Jon Kostyniuk

Transportation, Electrical, Technology

Month: March 2015

Is a Sales Strategy Shift needed in Transportation Modelling?

Transportation modelling software is a handy tool with respect to transportation planning. Admittedly, any practitioner needs to be careful that models are applied properly, based on good data and reasonable assumptions.  As the old adage goes – garbage in, garbage out – if one fails to apply models properly.  Are models perfect?  Of course not, but they are still beneficial to the planning process.

Over the past several decades, transportation models have evolved tremendously from pen-and-paper plots and computer mainframe processing to microsimulation models with car-following algorithms on multiple processor computers.  So to have the uses for transportation models evolved over time. Continue reading

Learn How to Think, Not What to Think

Have you ever simply seen some new information and passed it along without giving it a second thought?  I’ve been guilty – whether through work, your personal life, or social media.  I’d wager that most of us are similar and don’t take the time to consider new information in our minds through our own “mental anti-virus” program before propagating it back into the world.

Why do we do this?  Much of the time, we are busy people or simply just lazy.  We don’t wish to spend the time to consider whether every piece of information we come across is true or not.  Typically, this is not a big deal, since the vast majority of the information that passes us by each day is simply a potential input to our minds without necessarily outputting it back to others.  While in many cases this is a huge time saver, it can also be the root cause of propagating bad information. Continue reading

A Flex Street on Dundas in London, Ontario?

When I lived in Calgary, Alberta, I fell in love with Stephen Avenue in the downtown.  This dedicated pedestrian street was a great place for a walk at lunchtime – the people, the sights, the sounds – it was always one of my favourite places to be, especially during summertime and Stampede.

In 2009, I moved to London, Ontario and I looked for pedestrian spaces (similar to Stephen Avenue in Calgary) to spend time, but alas, none appeared to exist.  Walking around downtown here, you quickly realize that there are several nice pedestrian spaces – such as around the Covent Garden Market, the Forks of the Thames, Victoria Park, and even Richmond Row, however these spaces aren’t always connected in an easy, walkable way.  We need better spaces in London to entice people to spend more time in the core, primarily along Dundas Street. Continue reading

What is the Future of Transportation System Technologies?

When I was a teen, I visited the City of Saskatoon’s traffic operations centre. Admittedly, my memory is a bit fuzzy, but I recall a centralized control board visualizing the status of most of the traffic signals in the city. I also recall some complaint about “fault” conditions and “communication issues” with this centralized system. While impressive at the time, transportation technology has come a long way since the mid-1990s.

For the past decade, I have worked as a transportation engineer and conducted both planning and operational analyses. One of the biggest challenges to performing this type of work is acquiring relevant and sufficient field data – household activity surveys, vehicle turning movement counts, travel time surveys, etc. can become costly endeavours in many circumstances. Continue reading

6 Reasons You Should Consider Inner City Living

When my wife and I moved to London, Ontario in 2009 from Calgary, Alberta, we decided to give inner city living a try. The result? We haven’t been happier! A smaller, established city such as ours has a lot of amenities and potential going for it. While there is always room for improvement, I wanted to share some of my favourite things about our inner city living decision.

I also acknowledge that everyone’s life circumstances are different, requiring different needs – not one shoe fits all. I merely wish to share some of our positive experiences and advocate that inner city living is a great opportunity that one should consider when deciding where to live in any city. Continue reading

Welcome to My Personal Blog

Hello and thank you for checking out my personal blog!

My name is Jon Kostyniuk and I have worked as a professional engineer for the past 10 years. In that time, I have gained some great experience, while at the same time I am humbled by what I have yet to learn.

I am starting this blog because I thought it was time to begin a conversation on topics that I am interested in and passionate about that transcend what I do on a daily basis in my career. Through the process of this conversation, I hope to learn more and further my experience in the areas of interest discussed here. Continue reading

Content © 2024 Jon Kostyniuk

Hemingway Theme (Customized)Up ↑