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This picture just so happens to be perfect, because A) I left New York for Montreal yesterday, and B) the day before that was the Pride Parade. Which I don’t blame it at all for making me late to my bike ride.
Swipe Out! 10 Delightful Arts & Crafts Projects Involving Dead Metrocards » INFRASTRUCTURIST
Kevin Wong’s 2009 graduation project from Emily Carr University of Art and Design is an awesome mashup of real-life with the surreality between our ears — from video games, of course. And all neatly tied with an awesome pun.
The project consists of plywood cut-outs of characters from the popular 1978 video game Space Invaders. These sculptures unveil the invisible, uncomfortable social space that occupies the empty seats of buses and challenges the concept of privacy in public spaces.
The best U.S. transit systems you never knew existed | Grist
As cities big and small rethink how their residents get around, new systems are taking shape—and as gas prices and paychecks fluctuate, riders are responding in droves. While the current economic crunch is forcing many cities to hike fares and cut back on service, innovations continue, and the tracks are laid for a bright future. Here are a few surprising places where public transit is gaining speed […] (via ammph)
Earth From Above has some incredible photos, many of which relate to the mark we’ve left on the world in our need to schlep stuff or ourselves around. Definitely worth a look. (via adrifting,landscapearchitecture,anathemadelight)
Golden Ears Bridge - A View from the Other Side
Here’s a comment on the video of the Golden Ears opening from a friend of mine (made inside a walled garden):
Wow, it’s like you and I were at a completely different event.
I came from the Maple Ridge side where there was no bike valet, no information and no crowd control. People got jammed together at an impasse and Ken Hardie had the nerve to yell at us all to move while there was nowhere else to go. Finally police started turning people away from the bridge and the congestion started clearing up, but people were pretty frustrated and angry on the MR side.
I think the event had potential but it was poorly planned and executed.
And my response:
I think it’s pretty safe to say in some ways we probably were at different events. I never made it further north than halfway up the bridge, and didn’t even have to wait that long for a shuttle when we left at the Surrey side around 3ish? So I probably missed all the drama…
Coast Mountain Bus Company is hiring
Excellent wages, benefits and training, combined with great career opportunities make employment at Coast Mountain Bus Company a must! That’s why undefiinedd says Future career, yeyuh!:
cindy: if all else fails
cindy: you can work with translink when you’re older
cindy: HAHAHAH
fiona: FUCK YOU
fiona: HAHAHAHAHAAH
cindy: one of those phone operators
fiona: just search up transit schedules for the rest of my life
fiona: not even for myself either
fiona: man that’s depressing
cindy: hey man
cindy: you’re helping people reach their destinations in life
fiona: yeah OKAY
fiona: LOL
cindy: one bus stop at a time
cindy: that can be your slogan
fiona : don’t forget the skytrain!
cindy: you can be translink’s head consultant
fiona: i’ll fucking own translink
fiona: just watch me
fiona: and then i’ll make a bus become a personal vehicle for me
cindy: bring your homies on board
fiona: then i’ll drive on over to your place and we’ll PARTAYYY IT UP
cindy: max capacity of 72 ppl!
fiona: WOOT
yvonne: LFMAO
yvonne: HAHAHAHA
cindy: why are we having this conversation
June 14th was the opening of the Golden Ears Bridge crossing between Pitt Meadows and Langley. It was also the same day as the Car Free Vancouver community festivals in four neighbourhoods. I realized a couple weeks ago not only that they were happening simultaneously, but that it would be a great opportunity to witness and contrast pedestrian celebrations. Props to TransLink for organizing an enjoyable day, though I understand that there were many challenges involved that made it less entertaining for others.
I was not originally planning on going to the GEB opening. The Saturday night previous, I was showing a friend some of my Super-8 film footage of Toronto, and the idea was sown: for the once-in-a-lifetime pedestrian opening of this bridge, I would document it with the heftiest medium at my disposal, a format worthy of the occasion.
So I spent a good two and a half hours taking the train, the bus, and walking to the celebration, weaving the crowds with my Super-8 camera in my left hand (loaded with 50m of film, about 180-200 seconds worth of capacity), and my Flip MinoHD with a gorillapod in my right (which stores 60 minutes of High Definition video on a 4GB hard drive).
I hope you enjoy the video, especially if you happen to be in it. The other footage will take a lot longer to put online, but I hope to do so before the summer is out.
I did also manage to make it to the Car Free Festivals in Vancouver later in the day. There is significantly less footage of those celebrations, but I think there will be enough there for episode 3…or at least an episode 2½.
"Speed" for the Transit Crowd: The TTC comments on "The Taking of Pelham 123"
Quote from article in the Toronto Sun: The scene: A subway train is hijacked by gun-wielding kidnappers who hold a carload of passengers hostage, showing how an entire city is held captive when a subway line shuts down. But could a Toronto subway be hijacked? The reality: “You never say never about anything.” said Ross, who notes you could ask the same question about virtually every movie. Toronto Police do conduct emergency training exercises on a standing subway car in the TTC’s normally deserted Lower Bay station.
Look for video from the Golden Ears opening….tomorrow! :D
In Canada, we go apeshit when a new bridge opens:
Party for new B.C. bridge draws 20,000, turns chaotic. “One woman went into labour, one man had a heart attack and at least a dozen others fainted”.
(via seanorr)
