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2014 Municipal Election: Toronto Transit Plans

The author basically says that Chow's idea to increase service %10 at a cost of $15 million expense is bunk. And that there is no garage space for new buses.

There is little constructive analysis that wasn't done far better by Steve Munro here:
http://stevemunro.ca/?p=9390
 
Don't want to pay National Post for an electronic subscription that is almost as much as the print edition. Could you cut-n-paste?

In Thursday’s National Post, my colleague Chris Selley noted, rightly, that “Torontonians of all political stripes and worldview are prone fits of flamboyant, armchair-expert defeatism, cynicism and despair” whenever the topic of building out the city’s transport infrastructure comes up. It’s true, every word of it, and I’m as guilty as the next guy on this score. Perhaps Chris is, too, at least of the feeling, if not the expressing — he acknowledges later in his column that the cynicism is, in this case, entirely warranted.

Yes, it is. And, I’m sorry to say, things are actually even worse than we thought. For proof, I point to the proposed transit plan of mayoral candidate Olivia Chow, which ought to be possible … but isn’t.

Announced early in her campaign, Ms. Chow’s transit plan consists of three prongs. The long-term element, still many years away, agrees that a new subway line through the downtown core must happen, to relieve pressure on overcrowded parts of the current system. In the medium term, she prefers LRT to subway in Scarborough, Toronto’s generally suburban eastern borough. And in the short-term, and here’s where things get depressing, she simply wants to make things better, fast, by increasing bus service during rush hour periods by 10%, thus improving the service for the roughly 60% of Toronto Transit Commission riders who take a surface route on a good-old fashioned bus.

That is an entirely sensible, entirely reasonable proposal, and it is, of course, entirely impossible.

Last week, the Toronto Star — a paper generally favourably inclined to self-styled “progressive” candidates such as Ms. Chow — ran a news story that absolutely demolished the short-term element of Ms. Chow’s plan. First of all, there aren’t enough buses to boost rush hour service by 10%, as every available bus is already put into the field for rush hour. There are no more to be sent, and, in fact, the Star reported, Toronto will be pulling buses off the street to more aggressively address fleet-wide maintenance issues.

Second, even if Ms. Chow, if elected mayor, found a way to procure more buses — that would cost a lot more than the $15-million a year she has budgeted for the 10% service boost and involve a years-long procurement process, but even if — there’s no place to store the buses. The TTC already has too little garage capacity, and needs an additional $100-million to get started on a new facility in the north of the city. If fully funded, the facility would need at least five years — more than an entire mayoral term — to complete.

Oh, and even if Toronto found the buses and built the garage, the TTC’s bus driver pool is already largely tapped out. The city would need to hire more staff.

In summary, Ms. Chow’s “short-term” transit plan would not be possible to implement in the short term, and would cost more than what she’s set aside to pay for it, even if she chose to push ahead despite the inevitable years-long wait. Her plan is a nice idea, but the TTC insists it’s just not possible.

That’s a problem for Ms. Chow’s campaign — one of her key, early commitments cannot be delivered upon. She’ll need to rethink that one. But it’s also a symptom of the bigger problem Toronto faces, the one that has left the city in its discouraged, cynical state. Put bluntly, whatever you think of Ms. Chow or her policies, boosting rush hour bus service ought to be something that a modern, major world city is capable of. This shouldn’t be impossible, or even all that difficult. But there are at least three major impediments — vehicles, logistical infrastructure and personnel shortages — that, in combination, make even as modest a boost as a 10% bump to service for a few hours a day effectively impossible.

Sorry to sound cynical, but how depressing is that?

Buying buses shouldn’t be a years-long ordeal. The TTC shouldn’t be short of garage and maintanence facilities in the first place, and even if it does fall behind, it shouldn’t be a hundred million bucks and five years away from a solution. Properly staffing the fleet shouldn’t be as hard as we make it. But it is, three times over.

This isn’t the fault of the TTC itself (which has competent, expert leadership) but the government it serves. But that government, and its culture, will endure no matter who becomes the next mayor. When you consider the scale of the problem, and how limited the means to address them are, cyncism isn’t just understandable. It ought to be mandatory.

National Post
Mgurney@nationalpost.com
Twitter.com/mattgurney

© National Post 2014
 
I think the article should have focused on how Ford's policies made it much more difficult. In 2010, Miller had the TTC setup so this type of boost was not just practical but expected.

That Ford and Stintz not only cost the city not only 4 years he was mayor but much of the next mayors 1st term as well is pretty rotten.
 
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Maybe it is just that they feel they can underestimate Ford, but neither of the two front runners seem able to get their platforms, including transit, right. Chow's campaign and positions are falling apart, whether it be her half flip-flopping support for a downtown subway or other pressing issues. While I am very suspect of the quality of the "interview" SAL conducted with Chow, her laissez-faire understanding of issues presented in that piece seem to fit Chow's campaigning. You can triple the bus service on major routes, but if they all come bunched together it means nothing. Smarter bus operation is needed more than more buses: higher capacity vehicles, bus lanes, express service, prepaid boarding, etc. are needed much more than tighter scheduled frequency, which the TTC actually does pretty well.

