Steve Munro
{{short description|Canadian author and transit advocate}}
{{hatnote group|
{{for|the Scottish rugby union player|Steve Munro (rugby union)}}
{{distinguish|Steve Monroe}}
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{{Use Canadian English|date=December 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Steve Munro
| image = SteveMunro.jpg
| caption = Steve Munro, transit activist
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1948|09|07}}{{Cite web|url=https://stevemunro.ca/2008/09/08/sixty/|title=Sixty|date=8 September 2008}}
| nationality = Canadian
| occupation = Transit advocate, author, computer systems manager (retired)
| website = {{url|http://stevemunro.ca/}}
}}
Steve Munro (born 7 September 1948) is a Canadian blogger and transit advocate from Toronto, Ontario. Munro has been credited in playing a lead role in the grass-roots efforts to convince the Toronto City Council to reverse plans to abandon Toronto's remaining streetcars.{{cite news| author = Tess Kalinowski |title=Jolly old revered transit activist; Three decades after activists including Steve Munro saved city's iconic streetcars, their influence continues|url=https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2008/12/20/jolly_old_revered_transit_activist.html|accessdate=10 December 2014|work=Toronto Star|date=20 December 2008}}
Work
Munro has written several technical reports on transit.{{cite news|last1=Margaret|first1=Daly|title=Let 'transit fan' sit on TTC board, Sewell urges|work=The Globe and Mail|date=29 March 1979|id={{ProQuest|387106800}}}} Since 2006, he has written a blog that is frequently quoted by other transit commentators.{{cite news |last1=Keenan |first1=Edward |title=It’s foolish to spend on TTC expansion when the routes we rely on now are crumbling |url=https://www.thestar.com/opinion/star-columnists/its-foolish-to-spend-on-ttc-expansion-when-the-routes-we-rely-on-now-are/article_46a641e8-e86a-11ee-a9b6-b7646b62e744.html |access-date=August 19, 2024 |publisher=Toronto Star |date=March 23, 2024}}{{cite news |last1=Harvey |first1=Lex |title=The King Street streetcar is broken. Here’s how we can fix it |url=https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/the-king-street-streetcar-is-broken-heres-how-we-can-fix-it/article_bc6d0796-9512-11ee-9671-9b0602196870.html |access-date=August 19, 2024 |publisher=Toronto Star |date=December 12, 2023}} He has previously written regular columns for several publications, including Spacing magazine, Torontoist, and NOW Magazine.
In 1986, Munro was critical of the decision to build a subway on Sheppard Avenue rather than a light rail vehicle line as professional transit planners recommended.
In 2005, Munro was recognized for his long advocacy for improved public transit with the Jane Jacobs Medal.{{cite news|last1=Gray|first1=Jeff|title=Streetcar activist wins Jacobs prize|work=The Globe and Mail|date=5 April 2005|id={{ProQuest|1366078339}}}}
In 2010, while he was serving as a member of an advisory board on a proposed transit museum, Munro went public with complaints that the outgoing members of the Toronto Transit Commission were inappropriately rushing to solidify plans for the museum to bolster their personal legacies.
In 2015, Munro conducted a detailed analysis of wait times on the Harbourfront route, following reconstruction of the street that took several years. He found that changes to the route had increased the time to transit the route by 25 percent. In citing Munro's analysis, Edward Keenan of the Toronto Star referred to Munro's website as his "highly detailed blog". Keenan said that Munro's analysis attributed the delay to additional traffic lights, and poorly implemented and ineffective transit prioritization at those traffic lights.{{fact|date=September 2022}}
As of 2024, Munro continues to publish commentary and in-depth analysis on his blog, [http://stevemunro.ca stevemunro.ca].
References
{{Reflist|refs=
{{cite news
| url = http://www.blogto.com/people/2009/08/toronto_through_the_eyes_of_steve_munro/
| title = Toronto Through the Eyes of Steve Munro
| publisher = Blog TO
| author = Crystal Luxmore
| date = 23 August 2009
| page =
| location =
| isbn =
| access-date = 29 October 2013
| quote = A proud trainspotter, Munro's been riding the rocket for kicks since he was a kid. He parlayed that love into a life of transit activism, crafting a reputation at City Hall for his reasoned ideas and ability to recall any streetcar on the line. It also makes him Yoda to up-and-coming urban planners and transit fans in the city, penning columns for Spacing Magazine and getting phone calls from reporters and city planners hours after publishing his latest blog post.
