Back to regularly scheduled programming.

I received a few comments that for being on an Oxford Exchange, there hasn't been that many pictures of... Oxford.

Me and Mel on the upper deck front seat of the infamous 30-minute headway Brookes Bus.

Dinner time at the Harcourt Hill refectory-- our local place to eat. This is where we stuffed ourselves with marginal English food.

Henry and I at Radcliffe Square.

Liz and I enjoying England's finest for takeaway-- Pasties.

Us being fobs in front of Christ Church.

Liz and Me being bouncers at Tamas' birthday celebration (who knew I had it in me?). Because the party was hosted at our house, people had to pay cover at the door, or come through the window. Everyone, like Henry pictured above, chose the latter.

Me being a nerd on the green pastures near Headington Hill.

Purchasing goods at the local Co-op. The convenience store has quite a selection of booze. UK should be applauded for their progressive stances for exercising alternatives to corporatization.

Outside for lunch during our day in lecture. You can see people, like Martina, preparing their final presentations.

Tiff chowing down that free burger. A united Christian society decided to throw this big bash with free food, and live Christian music. How can two students turn down free food, even if we have to hear about Jesus' feel-good messages?

The second installment of Oxford-Oxford pictures will be published on Friday.

When I started working at the TTC, I didn't know that I would also become the person to rant to, whenever something goes wrong.

At first, it was quite annoying to have to endlessly hear about problem after problem, but through the course of these several months, I developed a taste to listen to people's concerns--it's often tastes bitter, but I've gotten used to bitter. Especially from my transit-hating suburbanite friends and relatives.

So without further ado, here's a popular question that often infuriates passengers.

Figure 1: I'm a big nerd who likes diagrams. Here's a situational diagram of some buses on a route with a traffic problem.

Buses don't arrive on time, mainly because of congestion. As you all know, most bus and streetcar ("surface") routes share the road with other traffic, and for that reason, if there is a traffic situation on the road, buses and streetcars are impacted.

When there is a recurring problem with congestion on surface routes, schedules are changed to reflect this--usually in the form of additional recovery time. Recovery time provides an established "buffer" time at the end of the route, so as to ensure better reliability in service. But this cannot always be accommodated, as the conditions on the road can often vary from day-to-day. Dedicated right-of-ways for transit, which is anticipated on many arterials according to Toronto's new Official Plan, would help to reduce problems related to service delays.

Now it comes to the question of why buses always come in clumps when there is a delay. Maybe transport engineers have a more persuasive answer to this question. But after some research, here is my take on it:

One of the factors, aside from congestion, that influence the time it takes for buses to finish a route is the number of passengers boarding and alighting the bus; the higher the passenger activity, the longer it is for the bus to continue along the route.

When Bus A, for example, is delayed, obviously there would be more people accumulated at stops along the route. Figure 2 shows what happens as Bus A tries to catch up to the delay in service on the route-- but usually with no success, since there are more riders that Bus A has to pick up.

Figure 2: During service delays, there is a higher than expected volume of riders along the route--Bus A has the luxury to have to pick up all passengers in the service gap.

The delay for the bus then starts a ripple effect. See what happens in Figure 3 when Bus A reaches the next stop.

Figure 3: (Corresponds with Figure 2) Once Bus A reaches the next stop, there are more riders waiting at the stops where there was a gap in service-- adding to the delay for Bus A. Green pedestrians are the additional riders. Meanwhile, Buses B and C, have comparatively less passenger activity than Bus A, enabling them to travel more quickly.

And so the ripple effect begins. Bus A becomes increasingly more delayed stop after stop, which causes an even greater amount of passengers being accumulated.

This doesn't seem to answer the question. Let's say that Bus B, was evenly spaced between Bus A and Bus C. Bus A, trying to make up for lost time, has trouble doing so, because of the accumulated passengers at each stop. This causes the gap between Buses A and B to narrow (as demonstrated in Figure 3). Bus B will then arrive at stops sooner than Bus A, and would likely collect fewer passengers as a result. Thus, especially on routes travelling long distances, Bus B would likely catch up to Bus A; Bus A would likely be overcrowded with passengers, while Bus B sits half-empty.

This then leads to another question:

Buses operate short turn service, simply to mitigate this bunching effect.

Figure 4: Overall picture of what happens in a short turn.

Short turns only occur when there is unexpected congestion and buses need to fill a gap in service caused by the delay. With reference to our original example, a short turn bus ("Bus Z") would operate only a limited portion of the route, then squeeze into service just ahead of Bus A, so as to mend the gap that was created by the unexpected congestion. Bus Z would then help to relieve the accumulated passengers at stops caused by the delay, which would then help to ensure that Bus A does not become even more delayed--due to the increased boardings.

