S
SD2
Guest
Tory would've been a real challenger, but not because he offers any real vision. At least he didn't the last election.
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Tory would've been a real challenger, but not because he offers any real vision. At least he didn't the last election.
S
spmarshall
Guest
Double Standard?
At least Miller had a credible challenger. Unlike a certain other GTA mayor, who has served for 28 years without a credible challenger.
And I think vision and action can be debated in other GTA municipalities as well.
At least Miller had a credible challenger. Unlike a certain other GTA mayor, who has served for 28 years without a credible challenger.
And I think vision and action can be debated in other GTA municipalities as well.
B
billonlogan
Guest
Re: Double Standard?
Here is a column from Mike Strobel at the Toronto Sun. He left the car at home in Scarborough and took the TTC to work downtown.
------------------------------------
The slower way
Sun scribe gets out of his Ford only to find that the Better Way takes three times as long to get downtown
By MIKE STROBEL
I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it
-- Magic Bus, The Who
So David Miller wants to force us out of our cars.
"This is the mayor, Buster! Back away from that Buick. Sloooowly. Hands where I can see 'em."
This is getting serious. On Nov. 13, we elected a lefty council to match our lefty mayor. For four years, this time.
Now, who will protect us drivers from the anti-auto mania sure to sweep City Hall?
Who stands in the way of a tax on downtown parking lots, or a surcharge on car licences, or toll streets?
Who can stop such lunacy as bus-only lanes on my beloved, narrow Kingston Rd.?
Nobody. We drivers are sitting like ducks on the DVP.
Might as well face it, get ready...
< Off I hobble, through yesterday's morning mist, looking for a bus stop. It is 9:17 a.m.
CAME WITH A COFFEE
Exactly a day earlier I had pulled out of the driveway and pointed my Ford at the Sun.
That trip took 33 minutes, door-to-door, including Tim Hortons.
Shop and compare. This is a TTC day.
(The 116, Mike. Don't forget. It's the 116.)
"Whatever you do, Dad," said Jackson, 16 and wise in the ways of mass transit, "don't take the 116A."
For God's sake, boy, why not?
"It hardly ever comes and I don't know where the heck it goes."
Partway down Brinloor Blvd. my bad back and bum ankle protest. Where do I sign up for Wheel-Trans?
"Going my way, sailor?" says my Judith from her Passat.
So I save 10, 15 minutes walking. The 116 pulls in, right on cue, Kingston Rd. and Eglinton Ave.
How much, 50%?
The driver looks wary. Another kook? "$2.75."
Wow, it's been a while. This "kneeling" bus sure is easy on an ailing back. Not as easy as a bucket seat in a Ford.
Eglinton Ave. E. has those insufferable diamond lanes.
Before the election, Mayor Miller said:
"We need to make transit a priority so that the 60 people on the streetcar -- 60 people who represent 60 fewer cars on the road -- aren't held back by that one person in the car in front of them."
The 116 is feeling her oats. Down Eglinton we charge.
All six of us.
We're holding up minivans with more people and fewer fumes. Fun with numbers? They equal whatever you want.
For instance, six people, one bus, equals leg room.
"It's a good day," says Marjorie Masters, 61, stretching her elegant gams in a seat behind me. She is going downtown to visit a friend. "Sometimes it's like this. Sometimes it's not."
We both dismount at Kennedy Station.
Is that Tchaikovsky? The TTC infuses its easternmost subway depot with classical music to keep punks moving out.
There are hardly any murders or muggings here anymore.
Mid-morning, the place looks pristine.
"Come back around 3 o'clock," grimaces Marjorie.
That's when schools let out.
Upstream of Kennedy, the Scarborough RT vanishes into the mist, like Frodo seeking Mordor.
You're in old Scarborough now, boss.
Small, smelly, raucous cars often filled to capacity. Oh, that'll entice us out of our jalopies.
Main St. station, exactly 33 minutes since home. I'd be pulling the Ford into the Sun parking lot.
Chirag Dave, 18, will be late for biochemistry class at U of T.
"If you're trying to get somewhere right on time, forget the TTC," says Chirag, who commutes from Markham, 1 1/2 hours by subway, RT, bus and foot. Three hours a day.
No wonder he wants to transfer to McMaster.
Broadview station. More lovely music, this time Spanish guitar. Rhumba. Busker Curtis Nicholson, 25. I tell him of my TTC adventure.
"Cool, dude," he says.
In a corner of the station, steel supports appear to be preventing a ceiling cave-in.
The 504 streetcar rumbles down Broadview Ave., through the Gerrard St. Chinatown, past Dangerous Dan's diner.
