MAYORAL RACE
• Analysis: Mayoral debate mute on hunger, poverty issues [The Star]
• Dull Parliament Hill spikes interest in municipal elections [The Star]
• Letter urges Rossi to drop out of race [The Star]
• Smitherman outlines plan to attack ‘scourge’ of bedbugs [The Star]
• Councillor Chin Lee endorses Smitherman [The Star]
• Ford fiscal plan big on numbers, short on ideas [The Star]
• Persichilli: A Ford win could help McGuinty [The Star]
• James: What I like about Rob Ford [The Star]
• Smell Test: Smitherman’s renter’s break [The Star]
• Ad Watch: Ford’s radio spots [The Star]
• The Smell Test: Scrapping the fair wage policy [The Star]
• Smitherman proposes panel of brainstorming ‘experts’ [Globe & Mail]
• Ford to ‘guarantee’ $1.67-billion surplus in his first four years [Globe & Mail]
• Ford releases complete financial plan [National Post]
• Kuitenbrouwer: Wrangling the ‘Chinese’ vote [National Post]
• The Contenders: George Smitherman – Cake, Critics and Conquest [National Post]
• Chris Selley: Privatizing trash isn’t that stinky [National Post]
• Mayoral race picks up steam [The Sun]
• Rossi talks tough about unions [The Sun]
• Rossi’s only regret [The Sun]
GTA ELECTIONS
• Ward 18: Goodbye Giambrone, hello anyone but [The Star]
• Gladstone pulls out of Ward 32 race [The Star]
• Chinese-only election forums rankle Markham candidates [The Star]
• A stern warning to candidates: Don’t cheat [The Star]
• Beaches candidates team up to unseat Sandra Bussin [National Post]
• Planted aluminum tree bears bitter fruit [The Sun]
MILLER’S REFLECTION
• Miller: Dumping neighbourhoods plan would be a ‘tragedy’ [The Star]
• David Miller ‘proud of what we’ve accomplished’ [Globe & Mail]
TRANSPORTATION
• 2010’s hottest issue: Our awful commute [The Star]
• Moving forward: Can commute be improved for Toronto drivers? [The Star]
• Moving Forward: Can subways solve Toronto’s transit ills? [The Star]
• Moving forward: Is the bicycle the solution to transit woes? [The Star]
• New TTC subway cars to be revealed Thursday [The Star]
• Why you should be thankful for Gardiner delays [The Star]
• Plane makes emergency landing on Highway 407 [The Star]
• The Fixer: Jackes Ave. repairs far behind schedule [The Star]
• Streetcars go back to the future in U.S. [The Sun]
CULTURE
• Outside the ACC: A new tradition for Leaf fans? [The Star]
• Putting 500 years of Sikh culture on display [The Star]
• Getting graffiti: Brick Works shows off what Rob Ford would clean up [Globe & Mail]
CITY IDENTITY
• Toronto in 7 words? Our panel’s big reveal [The Star]
• City’s xoTO all about good vibrations [National Post]
• Giving thanks to our city [National Post]
CRIME
• Ombudsman to release G20 secret law report in days [The Star]
• 2 Teens shot dead in lobby of Regent Park highrise [The Star]
• Surveillance cameras weren’t working during double-slaying in Regent Park [Globe & Mail]
• ‘New’ Regent Park, same old problems [The Sun]
OTHER NEWS
• Toronto’s not broke, group argues [The Star]
• Cancel York power plant too, critics urge province [The Star]
• A little bit of Thanksgiving joy for fire victims [The Star]
• Hoarding issue rises from ashes of Wellesley Street fire [Globe & Mail]
• Parkdale Roma: The neighbours may relate to their plight, but tensions prevail [Globe & Mail]
6 comments
Sorry for another New York headline, but Toronto is getting dragged into the wacky NY governor race (pun intended on “dragged”). Quote:
http://empire.wnyc.org/2010/10/paladino-on-good-morning-america/
“Now, Andrew Cuomo said he took his children to a gay pride parade. I was at one in Toronto one time, we stumbled on it, my wife and I. It wasn’t pretty. It was a bunch of very extreme type people in bikini-type outfits grabbing at each other and doing these gyrations and I certainly wouldn’t let my young children see that.”
Today I’d like to say thanks to all the good folks at Spacing who put together this blog and shine a light on issues that may otherwise remain overlooked. I appreciate the changes you have brought and how your open-mineded approach to your work. Thank you and happy thanksgiving – I hope you’re all taking a well deserved break today.
Re: Moving Forward: Can subways solve Toronto’s transit ills?
According to the new transit directions on Google Maps, the best way would be to make your way to Kipling and take the GO train from Etobicoke North to Union, total trip time 1h9m compared to 1h40m.
By taking the TTC exclusively, the TTC trip planner recommends taking the Finch bus to Dufferin and then catching a bus to Downsview.
^^That route would take about 1h19m, being only 10 minutes longer than taking GO (which ain’t too bad) and on par with a good bike.
Ben,
here is the problem: even though the star reporter reported how frustrating the gridlock was, it took her around 55 minutes to do the same commute by car. Unless you park in one of those bay street bank building, the car does cost you maybe $200/month more than TTC (parking+gas, don’t pull in the calculation of deprecation and insurance and so on, if you live in that part of town, chances are that you are keeping a car anyway). For many the difference are fully justified by the comfort of your car and the time saved (I think the TTC’s estimate is a bit optimistic and does not take into account the walking time at both ends).
Can transit-city change the equation? Maybe, it probably won’t bring the travel time down to beat the car (the subway-ride alone takes you more than 30 minutes), but at least it would be much closer. But again, if you have to walk more than 10 minutes to the street car station, the equation would still tilt towards using the car.
The only way out of our transportation woe is to develop a more compact city form and live a more compact lifestyle. People have to be convinced that a family of 4 do not need a 3000sqft house on 40×150 lot. Giving people more affordable housing choices alone existing transit lines are better than trying to cover a sprawling city/region with expensive and inefficient transit.
Yu,
Those are good points. Also, kudos to you for not inflating the numbers by assuming the person has a car in the first place. You could argue increased maintenance costs since rush hour driving can be harder on the vehicle, but that is nitpicking.
One option worth trying would be to drive to Etobicoke North GO station, and taking the GO from there. The train ride is about 30 minutes, factoring in the drive to the station, waiting for the train, and walking to Union I estimate it would come to about an hour total travel time.