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2018 Provincial Election Transit Promises

JSF-1 said:
At the moment yes 5 minute headways would be a bit much. I do still maintain though that even when we move to the 15 minute service level we need to drop the current mentality that GO is stricly a "Suburban Commuter service" and move to an "Urban Commuter service". It's no longer shuttling people from the burbs into the city but now about moving people from city to city and everywhere in between.
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Yes. Changing mentality seems to be a much tougher battle. Some living downtown have no idea about or interest in anything north of Bloor. In January when there was a power outage in the east and TTC passengers were allowed to use their TTC fare to take the Stouffville Line to Union at Kennedy Station, many frequenting the station did not even know where the GO platform is, or was aware there is a GO station at Kennedy.
 
44 North said:
I'm having trouble with this. Wouldn't it make sense to slash all GO fares, period. So they all effectively go down ~$2. Seems to me it'd create an odd discrepancy within the GO fare structure if there's only a decrease for ultra-short haul, but the rest stays the same. On that thought, someone should make a GO fare heatmap. Then factor in this promise to see if it presents itself as strange as I'm imagining it.
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It seems that Wynne has given up on wooing the 905 but desperately wants to woo the 416. When GO riders from the 905 figure this one out, look out. At least they will have taken up all the seats before the 416 riders get on ;-)

The absence of the Relief Line in all this is deafening. Surely there isn’t any money left in anybody’s platform for that. Sound planning is definitely taking the back seat to wooing voters.

- Paul
 
crs1026 said:
The absence of the Relief Line in all this is deafening. Surely there isn’t any money left in anybody’s platform for that. Sound planning is definitely taking the back seat to wooing voters
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What is there left to announce for Relief Line? Isn't funding for it included in the latest PTIF funding announcement?
 
The mentality I'm referring to isn't so much based around how residence/passengers are but for example more about how planners seem to miss how valuable train stations are. There is no single entity to blame for this though, City planners, City politicians, Metrolinx are all to blame for what I feel is a real shortsightedness. Obviously turning a once quiet suburb into a city or a destination if you will is no easy task but when local transit and urban planning in an area is so bad that a train station needs to be surrounded by a sea of parking lots instead of being surrounded by a sea of activity like business and retail, than to me it is clear something has gone wrong. Obviously not every station is destined for this and not every station should be but I don't doubt we could list off stations that make us wonder why is there nothing around it. These types of things only succeed if we want them to, and a place doesn't become a destination if there is nowhere to go.

I would use Langstaff as an example because it is supposed to be part of the "Richmond Hill Centre" yet seems like it is in the middle of nowhere. It should be the nexus of a downtown core, the union station of Richmond Hill yet what has happened? There is nothing saying you can't develop the area around a train station like you would a subway station and Union and many train stations around the world proves that. I know Line 1 will inevitably find its way to Langstaff but we shouldn't have to wait until than for real development to materialize. We shouldn't have to wait until then for it to become a viable destination for commuters.
 
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raptor said:
RL doesn't need the money immediately anyway. Construction anticipated to start in 2021 at best?
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Yep, but money slated to flow for a certain project is just about as meaningful as money not promised. It's only real when the money shows up (surely we should be cynical enough after the Transit City funding fiasco, or even Spadina extension)

AoD
 
raptor said:
What is there left to announce for Relief Line? Isn't funding for it included in the latest PTIF funding announcement?
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Not really. That funding package covers a 10 year period.There is sufficient funding for about 50% of what Toronto has on the table for requests over that timeframe.

Some of those previously unfunded requests aren't really optional; like line 2 rolling stock ($1.5B) and line 2 ATC ($500M) as those systems will fail during that time period.

Others also really aren't optional as they're required to maintain current service levels with increased congestion/population: bus garage, bus replacement orders, 100 more LRVs, and LRV maintenance facility add up to $1B to $1.5B.

So, there's ~$3B+ just to maintain status quo and I've not even approached the second exit program, elevators, or fire related upgrades.
 
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AlvinofDiaspar said:
Yep, but money slated to flow for a certain project is just about as meaningful as money not promised. It's only real when the money shows up (surely we should be cynical enough after the Transit City funding fiasco, or even Spadina extension)

AoD
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The original Eglinton tunneling is a prime example of what can happen even after the actual project starts:
When the NDP Government of Bob Rae pushed to get subways under construction, they took care that the projects to be started were balanced evenly between the political players in and around Metro. For North York and Southern York Region, they put forward the Sheppard Subway and the York University extension. For Scarborough, they pushed an extension of the Scarborough RT. For York, Etobicoke and Peel, they pushed the Eglinton Subway. Thus they could show that rapid transit funds were being spent evenly between the different areas within Metro, and nobody went away unhappy. The fact that the truncated versions of the Sheppard and Eglinton Subway together provided less benefit than, say, a single complete Sheppard or Eglinton line, didn't enter into consideration.

The discussion turned out to be purely academic. Despite getting shovels into the ground on the Eglinton West subway, the project was cancelled soon after the Conservative government took power in June 1995. The cavern that was excavated for a future Allen Station was filled in, creating another unfinished subway station akin to the roughed-in Lower Queen.
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https://transit.toronto.on.ca/subway/5112.shtml
 
TheTigerMaster said:
Seriously? You do realize that the leader of the Official Opposition is running in a platform of cutting $6 Billion from the budget (and more would need to be cut for his promises to be realistic). Firing literally every single Ontario public worker would not be enough to save that amount of momey. So what makes you so sure that Ontario is immune to transit cuts?
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I'm saying even Doug recognizes the importance of transit in 2018. It's a question of how much he builds imo.
 
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