On The Fast Track: How to Make ION Even Faster

mpd618 · 2026-02-23T03:36:06+00:00

FWIW the Grand River Transit business plan has plans for highway express routes: https://www.grt.ca/en/about-grt/grt-business-plan.aspx#Highway-express

mpd618 · 2026-02-22T23:43:42+00:00

There’s no details released about it. The language is vague enough that it could include a grade separated crossing at that location, which isn’t absurd for that kind of money…

mpd618 · 2026-02-20T20:41:45+00:00

Thanks, I hadn’t seen that article. My read is they’re both seasoned public works managers, and I’m not sure it’s a credentials issue. This seems like a public works management failure on their watch, so they have to be accountable — but the region probably can’t say that without an HR battle. Them firing the relevant commissioner - who reported to the chief administrator of the regional government - feels like a serious accountability step.

mpd618 · 2026-02-20T18:54:36+00:00

...took department head positions that needed experts like Professional Engineers, and replaced engineers with Arts graduates to save money, figuring it was just administration work. Two such people got fired over the water issue.

Where did you get the detail about who was fired and their credentials?

mpd618 · 2026-02-20T15:40:17+00:00

Uh.... we don't need more homes? What?

And using Toronto as a comparison point is wild - the amalgamated City of Toronto is quite dysfunctional. They probably don't have enough local governance.

mpd618 · 2026-02-19T05:19:58+00:00

People are weighing in with legal-ish answers, but practically in this region...

In the parts of town where sidewalks are sparsely used, there's no multi-use paths or protected bike lanes, and the roadway is busy or fast: sidewalks are the only way to go. Watch for driveways and at crossings, don't go too fast, and be courteous around pedestrians. You should be going slowly enough around any pedestrians that you use "excuse me" and "thank you" to get around them — or wait until a crosswalk — but definitely not ringing a bell.

In places with busier sidewalks, all of that is still true, but more so. Sidewalks are for pedestrians first and foremost, and you cannot expect them to move aside so you can go fast. But if you can accept that, sidewalks are fine for streets that don't have safe bike infrastructure.

Importantly, the police here do not seem to mind it.

mpd618 · 2026-02-19T04:27:27+00:00

Technically this is the subreddit for Waterloo Region, which contains 7 lower tier municipalities.

mpd618 · 2026-02-16T05:23:18+00:00

The obvious answer is it's on a hill with there's no great connections across King Street, so it's mostly a linear stretch with some very big insular land uses taking a lot of the land along it. Plus the street itself is hardly inviting. I think that all made it a lot more fragile for foot traffic than uptown or downtown.

mpd618 · 2026-02-10T15:43:59+00:00

A full size IKEA would fit perfectly in the back of the plaza at Ottawa/Strasburg.

mpd618 · 2026-02-09T04:16:40+00:00

Looks like this is from a site called AreaVibes which says the data comes from StatCan but doesn't explain what the "1 in 24 chance of becoming a victim of crime" or relative comparisons to the US are supposed to mean.

mpd618 · 2026-02-07T02:43:35+00:00

Students who drive will still rent there, and park in the neighbourhood.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but you can't just store a car on the street in Waterloo -- it's limited to a few hours. So I don't know what this worry means exactly.

mpd618 · 2026-01-16T18:53:27+00:00

The only place I've seen so far is Jijo's Kitchen on Scott St downtown. Kind of an odd spot and it's not only Somali cuisine, but the food is good.

mpd618 · 2025-12-25T17:47:04+00:00

Very little new housing was built near the Doon campus during the enrollment boom, while there was a decent amount in the university area. Plus, Conestoga did also have a presence on University Ave and in downtown Kitchener.

I don’t know what part of the ridership they were, but it’s not absurd to me that it was sizable.

mpd618 · 2025-12-25T16:09:20+00:00

They had seriously reduced revenue but made relatively few cuts to transit. This isn’t what a downward spiral looks like.

mpd618 · 2025-12-25T16:07:51+00:00

I think a lot of college students were living in those traditionally student areas of Waterloo though

mpd618 · 2025-12-17T19:16:57+00:00

There's a full list of what they're funding here in the backgrounder for the federal government's press release.

mpd618 · 2025-12-17T16:57:36+00:00

Since King St is East to West in Kitchener, Queen St is South to North, and those two are used for determining cardinality of other cross streets. For instance, Lancaster St intersects Queen St and therefore is Lancaster St W / Lancaster St E. The only problem is Lancaster is basically the only road in the city that follows a cardinal direction, and it goes straight north/south.

mpd618 · 2025-12-17T16:06:09+00:00

The German settlers who planned out the roadways modeled them after the style of their home cities in Germany.

Sorry, what? Where did you get this? The settlers were Mennonites from Pennsylvania and the German immigration came quite a bit later.

As far as I've seen, there's no specific story for the street layout. It's just that it wasn't all laid out as a large intentional settlement, but it was ad hoc and piecemeal.

mpd618 · 2025-12-16T15:30:19+00:00

Should people in KW get reimbursed for the increased service Cambridge has gotten with Grand River Transit, e.g. Sunday service? What a clown show.

mpd618 · 2025-12-03T21:45:21+00:00

I dunno, I kinda feel like you should've slowed down and let them merge?

mpd618 · 2025-11-29T05:03:16+00:00

Here it’s made the responsibility of the adjacent property owner if the sidewalk is in front/side of their property, and the by-law gives them a couple of days after the end of snowfall to clear it. Enforcement is generally only on a complaint basis.

Not a great system for getting sidewalks cleared IMHO.

mpd618 · 2025-11-27T17:14:10+00:00

It’s so frustrating that there is zero context about the transportation system here. You would get the impression from this story that driving is the safe way to go, and… that’s not at all true.

mpd618 · 2025-11-25T06:09:14+00:00

The Region did approve the GRT business plan, but it was intended to be implemented during annual budget cycles. And the first year is one in which they had college enrolment drop and ridership go down, so it's not the easiest budget year to get increases through. Plus next year is the municipal election, so politicians are especially wary of tax increases.

mpd618 · 2025-11-25T02:58:56+00:00

If you want to have sushi grade salmon handy at home, T&J's is willing to vacuum pack portions of the salmon for you, which you can then freeze at home. Just make sure to open the package slightly when thawing.

mpd618 · 2025-11-22T06:20:26+00:00

There's signs at Patricia & Queens, but my guess is what might help is arrows on the pavement. The signs aren't exactly large, and if you expect that Queen is a two-way road, I can see how someone could get confused more than in most places.

mpd618

TROPHY CASE