Wow, British Columbia follows Ontario's footsteps and announced today a largely comprehensive plan for improved transit in the Greater Vancouver, Victoria, and communities in the Fraser Valley. Coincidentally, both Ontario and BC plans are expected to be complete in 2020.

According to the press release, the plan is a $14 billion package includes:

• $10.3 billion investment in four new rapid transit lines in Metro Vancouver—the Evergreen Line, the UBC Line, the upgraded Expo Line and the Canada Line


• $1.2 billion for a new, cutting edge energy efficient, high capacity RapidBus BC service along nine major routes in the high growth urban centres of Kelowna, Victoria and Metro Vancouver


• $1.6 billion investment in 1,500 new, clean energy buses and related maintenance infrastructure to provide communities around the province with improved bus service


• increased security measures to enhance transit safety and use

I am particularly the RapidBus BC service in areas in Kelowna and Victoria where no rapid transit services currently exist. The Vancouver projects aren't particularly new, since plans have existed for the UBC Line for quite some time, and of course the Canada Line and the Evergreen Line have already been announced-- in fact, the Canada Line is currently under construction.

Now I think it's the race to the finish! Which province will accomplish their projects sooner, Ontario or British Columbia? Anyone confident enough to place some bets?

The Provincial Transit Plan - [th.gov.bc.ca]
B.C. unveils huge transit plan - [theglobeandmail.com]

Yep. I hate to break it to you, but Adam G and me are tight.

Well. Not so much.

But I have been pulling shifts at the CNE for the Streetcars of Tomorrow exhibit, and I was lucky enough to work last Thursday to catch the media event, where Adam G and other internal execs were expected to speak.

My boss placed me under his wing, and introduced me to Adam. I was being all 'professional' and nonchallant about the encounter. But inside I was all starstruck and melting inside. I tried to control my tendency to chuckle when I'm nervious, but I don't think I was too successful. I think I was a bit uncomfortable because he has a similar geeky nature, and the fact that he runs my beloved TTC at such a young age really strikes a chord with me.

Essentially, I look up to him-- and I had to, literally, since he's so tall.

My boss introduced me to Adam as "our last coop student" since my position is getting the axe due to the cutbacks and the hiring freeze. He sounded regretful and answered that "it was too bad." Haha. Hopefully, that comment will raise some realities to him about what's going on internally.

PS: Oh I didn't get a picture with him. I figured I had to refrain from doing so, given that I'm still representing my department. But if I came as a normal civilian, I'd be so there. Grr.

There were many other TTC big shots there. Aside from the Chair, the Chief General Manager Gary Webster, and Deputy General manager Rick Cornacchia were also present. They were both very friendly and actively introduced themselves to this low-ranked co-op student.

That night, I thought to myself, could I grow up to be these successful gentlemen? One can only dream at this point.

More about my experience at the Streetcars of Tomorrow exhibit when I return to Waterloo.

Labour Day is the last chance to check out the streetcar mockups, so go to the Ex and take a look!

Streetcars of Tomorrow - [metblogs.com]

Meet Presto, Greater Toronto's long-awaited integrated fare card system. Ontario's initiative to improve the way GTA-ers pay fares will finally put us in line with other transit authorities in North America and around the world.

Presto will be rolled out next month on a trial basis on select routes in Mississuaga which make connections to GO Transit stations at Meadowvale and Cooksville, as well as at Union Station.

Presto is expected to be fully rolled out in Brampton, Burlington, Durham Region, Hamilton, Mississauga, Oakville, York Region and GO transit systems by 2010. One key transit system is oddly missing is the TTC. Because of TTC's large fleet of 1,500 buses and 250 some streetcars, there has not been a deal reached as to who will pay for the implemetentaion of card readers across the TTC system.

During full implementation, TTC will only accept the Presto card at the five key subway stations with interregional connections at Don Mills, Downsview, Finch, Islington, and Union stations.

What do you guys think of the name Presto? If you have a music background, you'd know that Presto means quick or fast in Italian. I suppose we use the term colloqually as well. I suppose the name is acceptable, but it's missing a bit of local flavour and pizzaz. Perhaps we can follow the footsteps of LuminaTO, and spell it PresTO. At least in that case, there's a reference to our region.

