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@denisagar.bsky.social correctly points out that this format undercuts the role of transit. For example, buses (purple) barely register on Dufferin here. So you wouldn’t know that as many people take the Dufferin bus as there are cars driving on Dufferin. That’s how good transit is.

Detail of map showing traffic share on Dufferin

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It’s true. These are just vehicle counts by intersection. Literally people standing on the corner counting traffic (data from the City) Looking at Dufferin, for, example, this tool shows it’s dominated by cars. What it doesn’t show is that there are as many people on TTC buses as there are cars.

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Another thing you notice is how well bike lanes are used (bikes are in pink, which is a nice throwback) Look here at Bloor and compare it to Dupont. Or Shaw versus Ossington.

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This tool from @observingthecity.ca is fantastic. It shows the traffic mode share by intersection using City data. Many downtown areas are dominated by pedestrians (in green). Yet *we still give most of the space to cars on almost every street.* www.observingthecity.ca/intersection...

Map of downtown area of Toronto. Pie charts show the mode share at every intersection.

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How-Sen Chong @how-sen.com · 26/09/2026

Here are the 11 Canadian think tanks funded by this U.S.-based libertarian network as of 2022, when the network stopped publicizing who they were supporting on their website.

As of 2022, when Atlas stopped publishing the names of partner organizations, there were 11 affiliated Canadian think tanks: Alberta Institute, Canada Strong and Free Network (formerly the Manning Centre), Canadian Constitution Foundation, Canadians for Democracy and Prosperity, Canadian Taxpayers Federation, Frontier Centre for Public Policy, Institute for Liberal Studies, Macdonald-Laurier Institute, Montreal Economic Institute, Second Street and Fraser Institute.

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And a reminder that this is what this stretch of road used to look like. With one lane of through-traffic on each side, and one lane of parking. Cars essentially have the same amount of road space, including a parking lane. The main thing that’s changed is that cyclists now have a protected lane.

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How-Sen Chong @how-sen.com · 26/09/2026

Photo from Reddit of today’s Critical Mass. There are hundreds of cyclists in this photo and only about 40 people in cars. Yet both groups are taking up roughly the same amount of road space.

Photo of Critical Mass bike ride in Toronto today

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How-Sen Chong @how-sen.com · 19/09/2026

The people on the sidewalk: a) significantly outnumber the drivers in cars and b) are here to spend time and money in this neighbourhood. The drivers in these mostly empty cars are: a) trying to drive AWAY from this neighbourhood as quickly as possible, and yet b) are given most of the road space

Photo of two lanes of car traffic and lots and lots of pedestrians on the sidewalk on Spadina Avenue in Toronto

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How-Sen Chong @how-sen.com · 12/09/2026

@thestar.com has published a story on this. Here’s information on the extent of the regulation: www.thestar.com/news/gta/lob...

"Please be advised, the City has permitted for a light show activation with drones above Fort York National Historic Site on the evening of September 10," reads an alert on the website for the historical site that commemorates the Battle of York during the War of 1812.

In order to stage a drone show, such as the one on Thursday evening, organizers have to apply for an SFOC-RPAS — a permit for flying a drone at an advertised event — with Transport Canada.

The federal agency, who has jurisdiction over the airspace, said that they issued an SFOC-RPAS for the event, but would not provide any more information about the applicant due to "privacy requirements."

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Confirmed that this is real. This is from a press release from Loblaws ‘celebrating’ the release of an AI ‘chatbot’. Which can be found here: www.loblaw.ca/en/health-qu...

Releases
September 10, 2026
To celebrate the launch of PC Chat, PC
Health™ is launching a campaign called "Ask Away" which will be brought to life through a public aerial drone experience over Toronto.
Inspired by the health questions many
Canadians find themselves asking late at night, the experience is designed to illuminate those moments of uncertainty and remind people that getting informed can be easier than they think.

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It looks like the drones were launched and landed out of Fort York.

Screenshots of Reddit posts showing drones being launched out of Fort York

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Here it is from another angle. This must be made illegal immediately.

