An advisory committee that hasn't become a silo gazing at its navel: Integrated Transportation approach works.

By Pepper Parr

November 26th, 2019

BURLINGTON, ON

We took in one of the Advisory meetings last night. The Integrated Transportation Advisory Committee was meeting with a decent agenda but no quorum for the first while of the meeting.

There was an update from Catherine Baldelli from Transit. She passed on what Council had learned earlier – transit use is up; as much as 13% on some routes.

The data is still being worked through to learn where the increase is taking place and then where is it coming from.

Transit use is up – a good sign.

Chair Kerry Eaton runs a meeting that flows nicely and pulls in the views of anyone who has something to say.

The Accessibility Advisory; the Cycling Advisory; the Seniors Advisory and the Sustainable Development Advisory are all part of the Integrated Transportation Advisory (ITAC). What they’ve done is something very sensible – created committees that look at a number of interests instead of having a bunch of committees that sit as silos. Kudos to whoever brought that about.
There were a number of matters covered that we will deal with going forward.

The city wants people to make more use of bicycles – and not just for pleasure – using a bike for running small errands is the direction the city want to go. Will the public buy into it?

Cycling is getting attention.
Former city manager James Ridge liked the idea of Burlington having a ride share system similar to the one Hamilton has – his hope was that Burlington might be able to buddy up with Hamilton and use the same platform.

THAT isn’t going to happen. Seems that the bicycle ride share business has changed – no one wants to put a bunch of bikes on the street and look for revenue from those who rent the bikes to cover the costs. The costs weren’t getting covered.

Dan Ozimkovic told the committee that the cycling types were looking at options – no date on when something might get sent along to council for consideration.

Many years ago there was conversation at Council about a bridge – just for cyclists and pedestrians that would cross over the QEW.

The question was where would such a bridge be placed ? The cost is a major issue but the location has to be determined before costs get attention.

The “preferred location at this point is in the Brant – QEW area; nothing more than that at this point other than the committee wants the bridge to lead to some of the trails in the city.

Is a bridge something like this in the works for Burlington – a way for cyclists and pedestrians to get across the QEW.

The good news is that the project is getting looked at – hopefully someone is looking at what federal or provincial funding might be available.

Doug Benton wondered aloud if there was not some way to create a Kiss & Ride in the Brant – Fairview area. Turns out he drops his wife off in the Upper Middle Road and Brant area where she can get the bus she needs. There isn’t a convenient place for him to pull in and drop her off or wait for her when she is coming home.

There were a number of “possible ideas” that were floated and there were some interesting stories on how people are using the bus. One woman who took advantage of the free service for seniors during the off-peak hours told Catherine Baldelli that she travelled around on the bus just to get out of the house and be with people. It was this citizen’s way of being with people.

Transit it appears is more than transportation.

Good things coming out of this committee – worth watching.

I recall a past transit committee meeting at which members were throwing copies of the agenda at each other – chaos for the most part.

An observation – there was no council representation at the meeting – a good thing?