Presto Card official website - [prestocard.ca]
Smart card - [wikipedia.org]
Southern Ont. to see multi-system transit fare card
Fare enough: Single card aims to ease ticket trouble - [thestar.com]

I don't know if you guys have been following the transit news the past few weeks, but there has been tonnes of new transit annoucments. First, Premier McGuinty announced an ambitious $17.5 billion infrastructure plan that would blanket the Greater Golden Horseshoe to improve transit access within the region.

McGuinty announced that the Ontario government would invest $11.5 billion in transit projects, with an expectation that the federal government will chip in $6 billion. Many of you might be think that such a condition would hinder any kind of projects to move forward, and that's why McGuinty has promised that projects will continue regardless of support by the Feds.

There are a total of 52 projects presented, some of which I am very pleased to be hearing about. For instance, there are long-overdue plans to extend the Yonge subway to Highway 7, the full implementation of the TTC Transit City light rail plan, as well as the construction of dedicated transitways on the VIVA network. Aside from municipal projects, GO Transit will see the expansion of new rail lines into north Pickering, the extension of existing routes to Barrie in the north and Bowmanville in the east, as well as Bolton in the northwest. GO bus rapid transit projects are also planned in the 905 regions.

The ambitious plan has not been well-received in local papers as it has been criticized for being a blatant pre-election campaign promise. The Toronto Star was definitely cynical by publishing this announcement in Page 6 of the paper. While I can understand a bit of cynicism about these plans, especially as McGuinty has not been the greatest promise keeper (i.e. Ontario Health Premium), I think that he cannot afford to not keep his promise on this issue. I think that our transportation woes have become such a state of urgency that no party can ignore.

So yes, I support McGuinty and his great transit plan. I hope to see fast results if he gets elected, or otherwise I will hope a huge political grudge against him. I encourage all you readers to do the same and rise to the occasion to ensure that he keeps his promise.

Let us all not forget what he promised on June 15, 2007!

MoveOntario 2020 Backgrounder - [ontario.ca]
MoveOntario 2020 Projects - [ontario.ca]
MoveOntario 2020 Map - [ontario.ca]

Today was a fun day at work as we unveiled TTC's plan to purchse a new fleet of light rail vehicles to replace our current streetcars.

The public consultation plan is named "Transfer to the Future-- Toronto is Transit City." I like the pun on the transfer thing, and I'm really impressed with the good start to the public consultation process. It's getting people excited about the future of light rail transit, and the website is surprisingly vibrant, exciting, youthful and psychadelic-- especially the fabulous video (click on 'Video' at the bottom of the flash page). I have been hearing the addictive tune of the video throughout the office. Haha.

Browse through the website, and let TTC know what you like or don't like from the world's stock of LRVs.

Transfer to the Future - [mynewstreetcar.ca]
What Do You Want in the New TTC Streetcars? - [blogto.com]
Transit City - [transitcity.ca]

From Toronto:

• Under the advice of outside consultant, Scarborough councillors and TTC staff agree that a subway is not the best option for replacing the aging Scarborough Rapid Transit Line.


• TTC closer to striking a deal with Bombardier to purchase new articulated subway trains on the Yonge-University-Spadina line.
  
• Weston residents want the restructuring of bus routes on 73 Royal York, 89 Weston Rd, 165 Weston Rd North and 96 Wilson.


• Toronto and York officials are pressuring federal conservatives to fund its share of the Spadina subway extension.

From York:
All from YRT's MyTransit bulletin.

• YRT changes its 'YRT/Viva 1system' imprint logo to a new bubbly "Y" Viva-like typeface.


• Viva rapid transit celebrates its first birthday.


• YRT to introduce online trip planning this fall.

From Mississauga:

• Use Click 'n Ride, MT's online trip planner, and enter to win an iPod Nano.

From Brampton:

• BT improves service on 16 existing routes and adds three additional new routes this Fall.

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.

This entry is long overdue. There are many irritating things I have been forced to put up with while taking the TTC, mostly related to etiquette.

Listen up folks, and spread the word. Cooperation will make our transit system a better experience for everyone. Here they are in random order.

