Denis Agar 🚌🕸️
@denisagar
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he/him. Riders in Metro Vancouver deserve better transit and we're going to make it better, together! One silly video at a time! ED of @movementyvr
S'ólh Téméxw (BC)
Joined November 2013
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Send us removal request.
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I have just seen it. The weirdest transit campaign video on the internet. Now you must also see it.
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In a meeting with a road authority, I proposed that 1 of 2 lanes be converted to a bus lane.
Buses move 50% of people on this street.
They said prob not.
I asked "what % of road users need to be on a bus before you consider it?"
They said "we don't count people, only vehicles".
What experience in the workplace radicalized you?
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I say this as a planner:
Nobody enters the profession to measure setbacks and floor area ratio.
We're going to keep having trouble hiring planners as long as the majority of their job is to enforce unjust rules that they don't believe in.
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What is your favourite absolutely shocking stat from this unbelievable list of the top 49 transit agencies in 🇨🇦🇺🇸 by bus ridership?
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If you haven't looked at the rental market for a studio or one bedroom apartment in Vancouver recently, for the sake of everyone just try it. Put yourself in the shoes of someone just starting out and see what you would rent. I did this yesterday and it was heartbreaking.
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I am in awe at how a silly pile-on about traffic calming has reached escape velocity from transportation twitter and is going absolutely nuclear
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To make things excruciatingly clear
this is what I want to be permitted
at a minimum
on every urban lot in North America
Is that too much to ask?
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@HarshaWalia
Speaker Anthony Rota should also be held accountable for accusing Singh of un-parliamentary language. . . If you can't say racist in the house of commons, how are we supposed to have a national conversation about race?
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Cars don't scale cuz they take too much room. This is the trap of designing a ferry system to move cars instead of ppl. With >100k new ppl/yr in BC, and pressure to reduce emissions, we need to give people a better alternative to bringing their 2-ton box with them onto the ferry.
An underrated part of the problem with B.C. Ferries is that in the last 30 years the province gained an extra 1.5 million people, but the number of sailings and the size of the ships is pretty much what it was in the 1990s
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I still haven't recovered from seeing this graph. I honestly don't even know how to talk about it. Do you see how close we are to New York?
Ridership continued to tick up in 2023, but remains behind 2019 levels in all major urban areas, US & Canada.
Per-capita, large Canadian urban areas continue to outperform US equivalents.
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It's a new feeling to spend 2.5 years of your life on something and have it all culminate in an opening day. Rather than being exhausted by the project, all I can think about is how to keep going and use what I've learned to keep making buses better.
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Top reasons why you need to check out TransLink's new Bus Speed and Reliability Report:
Maps with insight you've never seen before! This shows what % of people on the street are using the bus - and don't forget that this is in the depth of the pandemic.
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OK FINE i'll go. . .
Clearly I love that TL demolishes everyone but here's a deep cut: Victoria BC has more bus ridership than AUSTIN TEXAS
(PS Montreal is not counted because they did not submit anything ⚜️)
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In response to those who say we'll never have decongestion charging in North America, let's honour the progressive jurisdictions that already put a price on driving:
Miami (toll roads in red and blue)
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I just started listening to podcasts. Yes, I am late to the party.
Notes:
-There are not enough podcasts about urbanism, especially Canadian urbanism
-There are a LOT of terrible podcasts
-My favourite by a mile is
@TheWarOnCars
- To me it defines what the medium is capable of
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It continues to stun me how many transit riders we have in this region
based on apta's data, combined: busiest transit systems in north america this year, by total trips between september 2022 and october 2023
*stc is an estimation, it is near certain it is in this position within the list
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Let's recap
-New bridge built to increase capacity
-Increased capacity is rapidly consumed by new drivers
-Congestion becomes WORSE THAN EVER
-Board of Trade asks for a new bridge to be built, to increase capacity
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Whoa this took off! I was radicalized so much in my workplace that I quit and started a non-profit. It's called
@movementyvr
and you should follow you like this kind of stuff. Also pls donate! We don't have any sustaining donors yet 🥺
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It is 230pm on a workday on Denman Street.
The sidewalks are absolutely rammed.
There better be a good plan for Saturday with the weather forecast for high 20s.
Physical distancing is impossible without reducing auto lanes.
Why does city policy still put the cars first?
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Will never not be weird that we've designed our whole provincial transportation system around getting into a big steel box and then driving it into a much larger floating steel box
Here’s a look at the volume at the Tsawwassen Terminal.
@CityNewsTraffic
#BREAKING
NEWS: Those without a reservation hoping to get a sailing from Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay on Thursday are out of luck.
