Well, it’s the Thanksgiving long weekend. And I thought that it might be a good idea to look around me, and take stock of all of the things that I have to be thankful for, particularly here in my adopted home of New Westminster.

The New Westminster Environmental Partners will be holding an Urban Transportation Forum and Annual General Meeting on November 9 at the Douglas College Student Union lounge. The event, moderated by Tenth to the Fraser Will & Briana Tomkinson, will feature local and regional transportation experts discussing what works in transportation planning, what doesn’t, and what’s coming to New Westminster.

In 2013, TransLink will launch a new electronic fare system that would allow it to charge riders only for the distance they actually travel, rather than by zone. But just because they can charge more for people traveling long distances doesn’t mean they should.

Odysseus stopped up his ears with beeswax because he knew alone, he would not have the strength to withstand the lure of the sirens’ call. I did the modern green equivalent.

A robust transit system is one of the hallmarks of civilization. In the ancient world, it meant roads. And today, it means an affordable, accessible public transit system that runs on clean energy, and stands as a force to change the world for the better.

This week is I Love Transit Week over at the Buzzer Blog, and on Thursday, July 15, Jhenifer is hosting an evening transit meetup called I Love Transit Night at New Westminster’s Heritage Grill. Plus, The Buzzer has offered us a Summer Commuter Prize Pack to give away to our readers. To win, just leave a comment on this post sharing an anecdote or commentary that illustrates what you like about public transportation.

One of the strategies resulting from the Translink Regional Cycling Strategy Stakeholder Workshop Summary held April 6, 2009, was to “make bicycle-transit interaction convenient, seamless and intuitive.” Good strategy, but what is being done to realize it?

This is a guest post by Ruth Seeley of No Spin PR.
It’s hard not to laugh at the line in the Wikipedia listing for New Westminster (no, not the part about its seven glory years as the capital of the Colony of British Columbia before Victoria snatched the honour away). The line about it being geographically small but most of it being positioned on the side of a hill.
They aren’t kidding about that. I’m lucky enough (or smart enough) to live in the area known as Brow of the Hill, …

According to Translink and the Vancouver Sun, the Patullo Bridge opens tomorrow morning at 6am – up to 3 weeks ahead of schedule.
Translink attributes the unexpected opening to their ability to source the workers and supplies needed to repair the southern part of the span that was destroyed by fire. A replacement span from part of the Canada Line construction project was even used to take the place of the missing span, which sped up the rebuilding process considerably.
The slow response of vehicle commuters, however, has got transit planners …

New Westminster police are putting their snazzy new retro-styled cruisers through their paces. It’s seems like it’s been an unusually busy – and hazardous – week for local law enforcement officers. 
Last Sunday, cops were pepper-sprayed by two youthful ne’er-do-wells near 5th Ave. and 7th St.  The attack happened while arresting the pair, following a call about an attempted theft. One officer was temporarily blinded, but neither teen got away.
On Monday, suspects in a stolen car rammed two police vehicles after the cops trapped them in the McDonald’s drive-thru on McBride. Police …

A fellow New Westie, Waferboard, has uncovered the indisputable law of public transportation: You’ll have to wait the longest time possible to catch your bus.
He offers a few telling illustrations of the ‘law’ in action: 

When arriving at a bus stop, the bus will have just gone by. Often you can see passing, tantalizingly close to your “if I run, maybe I can catch it” threshold. If you dont see it pass, the abandoned bus stop will let you know youve just missed it and will have to wait.
If you have a choice …

CBC photo
CBC reports $100,000 worth of damage to the Salvation Army thrift store on Columbia St., though thankfully no one was injured.

Traffic congestion and public transit infrastructure are named among the top issues for most civic election candidates in New Westminster – and it seems we’re not alone. Greater Vancouver is experiencing major growing pains related to suburbun expansion. Cost of living has boosted growth in areas like Pitt Meadows, Coquitlam, Surrey and Abbotsford, but the majority of jobs are still located in Vancouver. The result is gridlock due to the funnel effect of so many people coming into the downtown area through a limited number of access points.

Unsurprisingly, those at …

And now for an interlude, appropriately enough, from the Starbucks at Chapters in Metropolis (née metrotown). New Westminsterites of my vintage will remember it as Metrotown, that mecca of all things cool and consumer-related.
When I was a kid, Metrotown was THE only place to see a movie, buy reasonable clothes, shop on your own, and oftentimes, eat. Sure, some of that was owing to the uniquely terrible palate of one’s teenage years, but I know I’m not alone in saying that Metrotown was the mecca for everything. Growing up in …