Dr. Barry Wellar is the Distinguished Research Fellow of Transport Action Canada, and Member, Canadian Institute of Planners. He is Professor Emeritus of Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of Ottawa, Principal of Wellar Consulting in Ottawa, and President of the Information Research Board (IRB) Inc.

Dr. Wellar developed the Walking Security Index for measuring the quality and safety of urban pedestrian environments, and recently directed the Transport Canada project on methods of decision making to achieve sustainable transport practices.

Among other awards, Dr. Wellar has received the Anderson Medal in applied geography and the Ullman Award in transportation geography from the Association of American Geographers.

Transport Action Canada is pleased to present the following selection of Dr. Wellar's publications.

Publications

• Best Practices Framework Needed for Sustainable Transit in Ottawa (posted April 2013, originally published October 2006)
• Reports in Progress (28 January 2013)
• Interim Report 1: Requests for Details About and Access to Studies Behind the Decisions to Terminate The Northlander and Divest the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (28 January 2013)
• Interim Report 2A: Response by Rick Bartolucci, Minister, Northern Development and Mines to Requests for Details About and Access to Studies Behind the Decisions to Terminate The Northlander and Divest the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (28 January 2013)
• Interim Report 2B: Response by Eric Hoskins, Leadership Candidate, Liberal Party of Ontario, to Requests for Details About and Access to Studies Behind the Decisions to Terminate The Northlander and Divest the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (28 January 2013)
• Interim Report 2C: Response by Kathleen Wynne, Leadership Candidate, Liberal Party of Ontario, to Requests for Details About and Access to Studies Behind the Decisions to Terminate The Northlander and Divest the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (28 January 2013)
• Interim Report 2D: Response by Sandra Pupatello, Leadership Candidate, Liberal Party of Ontario, to Requests for Details About and Access to Studies Behind the Decisions to Terminate The Northlander and Divest the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (28 January 2013)
• Interim Report 2E: Response by Gerard Kennedy, Leadership Candidate, Liberal Party of Ontario, to Requests for Details About and Access to Studies Behind the Decisions to Terminate The Northlander and Divest the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (28 January 2013)
• Interim Report 2F: Response by Charles Sousa, Leadership Candidate, Liberal Party of Ontario, to Requests for Details About and Access to Studies Behind the Decisions to Terminate The Northlander and Divest the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (28 January 2013)
• Interim Report 2G: Response by Harinder Takhar, Leadership Candidate, Liberal Party of Ontario, to Requests for Details About and Access to Studies Behind the Decisions to Terminate The Northlander and Divest the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (28 January 2013)
• Interim Report 2H: Response by Glen Murray, Leadership Candidate, Liberal Party of Ontario, to Requests for Details About and Access to Studies Behind the Decisions to Terminate The Northlander and Divest the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (28 January 2013)
• ONR-ONTC Research Task Force: Reports in Progress (13 January 2013)
• Transportation Question Begs for an Answer: What's Behind the Nonsense about Traffic Gridlock in Canada? (11 January 2013)
• What's Behind the Nonsense About Traffic Gridlock in Canada? (December 2012)
• Two Questions that "Test" Passenger Rail Service Decisions Anywhere in Canada (from the National Dream Renewed Town Hall Meeting, Sault Ste Marie, November 2012)
• Tracking the Motives Behind the Phony War on "Traffic Gridlock" (25 October 2012)
• Traffic Gridlock: A Bad, Mis-Leading Metaphor that Makes for Bad, Mis-Directed Public Policy (11 December 2011)
• Presentation on Algoma, with key section on railways (3 September 2011)
• Traffic Gridlock: The Real Deal or a Pile of Nonsense? (28 July 2011)
• Inspiring a Sustainability Action Agenda (9 May 2011) for the 2nd Annual Sustainable Community Summit
• Dealing with Municipal Failure to Meet Duty of Care and Standard of Care Obligations Affecting Pedestrians: Thoughts about Playing the Legal Card (31 January 2011)
• Transport Action Canada Compendium of Transportation Research Topics: a new approach for new thinking (22 December 2010)
• GIS as a Factor in Standard of Care Decisions presented at the URISA GIS-Pro 2010 conference in Orlando, Florida:

  1) Part 1 (outline of the technical challenges faced by professional staff)

  2) Part 2 - Executive Aspect (emphasizes the liability factor facing elected and senior appointed officials)