The 9 p.m. sailing -- the last of the day -- has been completely sold out.
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Not pictured here, but this is the list of agencies that move more people by rail than by bus:
-NYC
-Boston
-Wash DC
-Calgary
-San Diego
-Maybe Montreal?
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Survey says 100% of Vancouver residents want a place to live
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Anyone else upset that right-wing populist premiers are leading 🇨🇦 on transit?
The hypocrisy is that these investments are big gov't programs that create union jobs. Shouldn't right-wing populists oppose this?
I'll tell you why 🇨🇦 populists support transit:
IT'S POPULAR
Premier outlines a Passenger Rail Master Plan to coordinate and move forward passenger rail in the province
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HONESTLY! What kind of province doesn't even have a bus shelter at it's busiest ferry terminal?
One day we'll live in a province where this kind of thing is unconscionable.
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I don't talk about my wife a lot on here but I'M SO PROUD OF HER 😍
Introducing the 2024 Women of the Year Awards!
This year were so impressed by the applications for our fifth annual WOTY awards that we expanded the list of recipients to honour 21 winners and runners-up. We bet you'll be impressed, too.
Dive in:
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I have an announcement to make!
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This will make traffic downtown better. Bookmark this tweet.
Gardiner Expressway reduced to two lanes for the next 3 years
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@sp00kyjeff
Glad to be of service. If the reaction to this tweet is any indication, the tide is turning
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To observers outside BC, you might be tempted to say that "of course Vancouver's on the cutting edge of this" but I can't tell you how hard-fought it was, and how uncertain it still is. So much room for shenanigans. It is not easy to do this here.
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Devastating article from 2005 showing that Toronto's new Spadina streetcar on *dedicated lanes* was SLOWER than the bus it replaced, as well as more expensive per passenger.
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Is this real? Retractable bollards at Costco?!?!?!
$570??
Tell every city engineering department you know of!!
@WorldBollard
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Spent 3 days zooming around New York and then took an Amtrak. All trains were exquisitely on time, down to the minute. Express subways gave the feeling of absolute freedom to travel far in minutes. Tapped my credit card at faregates with no hassle. US infrastructure good?
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Today, I remind you that it is impossible to justify any new freeway capacity, ever. Freeways:
🚗🚗🚗make traffic worse
🌫️🌫️🌫️cause air pollution
🏜️🏜️🏜️exacerbate climate change
🏘️🏘️🏘️subsidize suburban sprawl
🚸🚸🚸cause traffic fatalities
💸💸💸take money from useful projects
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Not me contorting our entire schedule to take the west coast express to go see Oppenheimer in 70mm imax
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@MikeLindblom
Or it shows that they've only ever ridden the Canada line from the airport to the Fairmont!
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I feel like I'm living in a parallel universe where trailer parks never existed
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5 months ago, I rode the transit phenomenon that is
@BramptonTransit
's Züm. I had thoughts and photos! And now I am clearing them out of my notes app. My trip started in Vaughan and you immediately notice the palatial infrastructure that
@YRTViva
built for their Viva service. . .
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Imagine you're playing musical chairs: there are 5 people and 4 chairs. Then you give everyone running shoes. They can get all to the chairs faster! But when the music stops, the same amount of people don't have a chair.
A lot of young people are concerned about whether they will ever be able to afford a home.The new First Home Savings Account allows 🇨🇦 to save up to $40K tax free for their first home, and it’s showing enormous uptake with young Canadians taking advantage already! For more info:
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I think a lot about the fact that the cheapest, most convenient land in Vancouver is locked into mansions in Shaughnessy.
Zoning laws keep that land cheap.
Zoning laws keep public housing from accessing that cheap land.
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Today, I'm proud to live in Vancouver! Thank you, Council!
News Release: 📣 In a significant step towards more diverse housing and fostering transit-friendly communities, today, Vancouver City Council adopted the Transit-Oriented Areas Designation By-law and eliminated minimum parking requirements. Learn more:
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How did Vancouver get so far behind on this?
BREAKING: Seattle will permanently close 20 miles of existing "Stay Healthy" streets to most vehicle traffic to create more space for people walking, even after the pandemic ends.
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If Burnaby ends the apartment ban before Vancouver, I swear to god I will. . .
. . . be very happy and congratulate them.
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Have you considered simply not doing it?
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The induced demand for cycling has worked! This is at Union in East Vancouver. Plenty more cyclists out of frame. The train was going back and forth across this level crossing for 10+minutes because it's at a marshaling yard.
When will it be time for grade separation?
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At a normal party:
Stranger: So what do you do?
Me: I'm a transportation planner. [imperceptible pause] Did you know that freeways actually make traffic worse and that when you close them traffic gets better?
