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Metrolinx $55 Billion Plan

W. K. Lis said:
I guess all of you buying all that junk from Wal-Mart makes this possible. We should be buying Made In Canada to do the same here:



Click on this link for the Mass Transit magazine article.
Click to expand...

I think the regulatory framework in China is the reason why these lines come in so cheap. The government's authority means they don't have to buy materials, property and labour at market prices.
 
W. K. Lis said:
I guess all of you buying all that junk from Wal-Mart makes this possible. We should be buying Made In Canada to do the same here:
Click to expand...

Yeah, the purchase of durable consumer goods dictates a city's transit policy.

Get real, Lis. Canada is one of the wealthiest countries in the world with a balance of payment and trade surplus and there's no reason why extending our subway system is beyond our budgetary scope. When Metrolinx announces a $55 billion plan (that's $10,000 for every resident of the GTA), it is completely asinine that the only subway additions are some marginal extensions to existing lines.
 
waterloowarrior said:
design your own transportation system
cool!
Click to expand...

To bad that you cannot save as it would allow me to put all my routes and technology as one package for submission. That price tag would be high and more than what budget.

Seeing Markham presentation on Monday night open up some other routes not vision by the RTP as well suck all the money that on the table plus more, leaving nothing for all the other places.
 
Windows Live Maps has the same suite of tools, and you can save it.
 
I submitted some stuff, but not the whole thing because their system isn't that great. You can't go back and edit a line you made. I put in the most important things in my opinion, e.g. subway to MCC, STC (x2), DRL, Eglinton, Sheppard West, Yonge North. I also put on the Hurontario and Lakeshore LRTs, as well as one on Finch for good measure. But I got bored after all that.
 
BREAKING NEWS......

Rob MacIsaac is leaving his position as the head of Metrolinx to become the president of Hamilton's Mohawk College. Starts his new role on Feb. 1, 2009.
 
MacIsaac to become part time Metrolinx chair following release of final report

TORONTO, Nov. 6 /CNW/ -

NEWS

Mohawk College of Applied Arts and Technology in Hamilton has announced
that Rob MacIsaac has been selected as its new president starting February 1,
2009.
MacIsaac will continue his work as Metrolinx board chair on a part time
basis.
Since 2006, MacIsaac has built a team to get the regional transportation
agency up and running, and to develop a Regional Transportation Plan and
Investment Strategy for a seamless and convenient transportation network for
the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. The final plan is expected to be
released before the end of the year.

QUOTES

"I would like to thank Rob for the outstanding success he is achieving in
establishing Metrolinx. His vision and leadership is instrumental in working
with area elected officials to develop the first Regional Transportation Plan
for the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. I am pleased that Rob will continue
to lead a dedicated team that will continue to deliver," said Transportation
Minister Jim Bradley.

QUICK FACTS

<<
- The Greater Toronto Transportation Authority was created in 2006, and
named Metrolinx in 2007.
- Metrolinx is charged with developing an integrated transportation
plan for local transit, GO Transit and major roads in the Greater
Toronto and Hamilton Area, coordinating the purchase of transit
vehicles on behalf of municipalities, and the future operation of GO
Transit and management of a fare card system.

LEARN MORE

Read about Metrolinx(http://www.metrolinx.com/default.aspx)

Metrolinx boss to be new Mohawk prez
Rob MasIsaac takes over Feb. 1, 2009

BY WADE HEMSWORTH
THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR
Former Burlington mayor and GTA transport chief Rob MacIsaac has a new job: president of Mohawk College.

MacIsaac was confirmed as president this morning in a move that has taken many by surprise. He takes over Feb. 1, 2009.

While he is considered an outsider to the college, MacIsaac is also broadly recognized as a strong leader and consensus builder whose profile and provincial connections could bode well for the college’s future.

He appointment also raises questions about Hamilton’s aspirations for a light rail transit link across the city.

The Burlington lawyer has been deeply involved in planning major rapid-transit projects across the GTA and Hamilton as chairman of Metrolinx, the province’s transportation planning agency.

Because of his familiarity with Hamilton and good relationship with Hamilton mayor Fred Eisenberger, MacIsaac has been considered a key ally in the city’s aspirations to establish provincially-funded light rail transit links across the city, starting with an east-west line that would run from Eastgate Square to McMaster University.

The link is considered critical to the city’s economic renewal, particulary in the lower city.
MacIsaac hinted that Hamilton funding would surface in the latter years of the 2009-13 budget, coming this fall.

MacIsaac will replace MaryLynn West-Moynes, who declined to accept a second- five-year term as president so she could return to Durham region and be closer to her family there. She is to become vice-president for external relations at the Ontario Institute of Technology in Oshawa. Her Mohawk term expires at the end of this month.

