Are Translink's Fare Gates Fairly Distributed?

Above is the picture of the faregates on the North Side of the South Side of Commercial Broadway Station. You see: There are 9 (NINE!) Gates at this side of the station, each equipped to handle 40 pph. And this is the less intensive side of the station, where the only transfers are between the 9 or 20 and the skytrain. You may be unaware of the degree of overshoot until you see how many faregates are at Broadway-City Hall:

There are 5 (Five!) This Exit is more than 3X busier than the North side Broadway Station Exit above. Think about it; this is the major transfer between both directions of the 99B-Line and the Canada Line! Each Train that arrives at the station gives at least 50 people during rush, imagine the chaos if the 99 and the Train arrives together. My point is that with only gates, that is only 2 gates one direction and 3 gates the other direction. The maximum capacity for one of the direction with only 2 gates is 80 people. With more than 40 people getting off the bus at one time and even 80 people off the train, the waits just to enter City Hall station faregates will be >1 minute! Imagine lining up 70 seconds just to get into the Canada Line station!

This shows extremely poor planning on Translink's behalf, overshooting that side on Broadway station, drastically under calculating the volume of people using the City Hall exit. From my perspective, the only way 8 gates will be used is if the overhead walkway is closed down and people need to go down and back up again to transfer. But then again, there is a new walkway being built, and I can't imagine why there needs 160+ ppmpd (people per minute per direction) capacity at this exit.

LPC 2013 - My Perspective - Justin Trudeau

The Liberal Party of Canada is at a crucial point. With the 3rd leadership convention in 8 years the LPC lacks leadership and stability, but hope is on the horizon. I see a bright near future and long term strength in the LPC. Remember, after rock bottom, there's no way to go but up! The faster you fall, the better your recovery will be.

Politics in Canada is a Sandwich. The Conservatives are the bread on the top, maybe a little miracle whip which gives them a bit of 'zing'. The NDP are the bottom bun, with melted cheese. The Liberals? Right in the middle, just as they have always been, in the middle. The Liberals are the Veggies, the meat of this sandwich. A sandwich without the meat, is, well, bread. So it is very important that the Liberals stay in the middle, and don't, say merger with the NDP to become a piece of bread. People buy a sandwich for the meat and veggies, not for the dry, uninteresting bun. And I could keep going with this analogy but lets rather consider the alternative.

Lets see how well politics with 2 polarized parties are doing in the USA; the country is basically split dead in the middle. Almost exactly half the country is on the Democrat party and the other half the GOP side; the USA is a completely divided country, because they have no middle party. The LPC, as the meat of the sandwich, are the best of both sides, doing what's best for the country rather than pleasing their core supporters on the right or left.

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Why Justin Trudeau?

Justin is seen as an approachable, friendly young man who knows the issues (and the latest pop culture). He is a remarkable speaker, and a master at appealing to our emotions; He is fluid and soft in his speaking. Just see his commercials: [here] [here] and [here]. See how Justin looks approachable in these videos? He looks in the camera and speaks to you, uses a low quality camera, has a soft voice, wears a t-shirt, and smiles. And, of course, he's cute.

Why not Justin Trudeau?

Justin is a flip flopper. One day, yes to gun registry, another day, no to marijuana, then no to Gateway Pipeline, but yes to trade with Asia, and now Yes to Alberta Oil, and yes to Exporting energy, and Yes to fewer CO2 emissions. Make up your mind already! I sense that Justin himself is confused with the terms "Gun Registry" and "Accessible Guns". Yes to "Gun Registry" means No to "Accessible Guns".

But Justin makes a good point about at the end of this Global Interview:

"People want to know where you stand; even if they disagree with where you stand, they're going to want to know what your position is. Sure it gets me in trouble and it will continue to get me in trouble [but] I will continue to say what I think and think what I say, If it means stumbling every now and then because I've said something too direct, well so be it I know Canadians can handle it."

It is good that he knows and and admits that he's a flip flopper, and this is what makes Canadians believe that they can trust him.


Yes there are other Candidates in the LPC Race, but No I don't think they have a chance to win especially considering with preferential ballot, people will give Justin a 2 or 3 if not a one. And I think it's good that Justin will win; he is the only one out of the nine (except maybe George) that doesn't look like an out of touch politician (meant as an insult) who cares about partisan gain or one who just is too old and bad looking to win over Canadians (Marc looks like Iggy who lost over looks).

Another issue is spreading word that ALL ELIGIBLE VOTERS CAN SIGN UP TO VOTE FOR THE NEXT LIBERAL LEADER FOR FREE!!! Walking in the streets of Vancouver, it is vastly apparent that all technologically disabled (most over 50 years old) and the politically inactive, don't even know that there is a leadership race going on, let alone signing up to vote. IT'S FREE. SIGN UP TO CHOOSE THE NEXT LIBERAL LEADER NOW!

On Memory, Thought, and Intelligence

Through my studies, I have found that one of the single biggest discrepancies between people with autism and NTs is memory.

Personally, I have excellent long Term Memory. Facts, pictures, conversations, diagrams, experiences, music, ideas, knowledge, I have no problem remembering it once it is in my LTM. Short Term Memory, not so much. My long term memory is almost exclusively in pictures. There may be a few exceptions (eg SOHCAHTOA and the Seabus announcement) are embedded with words, but my prime mode of memory is pictures. I have tried to remember Pi through reciting words to failure, but I do have long term memory of the first 35 digits of pi by simple recitation. My memory of pictures and speeches is also excellent, as I can recite entire speeches I gave months ago word for word with no review.