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Vancouver, we need to talk about this part of the region, outlined in Black. Look at this map of the % of commuters who use transit. High usage kind of follows the Expo Line, but not really.
What should we call this area. The Drumstick? Currently accepting better names.
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[pitch meeting with federal/provincial government]
picture this,
a pipeline, but for people
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Why Montreal before Vancouver?
Montréal has released its Land Use and Mobility Plan and has just become the largest North American city to eliminate all parking minimums, citywide.
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To be even clearer I want there to be so many of these freaking townhouses that I can afford one. I also don't want a single tenant to be displaced by construction of these.
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@bobmackin
Hi Bob - not funded by TL but in deep need of $$$! Groups like ours have existed for decades in most cities. Some have >300k budgets and staff. That's what we're shooting for. Fundraising hard!
When it comes down to it, I bet we agree on a lot. Would you like to go for coffee?
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An affordable grocery store at an East Van Expo Line station. I will die on this hill.
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SkyTrain is fast, reliable and frequent. It has been an exceptional spine for our network.
No reasonable observer, not even from Portland, could argue that they did better somehow.
The only takeaway from this comparison is that speed and frequency MATTERS.
As I study this Portland Oregon train/tram map I can't help but think we may have made a terrible mistake in Vancouver building underground subways and SkyTrain. Hopefully we will build light rail to UBC and elsewhere throughout the region.
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Woohoo!
Existing red light cameras will start doubling as speed cameras this summer.
Will cover intersections my daughter uses to walk to school.
The noest of brainers.
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Ottawa's transit recovery is going poorly. There are a lot of potential causes:
-Line 1's reliability issues
-Line 2 being closed for years
-High % of ppl working from home
My deepest darkest fear? It was the new Line 1 adding 2 transfers vs 0 on the old Transitway. See photos:
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More service details released for the
@hulloferries
Nanaimo-Vancouver passenger ferry! Very exciting but there's one bizarre caveat: electric wheelchairs and e-bikes are banned because of some arcane federal law?
@OmarAlghabra
you can fix this right?
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Who had "shipbuilding company supports BRT" on their transit bingo card? Here's an op-ed from the CAO of
@Seaspan
urging local leaders to support BRT to the north shore!
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We can do better than this on Denman Street on a beautiful evening. Thousands of people are on the beach a block away. If they want ice cream, they're shunted onto these lilliputian sidewalks and glacial buses.
This street is fixable!
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I found it really hard to read this article. We've been gaslit for years. We're constantly told that homelessness is too complicated to solve. Meanwhile, Minneapolis just did it.
Why does Minneapolis have the political will to solve this but we don't?
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Don't let anyone tell you that transportation's biggest problems can be solved with technology.
Our biggest problem: we have been using myths and misconceptions to (mis)shape cities for decades.
Uber and drones do not help us bury these myths.
We have to communicate.
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In Ontario to spend Christmas with family but had to take some time out for a Brazilian donut with the one and only
@RM_Transit
! Was great to get a dose of optimism from one of the most knowledgeable people in transit. We can make transit better!
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How did our average property tax bill end up being less than half of Toronto's? How do we even keep the lights on?
you know, i thought when some people said "vancouver property taxes are so super high!" and others said "vancouver property tax rates are so super low!" that it would be that vancouver's rates are low but maybe the actual tax paid is high due to high assessed values, but like...
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Myth examples:
-Freeways make traffic better
-New dense buildings makes traffic worse
-We make parking mandatory because it is good for society
-Subsidizing roads is good for low-income people
If these were true, Houston would be serene and Amsterdam would be a disaster.
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I've noticed a few people express this take; That ticketing bus lane scofflaws costs money?
I don't know how else to explain to you that governments make money from issuing traffic tickets?
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Must read tweet thread to give you hope for the future: One of our provincial transportation ministers publicly defends the concept of induced demand. So excited to have this person in the legislature!!
@vanbourse
@TransLink
1/ Actually, as an engineer with an academic background in transportation I absolutely agree with this. Urban congestion isn't relieved by the addition of lanes on a bridge. It's managed by good land use planning and investing in a variety of transportation modes.
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LA has 45 different transit agencies. By trying to ride them all,
@milesintransit1
shines an uncomfortable light on what that actually means for riders. This is just day one, and I'm already furious. The solution has to include consolidation, right?
It's just after 5 AM in Glendora, CA. Over the next 65-ish hours until my flight back to Boston leaves, I will be attempting to ride every bus system in the LA region!
