Raise the Hammer

I predicted this exact pushback when the last public meeting with largely attended by residents of the Strathcona Gardens seniors building who opposed a linear routing along Dundurn. The most logical transit route option in my opinion is all the way north/south on Dundurn from the loop to York.

Turning left off York onto Locke meant the entire NW section of Strathcona had no transit service. It also meant running large buses through residential side streets around Victoria Park and Strathcona School.

Other cities are working to eliminate circuitous routes. Why are we trying to add more local, side-street meandering?

In my opinion this is the real problem: city hall won't install a pedestrian crosswalk at York/Strathcona. I remember meeting one of the public works big wigs there a few years ago with Councillor McHattie. They went on and on about how the entire city's signal system would have to be changed if we added a pedestrian crossing. As if we were morons.

A neighbour in that area paced this out, and I recently paced it for myself to verify his numbers: It is a shorter walking distance from the north side of York at Strathcona to the seniors building then it is from the Vic Park bus loop to the seniors building. Right now all the passengers who use this bus get off at the park and walk to the building. Many of them actually walk from the building to the park to catch the bus. We need to remember - these are mobile folks. They are headed to the market, Jackson Square etc.... in fact, in order to catch the return #8 back home, they need to walk over to Bay St, south of York.

This problem could be solved overnight with a pedestrian crossing at York. We already have the ramps across the median. It would be a tremendous boost to local safety to slow down the nonsense on York Blvd. Dundurn Castle and destinations such as the Mustard Seed are on the north side of York and would be easier accessed by residents south of York. For years one of the big complaints from Strathcona residents is the lack of connectivity between sections of our hood due to the dangerous freeways.

I would suggest a west/south routing using York and Dundurn. The return route could do the same or perhaps still maintain it's Head/Strathcona route. Personally I would prefer a full length run on Dundurn and York. Transit makes sense in it's most linear fashion.

I suppose one final option which hasn't yet been discussed to my knowledge, and may not work due to turning radii could be to have the bus run all the way north on Dundurn, go right on York, then right on Strathcona and turnaround in the Strthcona Gardens drop-off loop in front of the building.
But again, these folks using the bus are mobile, and the one block walk to the south side of York shouldn't pose this big of a problem.

The pedestrian signal is the real issue here.

EDIT: here is the Google Streetview from the front of the seniors building. The corner at York is right there, 8 narrow homes away.

http://goo.gl/BBfsxd

Comment edited by jason on 2014-06-24 10:28:36