Do you plan it where there is lots of room, or do you put it where there is good transit accessibility?

Urban thinker Matthew Blackett raises some interesting questions about the upcoming victory parade for the Toronto Raptors. Unlike, say, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade which is accessible by public transit, the organizers here have chosen a route which, Blackett notes starts far away from Toronto’s subway system.

1. About 80% or more of the route is away from subway lines. Subways, and only subways, are the only thing that can handle the volume of people descending on the city. NEVER plan a victory parade without A LOT of subway access.

— Matthew Blackett (@MatthewBlackett) June 16, 2019

As many as two million people are expected to show up, and many will probably drive because the parade starts at the site of the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) which is mostly parking lots at this time of year. But it’s not nearly enough.

1. About 80% or more of the route is away from subway lines. Subways, and only subways, are the only thing that can handle the volume of people descending on the city. NEVER plan a victory parade without A LOT of subway access.

— Matthew Blackett (@MatthewBlackett) June 16, 2019

It is an interesting challenge for urbanists; at the bottom part of the parade, on Lake Shore Boulevard, the road is wide and there is a lot of room for people, but it is going to be impossible for many to get there, the roads are already jammed.

7. Victory parades are pedestrian-oriented events aided by good transit options. This parade has undoubtedly become more car-dependent than it needs to.

Don’t get me wrong; this will be an amazing event. But the City obviously allowed the route to be dictated to them #raptors

— Matthew Blackett (@MatthewBlackett) June 16, 2019

And of course, drivers are complaining about traffic disruption.

Closing Lake Shore on a weekday is guaranteed to cause traffic problems. Also, this is disrupting pretty much every bus and streetcar route downtown. People need to go to work on Monday. This “victory parade” tradition needs to be stopped because it causes too much disruption.

— TorontoRoadClosures (@ToRoadClosures) June 16, 2019

I had no idea that Toronto had a “victory parade” tradition, especially since we last won the Stanley Cup in 1967 and the World Series in 1993. Every city should have a party every now and again, but should be able to get to it without a car.