Queen East replacement bus: tips from a daily commuter

Posted on 8 May 2012 by Greg Burrell

This summer the City of Toronto is rebuilding Queen Street between Coxwell and Connaught Avenues, doing badly-needed reconstruction of the road, sidewalks and streetcar tracks. Since streetcars won’t be able to get through with the tracks torn up, the iconic streetcars will be absent from Queen and Kingston roads this summer, East of Leslie Street. Replacement  shuttle buses take over the route east of Broadview, diverting to Eastern Avenue between Coxwell and Leslie. Notices explaining the detour were up at least a week in advance but have been taken down for some reason, leading to lots of confusion and anger from riders, although the TTC is so far handling this major disruption fairly well.

As a twice-daily commuter along this route, I have some tips to share on making your commute along this route a little more comfortable.

Westbound from the Beaches

The best tip I can share is to simply take a different route. Take one of the many buses north to the Bloor-Danforth subway and ride downtown underground. Avoid Queen entirely.

If you must use Queen, know where to transfer. Streetcars are starting their westbound trips at Russell yard and meeting shuttles at Queen and Leslie. However, the shuttles run as far west as Broadview. If you stay on the shuttle until then, you’ll be waiting for the streetcar with a busload of other passengers. Plan to exit the shuttle bus at Jones Avenue, then you can wait for an almost empty streetcar instead.

If you’re exiting the shuttle before Broadview, plan ahead. Start moving towards the door at least a stop in advance, if you’re able.

The shuttles technically run even further west to Parliament Street, but it seems to be up to the driver whether to carry passengers west of Broadview. Don’t count on it.

Eastbound from downtown

Commuting from downtown, you must board the 501 streetcar on Queen Street. Ignore the destination signs, drivers have apparently been instructed not to change them. Even though they say “NEVILLE PARK”, all streetcars are going out of service at Leslie, and turning at Russell yard.

The 502 and 503 streetcars will not be operating at all, but you could board a 504 streetcar on King Street and exit at Broadview.

If you’re travelling beyond Leslie, plan to exit the streetcar at Broadview. If you’re on a packed car, you’ll have to plan ahead to be sure you can get to the doors, although vehicles are often held up at the busy Broadview stop anyway. Wait for the shuttle here and avoid the huge crowd that forms when full streetcars unload at Leslie. Take the 501 bus to destinations on Queen Street, or the 502 or 503 bus to Kingston Road.

It’s going to take longer than normal to travel eastbound, so plan ahead & leave extra time.

506 Carlton streetcars

A quick note on this route: the diversion on Queen doesn’t directly affect this route, but it means streetcars can’t travel directly from the usual turn point at Coxwell to the Russell yard. Therefore, 506 streetcars that would usually go out of service at Gerrard & Coxwell are going out of service at Gerrard & Broadview instead.

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Above all, be patient. The drivers and the TTC are really doing the best they can with a bad situation. Getting angry & complaining aloud to the driver and other passengers won’t make anything better for anyone, so just don’t do it. This bit of inconvenience doesn’t give you license to mouth off and act like an asshole.

For more reading, please see Transit Toronto’s
excellent summary of the diversion and affected routes.

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The Cyclists Union is dead. Long live the cyclists union.

Posted on 2 May 2012 by Greg Burrell

Tonight, the Toronto Cyclists Union voted to do away with the organization’s name. By a very slim margin, the members decided to scrap the old name and move forward with a new name, Cycle Toronto.

I voted against the change, for reasons I detailed in a previous post. However, with the vote now in the past, the weakness and emptiness of the new name can be its strength going forward. It can mean whatever we want it to mean.

Over the last several years, the Toronto Cyclists Union has grown from a handful of activists to over 2,200 dedicated members of all abilities and backgrounds, and from all parts of the city. The organization has done amazing work promoting cycling and advocating for all cyclists in a very hostile political climate. There’s no reason to believe that this important work will stop just because the name has changed. I’m still proud to be a part of it, whatever it’s called.

I still hate the new name, for the record. It’s going to take time to grow on me. It’s going to take adjustment for a lot of people, judging by the angry reactions on Twitter shortly after the meeting. But I’m glad that we had these amazing discussions, and I am optimistic as always about the future of cycling in Toronto.

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What’s in a name?

