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aliens, welcome to the war on cars 🛸

august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 30/09/2026

there is already has a piece of busway infrastructure along the finch hydro corridor, a relic of the bus operations to york before the subway extension. it's now only used by the 939 bus.

old photo showing a fishbowl bus on the york university busway, amid hydro towers.

Photo: Reaperexpress

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august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 30/09/2026

the scarborough busway should inspire the city to look into longer, more permanent busways on available right-of-ways that can produce rapid transit speeds at cheaper cost and timelines. the one with greatest potential, i think, is finch east. this would transform east-west travel in scarborough.

Finch busway concept along the hydro corridor from finch west station to around Malvern. Various branches that leave the busway depicted, to Milliken, Scarborough Centre, and deeper into Malvern

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august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 29/09/2026

There's a TTC survey about the experience of using the new platform fences at TMU station. great opportunity to tell them that you are dissatisfied with these fences and to push them to build real platform edge doors, be it half-height or full-height. www.surveymonkey.com/r/TTCxTMUPla...

platform edge fence along the yellow line at a subway platform

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august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 25/09/2026

my bad, I'll start the world socialist revolution this monday instead of petitioning against transit service cuts🥀

instagram reply: reversing budget cuts to go transit can't be done by appealing the same government carrying them out.

defending public transit is bound up with the defense of all social programs, public education, healthcare, disability benefits, etc against the capitalist policy of austerity, trade war, real war, privatization and for socialism i.e. power through world socialist revolution

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august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 24/09/2026

the best season has arrived in my beloved city

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august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 22/09/2026

subway service interruptions are a top TTC complaint. if there was an infrastructure fix available that could eliminate 85% of delays, it is one that would be popular with the transit-riding public, and leave a lasting legacy on the system. food for thought in the upcoming election.

pie chart: most common preventable delays in minutes

debris at track level (3%)
fire-related (25%)
train in contact with person (27%)
track intrusion (42%)

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august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 21/09/2026

44 seconds of "transit signal priority" on toronto's line 5 and kitchener-waterloo's ion LRT

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august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 19/09/2026

usual sight on the toronto subway at 11:30pm. don't let campaigning right-wingers tell you transit is a desolate wasteland and no one's taking it because they fear for their life. that is so far from the truth in toronto. ask any of these people what they want most & they'll say "run more trains"

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august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 19/09/2026

this trusty cart feeds my household of 3 for the low price of 1/200th of a car. it can go on the bus and is also a free exercise

expandable food cart on wheels with some food items inside

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august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 18/09/2026

one could envision a similar station for an extended & modernized RT. this is a corner of the city that won't be getting rapid transit for a long time, but back when these renderings were made, the expectation was that this line would venture deep into scarborough by present day.

diagram of extended scarborough line from kennedy to malvern

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august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 18/09/2026

stumbled upon these old designs from architecture firm gh3* of line 5's "centennial station". very 2010s minimalism, though i really love the colour pop. this was submitted back when the plan was to continue Line 5 as a grade-separated LRT from kennedy to malvern.

elevator and staircase bank on the ground floor of an elevated station. on the left is a purple panel wall with centennial in large type, and on the right is a glass facade with some bike racks outside

exterior of the station, showing the elevated viaduct and covered centre platform over a glass and panel station on an incline

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august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 14/09/2026

halifax, japan (i really like how this newer building slots in between the old wooden maritime apartments)

narrow 5 storey building made of faded bronze panelling with wood railing elements along flush balconies. in between old 2-5 storey maritime apartments made of wood and of multiple colours, typical of older & denser halifax neighbourhoods

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august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 12/09/2026

yea, i'm not buying this. they're just incompetent. plenty transit agencies made significant service boosts during fifa, and then returned to normal, with some exceptions in the US. this is literally metrolinx:

person riding bike who puts stick in the front wheel meme

frame 1: metrolinx

frame 2: (putting stick in wheel) their own crewing policies and inability to work with GO expansion partners

frame 3: (falls over) "who could've foreseen these cuts! It's the soccer people's fault!"

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august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 04/09/2026

toronto has a decades-low murder rate and is among the safest major cities in the world, but the conservative machine has done a phenomenal job on convincing everyone of some alternate reality where the opposite is true. just scroll instagram for a bit or turn on CP24 & you'd think we live in hell

citynews headline: new poll finds toronto viewed as one of Canada's least safe cities

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august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 04/09/2026

dusk, somewhere outside halifax 🌅

evening orange-yellow skies over the atlantic coast. white rocks and low grass hills in the foreground, more rugged coastline in the distance

evening blue-purple skies over the atlantic coast, with the rising moon shining over the water. white rocks and low grass hills in the foreground

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august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 03/09/2026

toronto summers are unmatched, they say

killer knocking on 3 doors meme. the first door reads "40 degrees celsius", the second door reads "apocalyptic smoke" and the 3rd door reads "the floods". The killer is knocking on the last door, blood trails leave from the previous 2 doors.

