{"id":1676,"date":"2007-03-22T16:48:31","date_gmt":"2007-03-22T20:48:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/?p=1676"},"modified":"2013-01-21T13:18:31","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T18:18:31","slug":"dale-duncan-at-city-hall-march-22-2007","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/03\/22\/dale-duncan-at-city-hall-march-22-2007\/","title":{"rendered":"Dale Duncan at City Hall: March 22, 2007"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Why subways are not better<\/strong><\/p>\n

Toronto’s transit geeks are drooling over newly released plans to build an integrated network of LRT lines that criss-cross the city and go into its most neglected corners. But ask the average Torontonian how to best improve the city’s public-transit service and they’ll scream \u00e2\u20ac\u0153build more subways!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Despite the subway’s undeniable allure, transit experts have been calling for a comprehensive plan like the LRT network outlined in Transit City for years. One of the best places to learn more about it (and Toronto transit in general) is www.stevemunro.ca<\/a>, the blog of well-known transit guru and Jane Jacobs Prize recipient Steve Munro, who along with the group \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Streetcars for Toronto\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (which formed in 1972 and disbanded in the ’80s), helped keep streetcars at the heart of Toronto’s transit network. Needless to say, the release of Transit City left him giddy with excitement.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Today was an event I’ve been waiting for, although I never really expected to see it,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Munro writes on his blog. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153This is an LRT plan on a scale and with the political support we should have had 30 years ago.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

While the general public bemoans the lack of subway tunnels in the plan, why do the transit geeks insist LRTs are a better plan? Here are a few reasons:<\/p>\n

You get more bang for your buck. The 8.7 km Spadina subway extension to Vaughan is projected to cost $2.1 billion, bringing with it 30 million new riders. At $6.1 billion, fulfilling the Transit City plan may cost three times the dough, but it will be 13 times longer (120 km), and attract a projected 100 million new riders.<\/p>\n

LRT routes can be built much faster. Our inner suburbs need faster, more reliable service — or just any service at all — now. A mere 19 percent of all trips made on the TTC take place in the suburbs.<\/p>\n

LRT is the right size. We don’t have the capacity to fill new subway routes (see: the Sheppard line). Toronto is much more spread out than, say, New York, which has the kind of complex subway network many Torontonians would like to see here. They also have more than twice the population density. Even if a fairy came along and magically built us a new subway system today, we’d soon go broke operating it — there simply aren’t enough people outside the downtown core to fill it yet.<\/p>\n

As TTC Chair Adam Giambrone has pointed out, building LRT routes does not mean an end to subways. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153What you want to do is build a case for subways by growing ridership,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he says.<\/p>\n

Billoards on wheels to get the boot? <\/strong><\/p>\n

If Toronto is seriously committed to tackling climate change (and ad creep), getting rid of mobile billboards — those trucks that serve no purpose other than attracting our eyes to the ads they tow — should be a no-brainer. Howard Moscoe has asked staff to draft a bylaw that would make mobile billboards illegal. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153They have no redeeming value,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d says Moscoe. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153They burn gas and pollute the air.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why subways are not better Toronto’s transit geeks are drooling over newly released plans to build an integrated network of LRT lines that criss-cross the city and go into its most neglected corners. But ask the average Torontonian how to best improve the city’s public-transit service and they’ll scream \u00e2\u20ac\u0153build more subways!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Despite the subway’sContinue reading “Dale Duncan at City Hall: March 22, 2007”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4003,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21759,2,8],"tags":[5091,11,629,331,35,330,504,469,22085,1187,3063,19,5092,362,391,5093],"class_list":["post-1676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","category-politics","category-transit","tag-aeoethey-burn-gas","tag-ad-creep","tag-adam-giambrone","tag-dale-duncan","tag-dale-duncan-columns","tag-howard-moscoe","tag-jane-jacobs","tag-new-york","tag-politics","tag-steve-munro","tag-subway-network","tag-toronto","tag-transit-network","tag-ttc-chair","tag-usd","tag-www-stevemunro-ca"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDale Duncan at City Hall: March 22, 2007 - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/03\/22\/dale-duncan-at-city-hall-march-22-2007\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dale Duncan at City Hall: March 22, 2007 - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Why subways are not better Toronto’s transit geeks are drooling over newly released plans to build an integrated network of LRT lines that criss-cross the city and go into its most neglected corners. 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