The comfy ol' 504 Red Rocket. Ridden her countless times.
If she made a beeline for Brinloor Blvd. every day, at thrice her usual crawl, without stopping every 10 feet and carrying germs all winter, I'd switch to the TTC. In a heartbeat.
At 10:36, I walk into the newsroom, an hour and 19 minutes from home.
"Where you been?" a colleague wonders.
I'll tell you, pal. If you give me a lift home.
Here is a column from Mike Strobel at the Toronto Sun. He left the car at home in Scarborough and took the TTC to work downtown.
------------------------------------
The slower way
Sun scribe gets out of his Ford only to find that the Better Way takes three times as long to get downtown
By MIKE STROBEL
I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it
-- Magic Bus, The Who
So David Miller wants to force us out of our cars.
"This is the mayor, Buster! Back away from that Buick. Sloooowly. Hands where I can see 'em."
This is getting serious. On Nov. 13, we elected a lefty council to match our lefty mayor. For four years, this time.
Now, who will protect us drivers from the anti-auto mania sure to sweep City Hall?
Who stands in the way of a tax on downtown parking lots, or a surcharge on car licences, or toll streets?
Who can stop such lunacy as bus-only lanes on my beloved, narrow Kingston Rd.?
Nobody. We drivers are sitting like ducks on the DVP.
Might as well face it, get ready...
< Off I hobble, through yesterday's morning mist, looking for a bus stop. It is 9:17 a.m.
CAME WITH A COFFEE
Exactly a day earlier I had pulled out of the driveway and pointed my Ford at the Sun.
That trip took 33 minutes, door-to-door, including Tim Hortons.
Shop and compare. This is a TTC day.
(The 116, Mike. Don't forget. It's the 116.)
"Whatever you do, Dad," said Jackson, 16 and wise in the ways of mass transit, "don't take the 116A."
For God's sake, boy, why not?
"It hardly ever comes and I don't know where the heck it goes."
Partway down Brinloor Blvd. my bad back and bum ankle protest. Where do I sign up for Wheel-Trans?
"Going my way, sailor?" says my Judith from her Passat.
So I save 10, 15 minutes walking. The 116 pulls in, right on cue, Kingston Rd. and Eglinton Ave.
How much, 50%?
The driver looks wary. Another kook? "$2.75."
Wow, it's been a while. This "kneeling" bus sure is easy on an ailing back. Not as easy as a bucket seat in a Ford.
Eglinton Ave. E. has those insufferable diamond lanes.
Before the election, Mayor Miller said:
"We need to make transit a priority so that the 60 people on the streetcar -- 60 people who represent 60 fewer cars on the road -- aren't held back by that one person in the car in front of them."
The 116 is feeling her oats. Down Eglinton we charge.
All six of us.
We're holding up minivans with more people and fewer fumes. Fun with numbers? They equal whatever you want.
For instance, six people, one bus, equals leg room.
"It's a good day," says Marjorie Masters, 61, stretching her elegant gams in a seat behind me. She is going downtown to visit a friend. "Sometimes it's like this. Sometimes it's not."
We both dismount at Kennedy Station.
Is that Tchaikovsky? The TTC infuses its easternmost subway depot with classical music to keep punks moving out.
There are hardly any murders or muggings here anymore.
Mid-morning, the place looks pristine.
"Come back around 3 o'clock," grimaces Marjorie.
That's when schools let out.
Upstream of Kennedy, the Scarborough RT vanishes into the mist, like Frodo seeking Mordor.
You're in old Scarborough now, boss.
Small, smelly, raucous cars often filled to capacity. Oh, that'll entice us out of our jalopies.
Main St. station, exactly 33 minutes since home. I'd be pulling the Ford into the Sun parking lot.
Chirag Dave, 18, will be late for biochemistry class at U of T.
"If you're trying to get somewhere right on time, forget the TTC," says Chirag, who commutes from Markham, 1 1/2 hours by subway, RT, bus and foot. Three hours a day.
No wonder he wants to transfer to McMaster.
Broadview station. More lovely music, this time Spanish guitar. Rhumba. Busker Curtis Nicholson, 25. I tell him of my TTC adventure.
"Cool, dude," he says.
In a corner of the station, steel supports appear to be preventing a ceiling cave-in.
The 504 streetcar rumbles down Broadview Ave., through the Gerrard St. Chinatown, past Dangerous Dan's diner.
The comfy ol' 504 Red Rocket. Ridden her countless times.