1. Keep your music to yourself
There is a person every morning on the 53 Steeles East who must listen to Real McCoy's Runaway, every morning. Over and over.

I would runaway too, just to get that fucking song out of my mind, but I don't want to be late for work.

Mobile music devices are clearly for personal use. Let's all keep it that way, and keep the music down. I loathe the sound of blasting music from people's headphones, especially that static sound.

Yes, buses and trains can be very loud, but do your eardrums and other passengers a favour, and keep it down. If I can hear it, it's too loud!

2. Cell phone irritants
Passengers do not want to know what you did last night, or what you're having for dinner, or what your boyfriend thinks of you. Please keep your cell phone conversations to a minimum. And if you must, please keep a discrete conversation volume. If your caller can't hear you because the bus is too loud, hang up and talk later. If your caller can't hear you, it does not give you permission to speak louder.

3. Be courteous to bus operators
People do not understand how difficult a bus operator's job actually is. Operators always have to be on full alert to:

• ensure all passengers are picked up and dropped off
• ensure the safety of passengers
• ensure the safety of other road users (mind you many are rageful, having to be trailed by a bus)
• ensure people pay their fare
• ...all while driving a large bus

Be nice to the operator, and ensure a smoother and more pleasant ride for everyone. Yes, I understand some operators need to be more "customer-service" minded, but nonetheless, respect them.
Some points to note:

• Don't attack them for forgetting open the rear doors; they're human just like you and me
• Don't make vulgar hand gestures if the bus can't stop at your stop for one reason for another. There is obviously a good reason why he/she cannot pick you up or drop you off (i.e. buses along express routes, bus too full)

4. Board buses and enter escalators in an orderly fashion
I understand that we all need to get to our desired destinations quickly, but please do not push and shove when boarding the bus. Pushing and shoving will only hinder the flow of passengers boarding. Aside from that, using physical force is just not cool. It's quite sad that people give up their civility, just to get a seat on the bus.

The weekday AM and PM peak periods are usually the times when seats on the bus are limited. If you're at a bus terminal and you're really eager to get a seat on the bus, just be rest assured that another bus is coming shortly.

This goes for entering escalators too. We often encounter a big bottleneck at the base of the escalator after leaving a subway train. Be courteous and do not push and shove. There are many occaisions where people have fallen from all the pushing and shoving. I certainly wouldn't like to be stepped on, and I'm sure neither do you.

5. Don't leave newspapers on the train/bus
I know some passengers want to preserve the environment and be courteous by leaving newspapers on the train/bus for other passengers to peruse.

Don't.

This sounds bizarre from the pseudo tree-hugger. Do not leave your Metro's, 24 Hours', Dose's on trains and buses. As you might notice, newspapers that remain on the train/bus just inevitably rest on the train/bus floor. Since no one likes to read stepped-on newspaper, that's where the newsaper rests for the remainder of the day.

Also, newspapers that are found cleanly on transit seats are less likely to be disposed/recycled by "second hand" readers later in the day. You can ask yourself if my statement is true. Thus, break the chain, and bring your newspapers with you when you leave the train/bus.

The fact is, newspapers lingering on the train/bus floor causes safety concerns for subway passengers.

You can still exercise your Captain Planet spirit by placing your newspapers in the new recycling receptacles or in Eucan advertising can's citywide.

6. Mind your backpack
Although it sounds counter-intuitive, never leave your backpack on your back. In crowded trains and buses, place your backpack on your lap when sitting, or on the floor in front of you when standing. This creates a lot more room for passengers, especially during rush hours and better prevents theft. Most importantly, it ensures passengers don't get inadvertently knocked out as you, or the bus, move.

7. Keep for feet to the floor
Let's be courteous and polite Torontonians, don't put for feet up to the other seats. Seats are for sitting. I personally like my ass clean and free of salt stains, thanks.

8. Know your express/rocket routes
Express routes (usually designated with the route suffix "E") usually operate along the same routing as the regular routes but with a reduced number of stops. They have been implemented so as to provide faster trips to those living in the further stretches of bus routes. Do not attack the bus operator for not allowing you to get off [See "Be courteous to bus operators"]. This firmly applies even when the bus has stopped for red lights or congestion.

