Wednesday, November 30, 2011

December Meeting

TLC is having a meeting Thursday, December 15 at 7 pm to 8:30pm at the McMaster University Student Centre room 311 - we will discuss recent initiatives, and plan for future actions around sustainable transportation in Hamilton - pedestrian, cycling, transit etc.
If you have ideas and are willing to put time and energy into seeing ideas become actions, then please attend!
You can contact tlchamilton@gmail.com for more information.

Tuesday, November 08, 2011

Anti-Bus Bias?


Transit in the Media: as Hamilton tries to remake itself into a more "balanced" transportation city, the local media can perhaps try unloading the cars-first bias, subtle as it is: why not begin the article with "transit riders, take note: your commute is about to get a bit faster." 
This kind of setting the tone is not without precedent when the topic is cars - but then again, car ads are an important revenue stream, so perhaps the bias is partly self preservation?
Regardless of the motivation, be it conscious or unconscious, the world is presented to readers in a certain light: cars are to be inconvenienced by transit, or cyclists, or pedestrians. It follows that a perceived "war on the car" can be announced at any time and gain traction in the media, despite the obvious fact that cars have been having their way in the city for generations.
In the interest of democratic give-and-take, we all have to learn to share the existing roads. Can we get the media to spin a little without internal combustion engines turning the wheels?