Posted on 19 April 2012 by Greg Burrell

Last month, members of the Toronto Cyclists Union received an email from the organization’s Board of Directors, introducing the new name they had chosen for the organization. At the upcoming Annual General Meeting, members will vote on accepting the Board’s new name: Cycle Toronto. Activist and founding TCU member Dave Meslin wrote on his blog soon after that members should reject the new name, for a variety of reasons. That sparked a great conversation on what value the old name has and on the merits of keeping it, versus migrating to the new name. A few other bloggers followed suit with their own discussions, and recently the TCU themselves invited the public to comment on their website. These are all great articles and I’d encourage you to take a look at all of them.

Last year, the TCU ran a membership drive that more than doubled the organization’s membership. That’s amazing, and an indicator of huge momentum. Just today, the TCU tweeted that more than 2,200 cyclists are now Bike Union members. Why change the name now?

Based on some social media discussions I came across last year, and based on the responses of some Board members on Meslin’s blog, it seems some folks believe the word “union” is holding some cyclists back from joining the organization. More importantly (to some, much less to me) the TCU has been passed over for grants and partnership opportunities because of the word. The Board also seems to believe that people are turned off by the political nature of cycling advocacy, and that a change of name (and implied change of direction) will appease these people.

If the Board thinks that using the word “union” is holding back the organization, then I think this is a great discussion to be having. The words we use are less important than the meanings behind those words. I like the word union – to me, it means a group of like-minded people working together to achieve a common goal. However, to some people, the word has picked up a very negative connotation, conjuring images of overpaid, underworked labourers walking off the job to protest wage and benefit cuts. Some people don’t want to be associated with that imagery.

According to the TCU’s Board, there’s a lot of people who would gladly fill out an application, if not for that word. I’ll admit I was once in that camp. I do like the idea of changing that word, for that reason. How about Toronto Cyclists Association? Or Toronto Cyclists Alliance? That’s a pretty cool name.

Changing that one word satisfies the need to distance ourselves from anti-union sentiment, while maintaining the idea that the success of this organization depends on its membership of engaged cyclists. At the same time, it’s a fairly minor change that will allow the organization’s fantastic momentum to continue.

Cycle Toronto, on the other hand, is a completely new name and a completely new brand. It sounds like the bike union and its membership model is going away, being replaced by a faceless corporate entity. The Toronto Cyclists Union has enormous brand recognition in Toronto, and it’s absolutely foolish to throw away that goodwill now, when the brand has momentum. Toronto Cyclists Union means a lot of things to a lot of people, both good and bad. Cycle Toronto doesn’t mean anything to anybody, and that’s a problem, not a benefit.

Even more foolish is the idea that we can be an organization that advocates for things that benefit cyclists without being political. The benefits of cycling are well documented and well understood. Frankly, the only major obstacle to expanding cycling infrastructure and getting more of us on the road is politicians. If there isn’t a group advocating to politicians on behalf of cyclists’ interests, then nothing will change. The Toronto Cyclists Union is very well positioned and very well known to be that voice. We must be proud of that, not try to gloss over our political roots.

I will be going to the Annual General Meeting on May 2nd to vote against this name change. I’m glad we’re talking about it though, and hope that the discussion doesn’t end here.

Some more discussions:

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Open letter to Toronto Council’s “left wing”, re: rapid transit

Posted on 27 January 2012 by Greg Burrell

Dear esteemed councillors,

In today’s Globe and Mail, I have read that some of you are being asked to vote against Councillor Stintz’s revised proposal for the Eglinton Light Rail. As you likely know, this plan restores the surface light rail east of Laird and west of Black Creek, in exchange for directing the billions of dollars in savings toward extending the Sheppard subway by two stops, and building a bus rapid transit system along much of Finch Ave in the city’s north. These are all areas where transit improvement is desperately needed, as identified in the studies leading up to the former Transit City plan.

Some of you are balking at the proposal, it seems, because it does not include a light rail line on Finch. This is foolish and irresponsible. The Province has committed a fixed amount of funding to Toronto to build transit. Bus rapid transit is a proven, cost-effective solution to northern Toronto’s transit dilemma: rapid transit at reasonable cost. We can afford it now and we should build it now.

Metrolinx and the Province have said that the money is there. Toronto just needs to decide how to spend it. By that they mean you, Toronto City Council, must decide. You can all see that suburban Toronto desperately needs modern rapid transit. Don’t let the funding dry up while you quibble over vehicles. Bus rapid transit could be rather easily upgraded to light rail in the future, when funding is available.
Toronto has spent at least 30 years arguing about the best solution, while everywhere else in the world has been leaving us behind. That solution is in front of you now. Councillor Stintz’s proposal has broad public support and very high potential to pass Council. Don’t kill yet another good plan for your stupid political games.

