Extending subway system driving force behind Thomson mayoral campaign

[Fresh Start]

Provided that paying the newly proposed toll to go and come during rush hours only would still cost less than paying the 2-3 transit fares it takes to get downtown from the 905 area and back, I don't see why they're complaining. $5 one way is a drop in the bucket. I bet anyone who habitually buys a Frappuccino and scone daily can afford this. And just like with everything else, as soon as the public acclimatizes to this change their attention will move on to another issue.

 

[nfitz]

I'll give her a ton of credit for actuall having the figurative balls to strongly back highway tolls. She deserves major credit for that. (And I say that as someone who would end up paying a lot of highway tolls.)

Your right. It does take some guts.

However, given the low-ball of costs, and proposing full subway on some pretty low segments (Eglinton from Don Mills to Kennedy?) I fear this is a more get trains out of the way of our cars, than it is trying to improve transit.

I fear that this desire to return to the the same plan that completely failed from 1985 to 2005 and only produced 5 new stations in 20 years, rather than taking the massive LRT expansion that is on the table, and then pushing for subway expansion will get us the typical Toronto (post 1980) result of another station here, station there, and a stubway.

 

[scarberiankhatru]

Here''s a great idea! Let's cut those subway lines in Scarborough, and instead build a network in Rexdale!! You love buses so much, YOU RIDE THEM!! YAY!!

Problem solved!

Let Scarberian take a 10-15 bus ride to a station!

Aww, how cute...you think I live in Scarborough.

Still, a bus ride to a subway station is better than a bus ride to an LRT line plus an LRT ride to a subway station, which is exactly what we're spending all of the province's money on.

 

[GTS]

Some of the posters like to paint a picture of making tranfers while taking transit as horrible. Tranferring is part of taking transit, and the design of transit stations, or subway station, can make your tranfer relatively comfortable. I have a relative in NYC and a friend I used to visit before my family expanded, and I have to make three transfers to get from my uncles place to my friends place, and one of the tranfers is not very convenient. I think some of the people want a one seat ride from their home to their work, I think maybe those are the people who should probably invest in an SUV to help with their transit experience.

I am originally from Montreal and lived most of my life in Vancouver and this is one thing that Toronto invests in and that is the subway stations, most of the time. Having the buses enter right into the station is not someting I experienced much of in other citiers I have lived in and visited. It is a lot more comfortable taking transit in this city then most other cities I have been to.

 

[rbt]

I wonder if she could get sued for using Star Wars music:

~17 seconds falls within typical fair use.

The rule of thumb (which you can still be sued for being outside) is 20 some seconds or a maximum of 10% of the length of the piece. That is a guideline but not written in lawbooks. If you use a very recognizable portion of a song in a very public advertising campaign then you can still get into trouble.

I think she is pretty safe with her use of StarWars music in that particular video.


An opinion poll on what to build certainly isn't going to win my vote or donation dollars.

 

[TOareaFan]

It's always the same right-wing, anti-Toronto crowd on that site and most of them do not live in Toronto. As a matter of fact, many of them don't even live in Ontario. You can never assume that their views represent Torontonians.

Yeah that's right...the Star is well known as a right-wing rag?

 

[TOareaFan]

How many of those Star voters are 416ers eligible to vote?

I am willing to bet that most 416ers would support road tolls. It's the 905ers voting against road tolls on thestar.

Two flaws with that:

1. you really don't know who is voting......could be a lot of people in the Bayview/Eglinton area who want a free DVP maintained or a lot of people in Etobicoke who want to continue to use the gardiner...you really don't/can't know.

2. where are all the "yes" votes from people in the 416 then? you know "most 416ers would support road tolls"

 

[TOareaFan]

Provided that paying the newly proposed toll to go and come during rush hours only

So now you are going to further target the toll at only people who use those two roads during rush hour? Only the people who are using them to get to work as opposed to the people who use those same roads at other times for fun?

So let's target tolls at people who use 2 roads and ignore the drivers on other roads and let's just target the ones who are only doing it to make a living.....that will be a popular stance politically.

would still cost less than paying the 2-3 transit fares it takes to get downtown from the 905 area and back, I don't see why they're complaining. $5 one way is a drop in the bucket.

A $6,000 in pre-tax earning drop in the bucket!!!! How easy it is to spend other people's money.

I am a believer in improving transit.....but when transit advocates take this cavalier attitude about other people's money it really turns people off and makes it harder to sell any expenditure on improved transit.

I bet anyone who habitually buys a Frappuccino and scone daily can afford this. And just like with everything else, as soon as the public acclimatizes to this change their attention will move on to another issue.

Assuming that drivers are habitual Frappuccino buyers ....is that just an attempt to paint a "driver rich/transit user poor" picture?

