When the dark side of small towns drive out taxi drivers, can Uber fill the void?
Plus: Gondola! | The Sackville Suitcase says goodbye | Pets and homelessness
Welcome to The Local: A regular round-up of some of the most interesting local news stories from across Canada and around the world.
Gondola! Gondola! Gondola! A proposed gondola stop in Edmonton.
Taxi cab confessions & Uber as public transit
The town of Smithers, in northwestern British Columbia, lost its only taxi service last week. The company’s owner and longest-serving driver was frank about her reasons for quitting: "There's the drugs. There's the alcoholism. There's the domestic disputes. There's the hospital emergencies," she said in a CBC interview. "There [are] mighty ugly things that happen inside my cabs."
Smithers isn’t the only northern B.C. community struggling to retain drivers in one form or another. Near the Pacific Ocean, Kitimat is cutting bus service as drivers keep getting recruited to work on nearby liquefied natural gas projects, while Dawson Creek is reducing transit hours in an effort to balance its budget.
All of this is happening just as Uber and Lyft launch in B.C.’s more populous Lower Mainland (except for the Surrey, where Mayor Doug McCallum is involved in something of a showdown against ride-hailing services), and many in the online world were quick to suggest transportation apps could be a quick fix to the woes of smaller communities unable to maintain full taxi or bus services. And sure enough, it’s been tried: the town of Innisfil, Ontario has partnered with Uber for what the company touts as “Canada’s first ridesharing and transit partnership”.
While the above promotional video touts the benefits of cutting out bus routes and simply giving everyone in town what is essentially a promo code to get around at a flat rate, questions are already being raised about the long-term viability of the program. As Leyland Cecco reports for The Guardian:
“The city has now spent more on Uber than the traditional transit option it was considering, and has dramatically increased the number of cars on its roads, with worrying implications for air quality and the climate crisis.”
Beyond that, the original pricing scheme is also showing cracks. Laura Bliss of CityLab:
“Normally, though, raising transit fares when ridership is growing is backwards logic. While passenger fares almost never cover the full cost of service, more passengers riding fixed-route buses and trains should shrink the per-capita public subsidy, at least until additional routes are added. On a well-designed mass transit system, the more people using it, the ‘cheaper’ it gets.
“But the opposite is happening in Innisfil. Only so many passengers can fit in the backseat of an Uber, and the ride-hailing company, not the town, is pocketing most of the revenue. With per-capita costs essentially fixed, the town is forced to hike rates and cap trips as adoption grows.”
What’s it called? Gondola! Once again? Gondola!
It’s back, baby! A preliminary study out of Edmonton shows that building a gondola to transport commuters over the city’s river valley is, apparently, both technically and economically feasible. As Keith Gerein writes in the Edmonton Journal:
“The first time I heard about the proposal to build a gondola across Edmonton’s river valley, I confess I couldn’t help but think of a memorable episode of The Simpsons in which the residents of Springfield decide to build a monorail.
“However, as much as I’d like to make this whole column a monorail-to-gondola analogy, I can’t.
“Provided the city and the company can avoid a handful of potential pitfalls, a river valley gondola could be a valuable addition to Edmonton’s urban and economic landscape.”
But he does link to a video of former Journal columnist and current Canadian senator Paula Simons doing her best Lyle Lanley impression.
The Sackville Suitcase says goodbye
The top post on r/halifax last week was a farewell to the Sobey’s plastic bag, which is being phased out in favour of the more environmentally-friendly paper version. If you, like me, did not know about the place the Sackville suitcase, bayman’s briefcase or Cape Breton beer cooler holds in the pysche of Atlantic Canadian communities, I recommend visiting the thread and reading this piece in the Globe and Mail.
In brief:
British Columbia:
“Bartenders might be some of the greatest community-keepers we have in a city that has been described as pretty lonely.”
"We don't want to live in a city where artists can't afford to live and share their work."
Alberta:
“More than 140,000 Calgarians had taken out memberships in ShareNow, formerly known as Car2Go, before it withdrew from Calgary last fall, as part of North America-wide cutbacks. One of the challenges it cited was the cost of parking across the wide swath of Calgary.”
