2014 Municipal Election: Toronto Transit Plans

[WislaHD]

SmartTrack should be renamed to Dumbtrack.

I don't see how this plan will prove popular to Toronto residents. The 905 will like it definitely, but they can't vote in Toronto's election. Instead, it appears as if everyone in Toronto who would've benefited from the DRL, and after the provincial election are expecting a DRL, are getting a half-arsed GO electrification from Tory instead. I predict SmartTrack will backfire on Tory's campaign.

John Tory's number one priority used to be the "Yonge Street relief line", and he unfairly criticized Chow for somehow not supporting it. Then he comes out with his dumbtrack scheme, and Chow is now at fault for supporting the relief line because it will take longer to build. If the timeline for the DRL is really a problem (and it should be), then maybe it's time to get started on it rather than finding more excuses to avoid building it.

Here's how his scheme works. Take what the liberals have promised to build in 10 years. Then reduce it to only two GO lines. Then promise to build it sooner. Call it a "surface subway" to make it sound better for the suburban car folks. Delay the Finch and Sheppard LRTs even further so that his scheme would be the first priority, while continuing to embrace the discredited Scarborough subway. Promise to pay for it without raising taxes, in this case tax increment financing (TIF) will do the magic. And finally, take credit for this borrowed idea.

Unfortunately there's a little thing called reality. Toronto doesn't own the rail corridors, so this project is really for the Metrolinx department rather than the municipal one, and it will happen in some shape and form no matter who is the next mayor. Pretending that this can be paid for through someone else's deep pockets without raising taxes, is dishonest at best. Running 4 trains per hour will not do much to relieve Yonge & Bloor, but will instead bring more crowds into Union station, which is why the DRL should not be ignored. And that section that goes to Pearson along Eglinton is bizarre. There's a bunch of stations everywhere else, but very few on Eglinton. The east end goes into Markham, but the people of Brampton don't get to have surface subways subways subways. And if Tory had done his homework, he would know that the Richview lands are not useable anymore now that it's being sold off to developers.

Dumbtrack indeed.

Excellent analysis salsa. To add further to the woes of his plan, it will create massive redundancy with the Scarborough Subway he supports, resulting in the Scarborough Subway no longer being able to support ridership numbers necessary for the subway plan. It'd be a significantly better (but still bad) plan if he supported LRT and used the property tax increase for the B-D extension to pay for his dumbtrack plan.

 

[rbt]

Is there a need for them to be since they already exist?

They exist at their current size. I can guarantee both departments will grow in staffing levels and salary; those contract negotiations are a foregone conclusion and nobody seems interested in having a debate about it (Soknaki is trying but not getting any bites). Incidentally, cutting the police budget by 10% would fully fund the first phase of the DRL over a 40 year period without any other revenue sources (province) or tax increases.

In fact, I bet new spending for Police/Fire over the next 4 years is quite a bit higher than the price of the EA for the DRL.

Doing the DRL EA isn't something worth discussing. Everybody in a position of authority agrees it needs to happen and it is scheduled to happen. The only thing election debate can do at this point is cause delays.

 

[WislaHD]

Incidentally, cutting the police budget by 10% would fully fund the first phase of the DRL over a 40 year period without any other revenue sources (province) or tax increases.

That sounds like an idea worth investigating.

 

[denfromoakvillemilton]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toron...cks-clogging-traffic-says-john-tory-1.2709833
Tow away Brink's, Canada Post trucks clogging traffic, says John Tory
Mayoral candidate says deliveries on major arteries are 'inconvenient and frustrating'

CBC News Posted: Jul 17, 2014 11:17 AM ET Last Updated: Jul 17, 2014 12:14 PM ET


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Toronto mayoral candidate John Tory made another announcement on traffic alleviation on Thursday. (Andrew Lupton/CBC)

John Tory says as mayor he would start towing vehicles making deliveries in Toronto during rush hour, including Canada Post trucks.

Tory has identified congestion as a major hurdle for Toronto, and says he is looking at all its contributing factors. Delivery trucks and construction were his focus on Thursday morning, revealing more details of his plan to ease gridlock in the city.

Tory says he recognizes "business is business," but it's unfair to the rest of the city that a delivery be made during rush hour, blocking the traffic for the rest of the city. He says the best way to combat this is to enforce the existing laws.

He says he would start with Canada Post trucks making deliveries, and then an armoured Brink's truck.

"It just takes a few vehicles to be towed away to get the attention of these companies," the candidate said. "You tow away a truck full of money and people get the message."

Tory would not introduce new ideas to keep tow trucks from clogging the lanes. The city, he says, already has both the tools and ideas to help solve the problem. "Look at the laws and enforce the laws," he says about towing delivery vehicles.

He says council came up with a plan to only allow delivery times outside of rush hour, and to create special parking spots for deliveries that weren't on major arteries. But it has not acted on these.

"This is an example of the city not following through on its own good ideas," he says. "It just hasn't really been done."

He says construction is another problem. He says this is a matter of better coordination. He would personally take charge of organizing construction by launching and chairing a construction coordination committee.

He identifies around the clock work on street construction as a way to get projects and upgrades done faster, vowing "more work on a 24-hour basis using shift work."

He also says the city currently "tears up every street in the same area", creating traffic hot spots in certain areas.

"This is a source of great frustration," he says. "We need to start taking action to get this city moving and I intend to do that."

Tory rival Olivia Chow says she's heard this before. "Months into the election, John Tory's rhetoric on congestion is still very similar to Rob Ford's," she explains in a statement released after the Tory announcement.

Chow points out neither candidate has a plan for cycling in Toronto, even though bike ridership is skyrocketing.