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august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 03/09/2026

getting into cross-boundary territory: there's a very convenient bus terminal that has room for the 7 bathurst to terminate, instead of ending at steeles. provides far better connections to riders going to/from york region

terminal of the bathurst bus as it loops around bathurst and Steeles on google maps, with a red line drawn up to promenade terminal at promenade shopping centre

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august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 03/09/2026

unless there's a plan to close stops on line 5's eastern surface section, there is no need for a parallel 34 bus east of science centre/don valley. it is duplicative. the 34 should only run between don valley and mount dennis, where the LRT has wider stop spacing and gaps

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august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 03/09/2026

while I'm up here in the northeast: extend 905 service to malvern town centre as well. it'll be a fine precursor to whatever much-delayed rapid transit ends up here later, providing a new direct route to uoft. starting to think they should just build a small bus terminal in malvern...

google map with 905b to uoft scarborough shown. a green line is drawn as an extension to malvern town centre via ellesmere and neilson

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august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 03/09/2026

i could probably do a loong thread! the finch 39A should extend to malvern town centre instead of terminating a few hundred metres north. makes this route a lot more useful for malvern residents since this links a major crosstown bus to the main node of the community & connects to the 131.

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august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 02/09/2026

unfortunate parallels between nova scotia and ontario: premier tim houston regularly interferes in municipal decisionmaking around halifax street/intersection redesigns and bike lakes, on the basis of "congestion and safety". canadian cities need autonomy from their provincial overlords.

two way bike lane on brunswick in halifax

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august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 31/08/2026

i take it you've read this book as well! shame they never kept the system

yellow cover book with photo of trolleybuses in the 60s

title: Halifax - city of Trolleycoaches by Paul A Leger and Loring M Lawrence

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august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 28/08/2026

poorly taken photo of tonight's eclipse and also the halifax skyline

red-hue moon in the shadow of the earth with a sliver of light on the top right edge

halifax's skyline viewed from the other side of the harbour, above some bushes

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august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 28/08/2026

fond of this art installation that looks like it's an arrangement of fishing nets, which appears to outline a sailboat when viewed from a certain angle

fishing net art installation that forms a sailboat from a certain angle. it is lit from beneath, as it is night time

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august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 28/08/2026

halifax's waterfront is pretty impressive. it's continuous, well-lit, integrated with downtown, has some art, ample individual and group seating, and retail directly on the space. the level of activity at 9pm is testament to the success of its design. people love to hang out here

small boardwalk market with some tables with umbrellas, string lights overhead, and stalls

an pier that juts out from the main waterfront boardwalk, which forms an inclined path on the roof of a restaurant. the photo is taken from atop the inclined roof

view of the waterfront as it weasels around piers jutting out into the harbour, brightly lit and containing abundant covered tables and seats. some ships are docked

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august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 27/08/2026

halifax is a very pleasant city to be in, love it here

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august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 27/08/2026

i like that halifax route 1 is sooo frequent at night (every 10 to 15 min until 1am). in a sea of infrequent late night buses in halifax, the 1 feels like a lifeline to avoid long, lonely waits that would otherwise turn me off from staying out late, or using transit at night altogether

next bus screen on transit app showing buses in 0, 2, 9, and 23 min

halifax transit bus leaves a quiet neighbourhood bus stop at night

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august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 27/08/2026

ooh how i missed being by the ocean

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august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 26/08/2026

the bus ride is smooth ... until we're near the bridge to the peninsula! it's a fairly narrow 3-lane bridge where traffic seems OK; issues arise with traffic queues approaching the bridge. there's a short bus queue jump, but the transit priority doesn't seem as effective or substantial enough

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august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 26/08/2026

non-existent wayfinding is a real barrier. if we weren't *committed* to taking transit, we would have easily given up on finding out where to catch the bus. ex: this elevator connecting the terminal level to the bus stop level (LL) ... only shows that there's a car rental lot here.

elevator directory

north terminal

2-4 is parking
1 is airport entrance and parking
LL is ... car rental? but the bus stop is here too and not shown!

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august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 26/08/2026

i always like to take transit from the airport in every city i visit as a first impression, and today it's halifax! main takeaway: please run this bus more than once every 30 minutes, it's packed to the gills 🫪 the bus' interior isn't configured well for luggage storage, exacerbating crowding

Halifax transit bus pulling up to stop. headsign reads 320 downtown halifax via bridge terminal

crowded bus interior, with bags and luggage blocking the aisle

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august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 25/08/2026

policy failure: covering up a fare reader, because people routinely tap on the wrong reader, because metrolinx insists on two separate fare readers for its two parallel services on this corridor. just integrate fares between UPX and GO, already. end the confusion and make transit easier to use!

covered up presto reader with arrows pointing riders to use other presto card readers that are spaced further apart on the platform, one for GO and one for UPX

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august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 25/08/2026

only ~1 year ago, transit riders organized a race to beat the notoriously traffic-jammed 8 bus in seattle. some were literally walking. one of the attendees was then-mayoral candidate katie wilson. taking office earlier this year, she helped stencil in this bus lane a few days ago. advocacy works!

