Facing the future of transit ridership: which riders bought a car; who is planning on riding less?

Public transit agencies face a transformed landscape of rider demand and political support as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. We explore people’s motivations for returning to or avoiding public transit a year into the pandemic. We draw on a March 2021 follow up survey of over 1,900 people who rode transit regularly prior to the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto and Vancouver, Canada, and who took part in a prior survey on the topic in May, 2020. We model how transit demand has changed due to the pandemic, and investigate how this relates to changes in automobile ownership and its desirability. We find that pre-COVID frequent transit users between the ages of 18-29, a part of the so-called “Gen Z,” and recent immigrants are more attracted to driving due to the pandemic, with the latter group more likely to have actually purchased a vehicle. Getting COVID-19 or living with someone who did is also a strong and positive predictor of buying a car and anticipating less transit use after the pandemic. Our results suggest that COVID-19 heightened the attractiveness of auto ownership among transit riders likely to eventually purchase cars anyways (immigrants, twentysomethings), at least in the North American context. We also conclude that getting COVID-19 or living with someone who did is a significant and positive predictor of having bought a car. Future research should consider how the experiencing of having COVID-19 has transformed some travelers’ views, values, and behaviour.

Two new for Russia geometrid moths (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) from Primorsky Krai: recent immigrants or rare species?

Two East Asian geometrid moths, Paratrichopteryx misera (Butler, 1879) and Rheumaptera hecate hecate (Butler, 1878), are recorded from Russia for the first time. Their invasive or native status in the south part of Primorsky Krai is briefly discussed.

Programs and interventions promoting health equity in LGBTQ2+ populations in Canada through action on social determinants of health

Sexual and gender minorities (SGM) experience a number of health inequities. That social determinants of health drive these inequities is well-documented, but there is little evidence on the number and types of interventions across Canada that address these determinants for these populations. We conducted an environmental scan of programs in Canada that target SGM, and classified the programs based on their level of intervention (individual/interpersonal, institutional and structural). We found that few programs target women, mid-life adults, Indigenous people or ethnoracial minorities, recent immigrants and refugees, and minority language speakers, and few interventions operate at a structural level.

Immigrant settlement patterns, transit accessibility, and transit use

Public transit is immensely important among recent immigrants for enabling daily travel and activity participation. The objectives of this study are to examine whether immigrants settle in areas of high or low transit accessibility and how this affects transit mode share. This is analyzed via a novel comparison of two gateway cities: Sydney, Australia and Toronto, Canada. We find that in both cities, recent immigrants have greater levels of public transit accessibility to jobs, on average, than the overall population, but the geography of immigrant settlement is more suburbanized and less clustered around commuter rail in Toronto than in Sydney. Using logistic regression models with spatial filters, we find significant positive relationships between immigrant settlement patterns and transit mode share for commuting trips, after controlling for transit accessibility and other socio-economic factors, indicating an increased reliance on public transit by recent immigrants. Importantly, via a sensitivity analysis, we find that these effects are greatest in peripheral suburbs and rural areas, indicating that recent immigrants in these areas have more risks of transport-related social exclusion due to reliance on insufficient transit service.

Moving around the world : Russian Jews from Israel in Toronto

This study is focused on the immigration related experiences of Russian Jews who left the Former Soviet Union for Israel in the late 1980s and early 1990s and arrived in Toronto in the late 1990s and early 2000s. It explores the unique character of this cohort, their settlement in Toronto as well as their identities and transnational practices. During the last two decades of the 20th century there has been a continuous influx of Russian Jews from Israel to Toronto. This ongoing immigrant cohort has become the major source of recent Jewish immigrants to Toronto. It is usually referred as "a secondary migration of Russian Jews". This cohort of Russian Jews has notable features which have affected their adjustment and integration in Toronto. The study draws on a variety of sources including the examination of academic literature, media articles, personal observations, and interviews with recent immigrants.

Moving around the world : Russian Jews from Israel in Toronto

This study is focused on the immigration related experiences of Russian Jews who left the Former Soviet Union for Israel in the late 1980s and early 1990s and arrived in Toronto in the late 1990s and early 2000s. It explores the unique character of this cohort, their settlement in Toronto as well as their identities and transnational practices. During the last two decades of the 20th century there has been a continuous influx of Russian Jews from Israel to Toronto. This ongoing immigrant cohort has become the major source of recent Jewish immigrants to Toronto. It is usually referred as "a secondary migration of Russian Jews". This cohort of Russian Jews has notable features which have affected their adjustment and integration in Toronto. The study draws on a variety of sources including the examination of academic literature, media articles, personal observations, and interviews with recent immigrants.

Examining Demographic Characteristics and Settlement Patterns of Ethnoculturally-Diverse Specific Long-Standing and Recent Older Immigrants in the Toronto CMA, 2016

Understanding population characteristics and residential patterns of recent and long-standing older immigrants is important to ensure that settlement services are adequately supporting a diverse and vulnerable population. This research paper represents a pilot study to fill in the gap found in the already limited scholarship on the characterization, spatial distribution and in-group differences of older immigrants in the Toronto CMA. Firstly, it explores the nuanced differences in population composition of four ethnocultural-specific subgroups representing long-standing (Italian and Portuguese) and recent immigrants (Chinese and South Asian) and secondly, it identifies clusters of recent immigrants that are settling outside of the long-standing ethnocultural enclaves. Despite having higher rates of education than their long-standing counterparts, Chinese and South Asian are characterized by low income prevalence and lack of knowledge of an official language. Hence, determining the multilingual composition of the South Asian and Chinese subgroups can facilitate language-specific settlement services within recent older South Asian and Chinese immigrant clusters. Key words: older adults, immigration studies, recent immigrants, settlement challenges, low income, hot spot analysis, Toronto Census Metropolitan Area

Examining Demographic Characteristics and Settlement Patterns of Ethnoculturally-Diverse Specific Long-Standing and Recent Older Immigrants in the Toronto CMA, 2016

Understanding population characteristics and residential patterns of recent and long-standing older immigrants is important to ensure that settlement services are adequately supporting a diverse and vulnerable population. This research paper represents a pilot study to fill in the gap found in the already limited scholarship on the characterization, spatial distribution and in-group differences of older immigrants in the Toronto CMA. Firstly, it explores the nuanced differences in population composition of four ethnocultural-specific subgroups representing long-standing (Italian and Portuguese) and recent immigrants (Chinese and South Asian) and secondly, it identifies clusters of recent immigrants that are settling outside of the long-standing ethnocultural enclaves. Despite having higher rates of education than their long-standing counterparts, Chinese and South Asian are characterized by low income prevalence and lack of knowledge of an official language. Hence, determining the multilingual composition of the South Asian and Chinese subgroups can facilitate language-specific settlement services within recent older South Asian and Chinese immigrant clusters. Key words: older adults, immigration studies, recent immigrants, settlement challenges, low income, hot spot analysis, Toronto Census Metropolitan Area