• Further Analysis of HOV Lane and Sustainable Transport Failures in Ontario: Ottawa Case Study (21 May 2010)
• Measures To Mitigate Intersections That Are Conflict Zones For Pedestrians - remarks for Panel Presentation Jane’s Walk, 2010 (19 April 2010)
• The Bottom Line in Tran$it Financing 101: They're All Taxpayer Dollar$ (5 February 2010)
• Careless Driving and Public Safety: Curtail the Pandemic by Raising the Bar (11 January 2010)
• Analysis of Responses to "Questions, Questions, and More Questions About Ottawa's LRT Plan, 2009 Edition" - follow-up to a June 2009 paper
• Websites Selected for Transportation Day, Geography Awareness Week 2009 (16-20 November). These websites promote the natural connections between geography and transportation. For further information, please see the Canadian Association of Geographers information page on Geography Awareness Week.
• Questions, Questions, and More Questions About Ottawa's LRT Plan, 2009 Edition"
• "Enriching Sustainable Transport Decisions: Inputs from Operations Research and the Managment Sciences", presented at a June 2009 conference in Toronto.
• With the completion of Dr. Wellar's Transport Canada project, "Methodologies for Identifying and Ranking Sustainable Transport Practices in Urban Regions", a resulting list of reports is available.
• Municipal Government Participation in the Transport Canada, Project on Methodologies for Making Decisions about Sustainable Transport Practices.
• Dr. Wellar was commissioned by Transport Canada to conduct the study, Methodologies for Identifying and Ranking Sustainable Transport Practices in Urban Regions. The project began August 2008, and completed in January 2009. A list of reports is available, while individual publications may be viewed at: http://www.wellar.ca/wellarconsulting/
• Cutting to the Chase in Designing New Measures of Transportation System Performance, identifying five catalysts for change in transportation thinking.
• Outline for Methodologies for Identifying and Ranking Sustainable Transport Practices in Urban Regions.
• Regarding the Roundtable on "Designing New Planning Measures of Transportation System Performance" at the 2008 Joint Congress, American Collegiate Schools of Planning and Association of European Schools of Planning in Chicago, July 6-11: Roundtable description, terms of reference, names of presenters, and summaries of presentations.
• 9 December 1975: Ottawa Citizen column by Barry Wellar titled, "Taking steps towards the end of the automobile era", noting concerns about the state of the auto industry, diminishing fossil fuel supplies, the need to get heavily into the transit mode, impacts of urbanization processes, etc. The column was re-published as part of a Lecture program of the Association of American Geographers in Boston in April 2008.
• Report on Geography Awareness Week 2007: "A Canadian Experiment in Geographic Matters - Theme Days and Geography Awareness Week 2007", was published in the Winter/Spring issue of ArcNews and can be viewed at: http://www.esri.com/news/arcnews/arcnews.html
• Design of High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) and High Efficiency Vehicle (HEV) Standards to Achieve Sustainable Transportat Best Practices
• Call to Participate: Designing New Planning Measures of Transportation System Performance (for planning conference in Chicago, July 2008 - see Terms of Reference document for additional detail)
• Walkability papers: Best Practices for Walkability (PDF) and 2) How Citizens Can Make a Difference in Defining and Achieving Walkability (PDF).
• January 2008: detailed submission to Ottawa City Council: "An Advisory to Council About Solving Ottawa's Transportation Mess".
• December 2007: "Five steps to get Ottawa out of its transportation mess" (as published in the Ottawa News EMC)
• Sustainable Transport by Design or by Default? Either Way, the Wasteful Ride Is Over - plenary presentation at 2007 TravelWise conference in Belfast.
• Background paper for 2007 TravelWise conference: "Sustainable Transport: Is there Anybody Here Who Can Win This Game?" (PDF format, 5 MB)
• Poster Competition details for Geography Awareness Week 2007
• Getting to the Truth about "High Occupancy" Vehicle (HOV) Standards
• Fleming Lecture at the Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers in San Francisco, as presented 18 April 2007: Sustainable Transport Best Practices and Geography: Making Connections (PDF, 1.7 MB).
• 2007 Fleming Lecture in Transportation Geography at the Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers in San Francisco, 17-21 April 2007 - The Fleming Lecture is sponsored by the University of Washington. Dr. Wellar is the recipient of the 2006 Ullman Award in Transportation, and has also received the Anderson Medal, the Horwood Award, and the University of Ottawa President's Award. slides of Dr. Wellar's Fleming Lecture, Geographic Factors as a Core Element of Sustainable Transport Best Practices in Metropolitan Regions in Canada. (PDF format, 1.7 MB).
• 2007 Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers in San Francisco: PowerPoint slides of Dr. Wellar's presentation, Adapting Walking Security Index Concepts and Procedures to Serve and Promote the Mobility of Children (MS PowerPoint format).
• Dr Wellar with and Nick Novakowski, Assistant Professor of Geography at Memorial University: Local Governments' Record of Assessing the Impacts of the High Tech Industry on Ottawa's Land Use-Transportation Relationship: 1970s-2005 (PDF format).
• Sustainable Transport: Does Anybody Here Know How to Win This Game? (PDF format).
• Sustainable Transport Practices Harper Climate Change Agenda. (PDF format)
• Sustainable Transport Practices in Canada: Exhortation Overwhelms Demonstration (230k, PDF format); a White Paper on Canada's progress in achieving sustainable transport practices, and an introduction to the elements of an action-oriented research agenda.