If you ignore Toronto’s dire transit needs and vote against Councillor Stintz’s proposal, you will be no better than the Mayor’s band of cronies, with their thumbs firmly up their asses and their heads buried deep in the sand.

Vote for rapid transit now. Stop fighting about what to build and start building it. Move Toronto forward.

Sincerely and gratefully yours,

Greg Burrell
Ward 32

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Metropass economics: 2012 edition

Posted on 15 January 2012 by Greg Burrell

Two years ago, a coworker asked me about the value of the Toronto Transit Commission’s Metropass for the average commuter. For lots of people like me in Toronto use transit as their primary mode of transportation, the unlimited-use pass is a necessity, but many people only use transit for going back and forth to work, driving their cars or whatever else on weekends. I wrote this article comparing the cost of 40 trips by cash fare versus buying a MetroPass, taking into account the annual Metropass Discount Plan and the federal transit tax credit. It’s been at least a few fare hikes since then, so I thought I’d update the math here.

As of January 2012, buying tokens in bulk has gone up to $2.60 each, and a Metropass is now $126 per month, or $116.50 if you sign up for a full year of the discount plan. In an average month, a full-time commuter will take 40 trips – to and from work 5 days a week for 4 weeks. 40 token fares costs $104. That means the face value of tokens is quite a bit lower than a transit pass. With tokens, you only pay for the trips you take, and tokens have no expiry date. Which means if you have a sick day one month or decide to ride your bike one day or take a vacation, you’re not out any money pre-paid on your transit pass.

Of course, Metropasses are eligible for the federal transit pass tax credit, which rebates the cost of passes at the lowest federal tax rate. According to the Canada Revenue Agency, that rate is staying at 15% for 2012, so the net cost of the Metropass comes down to $107.10, or $99.03 for the discount pass. Buying a Metropass this year is only saving money over tokens if you travel more than 41 times, or 38 if you sign up for a full year of passes.

So for the average commuter, buying a full year of discount Metropasses is ever-so-slightly better value than just buying tokens, but only if you don’t have any days off. The only way a Metropass is better value is if you buy a full year’s worth of discount passes. For most commuters, it’s probably better to just buy tokens and pay-as-you-go.

What about post-secondary students? In 2010, the TTC introduced the Post-Secondary Student Metropass, available to students enrolled full-time in a post-secondary institution within Toronto. For 2012, the Post-Secondary Metropass is available for $104 per month if a student has purchased the $5.25 photo-ID, and no discount plan is offered. There is no other special post-secondary fare offered, so students who choose not to buy the pass must pay the full adult fare.

The Post-Secondary Metropass does qualify for the tax credit, bringing the net cost down to $88.40, but many students enrolled full-time likely won’t see any benefit for this. For 2012, the first $12,000 or so of income is tax free, because of other tax credits that everyone can claim. Unless you earn at least that much, plus the cost of the transit passes ($1,248 for a full year of post-secondary student passes) you won’t gain any benefit for claiming the tax credit. You can claim it, but you’re already not paying income tax so the credit won’t help.

I don’t have stats to back this up, but I’m guessing that students enrolled full-time in a college or university program probably aren’t also working full time, or at least enough to earn $13,248 a year. That works out to about $13.25 per hour for 20 hours a week, or about 26 hours a week at minimum wage. Well, I guess that’s not unreasonable, and if you were pulling off a schedule like that you’d probably want the freedom of a Metropass. Anyway, I’m going to do the math with the tax credit and without, but keep all this math stuff in mind if you’re a student considering a Metropass.

The jist of that ramble is, for a post-secondary student, a Metropass is worth 40 trips by token, or 34 trips if the student earns enough income to benefit from the transit tax credit.

You know what? Here’s a handy chart. The formatting for this isn’t great – apparently I need to work on my CSS skills.