If you have any questions-- about this topic or not, feel free to ask. I'll answer them with the best of my ability. If I don't know the answer, I'll try to find out.

Did anyone catch the MMVA's? I don't care what everyone is saying, I think Sunday's live broadcast of the MMVAs was super entertaining-- and seriously one of the best. I just find it quite exciting that some big-celebrities are actually coming to our great T-Dot and attending our arguably 'buzz-worthy' events.

The highlight has got to be Fall Out Boy, which by the way, is abbreviated as 'FOB' in a recent tween magazine. I mean, c'mon, I have to check out Pete Wentz, right?-- I mean his hair, I have to check out his hair.

Here he is folks, brace yourselves.

The Fall Out Boy performance, methinks, was awesome-- despite the obvious reasons unrelated to music. Nick Lachey pretty much put me to sleep with that new single of his. Rihanna, though hot, lip-synched the entire performance-- so no credit to her.

I'm not familiar with the work of Metric, since it's not my thing-- but I thought it lacked energy. Maybe Denise can intrigue me in some details. Same goes for Yellowcard.

Simple Plan were alright-- a satisfactory performace.

Hedley is something I want to get into. Why is that Canadian Idol Jacob guy always shirtless? Sure he has this crazy ripped body, but seriously it's time to learn that no shirts mean no service--and in this case, no 'turn-on' switch! Another thing, I thikn the guy is on something, because I've never seen anyone twitch like that in a performance before. I've seen his videos, and I really thought that it was just some neat cinematic effects, but apparently he actually does move like that! Also, that tattoo ass thing was already done-- by a lady named Avril Lavigne.

I was looking forward to Nelly Furtado's performance, but I was a little disappointed-- maybe because the song is starting to fade on me.

This guy doesn't need any introduction. I miss Desperate Housewives.

The time is now quite late, so it's time for bed.

But before I go, I want to state briefly a few more thigns about the MMVAs: (1) Leah continues to be annoying, and asking dumb questions, (2) the new VJ Search guy, Tim, really needs to shake it up and get his nerves out, (2) Hannah is still cool in my books, (3) Matte, Devon and Sarah are all growing on me.

MMVA06 - [muchmusic.com]

With all those arms, she better be 'fearless'. (No, she's not coming to Pride.)

I have no inspiration to write anything crazily long, nor do I feel like cropping Oxford pictures for all of you-- but I do have the urge to place my mark in the blog today.

So here I am.

First of all, happy Pride everyone! As you might know, this year's theme is plugged "Fearless"-- which I think is awesome. It has a connotation, obviously that everyone, not just LGBTQ's, should be able to live their life without fear.

At the same time, the term "fearless' also has this diva ring to it. Can you imagine it? Some proud chick or drag queen with one hand to her hips and strutting down some street.

"I'm fearless, baby."

I'm totally feeling it. Maybe I'll be the fearless diva that I speak of.

Pride Toronto - [pridetoronto.com]
Gala honours gays with guts - [metronews.ca]
Queer Muslims find peace - [thestar.com]

Next topic.

We're back to regularly schedule programming...

Shawn gets really annoyed when I pronouce things wrong in Britain. Boys and girls, for your first British English lesson, you will grasp that "Leicester" is pronounced LES-ter, as in the name-- not Le-SES-ter.

I was disapponted at the outcome of a lot of my pictures in London-- this is probably because of the crappy weather. All my London Eye pictures, which where such Kodak-moment material, were pretty much a write-off.

With no further ado, here's the pics.

Tiff showing that naan no mercy. There was a great Indian restaurant close to our hostel-- being the pigs that we are I am, we I had to pig out.

Here's Tiff Matt on the Hungerford Bridge.

Quick! Pronounce this tube station! The answer is at the end of the entry. I heart the Underground.

What I didn't enjoy about the tube is the continuous reminders to not leave your bags unattended, and to report suspicious activity. I know the London bombings spark a reason for more vigilance-- but these continuous print and voice messages starts to create a sense of paranoia.

This is my favourite picture of my London excursion. I told Tiff to pose like a Cover Girl. Coincidentally, a big red upper-decker whooshes by.

No Tiff's were hurt during the shoot.

[A picture is supposed to replace this paragrah of text, but because I'm lazy, you're just going to read this.]

The background is Westminster Abbey-- I want to bring your attention that "Westminster" does not have an 'I' between 'N' and 'S'-- it's not "minister." I don't know how many times Tiff corrected me.

We stopped by the Burberry flagship. Burberry associates are definitely less bitchy than LV.

Tiff and I relaxing at Costa (a UK coffee shop chain) near the Portobello Market-- the Kensington Market of London.