Express routes are implemented for a logical reason and allowing passengers to get off at non-designated stops essentially defeats the purpose of running them. If you take an express bus, but don't know which stops the bus stops at, simply ask the operator, or check out the route map on most TTC bus stop poles. A yellow circle with the letter "E" indicates where the stops on the route where it will service. See 39 Finch East, 191 Scarborough Centre Rocket, or 192 Highway 27 Rocket, for example.

9. Mind the subway doors
Do not block the subway doors. I have made a comment about this before.

Don't do it.

It's not safe and lacks common sense to stand right where people are eagerly trying to enter the train. If you stand at the doorway, it only causes the loading and unloading process to take longer, and making the trip longer for yourself and others.

If you happen to be standing at the doorway when the train is pulled into a station, either move further into the train or temporarily step out of the train and onto the platform's edge to allow ample room for passengers to exit the train.

Do not charge subway doors. The chimes is not a signal for people to sprint into the train. Subway trains come at least every 5 minutes. Getting squeezed by the subways doors incoveniences the passengers already on board, and makes you look like an idiot.

Don't do it.

10. Walk Left, Stand Right
When using escalators, walk left, stand right. It's very easy: walk left, stand right.

Walk left, stand right. Altogether now: walk left, stand right.

I'm in the cheering mode.

As Shawn, Shima, and Jason already know, I take any chance to take VIVA-- since I just love it too much, and I must show my support.

I met up with my sister tonight after work to take VIVA to further goign on our gluttony ways and eat at First Markham and get my bookstore fix at Chapters.

This is the first time I took VIVA during rush hour, and definitely it is a totally difference experience than my leisure trips on the weekend. Here are some of my trips highlights:

• Finch Station VIVA Guides
• Lots of VIVA Riders(!!!)
• Colour route names is not a good idea
• Video Screens
• Damn Traffic
• Dirty Seats

This is totally what they need, because I continue to witness a lot of people not knowing what VIVA is, and wait for the regular Highway 7 Route, for example. I hope these VIVA Guides spread the good news to the York people.
 

Lots of VIVA Riders(!!!)
This makes me feel quite jolly inside. The VIVA Blue Line (Finch Stn. - Newmarket Terminal) was almost out of seats when I was on it, bearing in mind that the VIVA Blue line uses the extra long 18-metre articulated buses.
 

Colour route names is not a good idea
VIVA Routes are represented by colour: Blue, Green, Orange, Pink, and Purple. On VIVA Bus route signs, it lists just that: "VIVA Green," for example.

As much as it is a creative way to distingish "rapid" and "non-rapid" bus routes, what VIVA has neglected is that York Region is a magnet of new immigrants who may not be able to read English well. My former nanny understands that Route 53 is a Steeles Bus, because of what Lindsay Lohan so eloquently said in Mean Girls:

[Math] is the same in every country.

VIVA should either place a complementary number to its routes, or actually depict the colour of the route on its buses.
 

Video Screens
VIVA promised video screens on its buses, and they are slowly being implemented on buses on VIVA Blue. They are affixed high on the wall just behind the bus operator. The screen interface and size is similar to those new colour ONESTOP Network screens on TTC Subway platforms-- with the same CP24 look.

Damn Traffic
One of VIVA's taglines on their website is: Traffic? What Traffic?

Right.

There are a few trouble spots where VIVA seriously comes to a halt: (1) along Yonge Street and (2) around the Beaver Creek "CBD". As much as it is exciting to see medium-rise office towers around Highway 7 and Leslie, the traffic around that area is horrendous-- as everyone is ragingly eager to get their one-occupant car on the 404/407.

We definitely need put the 'rapid' in rapid transit to service this area to make it sustainable. Sure the "Queue Jump Lanes" help a bit but a VIVA dedicated right-of-way will be the icing on the cherry.
 

Dirty Seats
Just after 4 months of operations, the seats are already starting to look kind of dirty. Could you fully blame the passengers though? The seats are coloured moderately-light blue. If my mom saw the seats, she would right off the bat mention how it's so "ng kum woo jo" or "not resistant to dirt." Anyways, becuase some seats on VIVA are positioned face-to-face (a la GO Train), it automatically becomes a footrest for some passengers-- and thus causing this awful brown salt stain.

