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casualcommuter.bsky.social
Casual Commuter
@casualcommuter.bsky.social
320 followers 110 following 84 posts
Ottawa based YouTube videos on urban design, cycling, and transit
https://www.youtube.com/@CasualCommuter_
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casualcommuter.bsky.social
Casual Commuter @casualcommuter.bsky.social · Sep 28
The city just revealed its plans for Bank Street... and chose to prioritize 140 parking spaces over the needs of 6000 daily transit riders.

I made a video summarizing the issue in case you want an update on how things are going:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtWH...
Ottawa Won’t Build Bus Lanes
YouTube video by Casual Commuter
www.youtube.com
Reposted by Casual Commuter
ohtheurbanity.bsky.social
Cars might work fine in California or Florida, but they’re not practical here in Canada. We have winter.
More than 300 collisions reported as early season snow slams parts of Ontario
YouTube video by CTV News
www.youtube.com
November 10, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Reposted by Casual Commuter
seandevine9.bsky.social
As usual, @sjamieit.bsky.social and colleagues at @strongtownsottawa.ca know how to make a point. Take a look at this thread. One of the core principles of taxation is that the burden needs to be distributed fairly. What we have in Ontario currently is not fair.
sjamieit.bsky.social It's Jamie @sjamieit.bsky.social · 21d
Ontario property assessments haven't been done since 2016 and it's getting ridiculous. Suburban homes are paying much lower property taxes than they should be.

Annual property taxes:
↙️ $8575 | $6360 ↘️
November 9, 2025 at 2:28 AM
casualcommuter.bsky.social
Remember to leave comments about Dougie’s bike lane ban on the ERO ero.ontario.ca/notice/025-1...
Bill 60 - Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act, 2025 – Modern Transportation – Prohibiting Vehicle Lane Reduction for New Bicycle Lanes | Environmental Registry of Ontario
The Province is proposing to amend the Highway Traffic Act (HTA) to prohibit all municipalities from reducing motor vehicle traffic lanes when installing, implementing or marking new bicycle lanes.
ero.ontario.ca
November 9, 2025 at 3:53 AM
casualcommuter.bsky.social
It’s kind of crazy that improvements to the 6 and 7 were barely discussed during the Lansdowne 2.0 vote
youtu.be/wtWHri5lShA?...
November 8, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Reposted by Casual Commuter
ottawandrew.bsky.social
Rural and suburban wards:

AUSTERITY! SLASH SPENDING! CUT PROGRAMS! DON’T YOU DARE RAISE OUR TAXES!

Also rural and suburban wards:

YEE HAW, LET’S GAMBLE $500 MILLION ON THIS OSEG THING!
November 7, 2025 at 10:54 PM
casualcommuter.bsky.social
This voting map shows you why Ottawa is stuck in a rut - suburban and rural wards outnumber the city, and can effectively pass anything (no matter how terrible it is for the city).

Amalgamation working as intended…
strongtownsottawa.ca Strong Towns Ottawa @strongtownsottawa.ca · 22d
Lansdowne 2.0 passes 15-10.

As a group dedicated to financial transparency and smart investments in community infrastructure, we had concerns around the reporting process and special financial treatment given to Lansdowne 2.0, as well as the lack of tangible transit improvements.

@alex-is.online
November 8, 2025 at 3:09 AM
Reposted by Casual Commuter
strongtownsottawa.ca
Some polling was done for Lansdowne 2.0, lo and behold the top issue for people polled was improving transportation to Lansdowne. What better way to provide better access to Lansdowne than safe, dedicated 24/7 bus lanes?

strongtownsottawa.ca/2025/09/25/t...

#Lansdowne #Ottawa #busLanes
October 31, 2025 at 7:51 PM
Reposted by Casual Commuter
strongtownsottawa.ca
We have sent out a letter to the premier of Ontario, Doug Ford, opposing his plan to remove speed cameras, which have been shown to overwhelmingly increase safety on our roads.

