ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[Rainrider22]

I am surprised that you can come to these conclusions without even knowing what the situation is.  And to draw a conclusion that these and many other police simply want to inconvenience people tells you have some strong personal bias against the police... Perhaps waiting till you have the facts, many times there are reasons for why certain things are done the way they are done.

That's true that I don't have all of the facts. My assumption was based on the "nobody around" comment, and I was careful in my previous comment not to say they should "never" block a sidewalk (or a road, or whatever). You're right that it's very possible that this is one of the cases where they were absolutely justified in doing so, and I would be glad that they prevented imminent property damage or injury (or whatever the case may have been).

I don't disagree that it isn't ideal for them to be situated where they are.  I guess it felt you were being absolute about the situation.  Anyways, still doesn't hurt to bring it to the attention of the management to remind the officers to not block the rails and or walkways to the stations whenever possible.  This is a learning curve for everyone, police included..

[jamincan]

Like others said, the officers may well have a reason to block access, but it is a general pattern that you see with delivery vehicles, utility trucks, and drivers of all sorts. All of them make an effort not to block a driving lane, because they don't want to disrupt traffic. This often means they block a sidewalk or bike lane or transit lane instead. They're being conscientious, but of other drivers like themselves. The goal should be to expand people's idea of road users to be more than just other drivers and to include people on transit, cyclists, pedestrians, people in wheelchairs and so on so that their actions are considerate of all users.

In this case, the police officers had a number of choices about where they could stop. They didn't stop in the middle of the street, probably because it would block traffic. They didn't stop in the transit lane, because they've thankfully been taught by this point not to because it disrupts LRT. Maybe they could have stopped in the parking lot instead, I don't know. They might have thought that it was no problem for pedestrians to get around them even (disregarding that it would be illegal for them to go on the tracks or through the garden/planter). I highly doubt they considered those with mobility or other impairments, though.

[ijmorlan]

That's true that I don't have all of the facts. My assumption was based on the "nobody around" comment, and I was careful in my previous comment not to say they should "never" block a sidewalk (or a road, or whatever). You're right that it's very possible that this is one of the cases where they were absolutely justified in doing so, and I would be glad that they prevented imminent property damage or injury (or whatever the case may have been).

I don't disagree that it isn't ideal for them to be situated where they are.  I guess it felt you were being absolute about the situation.  Anyways, still doesn't hurt to bring it to the attention of the management to remind the officers to not block the rails and or walkways to the stations whenever possible.  This is a learning curve for everyone, police included..

In this case, if there is a valid explanation, it should be easy for WRPS to explain briefly.

If there isn’t, it should be easy for them to apologize and commit to treating pedestrian rights of way with more respect in the future, including appropriate officer training.

Not that different really from any other observation of the police. Imagine a video came out of two officers sitting on a suspect while another puts on handcuffs. Could be anything from outrageous police conduct to absolutely necessary depending on the circumstances, and no matter where it falls in the spectrum the force needs to be prepared to give an appropriate response both to the public and internally (ranging from firing and blacklisting the involved officers to commending them for handling the situation properly, depending on the specifics).

[Bob_McBob]

https://www.twitter.com/rideIONrt/status/1146482549788729346

[Bob_McBob]

I have no idea how to make the Twitter preview work. It didn't even convert to a url.

https://twitter.com/rideIONrt/status/114...9788729346

"A total of 299,760 passengers boarded ION light rail, from opening day to Canada Day, during the 11 days of free transit in Waterloo Region."

[MidTowner]

That's pretty close to the opening day ridership forecast (27,000).

[danbrotherston]

[danbrotherston]

[KevinT]

[Bob_McBob]

With respect to the recent discussion we had about adding more LRVs, I noticed the 2019 budget forecast has $31m allocated for vehicle purchases from 2022-2023. That must be two per year?

[danbrotherston]

With respect to the recent discussion we had about adding more LRVs, I noticed the 2019 budget forecast has $31m allocated for vehicle purchases from 2022-2023. That must be two per year?

Is that LRVs or are those buses?

I know there was a substantial increase in buses planned.

[Bob_McBob]

With respect to the recent discussion we had about adding more LRVs, I noticed the 2019 budget forecast has $31m allocated for vehicle purchases from 2022-2023. That must be two per year?

Is that LRVs or are those buses?

I know there was a substantial increase in buses planned.

Good question. The regular Rapid Transit budget lists $51m for vehicles this year, plus $2m in 2021, and no other spending until at least 2029 (outside the forecast). The "Rapid Transit Project Expansion" section lists $31m for vehicles over two years from 2022-2023.

[ijmorlan]

I don't really buy their statement. The vehicle is parked in a way that the officer could not easily have disembarked from the drivers side door without falling off the platform. By the time I arrived, the arrest must have been over for five minutes at least, they could have moved.

But I'm not really up for questioning them about this more publicly than here however, and I do appreciate the response, even weak as it is.

Sounds like it could be reasonable, at least when it started. If they’re arriving to help with an arrest in progress, they don’t have time to spend figuring out where to park. However, once the arrest was completed, it should be possible to move the vehicle within a couple of minutes — if they need to stay nearby to complete paperwork or collect evidence or talk to witnesses, they should be able to put the car somewhere more appropriate first.

[Bob_McBob]

When it comes down to it, it's police policy to park wherever they want for their convenience. Does an officer responding to a shoplifting call at Walmart have to park on the sidewalk beside the entrance? No, of course not. If you call them on it, they'll just say it's department policy in case they have to respond to another call. There will always be an excuse like this, and in the end they can park wherever they please and nobody can do anything about it because they're above the law in this respect. If they feel like blocking an entire LRT station rather than parking across the street, they'll do it, and that's the end of it.

[danbrotherston]

When it comes down to it, it's police policy to park wherever they want for their convenience. Does an officer responding to a shoplifting call at Walmart have to park on the sidewalk beside the entrance? No, of course not. If you call them on it, they'll just say it's department policy in case they have to respond to another call. There will always be an excuse like this, and in the end they can park wherever they please and nobody can do anything about it because they're above the law in this respect. If they feel like blocking an entire LRT station rather than parking across the street, they'll do it, and that's the end of it.

This is why it's so important to get police OUT of their cars and SUVs.

And this is why it was so disappointing to hear the police bicycle officers make such a terribly driver centric video last year.