Michael Hall
@michaelhall.bsky.social
New Westminster
Trying to get the humble bus the respect it deserves 🚍♥️
Trying to get the humble bus the respect it deserves 🚍♥️
Reposted by Michael Hall
Number 9 on my #NewWest Top 10 for 2025 is the reduction in crime we have seen over the last year. The Crime Severity Index is a national statistic, and ours is lower than it’s been since pre-COVID and now much lower than the provincial average. www.nwpolice.org/blog/2025/07...
December 30, 2025 at 7:19 PM
Number 9 on my #NewWest Top 10 for 2025 is the reduction in crime we have seen over the last year. The Crime Severity Index is a national statistic, and ours is lower than it’s been since pre-COVID and now much lower than the provincial average. www.nwpolice.org/blog/2025/07...
Reposted by Michael Hall
Number 7 on my list of Top 2025 #NewWest accomplishments is a small one when it comes to budget, but big in community impact. The Youth Climate Action Team created and implemented a project to daylight Glen Brook & create a legacy toward a stronger future. www.newwestcity.ca/mayors-youth...
December 29, 2025 at 9:19 AM
Number 7 on my list of Top 2025 #NewWest accomplishments is a small one when it comes to budget, but big in community impact. The Youth Climate Action Team created and implemented a project to daylight Glen Brook & create a legacy toward a stronger future. www.newwestcity.ca/mayors-youth...
Reposted by Michael Hall
This New West project checks all the boxes:
✅ Fully protected bike lane
✅ Vehicle access maintained
✅ No lost parking (I don't care about this but it's often the main concern)
✅ One-way orientation reduces rat running on this residential street
Should be the standard for all local bikeways!
✅ Fully protected bike lane
✅ Vehicle access maintained
✅ No lost parking (I don't care about this but it's often the main concern)
✅ One-way orientation reduces rat running on this residential street
Should be the standard for all local bikeways!
December 27, 2025 at 9:43 PM
This New West project checks all the boxes:
✅ Fully protected bike lane
✅ Vehicle access maintained
✅ No lost parking (I don't care about this but it's often the main concern)
✅ One-way orientation reduces rat running on this residential street
Should be the standard for all local bikeways!
✅ Fully protected bike lane
✅ Vehicle access maintained
✅ No lost parking (I don't care about this but it's often the main concern)
✅ One-way orientation reduces rat running on this residential street
Should be the standard for all local bikeways!
Reposted by Michael Hall
An (embarrassing) mastery of the passive voice, here.
December 26, 2025 at 4:32 AM
An (embarrassing) mastery of the passive voice, here.
Reposted by Michael Hall
#4 on my 2025 list is our progress on one of the region’s biggest issues: affordable housing. We need more investment here from all levels of government, but here in #Newwest we are saying yes to affordable housing, and it is getting built.
December 25, 2025 at 6:52 PM
#4 on my 2025 list is our progress on one of the region’s biggest issues: affordable housing. We need more investment here from all levels of government, but here in #Newwest we are saying yes to affordable housing, and it is getting built.
