I am relating this story here on my blog as I wish to provide more information to the city insurance claims adjuster but am unable to successfully send image rich emails to the city without them being bounced for being to large.

There is an approximately 2.4 metre multi-use path adjacent to Castlemore Road on the south side running from Airport Road to Highway 50.  This is a continuation of the Bovaird Trail that runs west from Airport Road, with a few breaks, to the Mount Pleasant area. Between the curb and the multi-use path is an approximately 1.0 metre maintenance strip that allows for roadside storage of snow in the winter.  Unfortunately, in most places the maintenance strip and multi-use path are both made of asphalt so that there is no delineation between the two, although occasionally the maintenance strip is made of a coloured, pressed concrete.  To the casual observer, unversed in road construction practices, it appears that there is a single 3.4 metre wide multi-use path.

Between Airport Road and Goreway Drive road traffic signs are placed 1.0 metre in from the curb, ostensibly between the maintenance strip and the multi-use path as in the following images.

The pathway is bidirectional with cyclists generally staying right as is customary in this country.  When eastbound (as in the images) the signs would not pose a problem.  However, when travelling westbound these signs can and do pose a hazard.

In May 2015, at night, my daughter was riding her bike westbound along this section of the pathway.  She was keeping to the right side of the path, approaching Bayridge Drive, when she was startled by an aggressively driven car in the eastbound curb lane, and caught the edge of her handle bar on a sign that was placed in the path, rather than at the edge of the path as is usually the case, and she went down hard on her left side.  She also cracked her phone screen which she was carrying in a cross body bag on her left side.  She was crying and confused when she phoned us for help.  We took her home, cleaned her up and watched her closely for the next few hours.  Fortunately, we determined she did not need a doctor.

Had the sign been placed where the asphalt and grass intersect, as is usually the case, the accident would not have happened.

I wrote to the city and requested that the signs be relocated and that my daughter be reimbursed for her broken phone.  I was informed by their insurance claims adjuster that the signs were placed “no more than 2 metres from the roadway edge” as required by  “provincial guidelines contained in the Ontario Traffic Manual Book” and “it would therefore not be possible as you suggest moving the sign to the outer side of the multi-use pathway as this would place it at too great a distance from the roadway to comply with provincial guidelines”.

The letter continued, “For these reasons we believe that the City of Brampton had maintained this location in a reasonably safe condition and in compliance of provincial regulations.  The City of Brampton can therefore not be held liable in this case.  Although we very much regret your daughter’s unfortunate injury and loss, we must respectfully decline any claims”.

I believe that the adjuster is incorrect because while 5 signs are placed in this fashion between Airport Road and Goreway Road (a distance of 1.4km), a further 27 signs between Goreway Drive and Highway 50 (a distance of 4.9km) are placed exactly where I have suggested they should be placed, between the multi-use path and the grass, significantly more than 2.0 metres from the roadway edge. Furthermore, the signs along the Bovaird section of the pathway, while adjacent to a regional rather than city road, also place the signs more than 2.0 metres from the roadway edge.

According to Ontario Traffic Manual Book 1B, Section 12, “standardization of sign position is important so that drivers can quickly find signs in expected locations”. Thus on a single road all of the signs should be similarly placed in relation to the roadway edge.

Section 12 continues, “Standardization of position, however, cannot always be attained in practice, since signs must be placed in the most advantageous position and must be adapted to the road design and alignment.”  Castlemore Road’s design includes a multiuse pathway which necessitates the signs be placed so as not to obstruct the safe flow of pedestrians and cyclists on the pathway, that is between the pathway and the grass.

Furthermore, whilst maximum horizontal distance from the roadway edge is defined for many types of signs in Book 1B Section 12, there is no maximum horizontal distance from the roadway edge defined for the types of signs posted on Castlemore Road and illustrated in my photographs.

The city cannot have it both ways: the five signs should be moved as I requested.

Since my daughter was travelling from east to west that evening and had safely passed 27  consecutive signs over a distance of 5km that were placed outside of the asphalt maintenance strip and multi-use path, she had a reasonable expectation that the signs over the next 1.4km of pathway would be similarly placed outside of the asphalt maintenance strip and multi-use path .

Here are the other 27 signs.

May 25 UPDATE to this post – I have been informed “these signs were installed in accordance with the applicable city standards and provincial guidelines. However, given the details of this incident, staff will consider relocating the sign(s) in question. ”

I am unsatisfied with this response, however, if the signs are actually moved I will consider it a small victory.