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How-Sen Chong @how-sen.com · 10/09/2026

Someone on Reddit filmed an aerial drone advertisement in the night sky in Toronto and if this is real, it needs to be banned immediately. #TOpoli

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I think they should be able to run the King Car through there even with the crowds. It happens in other parts of the world. But even with no King streetcar, the street is not “blocked-off”.

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How-Sen Chong @how-sen.com · 10/09/2026

This Toronto Star headline shows how much our language is biased by car-first thinking. Because how can movie fans be out on King Street if the street is ‘blocked-off’? #topoli

Screenshot of Toronto Star article with the headline “Movie fans are out on a blocked-off King Street as Toronto film festival begins”

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How-Sen Chong @how-sen.com · 02/09/2026

And finally Ford’s government announced new procurement to build Highway 413, which will only increase congestion in the Toronto area.

Image showing that the cause of traffic congestion is bottlenecking of cars in cities key areas like in cities

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How-Sen Chong @how-sen.com · 02/09/2026

Second, Ford’s government has put out an RFP for companies to rip out three major bike lanes: Bloor, Yonge, University, and Queen’s Park, Queen’s Park Crescent, and Avenue Road. Bike lanes move far more people than car lanes do. ->

The capacity of a single 10-foot lane (or equivalent width) by mode at peak conditions with normal operations.

PRIVATE MOTOR VEHICLES
600-1,600 PER HOUR

MIXED TRAFFIC WITH FREQUENT BUSES
1,000-2,800 PER HOUR

TWO-WAY PROTECTED BIKEWAY
DEDICATED TRANSIT LANES
7,500 PER HOUR

SIDEWALK
9,000 PER HOUR

ON-STREET TRANSITWAY, BUS OR RAIL
10,000-25,000 PER HOUR

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How-Sen Chong @how-sen.com · 25/08/2026

No cheating. Share the last photo of the sky from your camera roll.

Photo of the sky peeking through some of the skyscrapers in downtown Toronto. Photo is taken from the bike lane showing eight cyclists taking up less space than two cars.

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How-Sen Chong @how-sen.com · 07/08/2026

One of the reasons I find impressionist paintings fasinating is because they paint the pollution of the time. The ‘hazy pink and purple winter fog’ of this 1897 Pissarro painting is almost certainly pollution from all the coal being used to heat buildings in Paris. @agotoronto.bsky.social

Photo of Pissarro painting entitled ‘Place du Théâtre Français: Fog Effect

Description of the painting:

CAMILLE
PISSARRO
born Charlotte Amalie, Danish West Indies (now U.S. Virgin Islands), 1830
died Paris, France, 1903
Place du Théâtre Français:
Fog Effect
1897
oil on canvas
Dallas Museum of Art, The Wendy and Emery Reves Collection,
1985.R.50
Pissarro painted Place du Théâtre Français during a stay at the Grand Hôtel du Louvre. In a series of 15 works on the subject, he portrayed the effects of different light and weather on the scene. Here, a hazy pink and purple winter fog shrouds the wide Parisian plaza. Pissarro used the perspective of the hotel's second floor to his advantage, adopting a bird's-eye view from his hotel window to capture the dynamism of the modern city. Loose brushstrokes convey the movement of horse-drawn carriages and pedestrians on the street below.

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How-Sen Chong @how-sen.com · 04/08/2026

London’s temperatures are closer to those of Vancouver or Seattle than they are to New York.

Temperature graph showing different high and low temperatures throughout the year of New York, London, and Vancouver

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How-Sen Chong @how-sen.com · 15/07/2026

It doesn’t matter if it’s natural gas, gasoline, or garbage: This will only get worse until we stop burning things to create energy.

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How-Sen Chong @how-sen.com · 01/07/2026

Some of the verses from The Log Drivers Waltz or The Cat Came Back could work really, really well here.

Screenshot from The Toronto Star: “Canada is becoming a football nation. Now it needs a fight song”

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How-Sen Chong @how-sen.com · 01/07/2026

Energy is one of the most plentiful substances in the entire universe and the only reason it’s expensive is because some corporations and their apologists profit from keeping energy scarce. Case in point: some areas of Australia have so much solar they electricity is being provided for free.

