TRANSIT
• Transit City full speed ahead [ Toronto Star ]
• Electric rail will take us to the future faster than electric cars [ Globe & Mail ]
• City can’t afford TTC fare freeze, Holyday says [ Toronto Star ]
• TTC to put defibrillators in 30 stations [ Toronto Star ]
GREEN ENERGY ACT
• Terence Corcoran: Ontario’s green energy plan sneaks in feed-in
taxes [ National Post ]
• Green’s true cost [ National Post ]
OTHER NEWS
• Councillors ask why T.O.’s geese aren’t cooked [ Toronto Sun ]
• City can’t afford Miller’s ‘pet projects’: councillor [ National Post ]
• Leaky hydrant, wary walkers [ Toronto Star ]
• Clarington council ungags gadfly [ Toronto Star ]
• City council passes $8.7-billion budget hurdle [ Toronto Sun ]
6 comments
The fly-by-the-seat-of-their-pants method of planning Transit City I find is really frustrating.
I’ve always seen Sheppard as the weakest link of TC, but perhaps political to stop Sheppard Subway from ever going beyond its “temporary” terminus at Don Mills, though there is still an EA to take it to Vic Park. Jane, as described much better at Steve Munro’s blog is a mess because of the narrow width, all the way up to Black Creek Drive/400. Finch West and Eglinton, as I saw it, were the best of the plan.
The two EA open houses for Sheppard promised two options for the Sheppard Stubway connection – either a short subway extension to Consumers Road (a great idea to eliminate a transfer to a major employment centre), or a tunnel to get under the congestion at the 404/DVP interchange with it surfacing somewhere near Consumers. Now they want to extend the Finch West LRT all the way here, which really doesn’t make sense. Are they going to go back to the public, or play this three-card monte?
At this point, I think they should just cancel Sheppard East and move it north. I’ve never minded the 85/190 combo, the buses aren’t that slow (except in that congested area between Don Mills and Vic Park, and will at least offer a direct service to Scarborough TC (190) which may just be deep-sixed, and just build a Finch East LRT instead – this route, the 39, is busier than Sheppard as it is.
Complementing the new DRL(*is that even still on?), Transit City looks respectable!
We “may” pay for having LRT’s instead of subway lines in the long run(because of our canadian winters) but short term we desperately need more transit for sure.
Don’t get me wrong though, i love those LRT’s.
*Short and sweet, just for you “Zapruder” 🙂
It’s hard for me to get behind TC too much, because all of the improvements are in areas I never go.
• Toronto bureaucrat to become ethics watchdog in Vaughan [ Toronto Star ]
For me, TC deals with almost every major problem the TTC has, *except* one: namely, the DRL. If you’re going to pour people into the system from all the areas poorly served by TTC, the hubs (i.e. Bloor/Yonge, and to a lesser extent, St. George and Spadina) are going to be full to bursting point and beyond. And if all the people from the wishlist places that TC is putting forward come in, you’re going to need stilts to get onto the platforms at Bloor/Yonge in rush-hour.
For me, the TTC has got this arse-backwards. Build the DRL first, *then* all the LRT you like (though you might want to leave space on Eglinton to turn it into a full-on subway later on). The system can barely handle the patrons it’s got, never mind more.
Hey guys, did you know Ontario is gonna be a “green fascist state”? You learn something new every day.