Reposted by Michael Hall
One big takeaway from Mamdani bringing YIMBYs into his transition is that advocates can often gain a lot of power by
1.) having useful answers to questions and accurate information
2.) being reasonably polite and pleasant to elected officials
3.) understanding the actual mechanics of government
1.) having useful answers to questions and accurate information
2.) being reasonably polite and pleasant to elected officials
3.) understanding the actual mechanics of government
December 19, 2025 at 7:43 PM
One big takeaway from Mamdani bringing YIMBYs into his transition is that advocates can often gain a lot of power by
1.) having useful answers to questions and accurate information
2.) being reasonably polite and pleasant to elected officials
3.) understanding the actual mechanics of government
1.) having useful answers to questions and accurate information
2.) being reasonably polite and pleasant to elected officials
3.) understanding the actual mechanics of government
Reposted by Michael Hall
Cold and wet out there folks but so glad for @translink.ca @movementyvr.bsky.social and all the great folks making it easy to get around. #postthegood
December 18, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Cold and wet out there folks but so glad for @translink.ca @movementyvr.bsky.social and all the great folks making it easy to get around. #postthegood
Reposted by Michael Hall
Here’s where you can pick up the first Freshet newspaper in New West:
Zesty Lemon Clothing
Yum Donuts
New West City Hall
Queensborough CC
təməsew̓txʷ CC
Moody Park Arena
New West Public Library
Tourism New West
Goodway’s Specialty Foods
Groove Cat Books and Records
Greens and Beans Deli
#newwest
Zesty Lemon Clothing
Yum Donuts
New West City Hall
Queensborough CC
təməsew̓txʷ CC
Moody Park Arena
New West Public Library
Tourism New West
Goodway’s Specialty Foods
Groove Cat Books and Records
Greens and Beans Deli
#newwest
December 17, 2025 at 4:55 AM
Here’s where you can pick up the first Freshet newspaper in New West:
Zesty Lemon Clothing
Yum Donuts
New West City Hall
Queensborough CC
təməsew̓txʷ CC
Moody Park Arena
New West Public Library
Tourism New West
Goodway’s Specialty Foods
Groove Cat Books and Records
Greens and Beans Deli
#newwest
Zesty Lemon Clothing
Yum Donuts
New West City Hall
Queensborough CC
təməsew̓txʷ CC
Moody Park Arena
New West Public Library
Tourism New West
Goodway’s Specialty Foods
Groove Cat Books and Records
Greens and Beans Deli
#newwest
In March @movementyvr.bsky.social put on a huge rally to Save the Bus. The following month, Mayors and province came together and transit in Metro Van was saved from service cuts and a death spiral.
Soon, we will finally have service levels that go above and beyond what we haven't had since 2019🥳🙏🚍
Soon, we will finally have service levels that go above and beyond what we haven't had since 2019🥳🙏🚍
December 17, 2025 at 6:03 AM
In March @movementyvr.bsky.social put on a huge rally to Save the Bus. The following month, Mayors and province came together and transit in Metro Van was saved from service cuts and a death spiral.
Soon, we will finally have service levels that go above and beyond what we haven't had since 2019🥳🙏🚍
Soon, we will finally have service levels that go above and beyond what we haven't had since 2019🥳🙏🚍
Reposted by Michael Hall
Hey @cbcstephenquinn.bsky.social thanks for asking the Minister about the Federal government commitments to Public Transit. The funding support is going the wrong direction:
(extracts from the Dec 11 Mayor's Council meeting)
(extracts from the Dec 11 Mayor's Council meeting)
December 16, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Hey @cbcstephenquinn.bsky.social thanks for asking the Minister about the Federal government commitments to Public Transit. The funding support is going the wrong direction:
(extracts from the Dec 11 Mayor's Council meeting)
(extracts from the Dec 11 Mayor's Council meeting)
It's been 509 days since @christineboyle.bsky.social 's bus lane motion passed in Vancouver. Maybe 365 additional days since the previous ABC one did.
Do we have anything to show for it? Nope. Nothing.
Dude where's our bus lanes? 🚍🤷
Do we have anything to show for it? Nope. Nothing.
Dude where's our bus lanes? 🚍🤷
December 16, 2025 at 6:10 AM
It's been 509 days since @christineboyle.bsky.social 's bus lane motion passed in Vancouver. Maybe 365 additional days since the previous ABC one did.
Do we have anything to show for it? Nope. Nothing.
Dude where's our bus lanes? 🚍🤷
Do we have anything to show for it? Nope. Nothing.
Dude where's our bus lanes? 🚍🤷
Access to opportunity should be what drives all discussions of transit expansion.
That's why we need to be talking about access to opportunity instead of fetishizing rail technologies. The access frame will help pick the great rail projects, but often the answer will be bus projects. It's the path away from expensive magical thinking. 10/10 humantransit.org/basics-acces...
Basics: Access, or the Wall Around Your Life — Human Transit
What if we planned public transit with the goal of freedom? Well, it’s hard to improve things that you can’t measure, but now it’s becoming possible to measure freedom, or as we call it in transport ...
humantransit.org
December 13, 2025 at 5:32 AM
Access to opportunity should be what drives all discussions of transit expansion.
Reposted by Michael Hall
A significant move Vancouver made this week was moving forward with enabling novel Single Egress & Space Efficient Stairs. Led by the great team in Development, Buildings & Licensing, supported closely by Vancouver Fire Rescue Service; and Planning this will be transformative for low-rise apartments
December 12, 2025 at 12:37 AM
A significant move Vancouver made this week was moving forward with enabling novel Single Egress & Space Efficient Stairs. Led by the great team in Development, Buildings & Licensing, supported closely by Vancouver Fire Rescue Service; and Planning this will be transformative for low-rise apartments
Is Toronto finally having a reckoning over streetspace allocation and the fact that their extensive surface transit network is slow as hell?
