Walking in Waterloo Region

[MidTowner]

This is a good thing, but the cycle time must be short, the one at the Laurel trail can be almost 2 minutes sometimes, which is an excessive wait.

Regional engineers could improve the cycle time by reducing the ped walk time (counter-intuitive I know), but it makes sense, peds don't arrive as frequently as cars, it makes sense to send them in groups frequently, but to cycle the light quickly. Of course, our regional engineers would have to notice that peds aren't cars for this to happen.

There are real limits to how short the crossing time can be on a wide road. It has to accommodate the slowest people who will be using it- people with mobility issues, older people, children.

I agree that cycle times should be shorter than unfortunately they are in many places around the Region. The longer a person waits for traffic, the more likely he is to take risks when finally deciding to cross. Perceived time can be very long when a person has no real idea when the light will change, and a two minute wait may well mean that the crossing does not decrease jaywalking that much, and maybe even increase the riskiest instances of it.