VIVA Bus Rapid Transit - [wikipedia.org]

Someone lately has been tampering with the integrity of the VIVA Wiki information, and I read about information related to a VIVA White and VIVA Black line to be implemented in future phases along John Street - Denison Street-- among some others. This is completely false, and has since been taken off.

Last weekend, I had the honour to take VIVA, York Region's newest rapid transit system. Bowie and I decided to drive to First Markham Place (given that we live in Milliken) and take VIVA Purple line (Town Centre Blvd. -> York University). Our destination was set for the Promenade in Thornhill.

Here are my brief thoughts (It's all about 'briefs' now):

VIVA is comfortable
The bus seats are very confortable and the seat's is high so that it supports my neck-- which is always a bonus.

VIVA is dependable
We took the VIVA on Sunday, and the bus came in less than 10 minutes. According to VIVA, bus frequencies will be at least every 15 minutes-- which is almost short of a miracle in the suburban world.

VIVA fare payments are easy
On VIVA, you pay before you board. At every VIVAstation, you can purchase validated fare tickets. You can purchase your ticket using cash or credit card.

Boarding VIVA is faster
Because your ticket is prepaid, you can skip the operator and you, like the subway, can use all available doors. Like the GO Train, the service is an honour system.

VIVA is high-tech
Using GPS, VIVA tells you when the bus arrives at your stop. Also, on the bus, VIVA automatically announces the next stop.

VIVA has no ads
The entire bus, inside and out, has no ads. I love it! No consumer distractions!

VIVA Drivers have nice uniforms
I swear, I wonder how I can get my hands on a VIVA tie? It would be so neat to go to work at PIR with a VIVA tie. "Eat your heart out, colleagues."

However, VIVA can't possibly be everything we'd hope for. Here are a few points.

VIVA is not (yet) competitive to the car
VIVA uses the sames lanes as the regular traffic, which means we get to be congested on Highway 7 around Highway 404. This is not good. We must wait for VIVA Phase II for dedicated transitways.

VIVA is not accessible in my community
VIVA currently runs along Highway 7 and Yonge Street. As I mentioned, we had to purposely drive to go to a Vivastation and ride it. The VIVA Green line (Markham Centre -> Don Mills Station) will start operations in October, but still, the stations are quite far from my place.

If you have nothing to do one day, I strongly suggest you to try VIVA. I again want to commend York for their strive for a more competitive mode of transportation in our region that we so critically need.

If only I could say the same about the Big Pipe issue-- but that's another story.

Everyone, I'd like you all to meet my new girlfriend, Viva.

Viva is the new rapid transit brand for York Region, and I must say I'm really loving her. Even though she doesn't exactly exist yet, but she's cumming. Phase 1 of Viva will be completed in Fall 2005, which will involve all-new low riding rapid transit buses, queue jump lanes, transit signal priority, and up-to-the-minute transit information at bus stops. Although this is still far from efficient transit service, I really feel this is a great and positive step in York Region.

Phase 2 will be what I really dream about. Although York is still negotiating a contribution agreement, I would think that the project will be finalized sometime late 2005-early 2006. Phase 2 will involve fully dedicated bus lanes (similar to the Spadina LRT, but with BRT) in the centre of the following avenues:

> Yonge from Newmarket to Finch Station
> Highway 7 from Martin Grove in Vaughan to Cornell in Markham
> Vaughan Interchange District to the new York University Station.
> Markham Centre to Don Mills Station.

Here's the transit route map for more details.

Wow. Wow. Wow. Although I estimate that I will be 30 by the time this project is complete, it's still better late than never. Too bad it's not close enough to my house, but Denison and McCowan Stations would benefit me most.

... there's a Phase 3, but let's just not even go there. I'd by an old granny before that time comes. It involves light rail.

There's this one thing about the Viva logo. I must give credit to Novae Res Urbis -- an municipal politics newsjournal -- for this interesting finding?

Viva La Diff?nce?

