It has great local transit, I don't know what you're talking about. You don't need LRT or subways to not have great transit. Toronto has a world class network of bus routes that perfectly make use of our existing subway network to create an amazing feeder system. You can go to any major street, and within 10-15 minutes have a bus arrive - no need to worry about things like looking at schedules. On major routes like Finch and Steeles, a bus will arrive every 2-3 minutes. Despite what a lot of people in this city think, the TTC is actually fantastic for the amount of infrastructure we have.
I actually don't get your point about the ghettos, I'm actually extremely confused. From what I'm gathering, your point with the ghettos is that transit is often most attractive to poor people, and they are the target demographic for most transit systems. If you don't have poor people, then a transit system suffers from poor ridership. Am I correct?
If that's what you're trying to claim, I'm sorry but this isn't true. I can't prove it by showing an example of "a city where ghettos don't exist but transit is great" because for that to happen - one must find a city where ghettos don't exist. Every city will always have some camp or alley where the homeless or some lower class congregate - no exceptions.
More like we need to git gud.
There are parts of Toronto and parts of Vancouver I would avoid, even during daylight.
My point is that a ghetto is a sign of urban decay of which if London truly had one, would be evidence of that decay. No part of London is to be avoided. The worst, like others have pointed out is East of Adelaide along Dundas. Go along it and you will start seeing that although it isn't the greatest, it is better than Jane and Finch or East Hastings. Because London is still a more affluent of a city and short of a freeway ripping through the city, it is still a very car centric city.
The TTC is fine for non-peak trips. The 905 is kind of bad though.
Sporadic parking lots in a large downtown is different from having parking take up half of downtown. This isn't a fair comparison, but how often do you encounter surface parking lots in DT?
This is a non-comprehensive map of surface parking in London:
View attachment 374588
Your point being ... ?
Fine is not great. Off peak is not a good metric either. I would say the best local transit would be Vancouver, as much o the area is served well with buses and their Skytrain.
Compared to where? TTC is great local transit. I'm challenged to find anywhere in Canada that's better - or the USA to be honest. Whenever I return back to Toronto, I've been reminded that the grass isn't always greener.
Montreal is similar - particularly after their frequency improvement in recent years. And Vancouver isn't bad too - even if service isn't quite as frequent as it should be. NYC might have been better once - but the sorry state of the subway system, and the ever infrequent bus services strike against it.
LA has certainly improved in the last couple of decades.
Ghettos in London Ontario? I'm struggling to believe that. Can you draw the area on a map ... I have to see this on Streetview to believe it!
TTC has a problem with not having enough frequency for the demand. That means waiting or the next bus/subway/streetcar. The real reality is that transit is not great anywhere.
His original point was that point only cities with ghettos have good transit. But now that he admits London has a (student) ghetto, what's the excuse for their shit transit system?
It's the usual reflexive defence from anybody when their hood gets called out for making bad choices. Funny enough, my wife's younger cousins who live in London hate how bad their transit system is. And they blame older generations for giving them crap infrastructure.
European cities were bombed to smithereens and still built out better urban centres. London, ON looks like a bombed out city with half the downtown being empty lots. And they did that to themselves, by literally demolishing buildings themselves. No war required.
Go look at photos of London from the 1940s and 50s.
Actually, my point is that the reason for a lack of transit investment is due to a lack of want by most citizens as they won't be using it.
A lot of European cities were rebuilt from nothing and they built in the transit they knew they needed. So, by that logic, we need to completely level the city and rebuild it with the transit it needs. Or, we understand that it is not that simple.
Dundas east of Adelaide (EoA) is probably the closest thing London has to a ghetto. The city has been pumping in money to try and fix it up however.
Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.
www.google.com
There's even a song about it by local rocker Bobnoxious. It's quite catchy
Goo to hear someone knows where I mean. Now, compare that to Jane and Finch and East Hastings.
Posted this on reddit-
A report just recently came out showing very high vacancy in downtown London. One of the reasons cited was a lack of parking.
https://lfpress.com/news/local-news/londons-downtown-office-vacancy-rate-hits-record-high
This can cleaned up a bit by parking garages (unsightly), underground (expensive) and/or better transit investment. The Downtown Loop BRT line should make the bus routes through/around downtown more efficient, but there is still a certain stigma about riding the bus.
The solution is not one thing. London should build parking garages and underground parking. They should also build BRT/LRT. The problem, like you say is the stigma towards transit. That is why a BRT wont be as successful as an LRT would be. London is one of the busiest Via stations. To me that seems odd, until you think about how it isn't a bus.
What does the war have to do with anything? Austria was building great transit infrastructure decades before the war...
And in the 1940s, London was ripping up their streetcar lines. Now, that needs to be reversed. The transit renaissance has been happening for about 15 years - since around 2008 as make work projects to stimulate the economy after the great recession. Now, the ball is rolling that more places are jumping on the movement.