MacIsaac was bornin 1962. He graduated from the University of Waterloo with an econmics degree in 1984 before studing law at the University of Western Otnario, where he graduated in 1987.

MacIsaac was elected to Burliington council in 1991. He was elected mayor in 1997 and served three terms, ending in 2006, before becoming the first chairman of Metrolinx.

He lives in Burlington with his wife Anne. They have two children, Sarah and Catherine.


whemsworth@thespec.com
905-526-3254
Click to expand...
 
Metrolinx report has holes
Wednesday November 5 2008
BY MATTHEW STRADER, ENTERPRISE STAFF

The Town of Caledon has some concerns over Metrolinx’s plan for the Transportation structure of our area according to a report submitted to council.

Metrolinx released a draft Regional Transportation Plan for the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA), and is now asking for public and government response to the document.

Caledon staff are addressing some major concerns as to how the proposed plan will affect Caledon, and to whether it will address some of Caledon’s transportation needs as the community continues to grow.

The Metrolinx plan states a goal to ‘triple the length of rapid transit service so that 75 per cent of residents in the region will live within two kilometres of a rapid transit station, compared to 42 per cent now.’

However, a report submitted by Town staff to Council states that, “Little attention is paid to the planned growth area, such as South Albion Bolton and Mayfield West in Caledon, and their needs for sustainable transportation and economic development.â€

The staff report stated that the RTP’s proposal to encourage “transit friendly development,†might be a false statement, as little resource is provided to facilitate such a development when Metrolinx has not given enough consideration to the transportation needs of industries looking to move goods.

It is the report’s contention that most of the RTP’s proposals deal with addressing the needs of a moving workforce, and not with the movement of goods along transportation corridors – industry that would facilitate development.

The report also stated that the RTP focuses discussions on roads and highways on demand management approaches, when it should be looking more at the planning and installation of new highway development to meet the growing transportation needs.

The report states that the plan fails to recognize the importance of protecting the proposed GTA West corridor. According to the staff report, “development pressures have become a threat to the highway alternative.â€

And it is staff’s conclusion that if the RTP notes that this highway should be a requirement in 25 years, than it should look at protecting it.

Council was concerned with making sure discussions on the issues with
Metrolinx are concluded promptly.

Regional Councillor Richard Whitehead asked if progress had been made getting levels of decision makers together to discuss where the East-West corridor would be located.

And when told they were, asked with a raised eyebrow, “Are we emphasizing speed?â€
To which staff answered, “Yes.â€
 
With all due respect to the Town of Caledon, where I live, I have this to say:


You've fought tooth and nail to prevent transit service from being offered to residents, and you continue to do so to this day. Now you want in?

C'mon! You, council, are the architects of your own misfortune.
 
I wonder if Stephen Harper is listening...

Clinton urges big transportation outlays

From timesunion.com:

Senator says nationwide investment should include high-speed rail

By CATHY WOODRUFF, Business writer
First published in print: Saturday, November 15, 2008

COLONIE — U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday called for a massive investment in America's public transportation system, on the scale of the effort that launched the interstate highway system in the 1950s.

In a speech to the New York Public Transit Association, Clinton urged "bigger and bolder" transportation programs, including high-speed rail, and said modernizing the nation's transportation infrastructure and expanding transit will be a key issue for the next Congress and President-elect Barack Obama's incoming administration.

Projects to renew and expand the nation's transportation systems — especially public transportation — should work hand-in-hand with economic stimulus measures to create jobs, reduce dependence on foreign oil and combat global warming, she said.

"We have all traveled here to this conference along roads and rails and other means that are the fruits of a prior generation's investment," she told the group of transit administrators and employees from across New York. "We are living off of those investments. It's time for us to step up and make the investments today that will enable us to be richer and stronger and safer."

Clinton's address came on the third and final day of the transit association's fall conference here, where participants attended meetings on planning, funding, training and new developments in bus and rail technology.

Clinton has proposed legislation that would authorize spending $1.7 billion over two years for mass transit, including some $237 million in additional funding for transit agencies in New York.

She also advocates including mechanisms to speed funding for ready-to-go transportation projects as part of the federal government's economic stimulus strategy.

"It takes too long and it costs too much to deliver transit projects," despite high and growing demand for more public transportation across the country, she said.

Noting that when President Dwight Eisenhower signed legislation authorizing the federal interstate highway system in 1956, the act launched the largest American public works program in history, Clinton said developing transit is a similar opportunity to leave a tangible legacy.

"Just as we built a 19th century transportation system with canals and railroads and we built a 20th century transportation system with highways, we now can build a 21st century transportation system with mass transit," she said.
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