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Ottawa is horrible. With only 900K people, it occupies 2800 sq km of land. Toronto has 2.8M people on 620 sq km.
Put it in a different way: Houston, the mother of urban sprawl, is 4 times denser than Ottawa.
I think part of the issue is many people in Ottawa have been scared of height they think urban sprawl is far better things are starting to change a bit as more and more is getting built downtown which i think is good but the urban sprawl is at the point of no matter what you do it still bad.
I'd say it's improving, at least in my neck of the woods. Transit is clean and frequent in Vancouver, many live without cars.
That said I do have a car since transit can't take you everywhere and it comes in handy for camping, trips and bringing home large amounts of shopping.
The same can be said for Europe. There is no lack of cars in Europe, although the transit there can be very good.
I think we made a mistake going with SkyTrain and would of been better off going with a ground level LRT Rail system like Toronto has due to it being more cost effective and offering a better bang for the buck Light Rail transit system ...
Then again Sky train was the show piece for Expo86 and then the Canada line extension was the show piece for the 2010 Olympics and it has now become a symbol of our city that people recognize outside of Vancouver
I think we made a mistake going with SkyTrain and would of been better off going with a ground level LRT Rail system like Toronto has due to it being more cost effective and offering a better bang for the buck Light Rail transit system ...
Then again Sky train was the show piece for Expo86 and then the Canada line extension was the show piece for the 2010 Olympics and it has now become a symbol of our city that people recognize outside of Vancouver
I'm guessing that since most of Skytrain is elevated that the costs were in between that of a subway and LRT, except the Canada Line portion...that wasn't cheap.
LRT is certainly less disruptive to build than an underground system, but with traffic and narrow streets in downtown Vancouver, an LRT might be more hassle for drivers.
I for one was quite excited though over the idea of a streetcar connecting Granville Island with Canada Place.
That I hope is still on the table somewhere, since the track exists already from Science World to Granville Island and the great modern streetcar they had running there during the Olympics worked well.
As for Canadians cities and public transport, I think we do very well, but always room for improvement. I know friends from Seattle envy the our Skytrain, less complicated bus system and seabus, compared to what they have in Seattle, although Seattle is trying and have a new line to the airport.
As for Canadians cities and public transport, I think we do very well, but always room for improvement. I know friends from Seattle envy the our Skytrain, less complicated bus system and seabus, compared to what they have in Seattle, although Seattle is trying and have a new line to the airport.
Again in most Canadians' mind, the world = Canada + USA
Very well, really, is the US the best benchmark? What about cities like Munich, Vienna, what about Hong Kong.
Again in most Canadians' mind, the world = Canada + USA
Very well, really, is the US the best benchmark? What about cities like Munich, Vienna, what about Hong Kong.
"We do very well", RIGHT.
We do very well compared to European cities as well. I have taken transit in London, Edinburgh, Paris, Lyon, Amsterdam, Milan, Rome, Florence, Athens, Vienna, Berlin, Munich, Barcelona. I have not been to Asia yet.
Keeping in mind the influence the car has had in North American, and that the U.S. is the logical comparison since our cities are more similar to each other's than European ones, my statement stands.
While living in Europe, not only in the big cities but the small ones as well, you can live there and get around without owning a car. Go to work, go on dates, whatever. No car required. Of course in the US it's virtually impossible. So where does Canada fall on this? Not just Toronto and Montreal but other cities such as Calgary, Windsor, Ottawa, is it possible to live without a car and just use public transportation? What is the quality of public transportation in Canada?
Lol yea different culture...
We are NOT Europe. and we plan on keeping it that way.
No way i would show up at a date by bus lol.
Lol yea different culture...
We are NOT Europe. and we plan on keeping it that way.
No way i would show up at a date by bus lol.
You don't need to go to Europe to find people living different lifestyles though. Granted I'm Canadian, but I've met many of my dates on the bus, and always arrive by bus since I don't own a car, which is fine because neither has any girl I've ever dated. I'm sure there's people in America like me in the cities.
Again in most Canadians' mind, the world = Canada + USA
Very well, really, is the US the best benchmark? What about cities like Munich, Vienna, what about Hong Kong.
"We do very well", RIGHT.
I believe one thing that contributes to a sophiscated transit system is the density of the city. In that case it's difficult to compare it to places like Hong Kong. Perhaps it is more appropriate to compare to a city with similar size/density. If one is to compare it to Europe perhaps we can look at Stockholm/Copenhagen to Vancouver or something like that. I like alot of the Canadian cities and what they have done in the past in terms of urban and transit planning but none will ever have a rapid transit system like that of Hong Kong and Tokyo given the way people live. But I don't think people are giving it enough credit (I almost never rent a car when I am on a work trip to Canada which is not the case in the USA and Australia/NZ).
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