 

[ehlow]

Finally someone realizes one of the major reductions of road capacity: delivery trucks blocking half the road. Happens all the time. I have to fully agree with Tory on this one.

 

[WislaHD]

Finally someone realizes one of the major reductions of road capacity: delivery trucks blocking half the road. Happens all the time. I have to fully agree with Tory on this one.

Which begs the question, why is Tory is against Eglinton Connects?

Since one thing he says conflicts the other, I am not going to take what he says here seriously.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Finally someone realizes one of the major reductions of road capacity: delivery trucks blocking half the road. Happens all the time. I have to fully agree with Tory on this one.

Use the laneways for deliveries. Oh wait! John Tory is against Eglinton Connects, which includes laneways. Have to think of something else...

 

[Silence&Motion]

Just had a look at the Stouffville line using Google Streetview. All I can say is that if the UPX was a political hornets nest, just wait until Tory tries to get two-way frequent service running through areas like this.

 

[W. K. Lis]

The city, as a whole, has to find a way to allow for deliveries & pick=ups along arterial roads but not on the arterial traffic lanes themselves. This maybe laneways, this maybe lay-bys, this maybe sidestreets, this maybe delivery lots. Delivery trucks shouldn't have to block traffic to make deliveries.

 

[nfitz]

The city, as a whole, has to find a way to allow for deliveries & pick=ups along arterial roads but not on the arterial traffic lanes themselves. This maybe laneways, this maybe lay-bys, this maybe sidestreets, this maybe delivery lots. Delivery trucks shouldn't have to block traffic to make deliveries.

Most major buildings on arteries have loading bays. The problem is that couriers seem to think that they can just park anywhere and get the parking ticket waived.

 

[salsa]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toron...cks-clogging-traffic-says-john-tory-1.2709833
Tow away Brink's, Canada Post trucks clogging traffic, says John Tory
Mayoral candidate says deliveries on major arteries are 'inconvenient and frustrating'

Gee, no mention of how these trucks are blocking bike lanes too? It's all about the car.

 

[ehlow]

They can park on side streets.. the problem is the block half the lanes on main streets like Eglinton. It will obviously be more difficult, but it's do-able.

 

[salsa]

Excellent analysis salsa. To add further to the woes of his plan, it will create massive redundancy with the Scarborough Subway he supports, resulting in the Scarborough Subway no longer being able to support ridership numbers necessary for the subway plan. It'd be a significantly better (but still bad) plan if he supported LRT and used the property tax increase for the B-D extension to pay for his dumbtrack plan.

I figured that I've said enough with the Scarborough subway issue in my previous posts on this thread. I will also add that Tory offers nothing for surface routes other than a few express buses from Don Mills and Liberty Village. And one more issue that I haven't mentioned with the Eglinton thing was best summarized by this comment on a Torontoist article.

The proposal looks nice but there is a significant problem if he wants to connect the Weston line railway corridor with Eglinton Ave West...the line will have to either tunnel under or run through a dense priority neighbourhood (Mount Dennis, at the intersection of Eglinton and Weston Road).

I don't see how the residents of Mount Dennis will agree to this proposal. They fought very hard against the plan to widen Eglinton at Weston because it would have meant the loss of less than 10 houses. This is the reason why the Eglinton Crosstown will be underground at Weston Road.

It looks like Tory and his staff haven't spent much time on Eglinton Avenue West either...or they would realize that the City has already allowed garden centres, townhouses and apartment buildings to encroach on the old Richview corridor alignment just north of Eglinton. Plus I don't think that these residents will be interested in a surface subway as their new neighbour.

The funny thing is that the line could have been acceptable if it was run up to Pearson Airport or Malton Station...and Eglinton Crosstown was simply extended westward to the Matheson Gateway and Airport Corporate Centre. No need to build a costly wye or tunnels.

I wonder why his people didn't see the obvious opportunity there and instead chose to run a through line through a priority neighbourhood.

Steve Munro has regularly mentioned on his blog that the Richview corridor on the north side of Eglinton was no longer available for the Eglinton Crosstown LRT phase 2...but he doesn't mention that here. He has also described the challenges that residents of Mount Dennis faced when there was talk about widening Eglinton at Weston...and how they forced the line undergound...but he doesn't mention that the connection between the Weston Railway subdivision and Eglinton Ave West that Tory proposes would be very costly and disruptive to the neighbourhood.

The wye connection between the Sheppard line and Yonge Line took years to build, disrupted traffic and added nearly a billion dollars to the cost of the Sheppard line...and they were mostly building that under a parking lot on the southeast corner of the intersection (which, by the way, is still there). Why would anyone want to repeat that in Mount Dennis?

 

[ShonTron]

Gee, no mention of how these trucks are blocking bike lanes too? It's all about the car.

It's John Tory, after all. He doesn't give a $%&* about cyclists. They should be learning golf instead and making business contacts.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

I figured that I've said enough with the Scarborough subway issue in my previous posts on this thread. I will also add that Tory offers nothing for surface routes other than a few express buses from Don Mills and Liberty Village. And one more issue that I haven't mentioned with the Eglinton thing was best summarized by this comment on a Torontoist article.

...The wye connection between the Sheppard line and Yonge Line took years to build, disrupted traffic and added nearly a billion dollars to the cost of the Sheppard line...and they were mostly building that under a parking lot on the southeast corner of the intersection (which, by the way, is still there). Why would anyone want to repeat that in Mount Dennis?

How did the wye add a billion dollars to the cost of Sheppard Subway? The entire line (Yonge to Don Mills) costed us $1 Billion to build. So unless the exclusion of the wye would have brought the cost of the Sheppard Subway down to $0...