Merry Christmas and a Happy Holidays to everyone.

Happy holidays.

@auguststreet.ca this combined with adequate view of the streetscape could be turned into a dataset sleuthed from public domain views.

At the back cab of the Finch LRT you can see the speedometer, including the programmed speed limits. It would be useful if a pair of transit advocates could film a full ride with both the view out the front and the speedometer at the back so we can document the speed limits youtu.be/lectZKgdwTo

Obligatory

December 24, 2022. A Christmas blizzard to remember. The 401 corridor between Cobourg and the Quebec border was closed resulting in numerous vehicles becoming stranded on country back roads. Strangers spent Christmas eve together and we spent Christmas morning digging cars out of the snow drifts.

It's a Wednesday Christmas Eve afternoon. Calm wind, partly cloudy, -1. Trail is a little icy but the centre is holding traction. A little hockey, some leisure skating, a pair of kids getting pulled in a GT Snowracer. This Canadian scene should be fostered across southern Ontario urban centres.

Engagement numbers across platforms are always fascinating

Been a bit busy lately, too busy to squeeze in a typical #metroscapes walk, so this will have to substitute. The latest extension for the Guelph to Goderich Rail Trail seems to have opened between Speedvale and Woodlawn. It's industrial-commercial at night, but light pollution is everywhere. #g2g

Massive flakes! #onwx

It is very important to me that we do not tell apartment complexes that they need fast chargers for EVs. They need level 2 chargers. Not more than is used by a dryer or electric range. When you're charging overnight, you do not need crazy voltage.

Had fun celebrating shy of two decades together with my partner by hitting the ski hill for the first time in a long time. It was fun, but going to feel it tomorrow.

Step it up folks.

I told my kid it was time to leave the playground, and he insisted that I wait a couple minutes. He was busy chipping ice off of some steps so other kids didn't slip. That is definitely my child.

Hidden away quietly in this document; 6 years later, we’ll finally see the temporary speed restrictions at Traynor removed, allowing full 70 km/h ops (currently 20 km/h) on the hydro corridor #wrLRT

A picture of this highway underpass in Hamilton pops up on my desktop occasionally and I just love it so much. We should have more connections like these.

We interrupted the Survivor finale for that?!

This morning Statistics Canada reported an unprecedented -0.2% decrease in Canada's population in the third quarter of 2025. The drop was 76,068 people, leaving the population standing at 41,575,585 on October 1, 2025. #cdnecon

New billion-dollar transit lines shouldn't get stuck for *this long* waiting at red lights. That's why we're happy to see a motion coming to City Council this week to implement stronger transit signal priority and other measures to speed up LRTs - but it won't happen without your voice! 1/2

Dec 15, 1960: 30-year old designer Allan Fleming's stylized "CN" becomes the new corporate logo of the Canadian National Railway. The new logo replaced the traditional maple leaf monogram introduced in 1943 and the English-language initialism "CNR." 1/3

Finally using mapping to conduct asset catalogue search.

Incredible independent camera work and original score in this one.

Right here, right now. (PANO)

Went by that [in]famous pizza joint on Dovercourt. So popular that people were sitting outside in windy, -2 weather to eat their slice. Clearly the kind of success the city needs to stamp out

End of days for the former Board of Trade Building in Toronto - Dec. 13, 1958. This unique structure was located on the north east corner of Front & Yonge Streets from 1891-1958. 📸: Harvey R. Naylor City of Toronto Archives #OnThisDay #otd #1950s #torontohistory #toronto #canada #jeremyhopkin

Someone proposed putting TTC subway trains in heritage livery, and while I would nitpick on putting the streetcar liveries on streetcars instead, I like it!

This remains the deadliest accident in TTC/GO history.

Welcome news as the subway extension will inevitably blow past stated deadlines.

Metrolinx: here is an LRT capable of transit signal priority (TSP) City of Toronto: let’s put speed restrictions & not use full TSP Public: I want faster trains Matlow: Let’s talk publicly about TSP Myers: let’s do it privately, I don’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings

Between how many knowledgeable people said slower-than-promised times were apparent during detailed design, and that Metrolinx's official page *still* claims "approximately 33-34 minutes to travel from end to end, for an average speed of 20-21 km/h (including stops)", why believe anything they say?

The commute in Wellington/Waterloo has been okay, but the evening drives in the dark have been worse. Headlight glare is just awful, exacerbated by spray and snow.

Last week it was 10 units on Oakwood, and today I am happy to have gotten my client approval at CoA for a 6plex on a very unusual triangle-shaped lot in East York. 3x4 bedroom units above 3x1 bedroom units.

Wow... NYC's congestion pricing has led to big drops in PM2.5 and real improvements in local air quality.

Gas emissions from the former Eastview Landfill continue to decrease. Looking forward to more of it becoming part of the passive use park, the mound would offer great views of the city.

Ah, it seemed like a few sites were having hiccups.

I'm sorry, but no one will convince me that returning to a site built on the old model of having your account and interactions in a silo, let alone a nazi bar riddled with foreign bots and rage-bait farms, is the way to go. Any site on the ATmosphere (not exclusively Bluesky) is the future.

The office has 3 boxes of cookies, 2 boxes of timbits and a potluck. It's only Monday.

This will be far from isolated. Between rapid growth, well sustainability and supply protection constraints, maybe we should start talking about different supply options. Not just for Kitchener, but up and down the Grand.

I'm repeating myself ad nauseam, but this totally stupid nonsense of all identical traffic lights with written signs to indicate what they are meant for is so absolutely insane that has come to symbolize the hyper-provincialism of Ontario and why it fails so miserably at transit construction.

Summary of 50% of my feed this morning: Finch slow

December 7th, 2006: A rare tornado tore through Kensal Rise in London. This T4 on the TORRO scale, equivalent to an F2 on the Fujita scale, injured 6 people and damaged 150 homes. According to the BBC, the last tornado to cause significant damage in London was in December 1954 in west London.

We've had one of the new electric buses roaming around like this and I thought it was just a delay to get it wrapped. Then I saw the one in the cover photo on Friday. Turns out, it's "to save money"...from having to fix it when it's damaged *by ad wraps.*

Wouldn't be a little trip to Toronto without a major subway disruption.

It's not the deep freeze like it was last night. Almost feels like a "mild cold" winter night.

Think much of the over-parenting we despise stems from the early on fear of the driver. If parents weren't terrified of our streets kids would have so much more freedom and independence which might get them comfortable with their children's ability to navigate the world without them.

Normalize reporting like this

Beast of the low winter sun.

What a chilly night. I drove from a dinner gathering in Hespeler back home to Guelph. The temperature dropped a few degrees. A huge chunk of frozen most hung over the sewage treatment plant. Condensation from industrial stacks rose in straight streams towards space. #dlws

Well, I guess we’re just saying the quiet part out loud now.