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This doesn't mean parking will disappear! It means residents won't be forced to subsidize the additional spaces that no one will ever use. The current parking minimums are embarrassingly arbitrary
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I just went on a walk with my family and I have two observations which I would like to shout:
1) WE NEED TO MAKE MORE ROOM TO WALK ON DENMAN.
It was a crisis before physical distancing and now it is putting lives at risk.
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A totally easy and uneventful adventure to go get 🥧 in Burnaby Heights on the R5 without bus lanes (NOT)
@PeakedPies
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We can't expect a for-profit company to subsidize our continent's intercity transport network. This is yet another sign that we need a public intercity bus network.
Saskatchewan did (before it was cut by conservatives) and their stations were functional and clean.
Greyhound bus terminals are closing across the country, accelerated by hedge fund Alden Capital’s purchase of the valuable real estate.
The closures jeopardize travel access for older, disabled and low-income riders.
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Lemme just go to the ATM, I'm building rail to UBC
You will always be better at spending your own money than the government is.
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Shouldn't the BC government be acting now to prevent a second wave?
Why are bars and clubs still allowing indoor service, with all that we know now?
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Honest non rhetorical question:
Why does zoning apply to public housing?
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Everyone's talking about making changes to streets.
If you care about the essential workers in this lineup, ask your mayor for bus lanes, and other things that speed up buses.
When buses are faster and more reliable, they can make more trips, creating more capacity for free!
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This is what peak transit looks like
Montreal: Yea, but what if the Metro train doors opened, like, a second or two before the train even stops?
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I guess I wonder why we're always talking about the expensive things that Chinese people buy and never about the expensive things that white people buy?
Imagine if we interrogated white wealth in the same way we interrogate Chinese wealth?
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@DipikaDamerla
This is not what I expected from you. Please reconsider this backwards policy.
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Is... Vancouver becoming a real city??
Well, you don't see -that- on
@TransLink
every day! The spirit-lifting performance I didn't know I needed. 🎶🎵🎶
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Your move, greenest city
WOW. Edmonton just made history, becoming the 1st major Canadian city to remove parking minimums CITY-WIDE.
We can finally park this policy back in the 70’s where it belongs!
Huge kudos to admin &
#yegcc
for leading the way! Thx to everyone who supported this!
🚗👋🏼🚲🏡🚶🏻♀️🧑🏽🦽🏃🏻♀️🙌🏼
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If you live, work, or study in Vancouver's West End, can I ask you to vote for a thing?
I worked on the proposal called "Happy Denman" which will hopefully start a discussion about how to make that street a nicer place to linger.
Pls vote for it!
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For some reason,
@CambieReport
let me go on for 4⃣5⃣ minutes about
@MovementYVR
's theory of change!
It's probably the deepest dive into Movement that you can find anywhere on the internet.
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"Homelessness rates in communities do not vary according to the rates of drug use or mental health problems in a community; instead, they vary based on the availability of affordable housing."
h/t
@dustbobgod
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High capacity streetcars are good but the lack of signal priority and obscenely short stop spacing made the Spadina streetcar laughable. The fact that the agency was okay with a slower trip on opening day, truly unbelievable.
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I'm very concerned about the covid cases that will follow from structural racism.
I’m very concerned about the Covid cases that will follow from these protests.
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Can you imagine if we allowed them to build Canadian Tires like this? With no visible parking? If we had zoning that allowed mountain towns to be built like this?
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Bus nerds, New Flyer makes an artic with 5 doors. Has anyone actually ordered one? Show me pics plz!
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Whaddaya say, West End? Swings on the street? Let's do it!
This street in Amsterdam = width of any street in Brooklyn. Look what's possible when you don't prioritize storage for cars. cc
#bikenyc
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Am I doing this right?
Are the oil companies charging us 20 cents more per litre than any other province?
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New bar launching in Vancouver named after Harland Bartholomew?
10 points for the grimiest quote from one of his plans. Let the games begin!
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This is the most exciting thing I've read about the new BC housing legislation
@NSmithCA
@georgiastraight
@vb_jens
@denisagar
initial rumblings in the industry say folks aren't sure how to "value" this surge of permitted height & density so, so far it's like there's too many opportunities for any 1 site to be "worth" more (which is the whole point! take away speculation bc there's actual options)
4/
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"Making highways resilient to extreme weather is the 'new normal,' B.C. transport minister says"
I can't take this seriously as long as we keep widening highways instead of building transit. We are actively creating the conditions to make disasters worse
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Hochul says that she received a "standing ovation" from hotel wait staff at after she paused congestion pricing, and they thanked her because they would have needed to pay the toll to get to work
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@moore_oliver
"Why bother spending money to remove landmines? Nobody uses that area currently for some reason."
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Families would never want to live in Coal Harbour, they said.
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