{"id":45965,"date":"2013-10-15T10:12:03","date_gmt":"2013-10-15T14:12:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?p=45965"},"modified":"2013-10-15T10:12:03","modified_gmt":"2013-10-15T14:12:03","slug":"lorinc-war-lrt-begun-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2013\/10\/15\/lorinc-war-lrt-begun-2\/","title":{"rendered":"LORINC: The War on LRT has begun"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"feature-lorinc\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In the aftermath of a council debate that showcased some of the most venal and short-sighted political decision-making I\u2019ve ever witnessed at City Hall, a heretical thought kept nagging at me over the long weekend:<\/p>\n

Why are we even bothering with the Sheppard East and Finch West LRTs right now, given the current political climate?<\/p>\n

As I predicted three weeks ago<\/a>, Mayor Rob Ford has emerged from the Scarborough subway debacle not merely emboldened but armed with a made-to-order campaign platform: kill the other two LRT projects. We did it once, we can do it again, folks, etc.<\/p>\n

Welcome, everyone, to Toronto, the land of unintended consequences.<\/p>\n

Sure, Metrolinx gamely put out a statement last week insisting that those two projects were still a go. But I\u2019ve totally lost sight of the rationale, for four reasons:<\/p>\n

First, Kathleen Wynne\u2019s Liberals have demonstrated, yet again, that they do not understand the principles of cost-effective transit planning in general and LRTs in particular. Consequently, their support of those two LRT lines \u2013 not to mention the other ones enumerated in The Big Move for Toronto \u2014 is likely provisional, and almost certainly irrelevant, given their snowballing credibility deficit with voters.<\/p>\n

Second, can anyone out there name a local councilor (i.e., whose ward will include either line) prepared to go to the mat for those projects?<\/p>\n

Didn\u2019t think so.<\/p>\n

But I can certainly name several councillors (Karen Stintz, Glenn de Baeremaeker, Joe Mihevc, etc.) who assured us for years that they supported LRT-based expansion, but then flip-flopped when the tokens were down. Maybe they\u2019ll do so again. Who knows?<\/p>\n

Third, if Metrolinx and other transit experts believe that LRTs are best suited for lower-density suburban corridors, it seems to me that we should wait for a more propitious moment, instead of exposing these politically orphaned projects to the Fords\u2019 Big Lie\u2122 approach to election rhetoric. Isn\u2019t there enough poison in the well?<\/p>\n

Last, from the perspective of the viability of the entire network, how is it that Finch and Sheppard take precedence over the [Insert Euphemism Here] Relief Line?<\/p>\n

Yes, both will provide rapid transit connectivity to under-served areas. But the prioritization conferred on those projects is a political artifact of the Miller\/McGuinty era, not evidence of sound transit planning. The crowding on the Yonge line is terrible now. So to choose an automotive analogy, if you have a dent in your bumper and brakes that tend to fail, which problem should get your attention?<\/p>\n

Indeed, it\u2019s increasingly apparent that the DRL could become a heck of a wedge issue in next year\u2019s election. As Ford, demonstrating yet again his fathomless ignorance, told CP24,<\/a> \u201c[D]owntown people have enough subways already.\u201d But Stintz, to the extent that she\u2019s got any kind of shot in 2014, has been talking a lot about the DRL. David Soknacki, the first declared mayoral challenger, is more or less in favour. And TTC CEO Andy Byford believes it should be job one.<\/p>\n

If this debate is, indeed, where we\u2019d headed, I\u2019d like to see far more precision from the pro-DRL crowd. We often seem to talk about this project in the passive tense \u2013 it\u2019s needed. But the candidate who can identify and then target the voters who fight to get in and out of the rush-hour subways will have hit political pay dirt.<\/p>\n

I know one: my old friend Milos, who works in the financial industry downtown and watches four trains go by at Lawrence every single morning before he can squeeze in. He makes good money, has a nice house in a North Toronto neighbourhood, and is totally fed up. There are many more where he came from.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, it seems to me that both the TTC and Metrolinx both need to begin talking much more clearly and precisely about what \u201crelief\u201d actually means for Toronto\u2019s transit system. There are lots of studies going on at the moment, but this scoping document \u2013 a request for quotes for a “Relief Line Network Study,\u201d<\/a> issued by Metrolinx earlier this \u2013 offers a few clues:<\/p>\n

The agency is looking for analysis showing how the network will function in 2031, in terms of travel demand, travel times on the Yonge line, and pinch points. But the consultants have been asked to think outside the tunnel, so to speak, about how to relieve crowding on the existing subway network. That means:<\/p>\n