Metrolinx: Other Items (catch all)

[Amare]

^So another layer of bureaucracy, to speed up the bureaucracy that's operating at an "arm's length" from the government who's partial initial purpose was to have projects built quicker by having a reduced amount of government interference.

Makes absolutely no sense to me, but hey why not let's find another way to piss away more government funds.

 

[Northern Light]

Unfortunately this article is paywalled cc @crs1026 @Northern Light

I wonder if this would be separate from IO and Metrolinx?

View attachment 582644

Brought to you by the same braintrust who said they could speed up housing, and then saw the lowest level of housing starts in a decade, after their 3rd attempt at improvements.

* yeah yeah, before someone says but 'interest rates'..... right, those rose because of inflation, inflation driven by housing, driven by large numbers of foreign students, among other groups, but of note, that particular group at the behest of, The Ontario government. So high interest rates were their policy, since the consequence was entirely foreseeable.

 

[Northern Light]

^So another layer of bureaucracy, to speed up the bureaucracy that's operating at an "arm's length" from the government who's partial initial purpose was to have projects built quicker by having a reduced amount of government interference.

Makes absolutely no sense to me, but hey why not let's find another way to piss away more government funds.

100% on point.

I don't know if this overlaps with the Provincial Infrastructure Bank....that they want to stand up at considerable cost, following the tremendous success (cough) of the federal one............

What a waste.

If you want to make projects go faster, stand down/dissolve most of the extra agencies created. There's this bizarre notion that if Infrastructure Ontario manages a hospital project, that somehow the hospital's part in the process went away.

Uh uh, you just added an extra agency and an extra layer of bureaucracy to the process, you made it longer and more expensive, not cheaper and faster.

 

[PL1]

For a government that likes to pride itself on reducing red tape and finding "efficiencies"...

 

[crs1026]

Starting a new agency to do something you were already doing unsuccessfully through other agencies is an admission that those other agencies are not working. So, what interventions do we make at those agencies ? Nada.

I am doubly baffled that even the Ford government would seriously grasp at this. It reeks of desperation. Such a new agency would likely require a legislative mandate, and then would have to do executive and staff recruiting, and then work out protocols to absorb projects already in process, or launch new ones (with procurement delays). All that takes time. There simply isn't enough startup time before the next election to achieve any tangible results. So all they will have for the election is a promise that this latest silver bullet is going to work. The public isn't that dumb.

- Paul

 

[Amare]

The public isn't that dumb.

Definitely debatable. There's a segment that's a complete lost cause.

 

[Northern Light]

Starting a new agency to do something you were already doing unsuccessfully through other agencies is an admission that those other agencies are not working. So, what interventions do we make at those agencies ? Nada.

Well now, in fairness Paul, they did extend Phil Verster's contract and give him a pay raise............. oh wait.....

I am doubly baffled that even the Ford government would seriously grasp at this. It reeks of desperation. Such a new agency would likely require a legislative mandate, and then would have to do executive and staff recruiting, and then work out protocols to absorb projects already in process, or launch new ones (with procurement delays). All that takes time. There simply isn't enough startup time before the next election to achieve any tangible results. So all they will have for the election is a promise that this latest silver bullet is going to work. The public isn't that dumb.

- Paul

Of course, if one's real goal were to push certain capital spending even further down the line to move it out of this year's budget or next so one could show a lower deficit/surplus, or find money for some other election goody while claiming progress......going into a campaign....

 

[crs1026]

Of course, if one's real goal were to push certain capital spending even further down the line to move it out of this year's budget or next so one could show a lower deficit/surplus, or find money for some other election goody while claiming progress......going into a campaign....

Yeah.... the reality is that the political level really doesn't care when, or how quickly, any of this gets built. If a delay improves the financials, and doesn't become a scandal.... then it's acceptable. All they really want is to say it's in the works. Maybe the public is that gullible after all.

The thing about transit is.... we truly are approaching road gridlock, and the opportunity cost of not having quicker better ways to get around the GTA is enormous. Nobody really can quantify that in a compelling way, but it's real.

As is the fact that buyers will more readily sign up for a new residence (and hence developers will commit to build) in proximity to a transit line that actually exists, as opposed to one that may be coming in a decade. If anyone wants to improve the new construction starts, transit is a stimulus. So why are we deferrring building it?

- Paul

 

[Northern Light]

Yeah.... the reality is that the political level really doesn't care when, or how quickly, any of this gets built. If a delay improves the financials, and doesn't become a scandal.... then it's acceptable. All they really want is to say it's in the works. Maybe the public is that gullible after all.

The thing about transit is.... we truly are approaching road gridlock, and the opportunity cost of not having quicker better ways to get around the GTA is enormous. Nobody really can quantify that in a compelling way, but it's real.

As is the fact that buyers will more readily sign up for a new residence (and hence developers will commit to build) in proximity to a transit line that actually exists, as opposed to one that may be coming in a decade. If anyone wants to improve the new construction starts, transit is a stimulus. So why are we deferrring building it?

- Paul

Real expediency means:

1) Doing away w/the pretend business case for a pre-determined political decision.

2) Properly scoping an EA more tightly to focus on things that might actually be changed.

3) Once a project is through EA at probably 30% design, push it to 100% design of at least one buildable segment within a year.

* Important note for above, you don't need to finish the design for everything to tender the first thing, you need to finish designing the first thing, and have sufficiently advanced design that nothing major will change as work proceeds.

4) Proceed to construction quickly, funding is a key delay factor.

5) Build things that can be enlarged or fit-out w/time, but don't need 100% fit-out on day one.

6) Eschew the P3 model in favour of a tendering construction alone. No financing, no maintaining, no operation. These add enormously to complexity and risk and they drive down competition in contract bidding leading to inflated prices and extended timelines.