Thanks @hansonthebike.bsky.social for putting the letter together, and @pbickerton.bsky.social for the great graphics!
Letter sent to the premier of Ontario opposing the removal of speed cameras. Text follows : To: Premier of Ontario Legislative Building Queen’s Park Toronto, ON, M7A 1A1 (by email) Ottawa, October 22, 2025 Re: Automatic Speed Enforcement Cameras Premier Ford, We are extremely concerned about your directive to remove automatic speed enforcement (ACE) cameras in Ontario. Along with the Association of Municipalities, the CAA and the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police as well as many municipal leaders, we believe in the evidence that previously collected data show: fining people who don’t comply with speed limits helps: it leads to drastic safety improvements. This makes a good case for continuing the use of cameras to maintain speed compliance. The ultimate goal of speed enforcement is obviously that people adhere to posted speed limits. Existing data shows that speed compliance quickly improves and is maintained after cameras are installed. Fewer and fewer tickets are being issued by each camera every year. This trend is already happening: in Ottawa, as the enclosed graphs show, speeds have considerably dropped at road segments where cameras have been placed. Speed cameras work! Cameras in Ottawa are overwhelmingly placed in areas near schools. Removing cameras would recreate dangerous situations for children in those school zones. And let's not forget people with disabilities and our aging population, who may take longer to cross roads. Many safety experts strongly support the use of automatic speed cameras as does the majority of Ontario drivers (73%). In Ottawa, speed compliance went up from 16% to 81% in speed camera zones; the instances of high end speeding in those zones went down from 14% to less than 1%. Those are impressive results. Second page of the letter to the premier of Ontario opposing removal of speed cameras, text follows : Therefore we ask you to reconsider an end to speed enforcement with cameras and allow technology to do its work to protect the lives of Ontarians. Using cameras allows police officers to do other important work. This is about safety for every Ontario resident, not a cash grab. Respectfully, Strong Towns Ottawa Encl: three graphs About Strong Towns Ottawa Strong Towns Ottawa is a local chapter of Strong Towns. We advocate for a more financially resilient and livable Ottawa. We aim to build a safer city that enables all of us to choose the way we want to live. This includes investing in various transportation options, housing types, safer streets, mixed-use neighbourhoods, local businesses, and more. A graph of data showing the speed limit compliance in areas where the speed cameras have been put in place in Ottawa. The x axis reads : "Age of ASE Camera (days)" and the y axis reads : "Speed Limit Compliance (%)". The lines on the graph are all of the different road segments where the cameras have been put in place. As the graph moves further to the right, the compliance goes up, reaching close to 100% for many of the cameras Graph of public data with the x-axis reading : "Age of ASE Camera (days)", y-axis : "High end Speeders (%)". As the graph moves further to the right, the amount of high-end speeders drops off substantially for all of the segments of the roads where speed cameras have been put in place.
October 23, 2025 at 12:05 AM
Reposted by Casual Commuter
arieltroster.com
I didn’t comment on Lansdowne 2.0 yesterday, because I still hadn’t seen the report until 4pm — well after the mayor put out a fancy video and held a press conference to extol its virtues. I will have more detailed comments soon, but my decision to vote no remains unchanged.
October 21, 2025 at 12:05 PM
Reposted by Casual Commuter
seandevine9.bsky.social
An entire day has gone by and still no release of the Lansdowne 2.0 report. Meanwhile, Mayor Sutcliffe has had time to brief the press, frame the story, and produce a feel-good video. As for those who oppose the project? Well, they're just "spreading misinformation". www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x-T...
Lansdowne: More for less
YouTube video by Mayor Mark Sutcliffe
www.youtube.com
October 20, 2025 at 9:23 PM
casualcommuter.bsky.social
Mr. Mayor, I believe you have to disclose sponsored posts with #ad 😂

It seems like OSEG is in full PR damage control mode with people finally realizing how bad of a deal Lansdowne 2.0 will be for the people of Ottawa
Screenshot from Mark Sutcliffe’s email newsletter. Headline reads “Lansdowne 2.0, more for less”. A second headline reads “a smart investment that delivers big value”
October 21, 2025 at 5:17 AM
Reposted by Casual Commuter
allcaps.bsky.social
This proved to be more than a metaphor.
Mark Sutcliffe hands Doug Ford a welcome mat, a metaphor for Sutcliffe allowing Ford to walk all over him.
October 8, 2025 at 9:23 PM
Reposted by Casual Commuter
schoolstreetsyow.bsky.social
Is Ottawa school zone safety negotiable?

🚷Delays to sidewalk builds
🚦School Street policy red lighted
📸 Automated Speed Enforcement to be cut down by Doug Ford

📣 No! Tell the Mayor to stand up to the province and anyone who makes communities less safe.

schoolstreetsottawa.ca/2025/10/11/o...
Ottawa Streets Are Not Safe For Kids – A Call to Action to Keep ASE, Have Sidewalks and School Streets
Ottawa Streets are not safe for kids – losing ASE will make it worse
schoolstreetsottawa.ca
October 12, 2025 at 5:13 PM
casualcommuter.bsky.social
The city just revealed its plans for Bank Street... and chose to prioritize 140 parking spaces over the needs of 6000 daily transit riders.