Stay tuned.
Stay tuned.
December 10, 2025 at 8:51 PM
Is Toronto finally having a reckoning over streetspace allocation and the fact that their extensive surface transit network is slow as hell?
Stay tuned.
Stay tuned.
Reposted by Michael Hall
Staff recommended that Council zone for social housing outright. ABC just voted to use federal HAF (Housing Affordability Fund) money not to enable more social housing, but to pay for staff time to develop a slower, more expensive alternative. @gregorrobertson.bsky.social
December 9, 2025 at 8:15 PM
Staff recommended that Council zone for social housing outright. ABC just voted to use federal HAF (Housing Affordability Fund) money not to enable more social housing, but to pay for staff time to develop a slower, more expensive alternative. @gregorrobertson.bsky.social
Reposted by Michael Hall
Ken Sim and ABC Vancouver just killed the Social Housing Initiative. A program that could have actually gotten people off the streets and into homes? Dead.
December 9, 2025 at 11:20 PM
Ken Sim and ABC Vancouver just killed the Social Housing Initiative. A program that could have actually gotten people off the streets and into homes? Dead.
Reposted by Michael Hall
Reposted by Michael Hall
5 people have been killed on the roads in Metro Vancouver in the last week, including a driver, a cyclist, and 3 pedestrians, one of whom was a young child. Each of them had lives, families and friends, aspirations and potential that will not be realized. Each of them could have been me, or you.
December 9, 2025 at 5:58 AM
5 people have been killed on the roads in Metro Vancouver in the last week, including a driver, a cyclist, and 3 pedestrians, one of whom was a young child. Each of them had lives, families and friends, aspirations and potential that will not be realized. Each of them could have been me, or you.
Reposted by Michael Hall
Sometimes you come across a stat that stops you in your tracks. Today I learned that TransLink's 555 has the 8th highest rate of boardings per hour, which is mindblowing.
Why?
Highway express routes like this aren't supposed to do well on that metric. They usually don't have a lot of ons and offs
Why?
Highway express routes like this aren't supposed to do well on that metric. They usually don't have a lot of ons and offs
December 8, 2025 at 3:23 AM
Sometimes you come across a stat that stops you in your tracks. Today I learned that TransLink's 555 has the 8th highest rate of boardings per hour, which is mindblowing.
Why?
Highway express routes like this aren't supposed to do well on that metric. They usually don't have a lot of ons and offs
Why?
Highway express routes like this aren't supposed to do well on that metric. They usually don't have a lot of ons and offs
quite bold for Vancouver to keep this on some of their council letterhead after essentially voting to lay off 400 staff last week
December 4, 2025 at 1:13 AM
quite bold for Vancouver to keep this on some of their council letterhead after essentially voting to lay off 400 staff last week
Really great article on just how easily a lack of investment can turn into severe transit service reductions 🚍
The Transit Death Spiral is something that desperately needs to be avoided, but can be easily kickstarted during budget crunches.
Stagnant budgets are actively damaging to transit service. As an extension to this video, my thoughts on "schedule maintenance": bettercolumbia.ca/2025/12/02/f...
Stagnant budgets are actively damaging to transit service. As an extension to this video, my thoughts on "schedule maintenance": bettercolumbia.ca/2025/12/02/f...
December 3, 2025 at 4:54 AM
Really great article on just how easily a lack of investment can turn into severe transit service reductions 🚍
Reposted by Michael Hall
It’s called fiscal prudence when we finance public infrastructure at new home mortgage interest rates
December 2, 2025 at 7:22 PM
It’s called fiscal prudence when we finance public infrastructure at new home mortgage interest rates
Hey #NewWest I'm back in council chambers for the first time in a while, and there's a contingent of cool New Westies herewith me! @neil21.bsky.social @caribbeansunshine.bsky.social and more 🥳
December 2, 2025 at 1:47 AM
Hey #NewWest I'm back in council chambers for the first time in a while, and there's a contingent of cool New Westies herewith me! @neil21.bsky.social @caribbeansunshine.bsky.social and more 🥳