Research Question:
Should the King Street transportation pilot project become a permanent restricted transportation
route?
Annotated Bibliography:
Gehl, Jan, and Gemzøe, Lars. New City Spaces. Copenhagen: Danish Architectural Press, 2003.
New City Spaces is a book about urban and land use planning. It explores designs of public spaces and public transportation in cities around the world. It will be useful to me because I can use it to learn about how other cities have implemented public transportation. I can use this knowledge and compare these projects to the King Street pilot project. This source is reliable because it was written by an architect and urban designer and was found in the University Center library.
Hustwit, Gary. “Urbanized,” in Helvetica / Objectified / Urbanized: The Complete Interviews. New York: Gary Hustwit, 2015.
This book contains the complete interviews included in the film “Urbanized.” Only about 3% of the conversations recorded with designers in the making of this documentary were seen in the film. The conversations recorded that I am interested in discussing public transit in cities around the world. Public transportation implementation has changed the way many of these cities operate. The interviews would help me to potentially strengthen the argument in favour of or against the King Street pilot project based on how similar projects have panned out elsewhere. This source is reliable as the people being interviewed are some of the top designers in the world and are very knowledgeable about the topics at hand.
“King Street West Transit Pilot.” Potloc. November 2018, https://business.potloc.com/king-street-en#first.
This is a survey done by a consumer research firm called Potloc for Retail Insider, a well-known retail industry online publication. The survey explores how the King Street pilot project has impacted businesses in the area as that was one of the main concerns of this change. The store owners were the main source of backlash leading into the project so this information about consumer habits along King Street will help me come to a conclusion about where I stand on the topic. This source is reliable because it was published in November 2018 by a research firmfor a respected retail industry publication. However, since it was made for the retail industry it will most likely have a slight bias. Therefore, I will take the information I receive from it with a grain of salt.
Lee-Shanok, Philip. “A year into King Street pilot project, it's not clear if metrics or politics will decide its fate.” CBC News, November 12, 2018, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/king-street-pilot-marks-one-year-anniversary-1.4900969.
This news article evaluates the King Street pilot project a year after it’s start date. The article showcases interviews with residents, city planners, TTC and city spokespeople as well as business owners. It presents the positives and negatives to the project and people’s opinions on each. I can use this article to help me understand the pros and cons of the project in relation to people who are directly impacted by it. I will use this information to take a stand on my view of the project and what I think should be done. This is a reliable source because it was published by a respected Canadian news publication and is very recent as it is from November 12, 2018.
Lewis, Michael. “One year in data deems King St. pilot project a success.” Toronto Star, November 11, 2018. https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2018/11/11/one-year-in-data-deems-king-st-pilot-project-a-success.html
This is a news article by the Toronto Star, a trusted Toronto news publication. The article includes quotes from the city of Toronto Mayor, John Tory. The article showcases the positives and negatives of the streetcar route, as told by the mayor and store owners along King Street. This article will help me to portray both sides of the story in my research paper. This source is reliable because it was posted by a respected Toronto news publication and is very recent as it is from November 11, 2018, one year after the start of the project.
Van Oort, Niels. “Research in Transportation Economics.” Incorporating service reliability in public transport design and performance requirements: International survey results and recommendation 48, (December 2014): 92-100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.retrec.2014.09.036.
This journal article presents surveyed research about public transportation. This research can be used to improve public transportation systems. This research will help me understand if the King Street project needs to be updated at all. The article explores service reliability and design which is helpful because the King Street project is aimed at improving the service reliability of streetcars along King Street in Toronto. This source is reliable because it presents surveyed information and is quite recent as it was published in December 2014.
