Thursday’s Headlines

7 comments

1. The TTC has to decide what its goal is… increase ridership or increase revenue. My friends and I – and we’re not too bright in business talk – were speechless when the transferable passes were brought into existence, considering the ttc was always complaining about lack of revenue. How was that a good idea? How the heck was that thought through? Cost-benefit analysis, anyone??? I ride the Queen streetcar every freakin’ day and every freakin’ day there are delays, and the streetcar is packed to the rim. There are ALWAYS people left standing on the curb because they can’t get on. What should be a half-hour ride invariably turns into an hour’s. I’ve never stood so close to strangers in all my life. And there is no romance in that, I can tell you.

   As for the smartcard – give me a break. Can we not spend the money on a Queen Street subway line? The Lakeshore LRT won’t cut it, most people ride the streetcar in the central core, not in the west west end that is Longbranch. Really, how hard can it be?

2. we could spend the smart card money on a queen street subway line, but it would be less than a kilometer long ($46-62m in smart card money buys 640-860 meters of subway).

3. While we’re on the topic, I think we should eliminate on-street parking on Queen St. between Bathurst and Yonge and replace it with an equivalent number of parking spots in parking decks fronted by retail stores where there are currently surface parking lots.

   Then make the centre lanes streetcar-only, but with paint, not concrete, in case an accident blocks traffic or shipping trucks.

   Buutttt that is a fantasy.

   However, the smart card should definitely be thought of as a source of increased annual revenue, not just a one-time thing.

4. These are some suggestions off the top of my head for stuff TTC could do to add revenue.

   Suggestion #1 – charge for Metropass lot parking (currently free). Here’s how – only metropassers *with an Express sticker* get to park, so they pay $30/month for parking. No additional cash handling required and uses an existing TTC fare type. Metropassers who don’t want to pay $30/month can ride the bus to the subway terminal.

   Suggestion #2 – get rid of *adult* tickets and allow ticket vendors to sell the new “supersecure” tokens. The tokens are probably more expensive up-front but will also have a far longer lifespan than tickets which are use-once. This will also help a little with congestion at the fare desk since people who buy adult tokens can now use a turnstile.

   Suggestion #3 – find some way of measuring bus fuel consumption via the bus engine management system in a way that offers bonuses to operators who use less diesel (on a specified route) because they are less leadfooted or don’t idle the bus when on break.

   Suggestion #4 – allow Metropass Discount Plan holders to opt to pick up their pass at their closest station (a sort of “will-call”) rather than posting them out.

   Suggestion #5 – implement an official Metropass Affinity Programme and charge vendors a participation fee but find a way to keep it viable for small businesses to be in rather than just chainstores.

   Suggestion #6 – make some or all 19x Express services premium services like the 14x, but only charge a dollar rather than an extra fare since metropassers only have to pay 1/3 more for the sticker.

5. Ok, so the smartcard seems to be accepted as a good idea. My point though was to use that money towards a Queen Street subway line, not that it will fully pay for one. Is there a plan in place RIGHT NOW to develop a viable alternative to ease the east-west central core commuter traffic? Every east-west route (including the Bloor-Danforth subway) is in need of relief. If ridership keeps on increasing at the current rate then by the time the smartcard revenues begin pouring in…

6. I personally find it shocking that nowhere do you hear anybody mentioning a subway or LRT line underneath Queen/King. Instead of building what is needed they build what nobody needs (Sheppard Line). They are building the Downsview extension for two reason: 1) It is guaranteed to satisfy the suburban constituency 2) It is a much easier and cheaper project than putting something in the downtown core. This city is being planned by idiots…

7. Kevin: Seriously, why the hell is there parking on that stretch?

   This will probably be too extreme, but I support the idea of converting two of the major east-west streets into one-ways … the time wasted idling behind left-turning cars irritates me to no end.