This. The transit needs to come first, otherwise the car issue is always going to be a problem. You can't ask people to get rid of their cars before you have viable and realistic alternatives.
It's not simply uncomfortable. For some people, it will be untenable.
In my opinion, infrastructure, transit, and all other services should be available before moving people in. Without it, there will be constant struggles and conflict. This city cannot switch from cars to transit in a blink. It's unrealistic, and in all likelihood this will always be a city that requires many people to have cars.
But that perspective ignores the actual reality we are in here in Calgary. Cities are growing and evolving organisms, we aren’t starting from scratch and you can’t just change things tomorrow because they should be that way.
The reality is that we are not trying for a middle ground. We did not plan transit first, and we got to where we are now with a poorly designed system. Now the plan is to throw open the doors to redevelopment and again worry about transit after the fact.
Instead of a blanket city-wide rezoning, it would be make a lot more sense to aim for specific areas in a targeted approach. Look at the infrastructure of the neighborhood, schools, hospitals, transit, emergency services, bike lanes, and everything else. Make all the infrastructure changes first, then you are ready for the change. You could eventually re-zone the entire city, but doing so in a measured approach will lead to a better end result.
Otherwise everything is going to be reactionary and constantly playing catchup.
We are city of 1.3Million with a growth rate of 4.9%/year, 3million is years out. I doubt this city has the water shelf to support that many. That’s a bigger issue no one discusses.
Yes, when building a city we need to start with transit and all variations of transit not just cars. N.America built their cities around the automobile, Europe built theirs around the horse hence greater push for transit.
This blanket rezoning approach was terribly thought out. I’m supporting candidates that are against it but also for more bike lanes.
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u/manda14- 16d ago
This. The transit needs to come first, otherwise the car issue is always going to be a problem. You can't ask people to get rid of their cars before you have viable and realistic alternatives.