What are 5 ways that can be done by the community to improve the public transport system?

About 20 years ago, the Galleria Mall, just outside the Buffalo city limits, banned buses from entering its property, requiring bus passengers to cross a busy six lane road to get from the bus stop to the mall. One day, one of the workers on her way to the mall (the mall caters to suburban dwellers, but most of its workers are from the city and can’t afford a car) was hit by a vehicle and killed. The mall started letting the bus stop there the next day.

So, she dropped me and mom off while she went to park the car. There is a massive lot around a block away. However, by the time she parked, it took her 20 minutes to get back (she almost missed the part where they explain the plot of the opera). After the opera, we all went to get the car, but between walking to the lot, going down the stairs to the parking level, and paying the charge (by coincidence, $12.00) it took us half an hour to get me back home; I could have walked home in the same time, and transit was much faster (like I said, subway station right next to the opera house).

So don’t hesitate. Like I said, a few weeks ago I went to Dixie Value Mall. I’ve been there before, and usually I use car share, but my other experience with transit recently (my sister moved out of town and I use the GO train every month to get there) made me decide to try to get to it by transit. It required three vehicles, and took about 1 hour 15 minutes each way (and I missed a bus in each direction - literally watching it drive away as I approached the stop) but the whole trip was $10 (versus $90 for a car), I didn’t have to drive in Toronto’s horrendous traffic (I scrolled the news on my phone) and I didn’t have to look for a place to park.

What is a partner in crime?

You would not believe how many communities allow private property owners to exclude buses from their property. This is even a problem here in Toronto, where often the bus will drop you off a hundred meters from a shopping mall.

Resist balkanization

Encourage Transit Centered Development

Trump asks Congress to pull $9.4 billion in funding for NPR, PBS and foreign aid - Axios

Think about using transit

Don’t complain about bus lanes

This is Yonge & Sheppard in Toronto, where two subway lines meet. I’ve worked up there for 20 years now and low density development in the area is slowly being replaced by high density development.

Incredible 'black smokers' discovered in a part of the deep ocean where they should not exist - Earth.com

So if you want to go from bus to train, or vice versa (all the express buses stop here), its a 200m walk from the train station entrance to the bus stop. Uncovered of course. And the road is six lanes wide. Other stops like this are Danforth (a good 300m from the subway line, and often requires crossing a road bridge over the busy rail line) and Bloor GO (although a tunnel to nearby Dundas West station is under construction.

Over in Mississauga next door, it’s not a problem. Buses regularly stop at shopping malls. A couple of weeks ago, I was at the Dixie Value Mall, which is surrounded on two sides by busy roads - not a pleasant place to cross a road to a bus stop. However, in the parking lot, there’s a small bus platform where you can be dropped off about 50m from the mall entrance.

This is Guildwood GO Station in Scarborough. That road at the bottom is Kingston Road, a busy TTC bus corridor with bus lanes and express routes. The parking lot has been expanded twice, although they are talking about putting housing on that old auto dealership (red borders). VIA intercity trains also stop here on their way to Montreal.