What makes me so smart is not only my LTI though. It is also my ability to manipulate and control my thoughts to think and "feel" literally. I like to call this "conductive analysis" because it sounds nice but is in fact just a nonsense term. An example would be my ability to "feel" literally what a football player would be feeling when it is 10 minutes from kickoff for the superbowl, I am actually feeling exactly what he is feeling, the nervousness, even though I am 900 km away. Another example is my ability to look out the window at the park, and make a gigantic shape that is located on the grass field, completely 3 dimensional, and I can "fly" over it with my mind and envision what it would look like from different angles.

Of course, I have just finished Temple Grandin's Thinking in Pictures and have only very recently (while reading her book) realized to the extent at which my "visual thinking" and "visual memory" and "ability to Connect" to others' feelings differs from so many of my peers, and is so similar to those that people with autism possess. No wonder the majority of my elementary friends possessed autism, because I was able to relate to them.

Like Temple, I can design facilities or systems in my head and mentally "run" them without actually operating the system. An example is one I use frequently, especially when designing transit networks, is to mentally be on the bus, to mentally see the sight that I would see on a regular trip (again, I think in pictures so I can actually reproduce images of the moving streetscape in my mind), reproduce the sounds and feeling and even smell and what I would be doing if I were on the bus mentally. This way, actually being on the bus, I would tell any errors in my schedule, the traffic on that route and estimate the time recovery should be, and count the traffic lights that would delay the trip.

Though I have to admit it, I can think in words, which is the main discrepancy between me and autistics, that they cannot in any way think in words, but what differs me from NT peers is that I can, again, I CAN think in pictures if it is easier.

So to clarify, I think in both words and pictures, but only remember in pictures and feelings. What is new, is that this has been my main language since... Forever. I, until reading her book thought that everyone thought that way (I had suspension last year but she verified it), that everyone could actually mentally "see" or visualize their bed in front of their mind at any time. But it is crude reality that they can't. Similarly  I encountered crude reality again here: I thought that people got C+ and lower grades because they weren't trying, but this was only partially correct. What I found is that people, even if they tried, couldn't get anything better than a C+; that they really were that stupid. The reason for this is, to repeat, they lacked visual thinking, visual memory, and with that, an adequate LTI. What has been my main mode of thinking for all my life, I thought existed in everybody, and it does, though just more naturally in me than almost all others.

Note that as I am typing this, I am not forming sentences before I type, I start typing what I am seeing in my mental picture, then typing each word as it fits the picture; I think in pictures and instantaneously translate it into words, I have no idea of the words in the sentence I am about to type before I start typing, but I already mentally with pictures or feelings know what I

Khan Academy Revolutionizes Education

 Above is the vision of Khan academy. That's how we can use it. Below is how real schools are using it.

 The full potential of this technology has yet been unleashed. I can't wait to see how this will reach a tipping point and suddenly flood into every district throughout the continent.

My Goal for tomorrow: To stop learning and start thinking.

I feel a theory brewing tomorrow. Got to go to sleep now.

TO TRANSLINK: Ideas for Service Optimization

I love that you are opening the Service Optimization Discussion to the Public! I've got lots of ideas!

Last Week, I posted my remix of the Burnaby Transit Network! [Here]

This Week, I have a completely new round of Specific Ideas!!!

But first, I must commend you on actually listening to the public about this (ie. Starting Service Optimization Consultation)!

Personally, I think those changes (that you have come up with) are really, they are great.

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C23/C21 PROPOSED CHANGE BY TRANSLINK: Extending C23 along Terminal (presumably to VCC) and C21 to Stanley Park (presumably to Second Beach) 


The Terminal Avenue Extension is Extremely Helpful and an extremely good idea, connecting Millennium Line to Yaletown! The Stanley Park extention is also a Great Idea, and would serve not only Second Beach and the Fish House, but also the apartments along Beach Avenue that currently have no service! Translink, you really are hitting all the points that people want! 

TO TRANSLINK: Completely Overhauling the Burnaby Transit Network.

During the Summer Months, I worked on this project to improve the Burnaby Transit Network.

Here is my conclusion:

[Click to Enlarge]

Black = 7.5 or higher Frequencies, Blue =15 or higher, Pink = 30 or higher.
The Current Network is top right, and My 3 proposals (because I couldn't decide on which one was better).

But the map, though detailed, gives in accurate information, and is too complicated. So I invented something called a BUS SKELETON.

BUS SKELETON:
This is what I call a Bus Skeleton. My invention, but hardly my idea. Transit Geeks, what do you think?
A Skeleton Diagram is an Oversimplification of the Transit Network of a region. This diagram ignores speed, but bases extreme emphasis on Frequency.

Anyways, the top 2 are the Current Network, and the bottom is my proposal. The Right ones are oversimplified Bus Skeletons. Their objective is to remove all distractions from the network, leaving only the skeleton (thus a bus skeleton).

[Click to Enlarge]

I also Provided the Business Case for my Proposal, analyzing the cost implications based on route length and bus type. [Here] 

SELF ANALYSIS OF MY PROPOSAL:

In my proposal, I have determined that there are overlapping services, and many places with extremely lacking services. By removing bus routes, higher frequencies may be achieved. This though, will decrease the coverage level (eg: I have removed the 116). From my analysis, the higher frequencies and less routes in my proposal will save money, or at least cost less than the current system.

Comments Please! They are welcomed greatly.

PS: Translink, if you ever want me to volunteer on any part of the transit authority, I'd love to! Just shoot me an email!