My daughter began attending Mohawk College in the upper city on the mountain in Hamilton in January.  Shortly after she began I discovered that there are several sets of steps from the lower city to the upper city.  As someone who has climbed the CN Tower for the past nine years I was intrigued.  Also, after driving up James, Claremont and Becket accesses and hearing about a cyclist killed on the Claremont access, and knowing that Hamilton is making an effort to be more bicycle friendly, I  was curious as to whether or not there was a safe, and not crazy difficult, way to cycle up the mountain.

I was picking up Megan for the weekend in the mid-afternoon, and had nothing planned for the morning, so I headed out three hours early with my bike in the back of the van with plans to find staircases and climb them, find a bike friendly way to get up the mountain (for a future trip) and explore a new bike path I discovered on Google maps at the east end of the upper city on Mountain Brow Boulevard.

Studying Google maps before I left home I came up with a plan to find the James Staircase to begin, then drive up the Jolly Cut, where I could see on Streetview that there was a narrow painted bike lane and then head to Mountown Brow.

I parked on Freeman Place and walked to the end of John Street South and followed the gray path in the red box on the map below.

I discovered a wide dirt path through the trees, not the stairs I was expecting.  I decided to follow it anyway.

It went up behind some lovely old homes, one of which had a great treehouse in the backyard, with views of downtown and the harbour through the trees.

I eventually came to some steps and when I climbed them, found myself at the edge of the Claremont Access and on the Bruce Trail.

I continued to walk along the edge of the Access and eventually came to the sidewalk, which led me to the top of the stairs and Southam Park, after crossing the ramp to West 5th Street.

It was a useful diversion from finding the stairs immediately, as it would be a fairly easy, short route to push a bike up this pathway. I outlined the staircase in blue on the map above.

Interestingly, on a Jane’s walk today, Shawn Micallef said he liked exploring somewhat randomly and then returning home and researching what he had seen on the internet.  Tonight when I was making the map above, I discovered that there is a sidewalk, a small staircase and pathway around the east end of the Jolly Cut that one could follow on foot or if one had a light enough bike to carry on the stairs.  That is outlined in yellow on the map above.  I will have to check that out on my next trip.

After descending the staircase I went back to my van and drove up the Jolly Cut (outlined in green) and over to Mountain Brow.

What a fabulous job Hamilton has done on the bike path along Mountain Brow Boulevard. The path is 4m wide, lighted with solar powered lights and well marked.  There is a small parking lot near the east end of the street between Nova and Ellsworth Drives and several bumpouts for on street parking of about 8-10 cars every so often along the length of the path which is about 2.5km. I got out my bike to explore. This residential road with houses on one side and the escarpment on the other used to be two lanes in each direction.  It is now a much nicer single lane in each direction with the wide bike path along the escarpment making for a much more desirable, and useful for all, streetscape.

Part way down the mountain the is a flat area with a paved rail trail (Hamilton Brantford) which I will definitely be exploring on another day.

The views were terrific even on this overcast day.

In short order I discovered Uli’s stairs (marked in green – above the Rail Trail and yellow, below),  built by hand by a retired local resident in 2005. The city discourages their use and has installed a metal staircase (Kimberly stairs) 300 metres west (marked in red – above the Rail Trail and blue, below).

I cycled the length of the trail and then returned to my car, moved it to one of the bumpouts for on street parking and climbed down the Kimberly Stairs to the rail trail. I walked west to the lower set of Uli’s stairs and then back east to climb the upper set of Uli’s stairs.  I didn’t discover the location of the lower Kimberly stairs until I returned home and studied the map further. I will climb those another day.

Uli’s Stairs:

Kimberly Stairs:

The city has even put in a water fountain at the top of the Kimberly stairs, something rarely seen outside any more. The stairs have bike rails, but there is a ramp access to the rail trail at the east end of  Mountain Brow Boulevard and Mohawk Road East.

I then returned to my van, drove to McDonald’s for a latte and picked up Megan. Megan then showed me the top of the Dundurn stairs (red box below) which she has recently started using and together we discovered the top of the Chedoke stairs (blue box below), but by this time I was starving so we left those for another day.

This is the top of the Chedoke stairs, the stairs and the view to McMaster.   These stairs also have a bike rail. The drive to McMaster from Megan’s house near Mohawk on the mountain is 6.7km, but the walk, via the Dundurn stairs is 5.2km.

According to Brampton’s 2016-2018 Capital Budget Overview (on page 69) the City of Brampton has approximately $4.7 billion of assets in operation, excluding land.  As assets are used and age, their useful life declines, which leads to the need for replacement. This decline is known as depreciation expense and is considered to be the minimum amount of funding that should be set aside each year to ensure that the assets can be repaired  and/or replaced in the future.