the mayor and other workers stenciling markings onto a bus lane in a closed off traffic lane

people moving along a crowded sidewalk next to a line of cars blocking an 8 bus

source: seattle transit blog

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august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 23/08/2026

took a 43-minute end-to-end trip on line 6 today (avg ~14 km/h). 7 min ~30 seconds of that was spent sitting at red lights. there's no real indicator of functioning transit signal priority. excessive CBTC-enforced slow zones persist. it's been 8 months 🫩

a black and white light rail vehicle sits at a trenched platform

humber college 16:16
milvan 16:37
finch west 16:59

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august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 23/08/2026

i showed up to church yesterday evening hoping to play one last game of tejo with a friend before they pack up the pedestrianization, only to find them removing the last barricades 😔😢🥀 i will miss it so much

anti car thingies and metal barriers being loaded onto a flatbed truck

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august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 18/08/2026

some 1960s lore that really emphasizes how much space is provisioned here. they built eglinton west with the intention of running an expressway along it. so, you know, absolutely enough space for an elevated train.

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august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 18/08/2026

now if we had decided to elevate the whole line west of mount dennis, this train would be up and running *a lot* sooner, but protecting doug ford's backyard takes precedence. so it dives back underground pretty quickly, and unnecessarily

rendering of the line 5 extension's elevated scarlett station. the rail line then dives back underground west of the station

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august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 18/08/2026

the original eglinton crosstown LRT took 10 years to go from completion of tunnelling to actually opening the line to public use. something stuck in the back of my mind as the province celebrates the completion of tunnelling on the western extension of that line, today

map of eglinton crosstown west extension from mount dennis to renforth, with intermediate stops shown and whether they are underground, at grade, or elevated

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august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 16/08/2026

this is the last week of the church street pedestrianization pilot, go enjoy it while it lasts! donate and pick up stickers! fill out the city's feedback survey to tell them how much you loved the street and want to see it revived next summer!

sticker sheet showing various queer themed symbols, including those specific to church street. a bike with a pride flag, a sidewalk sign that reads "support local queer businesses", a martini pink on a pride flag coaster, a pedestrian signal where the top signal reads "i support a car free church street" and the bottom signal has a person silhouette in pride colours, a street lamp with a burlesque dancer, an old toronto street sign that says pedestrianize church st, and high heels stuffed with tips

people enjoying church street, as viewed from under a street patio umbrella

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august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 09/08/2026

it's still there but i think the issue is that there's none down at the expo line platform itself, so you don't know if you gotta book it up those stairs

countdown timer over the passageway towards the seabus

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august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 07/08/2026

medellín also does similar with its translohr line. the infrastructure is quite less overbearing and more elegant though, which feels very medellín. the tramway in rio is the only network i can think of that resembles a modern proof-of-payment european tramway, with simple low-floor platforms

night photo of a tram pulling into a station with a semi-enclosed pair of platforms with half-height barriers. the station entrance is fitted with a pair of faregates

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august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 07/08/2026

it's fun how santos built a tramway with textbook latin american BRT station design. each station is fitted with a ramp leading to faregates on one end, leading to a long semi-enclosed platform with platform edge doors

tram pulls up to a station. there are some people navigating up a ramp towards the faregates on one end

side view of the station, showing platform doors and a semi-enclosed structure

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august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 04/08/2026

yea, that one is very hot. i'd rather bus queue jumps be moved to the next lane and let the right turn lane take the curb. buses pull into the rightmost lane at the farside curb. you get the same result while making things slightly safer for pedestrians

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august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 03/08/2026

something is very wrong with a transit system if it forces many people to take slower, more indirect transit trips to avoid paying high fares. and it's a glaring inequity to the people of weston, largely working class & low-income. UPX should be part of this region's fare integration scheme. 3/3

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august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 03/08/2026

i paid a $5 fare to go one stop on the UPX, on top of my $3.30 TTC fare. while GO is fare integrated, it's not as frequent as the non-integrated UPX. this price premium is a barrier to a fast, reliable rail connection to line 5 and plenty of new, possible trips. plenty still take the bus here 2/3

fare payment history. 3.30 at Mount dennis, 4.51 at Weston

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august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 03/08/2026

work took me to weston the other day. what was once a 2 hour bus slog one year ago is now under an hour. i can take line 5 to mount dennis & transfer to regional trains to go up to weston. however, if this were my regular commute, I'd choose a slower Line 5 + bus trip. here's the problem... 1/3

Line 5 light rail vehicle at Mount dennis station platform

union Pearson airport express train DMU pulling into a sunny platform

brown postwar apartment high-rise with shops at the bottom in weston. car traffic in the foreground

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august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 03/08/2026

walking on finch avenue only to find this goofy parked on the sidewalk. before i could say anything, a red pickup pulled up beside him and the driver cussed him out on my behalf. my least expected ally. i love north york

car parked on a sidewalk along a suburban road, with a line of cars in traffic alongside the sidewalk, separated by a bike lane

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