Along with York's ambitious rapid transit plan, York has also developed a strong regional growth strategy. Following this strategy is definitely another story. I attended a few presentations from York officials this term about how they're striving to build more sustainable land-uses. Let me show you a visual timelines they've developed on how the urban landscape will change in the next decades. The images are almost surreal. I was thinking of making a GIF of these images to really show the essence of the changes, but I didn't install ImageReady.

Here they are. The location depicted is around Interchange Way aka "Vaughan Corporate Centre". Home of IKEA Vaughan, Dave & Busters, FP Colossus, and what I call 'Outlet Mall Country':

> Vaughan Stage 1
> Vaughan Stage 2
> Vaughan Stage 3
> Vaughan Stage 4
> Here's another perspective on Yonge Street.

Personally, as a planner who really wishes to see this kind of development, it almost seems unreal that this can materialize especially in Vaughan-- which is undeniably the worst municipality in York in abiding Smart Growth principles.

As a proud suburbanite, even I think that the developments in Vaughan are disgustingly depressing and they definitely don't reflect on the efforts to bring more sustainable growth in the rest of York. Given the circumstances York being a Toronto suburb, Markham and Richmond Hill are doing a great job in changing its previous sprawl development habits-- at least doing a better job than Cambridge , Vaughan and Mississauga. As for Richmond Hill, it's land is pretty much completely utilized, so the only way to grow there is up-- which is great to know.

What am I getting at again? I always do this. I just want to let you all know how enthusiastic I am about the developments in York Region, and hopefully, I have sparked some enthusiasm to you all as well-- WOO, Go Viva! Go York! I'd love to talk up Markham, so bring it on! I'd love to talk about it.

Note: Due to database corruption issues from November 7, 2004 to December 21, 2004, entry comments may been deleted, or misplaced. I have tried to recall some of the comments that was mentioned.

Seriously I have 'transit rage'.

It's worse than road rage because I least I can go and honk my ass off without really fearing my safety. Yes, there are just some things passengers do on the subways that makes me so damn pissed.

Today I'm going to speak of those who persist on leaning on the panel perpendicular to the subway doors. FUCK. I was boarding the train at St. George Station (University-Spadina) the other morning. Needless to say, it is a pretty busy ass station. So as those on the platform anxiously wait for the train passengers to get off, there are two big losers'Mary Kate' and 'Ashley'leaning on the panel. Passengers literally had to squeeze through these people and climb onto the train. Ugh, and knowing my morning crankiness, I'm not a happy camper.

Anyways, already pissed about these inconsiderate chicks, I aggressively wedged sideways into the train along with another passenger as the infamous TTC "doors closing" chime rings. As I got on, I then realized that I have stepped on poor Mary Kate's toe.

Here's a little insider: you see, Mary Kate is not one of the ladies you want to mess with. Her physical appearance reeks 'stuck up high maintenance bitch'--with her LV purse, flashy earrings, light bronze tan, perfect salon-hair, ?flawless? made-up skin. After the toe episode, she crazily shrieked. I looked back at her and then she looked back and rolled her eyes at me to Ashley as if I've done something wrong. I then suggested to her that maybe she shouldn't stand in the doorway, because it makes passengers difficult to get off and board. She pretends to not hear me and refuses to give me eye contact. What was I thinking--what could I expect from a shrewd lard ass bitch?

A few matters came into mind later that morning:
1. Why are rich-ass bitches Mary Kate and Ashley taking the frickin? subway anyway? Shouldn't they be riding in a Buick with some old sugar daddy? UGH!
2. C'mon Mary Kate, your toe was asking for it. Wish I was wearing steel toe.
3. Was that a real LV purse? It was the traditional monogram multicolor bag; famous for its knockoffs. Ugh, I should have paid better attention.

Seriously I should suggest to the TTC to start installing pin needles on the panels and give folks like Mary Kate and Ashley the time of their lives if they persist to lean on it. Fuckers! Yes, it's one thing to block the doorway when the subway is completely packed and you can?t move in, but seriously, when there?s room, move the fuck into the train! There seriously needs to be a published document on transit etiquette.

Yes, I'm bitter, sue me. This is partly due to tiredness and antsiness.

Other than that, life is pretty good. Knock on wood.... Yes, knock it.