Any gap between depreciation and the amount set aside for repair and replacement is called the annual infrastructure gap.  Additionally, there is an accumulated infrastructure gap that is the sum of all the prior annual infrastructure gaps.

Take a look at this chart that was included (on page 56) of the 2015 Budget.

According to the preamble to this chart, on page 55, Brampton has an accumulated infrastructure gap of $1.2 billion, yes, BILLION.

To address this gap, council has passed an infrastructure levy of 2% on property taxes which is represented by the orange on the chart.

Even with this infrastructure levy, they are not beginning to address the accumulated debt, nor are they even eliminating future annual gaps, they are only reducing future annual gaps to the point, in 2024, when they will put aside 93% of that year’s replacement cost. By 2024, they predict they will have added another $322M to the infrastructure debt for a total of $1.5B.

But it gets worse!

Fast forward to the 2016-2018 Budget document with an updated infrastructure gap projection.

The accumulated infrastructure gap is now $1.3B according to the preamble.  Now compare 2024 in the first chart (last column) to 2024 in the second chart (second column from the right), prepared one year later.

They are now projecting that the gap will only close to 79% by 2024 vs the 93% predicted last year.  That is a huge difference.  And now the projected annual additions to the infrastructure debt over the next 10 years  are $504M vs the $322M predicted last year. If the City was actually closing the infrastructure gap with the 2% levy, with each passing year, the projected annual additions should be falling, not rising.

Clearly something terrible is going on.  How do the predictions change that much in one year?  Perhaps one might argue it is difficult to project out 10 years.  Well, let’s look at the gap predicted for 2016 in the 2015 document versus the 2016 document. 66% versus 53%.  How could they have gotten it so wrong when projecting only one year out?

No wonder squirrels are falling from the roof of the Balmoral Recreation Centre and the pool is closed at Howden.

Yet, despite all the foregoing, six of our councillors thought it was a good idea to turn down a fully funded surface LRT route on Main Street and gamble on the provincial and federal levels of government providing additional funding in the future for a more expensive alternative.

They asked staff to come up with a recommendation for three alternative routes.  Staff have now come back with two alternatives, both options detail a tunnel under Main Street.  The only difference is the number of stops.  The price tag is $570M, not including contingency, for the tunnel piece only, which would begin at Elgin Street.  There would also be the cost from Steeles Avenue to Elgin.

The province has been clear that there will be no funding for any route other than the surface route that was extensively studied and planned, but ultimately rejected.

Brampton cannot afford to build a tunnel given the infrastructure debt we already have; a tunnel that would itself become an asset that would depreciate and have to be maintained in future, adding to the annual infrastructure gap.  On top of that there is the opportunity cost of building an expensive tunnel where a surface route would suffice.

Opportunity Cost is defined as “the loss of potential gain from other alternatives when one alternative is chosen.”

Money spent on a tunnel is money not spent on  repairing all those deteriorating assets we already own.  Money spent on a tunnel is money not spent on assets Brampton lacks that other cities, many much smaller than Brampton, already have.

For $570M we could have:

• A third hospital (a priority for many who opposed the surface LRT), or
• A central library (Brampton doesn’t have one and ranks 40/41 when compared to cities across Canada for library infrastructure), or
• An indoor, year round, Farmers’ Market, or
• A national level art gallery, or
• No additional annual infrastructure gap, in other words, fix what we have

Even if, and its a huge if, funding could be secured from the provincial and federal levels of government, there is only so much they will invest in Brampton. If they invest in a tunnel, will they be willing to invest in Riverwalk, which would flood proof downtown Brampton, and allow for future development and protection of our heritage buildings? Will they invest in a hospital, or art gallery?  I think not.

Brampton should not build an LRT tunnel.  The opportunity cost is too high.

Metrolinx, the provincial agency responsible for regional transit in the Greater Toronto Hamilton Area, opened the Union Pearson Express (UP Express) last July amid much criticism based on the price of the service ($27.50 cash/$19  with Presto Card, one way) and skepticism over the ridership projections of 5000 people per day.  The train travels from Terminal One at Pearson Airport on a 6km long dedicated spur before joining up with the tracks used by the Kitchener GO train.  It stops at Weston Station and Bloor Station before arriving at its own special station on the Skywalk just west of Union Station 23 minutes later.

Unfortunately, the skepticism proved to be well founded as UP struggled to attract only about half the projected riders.  While it provides a more reliable trip time than a taxi, at the current cost it is really only attractive to the single traveller.