Meanwhile, Lime is discontinuing its bike-share program in the same city after discovering residents far prefers to get around on scooters.
And west of Calgary, the community of Cochrane fears it will lose out on $350,000 if the province classifies it as a small town.
The Prairies:
The North Central and downtown regions of Regina are home to few grocery stores, and so a new community service has popped up offering fresh produce to low-income families through mobile stores.
Further east, the Winnipeg Food Atlas hopes to spark a conversation about food accessibility and find solutions to local food deserts.
The $43 million tree challenge
Also in Winnipeg, the city needs to add $2 million a year to its annual budget in order to meet Mayor Brian Bowman's of planting a million trees by 2040. Why is it necessary? Because as Trees Winnipeg director Lisa Jones says, the city’s “urban canopy is in crisis. Each year, we lose thousands of trees, as Dutch elm disease hits us with increasing incidence.” Plus, an early-season snowstorm in October damaged tens of thousands of others.
Proposed new rule would create limit of 4 dogs per owner in Saskatoon's off-leash parks
Ontario:
“Typically at this time of the year, trucks bring large quantities of non perishable goods into the community, and residents stock up for the year… This year, it has yet to happen.”
As more and more cultural institutions are squeezed out by the condo boom, city council passed a motion this week asking staff to come up with creative ways to save independent live theatre companies west of Toronto's downtown.
"Libraries mean a lot not only to immigrants, but to the community. It's a place where you feel that you belong."
"I do consider even finding things that don't work to be somewhat of a success."
The city is also considering plowing sidewalks bare after each snowfall, something staff warn would require ‘substantial’ change to drainage and engineering.
Atlantic Canada:
Related to the above, an opinion piece following St. John’s snowfall and its impact on walkers:
“It is appalling that in a place which purports to be a city — pedestrians do not have safe places to walk after snowfalls and so are forced to white-knuckle it on narrow streets full of cars and trucks struggling to find traction in the slush.”
The building, which will be called The Convent, will include a public gallery and café and has received about $10 million in government funding, including a $1.4-million grant announced on Friday by Invest Nova Scotia.
The Canada Games Aquatic Centre is the latest municipal asset the City of Saint John is prepared to sell if the right bid comes along.
The city has issued a request for expressions of interest to hear from proponents interested in purchasing or leasing the pool facility in the heart of uptown. It comes less than two weeks after a similar request was issued for TD Station, formerly Harbour Station.
Misc.
Three things I’ve learned in my local coffee shop:
Third places—that is, places where people can enjoy the company of others outside of their workplaces and homes—are critical to the well-being of our neighbourhoods. From public parks and libraries to pubs and playgrounds, these places are impacting our localities in both subtle and significant ways. For our communities to thrive, we need third places where ideas can be shared, where everyone is welcome to belong, and where relationships, over time, can be fostered.”
Airbnb to ban local guests under the age of 25 from booking entire homes
The new security regulations come in an effort to "reduce instances of unauthorized parties."
Why pets matter to homeless people
Highly recommend this radio documentary from David Gutnick.
On sidewalks in front of grocery stores or huddled with blankets on park benches, no matter how terrible the weather, homeless people with pets trudge up city streets. Mostly dogs, but there are also cats, and occasionally, ferrets. Even parrots.
It is estimated that one in 10 homeless people in Canada has pets, although getting exact numbers is impossible.
The humans are often deeply troubled, but their pets don't know that. Just like their owners, they need food, water, companionship and a place to sleep.
Most shelters and soup kitchens do not allow pets, nor do many landlords of inexpensive apartments.
So people with pets squat in abandoned buildings, sleep in parks or under bridges. They would rather remain homeless than abandon their pets or leave them outside while they are in a shelter.
The 10 projects that defined a decade of Canadian architecture
From a pavilion and swimming pool that renegotiates our relationship with nature to a humble HIV/AIDS hospital that reaches out to both body and spirit, here are the decade’s most memorable Canadian architecture projects.
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