city and the central Illinois community of Lincoln are the nation's first involving high-speed rail.

Read more here.

Transport Cocktail Service Station

The Montreal-based non-governmental organisation. Équiterre has launched a new campaign meant to promote the transportation cocktail. That means using different types of transportation and mixing them. This could mean driving to the train station and using the train for the rest of the trip. This NGO has opened a Facebook page where you can suggest ideas on transportation improvement throughout Quebec. Even people without a Facebook account can contribute.

$50B Transportation Stimulus

Yesterday, Obama announced a new stimulus for the American economy. This is a long-term spending plan on transportation meant to create long-term jobs, whereas, the other US stimulus was designed to create immediate jobs. Included in this plan is building 4000 miles of railways. As a railfan, I couldn't be happier that high speed rail is going to be funded. If the US starts constructing high speed rail, Canada could follow. Not only that, but this could be partly paid for by the end of tax breaks for big oil. Unfortunately, this plan might not pass. With the elections coming up, Democrats might lose their seats and we can expect a lot of Republican resistance. High speed rail must come to the United States and Canada to support the economy of tomorrow.

WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama is asking Congress to approve at least $50 billion in long-term spending on the country’s roads, railways and runways in a pre-election effort to show he’s trying to stimulate the sputtering economy.

The infrastructure spending is part of a package of targeted proposals the White House announced on Monday. With November’s elections for control of Congress approaching, Obama planned to discuss the proposal later Monday at an event in Milwaukee marking the U.S. Labor Day holiday.

Read more at the Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail.

A hero? I think not!

Jet blue flight attendant Steven Slater has been getting much support for his action on a flight. Yeah I thought that the definition of hero was helping people. Well I guess I should alert my English teacher that a hero is now a guy who get's angry at a passenger because he was being very rude to him grab some beer than went off on an emergency off the plane. Now Slater said that the passenger was not following the rules and was grabbing his bag to early before the plane stooped. Then when he open the top compartment it hit Slater. Slater ask for an apology but the passenger said no. Then he grab the beer and went throw the emergency exit. Now the passenger is no angel cursing at the flight attendant. Slater is no angel either, because his job is to help people on the plane not to endangered everyone on the plane because some guy cursed at him. I think firing him doesn't have to happen he should probably get a fine go to court face the judge, and if he wants to keep his job he should get courses to make sure this doesn't happen again. In all honesty he did something wrong, and if they want to fire him I say they are aloud. If it where me in charge I would say pay the fine admit it to the judge and take the courses then I think he deserves a second chance maybe then he could a hero.

He was charged with criminal mischief, reckless endangerment and criminal trespass, according to the Queens District Attorney's Office.

That's when Slater got on the plane's public address system. Passenger Phil Catelinet wrote on his blog that Slater said, "To the passenger who just called me a motherf-----: f--- you. I've been in this business 28 years, and I've had it."

Read more here  

Global CO2 Emissions

I found this infographic showing the world's CO2 emissions and where they come from. The area in which we need to cut down is transportation. In Canada, transportation makes up about 35% of our carbon emissions. We need to stop flying and driving and start taking public transit and the train. Click on it to see it in a larger size.

Canada Needs High Speed Rail

Heather Mallick writes about the sale of the high speed rail lines in the UK and that Canada needs high speed rail. With high speed rail, everyone wins. It creates jobs, both temporary and permanent and will protect the environment. It's a faster way of travel than the car, yet it doesn't come with all the inconveniences of flying. he UK shouldn't be selling off its high speed rail lines. They will prove useful for the future. It's much better if passenger rail transport is watched over by the government. That's as long as it does a good job. In Canada, Via Rail has gone through a series of heavy budget cuts which forced it to close down many train routes. With many countries seeing the benefits of high speed rail, it is obvious that it's the way of the future. Canada must invest now. By the way, Canada is the only country of the G8 that doesn't have a high speed rail system and one of four in he G20 that doesn't have a high speed rail system. (h/t)

It is ironic to hear Brits bemoaning the possible sale of their one rather dishy fast railway track – High Speed One from St Pancras International to the Channel Tunnel – to a bunch of retired Canadian teachers. It's too late for Britain now. Any society that would allow the sale of its phone, electricity, gas and water to private companies, particularly foreigners, decades ago and then complain about losing Cadbury chocolates... well, your values are skewed.

So are Canadian values, which is where the irony comes in. We'd love it if our teachers bought a high-speed rail line from us. If we had one to sell, which we don't.

Read more at the Guardian.

