Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Jens von Bergmann @jensvb.bsky.social · 11h

No. They do have an "occupancy" field in the data but it's always 0 in my scrapes. Not sure how it's used (if at all), could be that it's an indicator that flips if the "Sorry Bus Full" sign is turned on. Will re-run the scapes on a work day during rush hour and check.

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Jens von Bergmann @jensvb.bsky.social · 11h

Direction. Orange tends to travel west or north, purple south or east. It's already quite messy and this helps a little bit when e.g. two buses of the same line pass each other in opposite directions.

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Jens von Bergmann @jensvb.bsky.social · 22h

Maybe the assumption is that they are always on time, which is probably right most of the time. So could add them in using the scheduled times (and interpolating). Could do the same for the missing buses too, maybe with muted colour. Guessing they do show up in the service disruption alerts through.

Jens von Bergmann @jensvb.bsky.social · 22h

I only see buses in the data feed. Including the rapid buses. But no SeaBus or SkyTrain.

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Jens von Bergmann @jensvb.bsky.social · 22h

Looks like Fraser Valley has realtime GTFS feeds too, so could also do it for those communities. www.bctransit.com/open-data/

BC Transit | Open Data | GTFS

BC Transit GTFS data and associated geographical information for the covered communities.

www.bctransit.com

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Jens von Bergmann @jensvb.bsky.social · 23h

Finally got around to playing with TransLink realtime GTFS data. Kind of fun. Transit in Vancouver is looking pretty good, especially considering this is an hour midday on a holiday weekend, with some lines not running (hello 44) and not all buses reporting real-time information.

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Jens von Bergmann @jensvb.bsky.social · 1d

Where is this map from? This looks much more promising than what’s in the current draft plan.

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Jens von Bergmann @jensvb.bsky.social · 2d

It’s both. I’m short, population weighted density is just regular density plus variance in regular density taken over the sub-regions, 1km grid cells in this case. Hard to say what exactly is going on for individual cities without checking into details.

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Jens von Bergmann @jensvb.bsky.social · 2d

Some caution is advisable here, population weighted density is a funny metric that gets boosted by variance in population density. And thus heavily depends on choices like grid size.

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Reposted by Jens von Bergmann

Dr. Mike P. Moffatt @mikepmoffatt.bsky.social · 2d

Fantastic piece by Don Iveson on what Edmonton is doing right on housing. There are lots of lessons here for other communities.

The big picture on housing, density and affordability

How Edmonton's approach fights for affordability and fiscal efficiency

civicgood.substack.com

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Jens von Bergmann @jensvb.bsky.social · 3d

Time to dust off that old 3-line RSA t-shirt…

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Jens von Bergmann @jensvb.bsky.social · 3d

I first read that as 15.4%. Holy moly, we really don’t want solar in Canada.

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Jens von Bergmann @jensvb.bsky.social · 3d

September data was released today. The drop in absolute number of travellers is a bit lower than in the (higher volume) summer months, but year over year percentage change drop held fairly steady.

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Reposted by Jens von Bergmann

Tammy Schirle 🇨🇦 @tammyschirle.bsky.social · 3d

One such paper to find:
What Proportion of Tax Returns Could the Canada Revenue Agency Complete?
(open access)
utppublishing.com/doi/full/10....

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Reposted by Jens von Bergmann

Melissa & Chris Bruntlett @modacitylife.com · 4d

There are a few other opportunities to catch us this week! www.modacitylife.com/vancouver

Vancouver

www.modacitylife.com

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Jens von Bergmann @jensvb.bsky.social · 4d

Sounds amazing. How am I so out of the loop that I don’t even know what this event was?

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Jens von Bergmann @jensvb.bsky.social · 5d

I have lived in North America for half my life now but I still get tripped up by how ridiculous some of the regulation here is compared to Europe. (And pretty much all of the rest of the world.)

Ryan Jabs @ryanjabs.bsky.social · 5d

It’s this craziness that led to CMHC’s “standardized” sixplex design where they split the staircase inside and outside the building so the doors were only 1.5m above grade. It illustrates how dumb the rule is as this is a less safe design.

www.housingcatalogue.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/designs/bc/c...

Courtyard Sixplex

www.housingcatalogue.cmhc-schl.gc.ca

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Jens von Bergmann @jensvb.bsky.social · 5d

At least for this project it looks like they aren’t using their discretion to force assemblies, which definitely has been a thing in the past.

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Jens von Bergmann @jensvb.bsky.social · 5d

Can’t believe we are still doing this.
RM-7 zoning is designed to generate maximally inaccessible townhouses, because not sinking the first floor a metre below ground level would make the building a metre taller and cast an extra 10mins of shade in some SFH zucchini garden. (Also add elevators!)

Discretionary Vancouver @discretionary-yvr.bsky.social · 5d

DP: 2770 Euclid Avenue. 8-unit stacked townhouse, 1.19 FSR, 11.4m height, 5 parking spaces https://engagevancouver.ca.engagementhq.com/2770-euclid-ave

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Reposted by Jens von Bergmann

Peter Waldkirch @pwaldkirch.bsky.social · 10d

YIMBYs (like @ahvancouver.bsky.social) often say, "legalize apartments", or "end the apartment ban".

I don't want to speak for anyone else. But when I say that--things like this is what I'm talking about. No street, no neighbourhood, is too good for housing like this.

Housing is good!

Bryn Davidson - Lanefab @lanefab.com · 10d

The New Vancouver Special - 50' lot edition.

Accessible single stair flats on a 50x122 lot.
12 family size homes (or) 24 small units.

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Jens von Bergmann @jensvb.bsky.social · 5d

This is really good to see. It brings predictability to development, not just for developers but also for residents who know what kind of development they can expect to see. Hoping this work will continue and reliance of site-specific zoning will get further reduced.

Josh White @jwhiteyvr.bsky.social · 6d

Vancouver City Council approved establishment of standardized apartment zoning districts today, as well as a significant City initiated rezoning in the Broadway Plan and Cambie Corridor areas. I delivered these remarks in closing during the item at Council:

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Jens von Bergmann @jensvb.bsky.social · 6d

My guess, regular lane painting equipment is designed for roads and the bike lane and line placement is too narrow for it to work. So they had to wing it.

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Reposted by Jens von Bergmann

Frances Woolley @frwoolley.bsky.social · 6d

Great to chat to Dan Fumano @vancouversun.bsky.social about BC's property tax deferment program.

My take: "the B.C. model, where significant interest rate subsidies are accessed by those with above-average home values, does not seem to be an effective use of government funds.”

How B.C.'s property tax system delivers big benefits to multimillionaires, and why some say it needs to change

B.C.'s property tax system is uniquely generous for wealthy homeowners. Some people think that should change. Find out more.

vancouversun.com

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Jens von Bergmann @jensvb.bsky.social · 7d

Ack, we should coordinate next time.

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Jens von Bergmann @jensvb.bsky.social · 8d

Barely. But worth it.

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