Saskatoon Construction

[madsad]

Originally Posted by kgc087

I'm writing a paper on how to make my community more sustainable and green and I felt the best way to tackle this was through a plan to improve Saskatoon's public transit and mass transit system. I was just wondering if anyone had some info. they would like to share. My plan was to install mass transit system within the circle drive route and then BRT throughout the areas outside of circle drive and reroute buses for better functionality. Let's hear the ideas!

Saskatoon is not dense enough, nor the population large enough, nor the city physically large enough to make public transport a truly viable travel option for both captive and choice riders. Enhancements to the BRT system such as dedicated right of ways and transit priority, etc, will increase the efficiency of operations, thus reducing costs, by allowing buses to circumvent traffic-related delays and may make public transit slightly more attractive, thus attracting a few more riders. Increasing suburban service (outside Circle Drive) will only cost more precious operating dollars, and generate far too few additional riders to make it all worth while.

If I had to pick three, the answers for making Saskatoon a more livable and sustainable city (and one that, IMO, will be capable of surviving in a post-energy future, which today it is not) are infill and high density development, adding disincentives to parking and driving, and developing cycling and walking infrastructure.

Saskatoon is far too sparse to make alternative transportation as easy as it should/could be in our climate, further incentive-izing the private auto. Actions in this area include:

• moratorium on leapfrogging or new suburban development at the periphery of the city
• forcing surburban developers to pay for lot servicing costs and road construction
• further incentive-izing infill development
• accelerating development of City Yards and other underused spaces within the city core, to unify the city
• removing freight rail from within the city at the earliest opportunity

Driving in Saskatchewan is far too easy and inexpensive. Actions here include:

• Remove or reduce parking requirements from zoning bylaws, particularly for mixed use zones
• Charge actual costs of maintaining auto-infrastructure to car-users through tolls, high downtown/BID parking costs, etc
• Accelerating development of parking lots in high-density areas, and reducing parking requirements and setting parking lot size LIMITS (not minimums) for suburban areas
• Divest the city from building massive road-building projects (cancel Circle Dr South, etc)

Saskatoon is the perfect-size city for driving. Fortunately, it is also the perfect size city for cycling and walking. Distance usually isn't an issue when cycling in Saskatoon. Really, the bicycle is the best match for transportation-based solutions to city-sustainability. Ironically, walking, the most basic of forms of transportation, something even the most die-hard car-loving, transit- and cyclist-hating, motorist must do at some point, is the most difficult task to accomplish in Stoon. Most of our streets lack sidewalk infrastructure on both sides, many do not have sidewalks at all. Actions here include:

• creating new road-building standards that enforce the creation of COMPLETE STREET, streets that are built for ALL road users, not just cars. All new streets must accommodate cars, cyclists, and pedestrians in dedicated rights-of-way. Older streets would be upgraded by removing traffic lanes and re-allocating them to sidewalks and cycle lanes
• accelerating development of bicycle route network
• paving and maintaining sidewalks on streets were they currently don't exists. ALL streets must be walkable and bikeable, not just drivable.
• accelerate accessibility efforts to ensure Saskatoon is fully accessible to less-abled people.

There is a litany of over areas one can look at as well. Where do we get our food? Should we grow it in/around the city? Are we going to be able to truck in food/resources for diesel costs are so high, no trucks operate? Fresh water supply? Solar power? Community grids?...

This is just my knee-jerk thoughts on this, and my intention isn't to kibosh your paper's topic. In fact, my advice to definitely to continue on your topic, but mention the caveat of BRT being a part of the solution to the rather bloated problems of sprawl and auto-dependence. I'm a big fan of additional public transit infrastructure and service (mostly because I prefer to take transit, instead of driving) and of BRT for rapid transit in what I call "transit-hostile" environments of the Canadian prairies. Public transportation improvements such as BRT certainly help create a socially just city, and may reduce emissions and congestion, but it is not the panacea to our problems, only a component of a solution. While it makes transit more attractive, comfortable, and efficient, it does nothing to address disincentive-izing auto-travel, nor fixing the urban fabric of a city by closing the "gashes" and barriers between and within neighbourhoods created by wide roadways such as freeways or arterials.

Incidentally, is this the paper for GEOG 240? I'd like to take it next fall, what did you think of the course?