Hi everybody! I have been looking at posts on narcs and narc abuse on here and if has really helped me out a lot. I am currently struggling with my situation and need some advice/support. I met a narc last year, everything seemed to good to be true. Love bombing, always texting calling and taking me on dates. Everything changed when someone warned me about him out in public in front of him and who he is. This caused a conflict with us and the love bombing seized. he would tell me that everything is okay and i can come and talk. He would set a time limit on me and kick me out after that. he would then text me like everything was fine and we hung out again and after that he completely ghosted me for one week. He came back and texted me a week later laughing about the ghosting and acting like nothing had happened. he continued to text me ( not like in the beginning) make plans with me, then on the day of the plans he would just ghost me. One day he would act interested the next silence. i contacted him a month later and he acted like nothing happened. He was on a vacation and sent me a picture of another woman ( someone he allegedly met on the trip) to strike a reaction but i never gave him one. After the trip he came to my place and was extremely rude, accusing me of going on dates with a bunch of men. The next day he accused me of being an alcoholic and that he wanted nothing to do with me but said well maybe we can be "friends" then ghosted me i assumed at this point it was over and i would never hear from him again. He contacted me on the holiday a month later acting like everything was great. We ended up hanging out a month or so later and when we hung out it went well, i thought things were going in the right direction. after we hung out.. silence. I would try to text him and if he replied it would be very short then he just stopped replying. He ghosted me for almost three months. I thought he was done this time and of course he popped up again like nothing happened. At this point i was getting sick of if so i questioned him as to why he dissapeared and always does this. Of course he had some sob story about a injury and family member dying of cancer. I felt pity for him and he gave me an apology.. so i took him back stupidly. things seemed to be going smooth for a couple months, of course until his family member died and his injury got better he never contacted me and was distant. Menawhile, i was there for him during the difficult time for him. He lied to me about the funeral and never wanted to chat. I was chasing him and he would always claim nothing was wrong but when i said i thought he used me when he was down he could not handle it and would always tell me he didnt care and to go away. I would get so upset i would try texting him to work it out he would barelt respond and if he did he would not be nice about it. we did hang out a couple times after that, he would ignore me after. One day i was like hey i think you are seeing someone else, and i was like well ixam seeing someone so no problem if you are he said " buy bye good luck with your new guy stop contacting me" i was devastated and tried to get into contact with him for weeks then i just gave up and accepted it was over. He ended up contacting me a month later acting like everything was fine. He wanted to go out and have drinks i told him i would. He and i both seemed to have a great time. He ends up ignoring me again. I kept texting him trying to figure out what was wrong. He kept saying everything was fine and i said ok can we hang out again? He said maybe i was like why? He just kept saying maybe … our last conversation we had… i said what is wrong ? He said nothing is wrong everything is fine. I asked him why he keeps saying maybe. He said " maybe but i dont want to see you right now" i said why? He saix " im just not feeling it, if i wanted to date i would" i said why did you contact me less then a week ago wanting to go out? He said i didnt.. even though he did. So i said should i just move on or what? He said whatever you want to do. So i said that he was really confusing me and asked him if he had anything more to say before i move on? My messages were turning green so i panicked he blocked me and reacted irrationally. I said " omg did you block me? My messages are not going through. Even texted him on my work phone asking what was up. And called him twice ( please dont judge me i know it is pathetic i never was this type of girl before him) so he replied and said " Ok I'll block you now" then immedietly blocked me. He has never blocked me before since I have met him he will just ghost. Is this ths final discard aka " grand finale? Did i just push him too far? this has upset me so much its hard to even function.

Also, until recently, all the transit systems in the Greater Toronto Area all charged separate fares. As such, if I took a TTC train to Union Station, then the GO train to Guildwood, then a TTC bus from Guildwood to my mom’s, that would have been three fares. Luckily, that’s changed - if you ride the GO train your trips on local transit are effectively free. Trips across transit borders are now much cheaper (short ones use to be a double fare, but now it’s just one fare).

This is New York City’s 14th street busway in Manhattan. It’s only open to buses, taxis and trucks. It didn’t affect car traffic, which was easily able to move to 12th, 13th, 15th and 16th streets. However, local business owners sued to stop it even though most of their customers come on foot and there isn’t enough parking for more than one customer out front. More frequent and reliable bus service reduces people using cars.

But this is Pickering Go Station (top, you can see the train), which first opened about 50 years ago and now has service every 15–30 minutes. It’s the home of Ontario’s largest parking lot. There’s a large shopping mall off to the down left ,but that’s not why the world’s longest pedestrian bridge over the world’s widest freeway (the 401). That bridge is there to join the parking lot at the top with another parking lot for overflow. Also, the buses stop at the downward end on the other side of the train station. As such, most people using the train come by car. That’s a terrible use of space. Lots of transit stations in Toronto are now being redeveloped to take out parking and put in housing.

Speech by Governor Kugler on the economic outlook and monetary policy - Federal Reserve Board (.gov)

About 15 years ago, my sister wanted to go to the opera for her birthday. However, she insisted on driving because the fare for her and my mom would be $12.00. Now, I can walk, to the opera house from where I live, and it’s a short transit ride, and I had a monthly pass (so, effectively, free) and the subway stop is literally connected to the Opera House. However, she insisted on picking me up.

Allow buses to stop anywhere