{"id":14907,"date":"2016-08-02T20:21:15","date_gmt":"2016-08-03T00:21:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=14907"},"modified":"2016-08-02T20:21:15","modified_gmt":"2016-08-03T00:21:15","slug":"politics-as-usual-the-better-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/politics-as-usual-the-better-way\/","title":{"rendered":"POLITICS AS USUAL: The Better Way?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Alison Collins-Mrakas<\/strong><\/p>\n

I can\u2019t bring my bike on the train in the morning.
\nAs per TTC bylaws, I am required to have a foldable bike in order to ride the subway each way.
\nMost days I don\u2019t mind, but when it is exceedingly hot and the train is very crowded, it does make for a very uncomfortable ride. Indeed, as I trudged down the subway platform last week with my foldable bike safely stowed in a large sized shoulder bag \u2013 the full weight of its 28 pounds crushing my shoulder \u2013 I thought there has to be a better way.
\nThe TTC\u2019s motto is, \u201cthe Better Way\u201d, but honestly it seems, for us commuters, it is the ONLY way, and, as with all monopolies, there isn\u2019t much incentive, much less consideration, of the comfort of the users of their service.
\nYou either use it or you walk. Period.
\nI guess you could drive, but with the cost of gas, insurance, parking and one\u2019s sanity in bumper to bumper traffic, driving really isn\u2019t a choice. Certainly not for me.
\nSo, we all grumble but ultimately make do with what we are provided.
\nDon\u2019t get me wrong: what we have is okay. It affords me the opportunity to get around Aurora and Toronto somewhat efficiently and for a fairly reasonable price. But, as with all services, improvements can be made.
\nI row virtually every day (weather permitting) sometimes twice a day. That requires me to get to Cherry Beach in Toronto from Aurora by transit at 5 a.m. and then back up to my office near Steeles by 9 a.m. Every day, I travel over 125 km round trip \u2013 by GO bus, then bike, then subway, then bike, then GO train home. (Yes, I know, on paper that sounds crazy. I guess it is, but I love to row, so there you go).
\nIn the midst of all that, I have to pack and unpack my folding bike multiple times just so I can ride a train. That is where the inefficiency comes in.
\nSustainable transportation means multi-modal transportation. It means considering how commuters access the transit system \u2013 walking, driving and yes biking.
\nIt means efficient, effective and accessible sustainability options should be afforded commuters at every access point to the transit system.
\nToronto has fantastic bike lanes. I ride them every day. But, use of the bike lanes is not integrated into use of the various modes of transit. It\u2019s clearly not a real consideration.
\nConsider this: if you ride your bike from the lake to Union station, and then want to get on a bus, you have to fold up your bike, or hope that the one of two spots on the front of the bus is still available.
\nIf you want to use the subway and it\u2019s between the hours of 7 and 10 a.m. and 3 and 6 p.m., then you have to fold up your bike. Period.
\nYour only other option is to leave your bike locked up at a subway station, like you park your car. But a bike is not a car. That\u2019s the whole point of using a bike. I need to use my bike when I get off the train. If it\u2019s parked at a subway station, then I am forced to walk or wait for another bus. That does not make sense.
\nAs we move further into the 21st century, we need to have integrated transit planning that truly considers multi-modal transit \u2013 gas, electric and, yes, human powered.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Alison Collins-Mrakas I can\u2019t bring my bike on the train in the morning. As per TTC bylaws, I am required to have a foldable bike in order to ride the subway each way. Most days I don\u2019t mind, but when it is exceedingly hot and the train is very crowded, it does make for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[29,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-columns","category-opinion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-3Sr","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-31 23:03:21","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14907\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}