Tidbits and links about transportation from the last few weeks or so!

• As pointed out on Human Transit, the new video from REM makes extensive use of transit map graphics in a pretty way. Thanks to Eric B for sending this link along as well!
• On the TransLink front: our Sustainability Report was released this week, outlining TransLink’s policy on sustainability and setting out key measurements to track our progress. As it’s the first year, this is more about seeing where we’re at and setting a baseline for future measurements for the years to come. You can check out the press release announcing the report as well.
• On the TransLink website: keep an eye on our projects page, which we’re working on populating with more info over the next little while. There are now landing pages for projects like the Waterfront Station Upgrades and the Newton Town Centre and Transportation Plan, which are ongoing projects that never had a home on the site… until now!
• Our Access Transit manager Peter Hill recently had a paper published about TransLink’s accessibility strategy!
• And here’s a little bit more on the CUBIC/IBM smartcard contract with TransLink, from digitaltransactions.net.
• The Vancouver Sun did a video with the Vancouver TheatreSports League on the behaviours people dislike on SkyTrain. Check it out!
• David Cooper sent along a link to Calgary Transit’s Valentine’s Day celebration, where they asked couples to contribute their transit love stories and named a winner!
• The Globe and Mail explores the safest way to stand on a bus.
• What’s a links post without a look at Toronto transit? Here’s a couple of quick hits: the TTC will cut 41 bus routes and three TTC employees were fired for texting while driving. But on the other hand, the Presto smartcard program has hit 2 million taps, and Frances Bula pointed out this super creative exterior for a Toronto subway station. So!
• Sean Turvey passed along two great links showcasing unusual bus stops from around the world: here’s a school bus recommissioned as a bus shelter, and bus shelters from around the world including Vancouver.
• Here’s a couple more posts I’ve caught on Human Transit over the past little while: the connection count test for judging how reasonable your transit network is; how disasters can raise your taxes, and a guest post on the Edmonton LRT by David M.
• Real-time bus info news: the MTA in New York has a new, pilot real-time bus information system! It’s built using OneBusAway, an open-source software package developed in Seattle. Edmonton’s doing a pilot with real-time bus data too. Meanwhile, OC Transpo in Ottawa is still struggling with the release of its real-time data.
• Speaking of Edmonton: here’s a simulation video of the Edmonton North LRT.
• Photos from the recent Chicago blizzard, where car and transit drivers were forced to abandon their cars on the road.
• Jean Chong explores outdoor bike art in Metro Vancouver. (That’s part 4—see the post for links to all 3 parts of her series!)
• Views of Vancouver transit from elsewhere: here’s a lengthy review of Vancouver transit by a Toronto urban planning student. PortlandUrbanista came by Vancouver and was pleasantly surprised at our transit system. And this blog suggests that we may be a leader in social media for transit :)
• LA Metro’s The Source asks: is a cup of coffee the key to good transit oriented development?
• Eric B shared this Guardian link: photography of people on Tube escalators!
• Ivan Chan has some 3D transit photography to share! Here’s Langara Station, and here’s the Canada Line bike and pedestrian bridge: mid-span and the bridge ramp from the Vancouver side.
• From the Vancouver Public Space Network: there’s a new City of Vancouver public art piece near Canada Line’s Vancouver City Centre Station!
• And last but not least: here are some wonderful bus paintings by artist Cynthia Buckshon.

If you have any items to suggest, or a photo to showcase on these posts, e-mail me at thebuzzer@translink.ca! (Seriously: photos. Send them to me!)