 

[The Mad Navigator]

Some of the posters like to paint a picture of making tranfers while taking transit as horrible. Tranferring is part of taking transit, and the design of transit stations, or subway station, can make your tranfer relatively comfortable. I have a relative in NYC and a friend I used to visit before my family expanded, and I have to make three transfers to get from my uncles place to my friends place, and one of the tranfers is not very convenient. I think some of the people want a one seat ride from their home to their work, I think maybe those are the people who should probably invest in an SUV to help with their transit experience.

I am originally from Montreal and lived most of my life in Vancouver and this is one thing that Toronto invests in and that is the subway stations, most of the time. Having the buses enter right into the station is not someting I experienced much of in other citiers I have lived in and visited. It is a lot more comfortable taking transit in this city then most other cities I have been to.

As cliche as this sounds, "You don't know what you have til it's gone," clearly applies to this case. I've got friends who love transit here because they're from some small buttfuck town in the middle of nowhere with NO transit service whatsoever. So imagine if we didn't have subways or streetcars and nothing but Buses in our city. Do you know how bad it would be to live here? I just can't picture the quality of life if this was Los Angeles North.....

 

[sixrings]

Unless some others mayoral candidates start speaking differently on the issue she has my vote... I dont think she is stupid enough to think that in 10 years all the lines would be payed for. However she may be just saying that to let drivers feel like there is light at the end of the tunnel when the reality is that once tolls are here they are here to stay. Even if this did get built and payed for by tolls, once completed people would advocate for new lines. Sheppard West, Jane, Keele... Vic Park, Kennedy... Some suggested more property tax or income tax. Personally I disagree with that. And sure I am bias. But my approach to public transit is that like public schools 80% of the people should be using them. And the 10% who dont want to for whatever reason should have to pay to use the main roads. If i want my kid in private school no ones going to help fund that. Is there a opinion out there or a picture that paints rich driver/poor transit user. SUre there is. But thats simply because more and more the only cars you see downtown are high end luxury cars. I lived downtown for 5 years (I just recently moved) What I noticed in all the parking lots is a majority of high end luxury cars and often exotics. So sure Im going to equate rich people drive and poor people are doomed to transit. Do I think rich people wouldnt take transit. OF course not. But with no incentive to take it, with not enough lines, with way too much litter, and clenliness that would make them send their armani pants and canlli suits to the laundry after individual trips, these people are Not going to take transit. The real problem is that we have a monkey see monkey do society. So once the super rich drive then everyone with their entry level acura thinks that they should drive too.

 

[Asterix]

Assuming a 48 work week year....this would cost a daily commuter/driver $2,400 per year....assuming a 40% tax rate...that is $6,000 in pre-tax earnings.

Can you run this math by me again? For some reason I end up with a pre-tax earnings of $4000 being taxed at a 40% rate to leave me with $2,400 net. You mention this $6,000 figure several times so maybe it's just me who is clueless as to what a "40% tax rate" really means.

 

[CDL.TO]

You would have to be making over $300,000 a year before you hit a 40% average tax rate when living in Ontario.

 

[Ervin]

The DRL could be improved so much if it's dropped down King...

 

[gweed123]

The idea of peak-hour congestion charges is not unheard of. In fact, I would favour peak-hour only tolls on the DVP and Gardiner, as it would maybe entice businesses to change their hours from 9-5 to 10-6 or 8-4. Or better yet, it would maybe convince some businesses to adopt a policy of telecommuting 1 or 2 days of the week. The majority of the employees who work in downtown are desk jobs. Would it really be that much of an inconvenience to have a percentage of your workforce work from home for 1 day a week? The impact on congestion would be substantial.

I applaud this move because it is the beginning of a paradigm shift. The idea that you need to drive an hour to work, sit at a desk from 9-5, and then drive home again is a very 1980s way of looking at the business world. The majority of this people on the forum have similar views on how to decrease congestion, the options are either: 1) build more transit so that people can get to work easier, or 2) provide other road-based options (HOV lanes, etc) to reduce congestion on the highways. I personally favour a combination of option 1 and option 3) reduce the need for people to make that trip in the first place.

Everyone who works in the office buildings downtown has a laptop, a blackberry, and sometimes even a second blackberry. Why do you need to sit at your desk downtown all day to call someone else's blackberry from your blackberry?

 

[Tewder]

As cliche as this sounds, "You don't know what you have til it's gone," clearly applies to this case. I've got friends who love transit here because they're from some small buttfuck town in the middle of nowhere with NO transit service whatsoever. So imagine if we didn't have subways or streetcars and nothing but Buses in our city. Do you know how bad it would be to live here? I just can't picture the quality of life if this was Los Angeles North.....

Are you suggesting we gauge and evaluate the public transit system of Toronto based on some remote podunk town? Toronto is evolving into one of the biggest and most dense of North American cities, not to mention the whole GTHA region. The road system is inadequate and environmentally unsustainable. If we are looking around for inspiration we should be looking at bigger cities and the networks there. I mean, I get your point that buses and some transit are better than nothing at all, but is this really all we should be aspiring to? and during a mayoral election campaign to boot? I don't think so.