Fare Type Monthly Cost Cost Net of Tax Credit Ticket/Token Fare Cost Equivalent Trips in Tokens
Metropass $126.00 $107.10 $2.60 42
MDP Metropass $116.50 $99.03 $2.60 39
Post-Secondary Metropass (for low-income students) $104.00 n/a $2.60 40
Post-Secondary Metropass (for higher-income students) $104.00 $88.40 $2.60 34
Student1/Senior Metropass $104.00 $88.40 $1.75 51
Student1/Senior MDP Metropass $93.50 $79.48 $1.75 46

1High school students probably can’t benefit from the tax credit themselves, but parents can claim the tax credit for passes for their children under the age of 19.

In this chart, the number of equivalent trips is the number of trips you would have to make in a month before buying the listed Metropass becomes a better value than just buying tokens or tickets instead. As you can see, the TTC has done a good job of making the Metropass only attractive to people who use transit as their main method of transportation. For the average commuter, tokens are now the better deal.

One more note: under certain conditions, fares paid with a PRESTO electronic fare card may be eligible for the transit pass tax credit. If you use a PRESTO card for more than 32 trips in 31 consecutive days, the transit pass tax credit makes your fares $2.21 net of the tax credit, meaning you’d need to use a discounted tax-deducted Metropass 45 times to get the same value. This will be the best value, however, so far, the Presto card has been implemented in so few places in Toronto that it’s practically useless for most TTC commuters. But keep an eye out for PRESTO to replace the Metropass completely in the next few years.

Posted in Finance, Toronto | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Threes and sevens

Posted on 6 January 2012 by Greg Burrell

With a new year comes a new transit fare hike in Toronto. In four years that I’ve lived here, it’s almost a guarantee. And with each fare hike comes a new set of fare token sales combos. Last year, a $2.50 bulk-discounted token could be had in sets of 4 or 8 for $10 or $20, or if you like round numbers, you could get 5 or 10 tokens for $12.50 or $25.00. It made sense if you needed a week’s worth of tokens (10) or just wanted to turn a bill into tokens.

This year, fares rose by ten cents. Cash fare is now $3.10, meaning the discount fare for buying tokens in bulk is now $2.60. It’s not a nice round number. For some logic-defying reason, the TTC has chosen to sell them in groups of 3 ($7.80) and 7 ($18.20). Maybe they did this so that you can still buy combos with $10 or $20, although now you get change with your tokens, and TTC tokens are almost the same size as dimes. Or maybe the folks who came up with these combos are fans of Queens of the Stone Age.

Yesterday, I went to Main Street subway station to buy tokens. I had a $20 bill in my pocket and wanted to get as many tokens as I could. I asked the collector for 7, showing him my bill. He responded by pointing to a handwritten sign: “tokens, 5 for $13, 10 for $26.” Shrugging, I stuffed my $20 bill through the slot and said “this is all I’ve got.”

Down the dispenser came 5 tokens. As the collector handed me back a clean $7 in change, he proudly declared “this way I don’t have to carry nickels!”

This man might be smarter than the entire Toronto Transit Commission.

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Easy service reduction recipe!

Posted on 28 November 2011 by Greg Burrell

For today’s libertarian mayor-on-the-go, I’m posting this recipe for reduced government services, low taxes and reduced spending. It’s similar to the recipe that cooked the budget that Rob Ford will be unveiling in Toronto today, and follows a rich right-wing tradition more than 50 years in the making.

Start by creating a budget crisis. If you’re working with a budget that’s already well balanced, you’ll have to do some work. Freezing property taxes will eventually squeeze your budget into crisis over a few years, but for a quick bang you can try to find some source of revenue that is collected disproportionately from those who can easily afford it, and eliminate that. Call this a tax cut, and make sure to make a big deal about it!

In no time, you’ll have a forecast for a deficit budget. Make sure that whatever the forecast is, you at least double the figures whenever you talk about it. This lets the fear and anger rise, and helps the public forget that it was you that took out all the revenue in the first place.

Next, collect some public opinion polls, the fresher the better. Carefully pick out any opinions that favour government spending on services that you don’t use and don’t want to pay for. You’ll have a lot of those, so you might want to use a big accounting firm to pick these out for you.

By now you’ll have lots of choice service cuts on the table, and people won’t be happy about losing them. Pick one service that lots of people are vocal about but that doesn’t cost much overall, like, say, libraries, and promise that you won’t cut that one service. Demand some nice round and easily repeated number from all the other services, something small like 10%. It’s not important how you come up with that number.

Now you can sit back and wait for a bit. The committees that manage those budgets that you’re demanding to shrink by 10% will be getting the brunt of public scorn while you’re off watching football or something. If anyone complains to you about the cuts, insist that we all have to share the burden to balance the budget.