In order to showcase the train to a wider audience, Metrolinx decided to offer free travel over the Family Day long weekend.  It would not make sense for my family to use the train as we live in the suburbs north of the airport.  However, having become interested in public transit since being involved in the Hurontario-Main LRT debacle, I was interested in trying out UP. We have also never used the continuous loop cableway train (LINK) from the long term parking at the airport to the terminals.

I decided to have a family day out.  With Megan home from college for the weekend all six of us were able to go.

We drove to the long term parking, parked in the surface lot and walked a couple minutes to the LINK station.  Next time I would park in the multistory lot with a bridge connecting to the station.

The station was bright and clean with glass walls separating the waiting area from the track. Once the train entered the station, it lined up its doors with sliding glass doors in the glass wall and both sets of doors opened to allow boarding.

When the train arrived and we entered it I was surprised to see how small each car is with a bench seat at each end and standing/luggage room in the middle.

LINK stops at Terminal 3 first, then continues on to Terminal 1 where the UP station is located. It only took a few minutes and let us out right in front of the entrance for UP.

The UP station also has glass walls separating the platform from the tracks. There was no lineup to board and within a few minutes we were seated in comfortable seats with seat back trays, “in-flight” magazines and free wifi.  There was staff on the train to greet us and people cleaning the train.  Michael commented that he has never seen anyone cleaning on a GO train.  It was spotless.

Here we are looking down on the LINK track from UP.

The train was quieter and faster than the GO train and 23 minutes later we arrived at Union Station. However, we had left home at 10:10, so the door to door trip took 70 minutes, at least 20 minutes longer than it would have taken us to drive downtown on a Sunday morning.

The station was relatively quiet when we disembarked.  There was a backdrop inviting us to take a picture and tweet with the hashtag #ImOnUP for a chance to win a prize. And guess what? I won a prize – a $50 Balzac Coffee gift box.

We planned to have lunch at Marche in Brookfield Place, but it was still early so we explored Union Station and the PATH system first.

I love this view from the bridge over York Street.

As we walked under this sign, Michael quipped, “It’s telling us to go via the subway”.

The Great Hall is being renovated.

A relatively new addition to the PATH system, a bridge over Simcoe Street.

Back onto the Skywalk looking east toward the UP station.

There was one little gap where we had to go outside to get from Union Station to the Royal Bank tower entrance. I read about an outdoor area being glassed over in the future.  I’m not sure if this is the area.

I love the Allan Lambert Galleria in Brookfield Place. As you climb the stairs from the underground PATH system this is what you see.

Just as we were starting to get hungry we arrived at Marche.

As usual, the food was good.  It was the first time Megan and Owen had eaten at the Marche.

We managed to get our favourite table, way in back, where it isn’t too noisy.

After lunch we retraced our steps and were shocked to find a huge line-up for UP which continued to grow for the 40 minutes we waited for a train.

Michael, Megan, Alun and Trystan elected to stand in line, while Owen and I walked about. I entertained myself taking pictures, introducing myself to Anne Marie Aikins, the spokesperson for Metrolinx, and tweeting the pictures I was taking.

Metrolinx employees were ensuring that anyone travelling to the airport for a flight were boarded first.  They were able to come up the left side of the ramp in the picture above. The trains were not filled  when leaving Union so that travellers waiting at Bloor or Weston would be able to board.

After another quiet and quick journey we arrived to crowds of hundreds waiting to board at Pearson.  Thankfully we had set out early enough not to encounter delays at both ends.

If I lived in a place where it made sense to use UP, I probably would.  Given that I do not, and we have no weekend or evening GO trains from Brampton, I hope that Metrolinx will consider lowering fares and offering a family rate so I can ride UP again.

Metrolinx offered the free fares for the weekend in the hope that it would bring out many people who would try it for free and pay in the future.  They were certainly successful in getting people to try it for free.  More than 10000 people rode on each of the three free days.  Whether or not that translates into future fare-paying customers remains to be seen.

Father Tobin Road in northeast Brampton runs 3.5 km west-east from Dixie Road to Mountainash Road.  It has houses, parks, two elementary schools, a middle school and two high schools.  Unfortunately, as a 3.5km long, straight, overly wide road, it encourages drivers to use it to avoid busier arterial roads and to exceed the speed limit. One quarter of vehicles was deemed to be “cut-through” traffic in a vehicle study of this road.

