Monday, April 30, 2012

#TransitHubbing at the ING Direct Cafe (#YongeDundas)

For the first few months since the TransitHub.ca Team has entered this digital world, we had been meeting at Woodsworth College, at the University of Toronto. Free, yes... but not ideal! Now, we meet at the ING Direct Café  - AKA Network Orange (just south of #YongeDundas) at least once a week for Sprint!


In comparison to the single room at Woodsworth College, this new place is always active and lively – there are always people working in the space or holding meetings as well. We have the choice of either working in the large open space or in a small private room.

Here we are at one of our sprints in the private room :) - we are very enthusiastic about our work!


Ian, John, and Neil listening intently to Johnny's demonstration!


John and Igor hard at work at the bar of the open space area


Johnny, Cleaver, Ian, and John stretching their legs!


Ian shows us the Oobeya technique, a unique sounding name – does anyone know what it is?


So, all in all, we love the ING Direct Cafe, and we're proud to call it a home :) If you've ever been intrigued about the space and wanted to try working there one day (the freshly-ground steeped coffee is totally worth it!), remember to mention "TransitHub" to get $10 off of a drop-in co-working package (that's 50% off!).

Cheers, and see you at the Cafe!


ING's Hub Feature at #YongeDundas on TransitHub.ca

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Monday, April 23, 2012

Guest Post: Olivia Chow and ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Transit’

TransitHub is proud to support Olivia Chow and her efforts to bring greater attention to the importance of investing in public transit. Not only has she created the Get Canada Moving initiative (Twitter: @GetCanadaMoving), but she's encouraging community involvement through a non-partisan Twitter Campaign on Friday April 27.

Here are all of the details, we hope you'll be tweeting on the 27th!


#BadTransit


"The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Transit" Twitter Campaign on April 27

Canadians across the country are fed up with growing commuting times and traffic gridlock. On average, Canadian employees spent the equivalent of 32 working days a year getting to and from work. With escalating economic damage from people, goods and services stuck in traffic, it is time for Canada to tackle its transit problems.

Our municipalities and communities drive Canada’s economy, enhance our quality of life and protect our environment. Forty per cent of federal investments in municipalities will expire soon, including investments in front-line policing, infrastructure, public transit and affordable housing. Our municipalities require and deserve reliable, sustainable federal funding for public transit to help them meet this national challenge and to build more environmentally sustainable, prosperous and livable communities that will help Canada remain competitive in the future.


#GoodTransit!

To draw attention to the urgent need to tackle our transit deficit, I am mobilizing public figures, Members of Parliament, municipal leaders and concerned commuters across the country through a social media campaign. To spread the word and get Canadians talking about this crucial issue, I am asking you for your help.

The non-partisan Twitter campaign will be themed ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Transit’: we are inviting Canadians to participate by taking photos of positive and negative aspects of their daily commutes and posting them to Twitter.

We encourage Tweeters to tag the photos with the hashtags #GoodTransit, #BadTransit and #UglyTransit. This initiative will help us engage the public and bring attention to the need for a National Transit Strategy.


This has gotta be... #UglyTransit!

I am sure that like myself, you are convinced of the impact social media can have in connecting Canadians from all walks of life. Over the next few days, I am kindly requesting that you take 3 photos that reflect the campaign and on April 27, post each photo on Twitter using one of the tags (#GoodTransit; #BadTransit; #UglyTransit). We also encourage you to include our campaign handle: @GetCanadaMoving and to ask your followers to participate.

Thank you for your support in this important initiative. If you would like to learn more about our non-partisan campaign for a National Transit Strategy, please visit www.nationaltransitstrategy.ca.


-Olivia Chow

Cheers to TransitHubbing! :)



Post #SprintSaturday drinks are always in need :) This time, we followed up on TransitHub team member Arvind's tip for #ChurchKing, and found C'est What to fulfill our need for booze!


@arvindkarir #ChurchKing Amazing selection of craft beer at C'est What @Front and Church!



Beer and #TransitHubbing will always go hand-in-hand! Share your tips about your favourite things to see and do around a Toronto Transit Hub you know well at TransitHub.ca

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

"What's Your Hub?" Featuring Terrance

In this episode of "What's Your Hub?", Trivia Master Terrance shares his passion for the castles and pubs at Toronto's #SpadinaDupont Hub!


Got a tip of your own? Share it today at TransitHub.ca

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Liberty Village Toastmasters Hold a Special Meeting at ING Direct Cafe!

Did you know that many of us on the TransitHub team are also members at the Liberty Village Toastmasters club?

 Do you recognize some TransitHubbers? 

First of all, you might be wondering – Toastmasters, what is Toastmasters? Is it what its name suggests? A club where people master the making of toasts? Well, not quite. Toastmasters International is a not-for-profit organization that helps members work on their public speaking, communication, evaluation, and leadership skills. Since there are many stages and speeches with different objectives to complete before moving onto the next speech, there is always room for improvement!

On Wednesday, March 14, Liberty Village Toastmasters had a special meeting at ING Direct Café, due to our home, the Harbourfront Community Centre, being closed for March Break.


At the corner of Yonge St. and Shuter St. (located right in the middle of downtown Toronto), the ING Direct Café was easy to spot – the bright orange lion struck out at us. Upon entering, we saw comfy couches, computers, and the café, where they offered items like freshly squeezed orange juice, hot coffee, and delicious pastry!

Like an alchemist, this innovative machine takes whole oranges and turns it into liquid gold (freshly-squeezed orange juice) for me.


While we waited for our meeting room to open up, we waited downstairs in the café, and chatted relaxedly.


Although the meeting was held at a different venue, the room still quickly filled up with members and guests. The energy remained vibrant, and as feedback, many guests had commented about the atmosphere being both positive and supportive.

We heard prepared speeches from three great speakers that night. As usual, the topics varied from serious and important issues affecting today’s people (like management letting people go due to economic crisis, or our declining health care system) to hilarious, laughter-ensuing matters (finding the perfect shaving mirror a man can have at Ikea). After prepared speeches, we have a short networking break, a session of table topics (one to two minutes of thinking on your feet), and then evaluations of the speeches and meeting overall.

But speaking and evaluating isn’t all we do! At the end of the night, after our meeting, we regroup at a bar. This time, we chose a nearby bar called Firkin at Yonge. Their menus were extensive – ranging from salad wraps to burgers to sandwiches, and including several types of beer and cocktails!

We even convinced a few Toastmasters to become TransitHubbers!

 Valerie,

Onur, and

Jay proudly present their new TransitHub buttons!

To experience one of our meetings to its fullest potential, feel free to come join us as a guest! We’ll be at the Harbourfront Community Centre, assembly room C, every Wednesday night from 6-8 PM (unless otherwise specified on our website: http://libertyvillagetoastmasters.com/). For TransitHubbers, the closest TransitHub is #BathurstQQWest, which you can get to from Union (take the 509 Exhibition Streetcar) or by heading south on Bathurst getting off near Front.

- Rose

Monday, April 2, 2012

"What's Your Hub?" Featuring Patricia

In this episode of "What's Your Hub?", #TransitHubber Patricia inspires us to check out #ParliamentKing in Toronto - and shares a special Sunday secret, too!


Got a tip of your own? Share it today at TransitHub.ca!