Be careful though! Some people will have noticed that your recipe started with a tax cut, and might say that you can solve those problems by restoring the revenue streams, or coming up with new ones. If you hear this starting, sprinkle conservatively with the opinion polls you collected earlier. Of course by now you’ve sieved out all the opinions calling for restoring services, and all that’s left is a few people who were demanding lower taxes in line at your local doughnut shop.

Before you know it, all your committees will cook up a budget that’s light on services and won’t be too heavy on your new, lighter budget. Now here’s the best part. Show everyone how fair and balanced you really are by proposing a modest tax hike, say 3% or so, but make sure it’s low enough to keep a deficit for next year’s budget. Then you’ll have less work to do when it’s time to cook next year’s books!

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To remember a fallen cyclist

Posted on 14 November 2011 by Greg Burrell

I didn’t know Jenna Morrison. I’ve never biked past the corner where she was killed, and save for Google Maps, I would have never known where Sterling was. But something about her tragic, needless, entirely preventable death strikes a chord with every person who has ever set out on two wheels in this city.

I bike in Toronto. Shawnte bikes, and was knocked down by a careless driver this summer (she wasn’t badly hurt, thankfully). My sister bikes, albeit in another city. Nearly all of my closest friends bike, and I have met hundreds more wonderful people who bike,  through the internet and through cycling advocacy groups. Every one of us has stories of near-misses, doorings, needlessly aggressive drivers, and badly lacking infrastructure. Jenna’s death affects us all, not because it could have been us, but because it could have been our loved ones who were killed.

We are surrounded by a society that pays lip service to people who choose to travel by bike, but when it comes to action, little is done. We don’t know why, but Jenna was knocked down by that truck at the corner of Dundas & Sterling, fell beneath the rear wheels, and died. Had there been proper indications at the corner, maybe the driver would have known to look for her. Had the truck been required by law to have side guards, she would have fallen and quite likely been injured, but she would be alive. In the week following her death, a group (not the City) painted the bicycle markings on the road that might have saved her life. It’s not hard to do, but our governments refuse to take action.

It’s easy to think that society doesn’t care when a cyclist is needlessly killed in a collision that could (and should) have been prevented. This November morning, thousands of cyclists gathered for a memorial ride for Jenna and to see the memorial “ghost bike” installed at the corner where she died. These thousands of cyclists came out to show that they care, though our elected leaders do not. Although I wasn’t able to ride this morning, I needed to say that I care too.

My sincerest condolences to Jenna’s family and to everyone who knew and loved her.

Posted in Cycling | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

A letter to my City Councillor

Posted on 26 September 2011 by Greg Burrell

I just wrote this letter to my local representative, the “mighty middle” Councillor Mary-Margaret McMahon. If you’re angry about what’s happening at City Hall today, I encourage you to write your own letter too.

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Dear Councillor McMahon,

My name is Greg, and I am a resident of the Beaches in ward 32. You spoke to my girlfriend, Shawnte, after she was hit by a car on her bike on her way to a council meeting over the summer, and it was a pleasure to meet you in person at a recent 32 Spokes meeting.

I am writing to you today because I am worried about the Mayor’s proposed package of cuts to city services that you and your colleagues are discussing today. I realize that the city is in a poor financial condition, but you must realize that the problem is the Mayor’s own creation. I know that some services will have to be scaled back, savings found, and hard choices made. However, the Mayor’s plan that only includes cuts must be rejected.

It is no coincidence that these cuts affect the most vulnerable residents of our city, while those who could afford to pay a bit more, like you and me, are asked to pay less instead. Mayor Ford is on record saying that he believes that governments’ only responsibilities are roads, police and garbage. By allowing him to pass his tax cuts, you allow him to say that services must be cut too. If he gets his cuts this year, he will be back for more next year, and the next year, until nothing is left.

As a fiscal conservative, you must know that a plan that includes only cuts with no mention of new revenue sources is neither conservative nor liberal, it is merely foolish, or at worst a deliberate attack by a wealthy class against our weakest neighbours. Until the Mayor and his allies are willing to discuss a properly balanced budget that balances efficiencies with new revenues in a fiscally sustainable way, you must vote against it; there is no other prudent choice. Ford’s plan is a disaster, please do not support it.

Thanking you in advance,
your neighbour,

Greg Burrell
Ward 32

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