Screenshot of Guardian UK News article showing that some areas of Australia are providing free power because of all the excess solar power being generated there.

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How-Sen Chong @how-sen.com · 28/06/2026

This road is not closed. It’s only closed to cars. This may seem like a small thing, but it matters because this message tells the public that streets only belong to cars, and anything else is an aberration —even though these streets were here decades before the private automobile.

Photo of Market street with a sign that says ‘Road closed’ despite the road bursting with pedestrians.

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How-Sen Chong @how-sen.com · 25/06/2026

There’s a Reddit sub called r/skyscrapers that’s been overrun with Toronto memes for a few days now and it’s pretty hilarious. www.reddit.com/r/skyscrapers/ #topoli

Screenshot of the post from the Subreddit r/skyscrapers that shows the Taj Mahal with its four iconic minarets replaced by CN towers.

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How-Sen Chong @how-sen.com · 25/06/2026

Yesterday, France had it’s hottest day ever recorded. And in the midst of this record breaking heat wave, France had to *shut down nuclear reactors* because the water they use as a coolant is too hot. Nuclear is not the answer. #onpoli #topoli

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One more thing we really need to do at Union is make train wayfinding much, much easier. The Vienna station shows all the train services leaving the station on the same board. Toronto Union now has Via, GO, and UP, plus the subway. Union should put all the info in one place.

Shot of board at Vienna train station showing trains from three different services on one board.

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That’s it for Vienna for now. I’m going to take a break. I arrived at the train station to take the train to Salzburg. I got there with thirty minutes early, and my train wasn’t on any of the 3 screens yet because there was only room to show about twenty-five minutes worth of train departures.

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In 2021, Austria introduced the ‘KlimaTicket’, a single ticket that gives the user access to every train, subway, tram, and bus throughout Austria. Germany followed suit in 2023. This is what you can get when ALL levels of government fund public transportation.

Photo of a pamphlet for Austria’s KlimaTicket, which says “One for all: A ticket for all public transport across Austria.”

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Vienna Transit sells BUS AND STREETCAR PLUSHIES

Window display of Vienna Transit souvenirs, including plush toys of busses and streetcars.

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Here’s a bench / outdoor planting box combo. It’s designed so that vines will grow upwards, providing natural shade for pedestrians and… sitters (?)… to enjoy.

Bench design with a partial cage like structure rising behind it that allows for plant vines to climb up and grow on them.

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Here it is from the other direction. Because the streetcar takes up the entire length of the right turn lane, a right turning car can’t enter the right turn lane until the streetcar has has moved. This physically stops cars from zipping past on the right side while also being more accessible.

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This is Weidner Hauptstrasse, a busy commercial strip. At this intersection there are only two lanes, both with streetcar tracks running in each direction. See that right turn car lane? IT’S ELEVATED TO PRIORITIZE STREETCAR ACCESSIBILITY INSTEAD OF DRIVERS MAKING A LAST-MINUTE LANE CHANGE.

Photo of corner of Wiedner Hauptstrasse and Paulanergasse in Vienna.

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Like Toronto, Vienna has streetcar network that’s been in for decades. Vienna has quite a few dedicated streetcar lanes.

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Not everywhere, but there are many places where I saw porous parking spaces for cars. Porous surfaces allow for a place for stormwater to go that isn’t an overworked storm sewer system. This is important because climate change is producing more flooding. Toronto needs these types of solutions.

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Vienna, like many (and maybe most?) other European cities fell into the postwar trap of allowing cars to go wherever they want. They’ve wisely reversed a lot of that. There are still cars, of course. But they don’t allow cars to go EVERYWHERE like we do in Toronto.

A ‘before’ photo of a street in Vienna not long after World War II, street is jam-packed with cars.

Photo of same street from Google street view, showing that now, people are prioritized here over cars.

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About 40-50% of the population of the City of Vienna lives in publicly built- or publicly subsidized housing. And they’re not shy about it. They put it on big letters on the side of outside of buildings. Kind of like the Canadian Big Five banks do.

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First things a first: Here’s me eating a pretzel at the train station.

How-Sen eating a pretzel at the train station.

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