Tourists like Fast Trains

Less tourists are visiting Canada and according to CEO of the Tourism Industry Association, it's because of the "neglect" that that policy makers have been showing. Government thinks that tourists will just appear on Canadian soil because Canada is so great. However, the infrastructure for tourists isn't good in Canada. There is no real alternative to the airplane; high speed rail doesn't exist in Canada. The truth is, tourists like rail travel. Canada has failed to invest in high speed rail and therefore, has failed to attract more tourists. Many countries have decided to include high speed rail as a crucial part of their plan to move into the future. Even the United States, perceived by many as a car nation, is investing billions in high speed rail. Many states look forward to start constructing soon. The Harper government credits itself with being strong on the economy. If it was, it would start planning and building high speed rail lines immediately.

The summer season is approaching, and millions of vacationers from around the world are about to pile into planes in search of that perfect holiday. Unfortunately, many of them will head to places other than Canada.

David Goldstein, president and CEO of the Tourism Industry Association of Canada, has collected some alarming data: Between 2002 and 2008, Canada dropped like a stone in the ranking of tourism destinations.

Read more at the Ottawa Citizen.

High Speed Rail in an Editorial

Yesterday, there was an editorial in the Ottawa Citizen saying that high speed rail should be a high priority in provincial and federal government. This is the first time I've seen a Canadian newspaper write that in an editorial. It's good that more organisations are pushing for high speed rail in Canada. There have been many studies done on fast trains in the Quebec City-Windsor corridor. All of them have suggested that we build high speed rail. Even South Africa opened a high speed rail line. Only good can come out of high speed rail. If Harper wants to work with the Americans so much, he should invest in high speed rail because Obama just spent billions in rail infrastructure. Rail transport is the way of the future and we are going to be left behind if we don't start planning soon.

However, fighting traffic to and from airports takes valuable time. So too does security and boarding waits. Weather throws another wrench in the machinery.

High-speed rail is much more efficient. Maybe that's why the Obama administration is pursuing that mode of transportation as a way of linking U.S. cities.

When public and private officials go looking for the next big project for Ontario, intercity high-speed rail should be high on the agenda.

Read more at the Ottawa Citizen.

High Speed Rail in Africa

Africa's first high speed rail link will open tomorrow in South Africa for the World Cup. There was problems with getting the rail line built but nevertheless, a certain part of it will open. Just as it has proven in other countries, the officials say that it will reduce congestion between Johannesburg and Pretoria. A ticket for this segment of the line will only cost about $5 CAD. Meanwhile, we Canadians are still waiting for high speed rail. There wasn't even a rail link between Vancouver and Whistler for the Olympics. If South Africa can build high speed rail for World Cup Soccer, what was stopping us from building a link for the Olympics? Studies have shown high speed rail is viable in Canada, especially from Vancouver to Portland (Amtrak Cascades), Calgary-Edmonton, and the Corridor (Quebec City to Windsor). We should have high speed rail lines in all of these areas. It can only help us advance into the future for a better economy and environment.

But authorities in Gauteng province, the country's economic powerhouse which includes both Johannesburg and Pretoria, say it will help transform the lives of traffic-frazzled commuters and draw in long-term investment.

"This is going to be an asset and property of the people of South Africa for generations to come," she added.

 Read more at the Sydney Morning Herald.

Smog Day!

Today, there was a smog warning in place for Montreal. It was mostly because of the forest fires around but also because of pollution. I could smell the ozone and fine particles in the air. In fact, pollution is the reason for smog. Smog is yet another consequence of polluting in cities. I would guess that transportation is the leading cause for smog. There should be more funding public transit and even more funding for zero emission transportation like biking and walking. We need to reduce the space for cars and replace it with pedestrian, bike and public transit reserved lanes. That is good urban planning and great sustainable development. Nobody likes smog nor breathe it. Cutting down on the polluting cars would ensure fewer smog days.

Dixi

Washington is ordering over one thousand Bixis from the Montreal-based company. Many other cities have already ordered Bixis. While they are buying, Bixi is always expanding in Montreal. Bike stands that used to have one row, now have two rows. One week ago, when the metro shut down, a ton of commuters decided to go out and rent bikes. This shows great progress for Bixi. Now, it is right at the top of commuters' minds. It's environmentally friendly and practical. Expanding this business will be good for everyone.

The expanded program will replace the SmartBike D.C. bike network, created in 2008.

"The response to the bike-sharing program has been unprecedented, and we are pleased to be able to join with Arlington in our expansion efforts," Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) said in a statement.

The District program has 1,500 members making more than 100 trips a day on 100 bikes, said James R. Sebastian, a city transportation planner. He said the current network is "maxed out" and that the city is "trying to meet that demand with this new system."

Read more at the Washington Post.