A pretty truck and a nice piece of public art near Portobello Market. Something to note: the street is named Blenheim Street. Pronounce "Blenheim." Answer at the end of the entry.

I have no idea how many pictures of the Tube I have. Here is a Underground Service Update board, which shows the operational status of each of the 12 lines. Delays on the Underground is inevitable. We almost missed our flight home for that reason.

More tube pictures. Could you see why I had to be in this picture?

Ahhh! Me on Abbey Road! Too bad the street was too busy to really emulate what the BeetlesBeatles did.

Me and the Abbey Road Studios. The BeetlesBeatles recorded in there! Woo!

Me and Buckingham Palace. Where's Prince Harry?

ANSWERS:
Southwark: Suth-uck, the W is silent.
Blenheim: Blen-em, the H is silent.

I'm going to interrupt, yet again, my regularly scheduled programming pictures for a mild rant.

Well, it looks like I will have to repay my OSAP before actually finish my studies. According to OSAP, I am required to start repaying your loan within six months of the end of your last study period. And since I've not been in school since December of last year, my six months is up.

Because it is my nature to blame someone for faults, I'm going to attribute this fault to the School of Planning. Planning did not offer enough courses for me this Spring to make it worthwhile to study. Grrr to you.

Even if I were to go to school this Spring and take five courses, I will have to be back in the Fall and Winter to fulfil all my land development specialization requirements. So pretty much, going to school this term would've just been a write-off-- so ultimately, aren't I doing OSAP a favour for not asking them for a loan this Spring-- since it wouldn't even help me in fulfilling my course requirements?

Maybe I'm pushing it a bit with the last part, but I have to say that I'm a little pissed-- or maybe I'm just moody and PMS-y. I'm not really upset with having to repay part of my loan, but more at the fact that I have to pay the accumulated interest from my loans since January. How it works for OSAP is that the government gives you a six month grace period to allow you to do two things (1) confirm that you are in school within the six months-- no interest will be accumulated, or (2) do not return to school and pay back your student loan. I guess I fall into Scenario 2 since technically I'm not in school-- even though I had every intention to go back in September.

I guess at the same time, I understand why they enforced this six-month rule-- since I'm sure there would be lots of people taking advantage-- but it sucks that it has to be me with has to pay the extra amount. Interest for the past six months comes to just shy of $600.

You might ask that since I'm in coop that there should be special conditions set for us-- this is partially true. But regardless of the coop situation, I'm screwed because my Spring employment is not recognised by coop term as I have already fulfilled all four work term requirements.

You might ask that my PLAN 480 Oxford Exchange could count as a course I've taken in the Spring term-- this is true, and it could work. However, my initial intention was to register PLAN 480 in the Fall or Winter, so that I can tag it along as a sixth course-- which is free. So right now, I have two options: (1) enrol PLAN 480 in the Fall and agree to pay for the accumulated interest, or (2) enrol PLAN 480 in the Spring, pay for the extra tuition and petition to be exempt from paying interest.

Both options involves me paying $600, so I choose Option 1-- it's less work.

In related news, there has been recent TV spots about a New OSAP. According to the website, "the new OSAP is about possibilities."

I wonder if it would be possible to forgive my loans.

It's time to have some dessert and cover up the bitterness in my mouth.

I'm going to interrupt my regularly scheduled programming of Oxford pictures for a rant.

As all of you all know, I take the 53 Steeles East bus everyday to and from work, and I have noticed for a while now that there are no garbage/recycle bins at any of the bus stops along Steeles from Warden to about Markham Road.

Many of these stops are infested with beverage cups, burger wrappers-- you name it. The situation gets worse when people attempt to place their garbage in those free media boxes (i.e. the Big Yellow Box), which means the garbage is never collected.

I am not a big fan of The Fixer, so I decided to take matters into my own hands and make a few phone calls.

I figured that because the bus stops going westbound are north of Steeles, it should be within Markham's jurisdiction to take care of it. After being transfered several times, I was told that because TTC operates the Steeles route, it is the City of Toronto's responsibility.

Fine.

I found out that it is the responsibility of transportation services in the Scarborough district--now the "East District"--to look after public garbage bins, and gave them a call. I was told that it was Markham's responsibility, because it is north of Steeles.

So now what?

My garbage bin dilemma is great example of the problems related to today's municipal structure-- this lack of coordination spreads from all areas such as the provision of capital infrastructure and social services, as well as dealing with growth and environmental management.

You can use pesticides in York Region, but not in Toronto. What good is that for the environment when we reside in the same watershed? My closest library is actually the Alton Towers branch-- but I cannot use it because I'm not a Toronto resident. I take the TTC everyday to work, but as a Markham resident, I don't contribute to transit subsidies. All GTA municipalities essentially function as one economic unit, so why should we be governed separately? It all seems so counter-intuitive.

