Integrated Transportation Advisory Committee Meeting

Minutes

Meeting #:
Date:
Time:
-
Location:
Transit Headquarters, 3332 Harvester Road, Burlington, ON

Alan Kirkpatrick (Chair), Kerry Eaton, Tom Carrothers (BSAC), Claudia Segatore (Cycling), Doug Benton (BAAC), Tim Park (SDC), Ken Rutter, Carm Piro, Devon Ambrose, Jason Manayathu

Councillor Blair Lancaster, Jeff Black (Manager of Traffic Operations & Signals), Rob Hagley (Marketing and Customer Service Coordinator), Dan Ozimkovic (Transportation Technologist), Georgie Gartside (Clerk)

Kayla van Zon, Brian Hayman

Rob shared that Burlington Transit will make changes in September utilizing the funds allocated in the 2018 budget, including additional drivers and improving the frequency of routes.

Two new Transit Planners were hired and they are working on the changes to be implemented. They will also be creating a business plan to address frequency and ridership, as well as making the routes more grid-like. The target date for completion of the business plan is the first quarter of 2019.

Rob also provided a presentation and shared information about the outreach, marketing and communications Burlington Transit has been undertaking:

  • targeted groups include seniors and youth with events and outreach planned
  • a survey was completed in 2018 that had 877 responses
  • information sessions will be provided on how to use the transit apps to get a schedule. A brochure will also be created with the details
  • City will soon be launching a Get Involved Burlington community engagement website and transit will be one of the first topics on the page

Dan shared comments from last meeting with Metrolinx related to the need for bike lockers at Aldershot GO Station and they will look into it.

Other updates included:

  • City received $7,500 from Safe Cycling Education Fund - purchased cycling giveaways and bikes for the Seniors' Centre. Seniors will be able to sign out those bikes to go for bike rides. 
  • City received $640,000 as part of Ontario Municipal Commuter Cycling Fund. Funds will improve the Francis Road multi-use path that connects Plains Rd to Northshore Blvd
  • CanBike training took place in April
  • the consultant team working on the Cycling Master Plan attended Cycling Committee meetings in February and March and will be back at their June meeting. Work on Cycling Master Plan will take place over the summer and be presented to Council after the election
  • Bike to Work day event this morning at city hall. It was a kick off to Bike to School week and Bike to Work month. There are 34 schools registered for Bike to School week. Every school registered before May 21 receives a prize from the City - bike rack, scooter rack or active transportation prize
  • City teamed up with Metrolinx for Bike to GO campaign. The campaign will continue throughout the summer to encourage more people to bike to GO stations. If residents bike to the GO station, they get to ride on the train for free
  • City is offering bike racks for free to business owners in Burlington. Contact Dan if you know a business owner that is interested
  • pedestrian data is being collected on roads without sidewalks that are scheduled for reconstruction in the city's 2019 and 2020 capital budgets to determine if sidewalks are warranted. If they are, funding will be included in the capital budget to coincide with the timing for road reconstruction
  • rural active transportation strategy is planned north of Hwy 5 and Hwy 407. A consultant is being hired to work on that strategy
  • Centennial multi-use path and the Hydro corridor paths will be reviewed this summer to determine if they should have lighting

Jeff provided the following update:

  • road safety - just finalized driver feedback sign locations. They try to get speed compliance from drivers using these signs. The signs are rotated around to various locations in the city, both urban and rural
  • traffic calming - speed humps are being implemented on roads that warrant them. As part of the traffic calming program, speed limits are also reviewed using an analysis method. A lot of the reviews have come back that residential streets should be 40 km/hr and those changes have been made
  • pedestrian crossovers - the city is going through an analysis to determine where to begin since the province implemented new pedestrian crossovers. A staff report will go to council with budget details for implementation next year. Education is necessary so drivers are made aware of them
  • automated speed enforcement initiative - the provincial government (under the Safer Schools Act) has implemented photo radar that municipalities can utilize in school zones and community safety zones. Burlington is on a working group to determine the technology to be used, and legislative procedures. Toronto will pilot this initiative. They will test the equipment to work out the issues to ensure the technology is optimized
  • traffic signals - staff is undertaking a feasibility review of transit service priority at intersections to ensure buses are on time. The intent is that if a bus was running behind, the traffic light would switch to green to give priority to the bus. If the bus is ahead of schedule, the light wouldn't change. It would be a GPS based model
  • traffic signal system - the city's traffic signal system runs through a central computerized control system. Emerging is performance measures for traffic signals and technology that would track arrivals on green that will give recommended timing using real time data. Looking at vendors now to start the work. Milton has a 22% increase in traffic flow as a result of implementing this

Alan reminded committee members that ITAC has established three sub-committees: Transit, Traffic Operations and Transportation Planning.

ACTION: Committee members to advise Georgie which of the three sub-committees they are interested in being members of.

No update.

No update.

Dan will meet with the sub-committee to go over the Cycling Master Plan workbook.

Doug advised that he and Judi Lytle, the City's Accessibility Coordinator, did an informal audit of the Burlington GO station and determined that it was not very accessible.

City-wide review of parking standards - The consultant for the parking standards review is proposing less accessible spots. BAAC members contacted the province to determine how many disabled permits were held by Burlington residents and found out that there are 8.7% more permits per capita in Burlington than compared to the provincial average.

Claudia shared that the Cycling Committee attends 30 events per year to promote cycling, as well as go into classrooms to speak to students. The Cycling Master Plan is a big project the committee is working on this year.

Tom said that BSAC is pursuing better pedestrian access into Brant Hills Community Centre.

Tim shared that SDC provided comments on the city's Official Plan, and are reviewing the mobility hubs (not downtown). SDC continues to review and comment on development applications. They will start to follow the regional official plan also.

Kerry provided an overview of his report (attached) on the CanBike Level 4 Instructors Course that was held on April 14 & 28 and thanked Dan for all of his work in organizing it.

The report was finalized and will be presented to the June 5, 2018 Planning and Development Committee meeting.

Alan advised that the Town of Milton's Transportation Master Plan was circulated to the committee for information, along with correspondence from the Region of Halton regarding an advanced traffic management system.

Information was also circulated to the committee regarding roundabouts. Jeff advised that the city would be open to them, but they need a lot of land to be constructed. There are a few smaller ones in residential areas. The challenge is they are not very pedestrian friendly.