}}
{{cite book
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=1jZSAAAAMAAJ&q=Steve+munro
| title = Light Rail Transit: New System Successes at Affordable Prices : Papers Presented at the National Conference on Light Rail Transit, May 8–11, 1988, San Jose, California, Issue 221
| publisher = National Conference on Light Rail Transit, 1988
| author =
| year = 1989
| page =
| location =
| isbn = 9780309047135
| access-date = 29 October 2013
| quote = The vice-chairman was Steve Munro, a computer programmer.
}}
{{cite news
| url = http://www.ideasthatmatter.com/people/2005steve.html
| title = People That Matter: Jane Jacobs Prize Recipient, Steve Munro
| publisher = Ideas that matter
| author =
| date =
| page =
| location =
| isbn =
| access-date = 29 October 2013
| quote = The “Streetcars for Toronto” Committee was formed in 1972 to fight for the retention and expansion of the streetcar system as a way to provide low-cost rapid transit service to growing suburban areas. As a student at the University of Toronto, Steve was part of that Committee and subsequently became its chair.
}}
{{cite news
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=HQkIzx5Ga0QC&q=Steve+munro&pg=PT335
| title = Straphanger: Saving Our Cities and Ourselves from the Automobile
| author = Taras Grescoe
| publisher = HarperCollins
| year = 2012
| page =
| location =
| isbn = 9781443411431
| access-date = 29 October 2013
| quote =
}}
{{cite news
| url = https://www.proquest.com/docview/435407372
| title = A subway surprise: The Sheppard line
| newspaper = Toronto Star
| author = Mike Smith
| date = 8 February 1986
| access-date = 29 October 2013
| quote = Transit critic Steve Munro, on the other hand, says the TTC has a "bias toward subways" and hasn't completely explored all other forms of rapid transit. "They didn't look at putting an LRT underground, for instance," Munro said. Munro is spokesman for Streetcars for Toronto, a lobby group that often battles and occasionally supports the TTC.
}}
{{cite news
| url = https://www.thestar.com/news/ttc/2010/08/24/transit_fans_critique_museum_plans.html
| title = Transit fans critique museum plans
| newspaper = Toronto Star
| author = Tess Kalinowski
| date = 24 August 2010
| access-date = 29 October 2013
| archive-date = 29 October 2013
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131029184502/http://www.thestar.com/news/ttc/2010/08/24/transit_fans_critique_museum_plans.html
| url-status = live
| quote = Longtime transit observer Steve Munro says the TTC is rushing the $5.5 million project to help justify a new head office at Yonge St. and York Mills Rd., being developed by Build Toronto.
}}
{{cite news
| url = http://city.apps01.yorku.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Inside-the-Planners-Studio-April-30-2013.pdf
| title = TRANSIT PLANNING: A TALE OF TWO CITIES
| publisher = Rogers TV
| author =
| date = 30 April 2013
| page =
| location =
| isbn =
| access-date = 29 October 2013
| quote = In 2005, Steve was awarded the Jane Jacobs Prize in recognition of his sustained advocacy and vision for public transit in Toronto.
}}
{{cite news
| url = https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/09/14/streetcars-are-our-neglected-stars-keenan.html
| title = Streetcars are our neglected stars: Keenan
| newspaper = Toronto Star
| author = Edward Keenan
| date = 15 September 2015
| access-date = 15 September 2015
| quote = The transit expert and streetcar activist Steve Munro recently studied, on the highly detailed blog he keeps, the travel times of streetcars on the newly reopened Queens Quay Boulevard. Turns out that after all the rebuilding and reconstructing the street as a primarily transit-and-cycling-and-pedestrian corridor, streetcars now take longer to travel the length of that line than they did before construction began.
}}
}}
{{Portal|Canada}}
External links
- {{official website|http://stevemunro.ca}}
- {{Commons category-inline|Steve Munro}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Munro, Steve}}
Category:Canadian male non-fiction writers
Category:Canadian community activists
Category:21st-century Canadian non-fiction writers