If she made a beeline for Brinloor Blvd. every day, at thrice her usual crawl, without stopping every 10 feet and carrying germs all winter, I'd switch to the TTC. In a heartbeat.
At 10:36, I walk into the newsroom, an hour and 19 minutes from home.
"Where you been?" a colleague wonders.
I'll tell you, pal. If you give me a lift home.
A
Abeja de Almirante
Guest
Re: Double Standard?
This article demonstrates that the only way the TTC will gain ridership is to make the car so expensive to operate that middle class riders going to/from work and tourists are forced onto the trains.
This is a bizarre selling/growth strategy IMO, i.e. make the alternative so horrible that our customers will have no choice but to buy/use our product. Why not instead improve the TTC to the point where there is only a slight advantage on conveinence of cars?
I'd gladly pay $5 a ride if I knew that I'd get to my destination quickly, didn't have to walk too far to get to a stop, and that the vehicles would be on time, clean and pleasant to use. Hmmm....sounds like an Airport Shuttle or GoBus.
Is it illegal to run your own bus service in Toronto, by which people pre-book daily pick up and delivery on a street corner, and pay cash fares? Sort of like a giant private taxi? IIRC, there was an article in the Star about private buses being used in Chinatowns for regular, non-chartered service, throughout North America.
This article demonstrates that the only way the TTC will gain ridership is to make the car so expensive to operate that middle class riders going to/from work and tourists are forced onto the trains.
This is a bizarre selling/growth strategy IMO, i.e. make the alternative so horrible that our customers will have no choice but to buy/use our product. Why not instead improve the TTC to the point where there is only a slight advantage on conveinence of cars?
I'd gladly pay $5 a ride if I knew that I'd get to my destination quickly, didn't have to walk too far to get to a stop, and that the vehicles would be on time, clean and pleasant to use. Hmmm....sounds like an Airport Shuttle or GoBus.
Is it illegal to run your own bus service in Toronto, by which people pre-book daily pick up and delivery on a street corner, and pay cash fares? Sort of like a giant private taxi? IIRC, there was an article in the Star about private buses being used in Chinatowns for regular, non-chartered service, throughout North America.
C
cdl42
Guest
Re: Double Standard?
"This article demonstrates that the only way the TTC will gain ridership is to make the car so expensive to operate that middle class riders going to/from work and tourists are forced onto the trains."
How do you explain the healthy ridership growth the TTC has been experiencing over the past few years? And the tourists I see on the TTC all the time?
"This article demonstrates that the only way the TTC will gain ridership is to make the car so expensive to operate that middle class riders going to/from work and tourists are forced onto the trains."
How do you explain the healthy ridership growth the TTC has been experiencing over the past few years? And the tourists I see on the TTC all the time?
B
billonlogan
Guest
Re: Double Standard?
Drop in TTC rides puzzling
Could mean economy sliding
By ROB GRANATSTEIN, CITY HALL BUREAU
www.canoe.ca
The first little sign of economic trouble for Toronto could be showing up in the TTC's fare box.
Ridership for the Red Rocket essentially flatlined in October, while revenue for the TTC fell 2.7% under budget.
While ridership is still 1.8% greater than it was last year, the rocketing numbers of 9.3 million rides more than last year has fallen to 6.4 million more trips in a few months.
"We've had some drop in ticket and token sales and a bigger drop in cash sales," said TTC general secretary Vince Rodo. But "I don't think the economy is necessarily tanking."
The TTC is often the first indicator of an economic slowdown because it reports its statistics with hardly any lag time. Other indicators like employment rate, housing starts and hotel vacancy take longer to report.
While the TTC is monitoring the numbers, no one is getting nervous yet.
"The ridership numbers look great, but some of the revenue hasn't transpired," Rodo said.
The TTC had been projecting a $5-million surplus, but has trimmed that to the $3.5-million to $4-million range.
The 2007 budget is already showing a $38-million shortfall, leading undoubtedly to talk of another fare hike.
One factor is the booming sales of Metropasses. While ridership is essentially flat from last year, Metropass sales were up 23.4% this October versus last October.
TTC commissioner Joe Mihevc said the numbers are worth watching because Metropass users are the core riders, while cash and token fares come from discretionary rides.
He said it could show two things -- gas prices have eased and a minor weakening in the economy.
----------------------
Does'nt sound too healthy to me. Which probably explains the rationale behind the parking lot tax. Make it more expensive to park downtown, which forces drivers to use the TTC and the windfall will offset a fare increase.
Drop in TTC rides puzzling
Could mean economy sliding
By ROB GRANATSTEIN, CITY HALL BUREAU
www.canoe.ca
The first little sign of economic trouble for Toronto could be showing up in the TTC's fare box.