I made a video summarizing the issue in case you want an update on how things are going:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtWH...
Ottawa Won’t Build Bus Lanes
YouTube video by Casual Commuter
www.youtube.com
September 28, 2025 at 2:20 PM
Reposted by Casual Commuter
toondreessen.bsky.social
This. #OttCity continues to make transit more expensive and harder to use driving more people away from it. Time to end the doom loop
September 7, 2025 at 1:00 PM
casualcommuter.bsky.social
Good wayfinding is essential to any good transit system. Come learn how Toronto is failing at it, and how to do it right. youtu.be/Edr8csMXUfM
Why Toronto Fails at Wayfinding, and Tokyo Doesn't
YouTube video by Casual Commuter
youtu.be
August 22, 2025 at 9:56 AM
casualcommuter.bsky.social
Turning right on red is not normal – only Canada and the U.S. are one of the only major countries that still allow it everywhere. Watch out for "concerned" opposition to banning right turns on red that are just status quo bias.
strongtownsottawa.ca Strong Towns Ottawa @strongtownsottawa.ca · Aug 12
In the wake of multiple deaths and injuries on our roads, Strong Towns Ottawa supports an urgent pilot on banning right turns on reds in the downtown core. We believe the lives of our community members should come before the convenience of drivers. Read the letter we have sent out today below.
Image depicting the boundary of the city of Ottawa with signs of right turns on reds being restricted throughout the city's borders. The text at the top reads : "Strong Towns Ottawa Supports Banning Right Turns at Red Lights", in the bottom left there is a logo for Strong Towns Ottawa, and in the bottom right there is an arrow saying "Read Our Letter" pointing to the right A letter from Strong Towns Ottawa in support of a pilot banning right turns at red lights in the downtown core.
August 13, 2025 at 1:23 AM
Reposted by Casual Commuter
lturgeon.bsky.social
The result of the city of Ottawa tax phobia. The mayor, who adopted the Jim Watson playbook, will brag that he kept tax increases at a much lower level than Toronto. Meanwhile public services are crumbling.
August 2, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Reposted by Casual Commuter
sjamieit.bsky.social
July 12, 2025 at 12:15 PM
casualcommuter.bsky.social
Why on earth is Granville island not closed to cars in the summer? So crazy that a tiny minority of cars take up so much space, pushing pedestrians to the side
July 12, 2025 at 10:58 PM
casualcommuter.bsky.social
Really impressed by how easy Vancouver makes it for people to figure out the bike network for visitors. A pretty interconnected network of protected bike lanes easily marked on their map based on traffic stress
July 12, 2025 at 1:59 AM
casualcommuter.bsky.social
Great summary on our “balanced” approach to taxation of productive urban areas
seandevine9.bsky.social Sean Devine @seandevine9.bsky.social · Jun 21
This is a vital conversation that City of Ottawa needs to have with residents. Through density and property valuation, we see massive discrepancies in tax revenue/hectare across the city. Organizations like @strongtownsottawa.bsky.social make this clear. But there are other discrepancies, too! 1/
derricksimpson.bsky.social Derrick Simpson @derricksimpson.bsky.social · Jun 21
Part of Kent Street is up for renewal, and the City of Ottawa is refusing to bury the power lines, saying it’s too expensive.

Just Kent Street brings in as much property taxes as the entire West Carleton-March Ward.

Our city needs to do a better job of rewarding financially productive communities.
June 21, 2025 at 2:09 PM
casualcommuter.bsky.social
The Trail Road waste facility is super cool if you’ve never had a chance to go
June 21, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Reposted by Casual Commuter
lainejohnson.bsky.social
Today it took 20 minutes to get down Elgin and another 50 to get to Bells Corners by car. A balanced approach to our transportation network gets us all nowhere fast. We need to shift our investments to give people who want to get out of cars a real choice. Show me who is happy moving around Ottawa.
June 19, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Reposted by Casual Commuter
seandevine9.bsky.social
100%. The “balanced” approach is simply the adherence to a status quo that will only get worse as the population grows and transit remains under-supported. And the TMP we’re set to approve next week perpetuates more of this.
lainejohnson.bsky.social Laine Johnson @lainejohnson.bsky.social · Jun 19
Today it took 20 minutes to get down Elgin and another 50 to get to Bells Corners by car. A balanced approach to our transportation network gets us all nowhere fast. We need to shift our investments to give people who want to get out of cars a real choice. Show me who is happy moving around Ottawa.
June 19, 2025 at 9:33 PM