Last summer Brampton decided to do traffic calming on the 1.4km section between Bramalea and Dixie where there are three schools.  The speed limit over the 3.5km varies from 40-50kph.  East of Fernforest, near the middle school, the speed limit is 40kph, with average measured speeds at 45.5kph, which might not seem too bad at first glance, however, the 85th percentile – the speed at which 85% of vehicles travel at or below – is 55.8kph, which means that 15% of vehicles are travelling at higher than 55.8kph in a 40kph school zone.

Newton’s laws dictate that a doubling in vehicle speed results in a stopping distance four times as long and four times as much kinetic energy absorbed during an impact. Driver response times further increase stopping distances. As a result, a small increase in roadway traffic speeds results in a disproportionately large increase in pedestrian fatalities.

 

Pedestrians or cyclists hit at speeds above 40kph are dramatically more likely to sustain severe injuries or die. Clearly, given this street has only homes and schools on it, the traffic situation was dangerous.

This is a section that is not going to be traffic calmed.  It is crazy wide.

As I passed this school the traffic was heavy with people picking up children in cars.  No children, up to and including a Grade 6 student, would be expected to walk more than 2km.  It was a windless, sunny, dry, not too cold, winter day.  No reason not to walk.  This behavior drives me crazy.

Owen discovered the existence of Cat Cafes a couple years ago while browsing on the internet.  He asked me if I would take him to one, however, at the time, the only ones I could find were in Montreal and New York city.  I told him we would go to one when there was one closer to home.  Since then there were one or two crowdfunding campaigns to open one in Toronto, but they were unsuccessful.

Last month, in my Facebook newsfeed, an article about a new cafe opening in Guelph popped up.  Guelph is just an hour away by car so we planned an outing for a couple weeks after the grand opening.  The cafe is called My Kitty Cafe and is located in the back of a variety and pet supply store on Wyndham Street North.  Just this weekend TOT, The Cat Cafe, opened in Toronto.  Owen and I will be heading out for another cat inspired adventure soon.

It was a beautiful autumn day so I planned a walk around the University of Guelph campus before heading to the cafe so we could get some fresh air and exercise.  Earlier this year I cycled in the Tour de Guelph, which started at the University, however, I didn’t really get a sense of how large it is until this visit.  I had also visited the Arboretum five years ago to enjoy the fall colours.  It is a huge campus with over 22K students.  It was Fall Preview Day for high school students so the campus was busy for a Saturday.

Guelph seems to be further along in encouraging cycling than Brampton is and the campus was a mecca for cyclists with wide walkways and sparsely travelled roads.  The bike racks and repairs stations were terrific.

The university has a nice mix of old and new buildings.

Most of the trees were bare, but there was still some nice colour around the conservatory.

The campus is quite large.  We set out in one direction from the car, walked almost an hour out and back, and did not reach the far edge of the campus, past the barns and fields where the Veterinary Science classes are held.

After our campus tour we drove about five to ten minutes to downtown.  Guelph, with a population of 120K, has an extensive and thriving downtown, especially compared to Brampton’s downtown even though Brampton has a population of 560K.  The potential for flooding by the Etobicoke Creek has stunted downtown Brampton’s growth. Guelph has a much more significant river, The Speed River running through it, but apparently dams were built upriver that have helped to eliminate flooding.  They have a lot of nice parkland along the river and have located their stadium, the Sleeman Centre, right downtown.

Here is a view looking toward the Church of our Lady Immaculate at the end of Macdonnel Street.

And here is a nice looking indoor mall on Wyndham Street North near the cafe.

Here is Owen arriving at the My Kitty Cafe.

The cafe is in the back of a variety and pet supply store.  You can order food and drink at the front and when it is ready you can eat it in the back with the cats.

Ready to go meet the cats.

There were four cats living in the cafe when we visited, although we only saw three. They were very friendly.

One might have been hiding out in the private area for the cats at the back.

Apparently 26 cats have been adopted through the cafe in the few weeks it has been open.  Two of the cats we saw were kittens and looked like siblings.

There was a lot of upholstered furniture and a small bar at the back where one could eat if you preferred.  When I started eating while sitting in one of the upholstered chairs, one of the kittens was up on my lap in a flash trying to help herself.  There were lots of toys, tunnels, climbers and cat books available.  I had a chicken wrap and a coffee, Owen had packaged sushi and a hot chocolate.  We had a cookie and a cat themed cupcake for dessert. The food was reasonably priced, with a small selection.  However, it wasn’t a problem, because it was the cats that were the main attraction.

Owen saying goodbye to one of the cats.

I noticed that there is an art gallery nearby and I would have like to have explored downtown Guelph more, however, we had to get home to pick up Alun from a DECA competition so our stay was short.

We will definitely be heading back on another day.