Grand River Transit

[danbrotherston]

Individual actions alone aren't going to get us out of this mess. It really does have to be systemic change with how we build our societies. Car-dependent suburbs are not viable.

Just to add onto the CO2 point: in Ontario natural gas currently supplies 29% of electricity; the rest aren't CO2 emitting. But that doesn't account for all the CO2 cost of suburbs. There's also embodied costs in the concrete that it takes to build these houses and the supply chains for them. Also, even electric vehicles produce particulates from tires and brakes. Not CO2 but it is pollution.

Fixed that for you. No, a single person isn't enough. But if a million Canadians decide to drive an EV, or even drive a smaller car, or to eat less beef, it will indeed have an impact. Not enough, on its own, no. But neither is any Canadian government policy going to solve things on its own. We are all in this together, and we all need to act, individually and collectively.

Regarding CO2, reducing industrial/commercial electricity use will typically reduce natural gas-based generation, and thus reduce CO2. EV charging at home is off-peak and can (currently!) be handled through surplus nuclear power with no CO2 impact. But "supercharging" etc increases daytime load and CO2 emissions. And if we have enough EVs, we may need natural gas generation at night, too, at some point.

The problem is more serious than that though...even if every Canadian in the whole country stopped driving entirely, and ate a vegan diet, and never flew, we'd still have a pretty big carbon footprint. The policies of the country, and indeed our capitalist economy ensure that even if everyone was doing everything right (even against their self interest), we'd still have trouble making the difference.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvhXtOps...urtisBaute

The biggest thing personal change actually achieves, in my opinion, is a market and political signal to those making the more impactful decisions that it's time to stop screwing around and actually deal with this problem.

[tomh009]

Fixed that for you. No, a single person isn't enough. But if a million Canadians decide to drive an EV, or even drive a smaller car, or to eat less beef, it will indeed have an impact. Not enough, on its own, no. But neither is any Canadian government policy going to solve things on its own. We are all in this together, and we all need to act, individually and collectively.

Regarding CO2, reducing industrial/commercial electricity use will typically reduce natural gas-based generation, and thus reduce CO2. EV charging at home is off-peak and can (currently!) be handled through surplus nuclear power with no CO2 impact. But "supercharging" etc increases daytime load and CO2 emissions. And if we have enough EVs, we may need natural gas generation at night, too, at some point.

The problem is more serious than that though...even if every Canadian in the whole country stopped driving entirely, and ate a vegan diet, and never flew, we'd still have a pretty big carbon footprint. The policies of the country, and indeed our capitalist economy ensure that even if everyone was doing everything right (even against their self interest), we'd still have trouble making the difference.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvhXtOps4MM&t=1s&ab_channel=KurtisBaute

The biggest thing personal change actually achieves, in my opinion, is a market and political signal to those making the more impactful decisions that it's time to stop screwing around and actually deal with this problem.

As I said, we are all in this together, and we all need to act, individually and collectively.

[KevinT]

And I have been preaching, and no parishioners obviously, cars will be mostly electric in the future.

I 100% agree with you and got myself an Ioniq plug-in hybrid last year. My daily commute (when I had one, pre-Covid) is 100% electric in summer (a bit less in winter as the Ioniq idles its engine occasionally to make heat), and most of my weekend errands are done that way as well. Selfishly I held onto the gas option in my Ioniq for long distance as I don't want to stop to charge when driving to resorts for snowboarding in the winter, or when driving home completely spent afterwards. I'd have gotten the Model 3 Long Range if I could have afforded it, but sadly I could not. That said, I've literally done the math and it turns out that I saved $2,600 on energy costs versus my old car in the first year (an admittedly thirsty premium fuelled 3.8l rear drive sports car, my midlife crisis car), far more significant than I'd anticipated. Everybody should be driving electric; but sadly we don't have the rapid charger infrastructure or choice of vehicle models like they enjoy over in Norway. There's signs that it's coming (you can now cross the country on electricity, even in a low range model like the Ioniq EV as long as you're patient), and I think we're at a tipping point where that will accelerate a lot in the next couple of years.

All that said, I'm still a huge supporter of ION, GRT, GO, walking, and cycling because not everyone's in a position to own/drive a car.

[Acitta]

Get an E-bike and save even more money.

[Acitta]

Changes to accessible transit service

[Bob_McBob]

So the region is finally starting to enforce the mask bylaw they said they would essentially never enforce, and have consistently failed to enforce in any way... to target public transit users.

https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/ten-tickets...-1.5227340

[tomh009]

Targeting transit users? I see that only four of the mask-bylaw tickets were to transit passengers. Much more significant tickets issued at private residences ($880 a pop).

[danbrotherston]

Targeting transit users? I see that only four of the mask-bylaw tickets were to transit passengers. Much more significant tickets issued at private residences ($880 a pop).

Four of ten...given that transit ridership is at best 1/10th of the region and probably considerably lower this year, seems like yes, they are targeting transit riders in excess of others.

[Bob_McBob]

Only the public transit users were charged under a mask bylaw. All six other charges are for unrelated provincial offences. Furthermore, the region has made it very clear they will not enforce the mask bylaws, which I can confirm based on several reports from acquaintances attempting to make complaints. As far as I'm aware, this is the first time anyone has been charged under either mask bylaw, so it's pretty clear they are only targeting public transit users at this time.

https://www.regionofwaterloo.ca/en/face-...y-law.aspx

The Region and its partners will not be doing active enforcement and ticketing related to these by-laws at this time. We continue to take an education-first approach, asking people to comply with the by-law and educating them on the importance of protecting each other. We are appealing to residents’ goodwill and willingness to cooperate for the greater good.

[jwilliamson]

So the region is finally starting to enforce the mask bylaw they said they would essentially never enforce, and have consistently failed to enforce in any way... to target public transit users.

https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/ten-tickets...-1.5227340

This is good news. Obviously it would be better if they were enforcing it elsewhere, but I'll certainly feel better while riding transit of people are consistently masked.

[panamaniac]

I'm astonished to think someone would be allowed on a bus without a mask. WTF?

[Bob_McBob]

Don't get me wrong, I fully support fining people who refuse to wear masks on public transit, just like in any other public space covered by the mask bylaws. My point is that the region is specifically only enforcing the bylaw for public transit users. Selectively enforcing laws like this is not right.

[KevinL]

I'm astonished to think someone would be allowed on a bus without a mask.  WTF?

Well, you get an exemption if you have a medical condition that a mask would obstruct, and it's not considered appropriate to pry about such matters, so non-mask-wearers had been quietly tolerated. I get the impression too many people who clearly do not have such conditions are flouting this, and action is being taken.

[danbrotherston]

Don't get me wrong, I fully support fining people who refuse to wear masks on public transit, just like in any other public space covered by the mask bylaws. My point is that the region is specifically only enforcing the bylaw for public transit users. Selectively enforcing laws like this is not right.

This exactly, and it is doubly concerning when it is a traditionally disadvantaged group.

[ac3r]

I don't see this as targeting transit users. They're targeting the idiots who use transit but refuse to wear masks while doing so. What's wrong with that? A bus or LRT ride can be a perfect way to spread the virus. There is very little constant airflow nor any filtration. If you sat on a bus for 25 minutes with a maskless, SARS-CoV-2 positive individual you can be pretty sure that the chance of them infecting you or others would be very high.