Ridership for the Red Rocket essentially flatlined in October, while revenue for the TTC fell 2.7% under budget.
While ridership is still 1.8% greater than it was last year, the rocketing numbers of 9.3 million rides more than last year has fallen to 6.4 million more trips in a few months.
"We've had some drop in ticket and token sales and a bigger drop in cash sales," said TTC general secretary Vince Rodo. But "I don't think the economy is necessarily tanking."
The TTC is often the first indicator of an economic slowdown because it reports its statistics with hardly any lag time. Other indicators like employment rate, housing starts and hotel vacancy take longer to report.
While the TTC is monitoring the numbers, no one is getting nervous yet.
"The ridership numbers look great, but some of the revenue hasn't transpired," Rodo said.
The TTC had been projecting a $5-million surplus, but has trimmed that to the $3.5-million to $4-million range.
The 2007 budget is already showing a $38-million shortfall, leading undoubtedly to talk of another fare hike.
One factor is the booming sales of Metropasses. While ridership is essentially flat from last year, Metropass sales were up 23.4% this October versus last October.
TTC commissioner Joe Mihevc said the numbers are worth watching because Metropass users are the core riders, while cash and token fares come from discretionary rides.
He said it could show two things -- gas prices have eased and a minor weakening in the economy.
----------------------
Does'nt sound too healthy to me. Which probably explains the rationale behind the parking lot tax. Make it more expensive to park downtown, which forces drivers to use the TTC and the windfall will offset a fare increase.
D
Darkstar416
Guest
Re: Double Standard?
By far, most of the people who drive downtown today, will still drive downtown after the surcharge. While a few may be enticed over to the TTC, most won't. What the parking surcharge will do is put a bit more money into the TTC dole (since nobody else is) and help the commission to increase service (which is ultimately the better plan).
A
Abeja de Almirante
Guest
My brother works downtown, and lives in Scarborough. His work pays for his parking space under the office building as part of his compensation. If he decided not to take the parking space, he would not receive cash value or a metropass in return, though I suppose he could rent it out. He's a manager, so gets the perks. Other's in the same firm, at admin or entry level, can receive subsidized parking rates, deducted directly from their pay, if they want it. The firm negotiated parking into their lease in order to attract and keep their employees who live in the 'burbs.
If I had a business in the 416, even downtown, I'd definitely provide free or subsidised parking to my workers (and right it off as a cost of business), plus free or subsidized metropasses for those who live in the city. As long as firms will offer free or low cost parking to their employees, the car is the better way.
T
TdotTrickyRicky
Guest
Alvin, responding to your comment regarding the elasticity of parking for businesses in the core. While you may be correct that the incidental increase in fees would be borne by the drivers, doesn't it seem strange to slap another fee on businesses that actually pay a premium to locate in transit serviceable areas? If anything they should be slapping a parking fee on square footage or percent of a properties site dedicated to parking (thereby giving a break to properties with multi-level parking versus surface parking).
B
bizorky
Guest
Funny, but concerning your first comment, I didn't read that at all. Nevertheless, let's remember that the cost of automobiles to the city is more than the cost born by the drivers alone. I don't own a car, but my municipal taxes still contribute to the various costs of automobile traffic in the city. Other tax revenue covers road and highway costs across the province.
Your second comment is unrealistic. Are you suggesting door to door service from the TTC for everyone? Do you imagine that a mass transit system could carry out such a service? So you would like to see a system with a slight advantage over cars; but would it come at a similar cost of operating a car?
C
Chuck100
Guest
Drivers will be discouraged from entering the city due to higher parking costs. Transit users will be discouraged from entering the city due to a fare increase and poor service. The question I have is what group does Miller want to force out next?
S
SD2
Guest
E
EnviroTO
Guest
Not to wise in the ways of mass transit. If you catch the bus in the right direction all routes except route 99 end up at the subway station. Who cares how frequent 116A is... just take which ever one shows up first.
He got on a bus a Eglinton and Kingston Road and it took 33 minutes to Main Street? I would think that would only take 20-25 minutes.
A
Abeja de Almirante
Guest
No, I'm suggesting two-tier mass transit. Those that can pay more, should be able to pool their money and commission a private bus service, while the plebs can take the dirty TTC. However, I believe private bus services are illegal in Toronto, again ensuring that the public has no option other than the TTC, if they want to give up their cars and can't walk or bike.
S
spmarshall
Guest
Like just about any other city in North America.
Are there no taxis that the rich can share? Or limo carpools?