This is why I'm so keen on better regional planning. I truly believe that a GTA regional governance structure-- an superimposed regional council including Toronto, York, Peel, Durham and Halton-- will really help to even out the playing field for Greater Toronto.

This idea is nothing new, the Greater Toronto Services Board was created by the conservative government in 1998 "to promote and facilitate co-ordinated decision making among the municipalities in the Greater Toronto Area", but was disbanded in 2002 after huge criticisms that it was "hobbled by a small budget, (and) a fuzzy mandate."

Surely there are some tweaks that need fixing for the GTSB, but I believe that the provincial Conservatives were onto something--they simply gave up too soon. If we provided it (1) authority over land-use planning (2) increased taxing powers, (3) oversees all regional services equitably. The third point may be harder than I make it sound, but I won't go any further, as this topic is a thesis in itself.

As for my garbage dilemma, there continues to be a tug-of-war between the two municipalities and the City of Toronto will get back to me when they have resolved the issue, but when?

Until then, garbage will continue to fill newspaper boxes. It's a great day for Toronto.

Update- June 13:
City of Toronto got back to me, and informed me that they will be taking care of both sides of Steeles Ave when it comes to garbage bins. But, at this time, the City is out of bins to install, we will have to wait until a new shipment will arrive. She could not tell me a date in which it will be installed.

Developing the Framework for a Greater Toronto Services Board - [mah.gov.on.ca]
Regional planning and transit: adequate funding is the key - [transport2000qc.org]
Neglect breeds sprawl - [eye.net]
Greater Toronto Services Board Act, 1998 - [e-laws.gov.on.ca]

I have no idea what the history is, but it is apparent that England has a highly entrenched culture of drinking-- and particularly binge drinking. So what should us good Canadians do? Join them of course!

Here are some interesting shots of the bar trips we made while we were in Oxford.

Park End:
Park End was the first place we ventured to-- this place was definitely ranked top out of all the bars/clubs we went to. It was a multi-genre, multi-level club-slash-lounge. Levels are open to below, so that you can look down to see what's going on-- similar to the now demolished I.T.

Music rocked! By the way, the English pretty much listen to the same stuff as us-- there was hardly any songs we weren't familiar with.

Still quite sober.

Tiff and me with Shawn's favourite beer.

Tee hee. The face that was cut off is Tessa. Me and Tessa couldn't fit in the 5-person cab that night, so we walked for a hour back home.

FUBAR @ The Venue:
Just like Waterloo, Oxford has a FUBAR-- but FUBAR refers to the weekly event-- aptly the venue is called "The Venue." FUBAR, I learned, stands for "fucked up beyond all recognition" and has references from the military. I suppose this term can easily be applied to a bar setting.

FUBAR is the Fed Hall of Oxford Brookes. Beer is served in damn plastic cups-- campus anal-retentive measures-- which means beer is spilt left right and centre. But on the bright note, beers are £1-- a Carling, which nastily resembles a Moosehead.

Us on the Brookes Bus to the bar-- don't be fooled by the picture. English kids get really rowdy when drunk. Drunkenness on the bus involves singing the Oxford Brookes theme song-- unknown to us-- as well as nearly smashing bus windows.

"Hey sexy lad[ies], I like you flow (wuh oh)."

Peekaboo! Matt becomes FUBAR at FUBAR.

dIs iZ mY aTemPt aT soMe AzN pRyDe.

Here we are in that neat Salsa room. There was this great salsa dancer who definitely had a handful with our ladies.

Last minute pose before we're off for the last Brookes Bus.

Fuzzy Ducks @ The Zodiac:
Fuzzy Ducks is another themed night in a more grungy-looking venue. At night, the street setting, Cowley Road, resembles the Annex on Bloor-- a lively street with a great sense of community.

The music that night was acceptable. The drinks were again cheap, probably because of the student town-- £1 to £2 for beers and cocktails.

Here's the only picture of the evening. All other pictures are censored to protect the innocent. Let's just say it involves many planners taking off their shirts. Oh boy.

The Stumble Inn:
Do you follow the pun? Stumble Inn is the local pub in the Harcourt Hill campus-- where we were staying. It's a much quieter bar, since our campus is quite tiny-- and is more seen as a pre-drinking venue. People actually purchase drinks here, bring it back to their residence to drink before they head out.

This place is also great for getting change for the laundry in the afternoon!

Jeff, our prof in green, treated us to drinks-- courtesy of our late-arrival program: anyone who doesn't arrive on time for field trips are fined £1.

It looks like Tiff is attempting to eat Fadi's head. I could understand because she was always hungry. Look how frightened Fadi is.

Cheers to Oxford!