In fact, drivers may end up ahead with Chow with her much needed idea to improve traffic signalling.

Tory actually gets the bus platform right, since he wants to implement more limited stop routes along major corridors. However beyond that, it is downhill. His SmartTrack plan has some good qualities, but it is not a substitute for the downtown subway. His positions on the Scarborough subway and Eglinton Ave also leave much to be desired.

I'm not a resident of Toronto, but I suppose that after 4 years of Ford, pretty much anything is an improvement. Chow's transit platform lacks ambition, but it is obtainable should be enough to take us out of the nosedive we are in with the current regime.
 
I'm not a resident of Toronto, but I suppose that after 4 years of Ford, pretty much anything is an improvement.

Huge understatement in my opinion. At least these candidates care about bus service and have some ideas about making the transit system better. Ford doesn't care at all.
 
What I love is that Chow's "bold" plan is to increase rush hour service by 10%.

The City is growing at 2% a year so even if there is no gain in per capita ridership, it only really provides the same service as now and only in rush hour.

Even if Miss decided magically give Toronto more buses, let them use their garage, and gave them some drivers just to be swell neighbours. it still wouldn't do much. Whether you have one or 10 buses on a route, they aren't going to go any faster if sitting in traffic but you didn't hear anything from her about larges scale ROW creation or even effective BLine-type service.

Also, where exactly are these passengers suppose to go when they got off the bus? A good chunk of bus passengers are going straight for their nearest subway station but Chow doesn't seem to think Toronto needs more subways. I guess she just expects everyone to move downtown and bike just like her.

I've never liked her and always viewed her to be a two-faced, opportunistic bitch but I must admit I am utterly dumbfounded by her incredibly lack of understanding of the issues that face Toronto. Any 5 years old could have created a transit plan like her's in 5 minutes on the back of a napkin. Toronto's traffic woes are awful and getting worse and her only contribution is to put a few more buses on the road and she didn't even bother to check if it was even possible with the TTC's current fleet size, personnel, or garage.............unbelievable.

Ford's transit plan {or lack thereof} can at least be written off as a genuine lack of grey matter but Olivia's plan demonstrates a profound combination of ignorance and incompetence.
 
Still better than SmartTrack ;)

I honestly think SmartTrack is just a red herring to allow Tory to say that he has a plan. The moment GO RER really starts rolling, he's going to turn around and say "GO is building 90% of what I wanted anyway, so let's negotiate a co-fare agreement for GO inside of the City of Toronto and call it a day".

The only part of SmartTrack that's really unique is the section along Eglinton West, which I'm sure when it gets examined by Metrolinx and the TTC they'll determine it unfeasible. But still, Tory would be more than happy to take a handshake photo op with Metrolinx execs claiming that he's adding more GO stations in Toronto and allowing Torontonians to ride the GO system with their TTC fare (or something like that).

Tory's the kind of guy who would be more than happy to take credit for building the transit that Metrolinx was going to build (and completely pay for) anyway. SmartTrack is his way of claiming the construction of KMs of new transit, without having to actually do anything. It's a very savvy political calculation on his part. He's the political equivalent of the guy who, when 2 people are moving a 3-seater couch, stands in the middle of the couch and puts both hands on it to "make sure it doesn't bump into anything", and make it look like he's helping, even though really he's adding nothing of value, only an extra body for show.
 
I've never liked her and always viewed her to be a two-faced, opportunistic bitch but I must admit I am utterly dumbfounded by her incredibly lack of understanding of the issues that face Toronto. Any 5 years old could have created a transit plan like her's in 5 minutes on the back of a napkin. Toronto's traffic woes are awful and getting worse and her only contribution is to put a few more buses on the road and she didn't even bother to check if it was even possible with the TTC's current fleet size, personnel, or garage.............unbelievable.

Not that I'm much of a a fan of Chow's "plan" either, but are personal attacks really necessary? From I've seen so far, Chow was courted for the mayorship and is far less opportunistic as your're putting across.

Come now, there's plenty enough fuddle duddle about in the mayor's office as is.
 
I'm fascinated by all the irrational hatred against Chow (and most left wing politicians). I guess the right wingers are finally getting tired of having Miller as their punching bag and have now decided to pick on Chow.
 
I'm fascinated by all the irrational hatred against Chow (and most left wing politicians). I guess the right wingers are finally getting tired of having Miller as their punching bag and have now decided to pick on Chow.

I don't hate her, I just think her transit plan was weak from the get go and even then both the Post and Star demonstrated that she wouldn't be able to deliver her enhance bus service in the short term like she claimed she could... Someone didn't do her homeworks...
 

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