New TTC Chair and Board

[rbt]

I think Torontonians intrinsically know that surface transit isn't fast. They've all ridden the streetcar and know how brutally, painfully slow it is. Same with buses. Clearly putting transit underground is what leads to high quality transit.

Indeed. It is unfortunate that Torontonians do not have experience in other cities.

Ignorance doesn't make it right but it does make for a majority.

 

[EnviroTO]

As I said before, you can slice those numbers anyway you want to either prove or disprove your point. So PLEASE stop using them as a justification for your own biases!

Who has the biases? I think you have some biases if you feel threatened by my adding two numbers together to the point you are asking me to "please stop". I added two numbers I did not provide that say people prefer light-rail as in TC or light-rail with more underground. How is that seeking justification for something?

 

[gweed123]

Who has the biases? I think you have some biases if you feel threatened by my adding two numbers together to the point you are asking me to "please stop". I added two numbers I did not provide that say people prefer light-rail as in TC or light-rail with more underground. How is that seeking justification for something?

I was referring it more to everybody, you were just the last person who mentioned it, sorry if I caused any confusion. I'm basically just trying to say that the Pro-Transit City people are slicing the numbers to make it seem like more people want LRT, while the Pro-Subway people are slicing the numbers to make it seem like more people want transit underground.

The numbers can be twisted any way you want, so I was just asking people to quit reference that damn study, because as far as proving any practical point in this discussion, it's useless.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Steve Munro has made an observation in his blog (at this link) of the following:

To no great surprise, the TTC Board today (March 1st) endorsed the staff proposal to do away with Post-Secondary Student Passes for part time students. This was done after a few hours of well presented, cogent deputations from a variety of speakers who, for their troubles, were greeted with a Blackberry wielding board who spent little of their time paying attention. In one case, a presenter was finished, but Chair Karen Stintz was so busy with her email that she didn’t notice for some time.
...

Finally, Chair Stintz thanked everyone for “making their voices heard”. “Heard” is not the word I would use, as “listen” was certainly not what much of the Commission was doing most of the time. If she had really “heard”, she would have acknowledged that there is a problem with definitions, not to mention the larger issue of other groups who make claims for discounted fares, and sent the whole issue off for a detailed report. This change won’t have much effect until fall 2011, and there was no need for a definitive decision today.

But no, that’s not what happened. Mayor Ford’s minions were in and out of the meeting to ensure that the vote went the right way, and the students didn’t have a chance.

Seems that the commissioners are getting their directions, not from the public, but from the Ford brothers and their clique. The board seems to have become a rubber stamp organization instead of an independent body, which was the original intent of the TTC. Since the city is legally a "child" of the province, I hope that the current and future governments of the province will make a note of this behaviour in their dealings with the city and the TTC.

 

[Dan416]

Steve Munro has made an observation in his blog (at this link) of the following:



Seems that the commissioners are getting their directions, not from the public, but from the Ford brothers and their clique. The board seems to have become a rubber stamp organization instead of an independent body, which was the original intent of the TTC. Since the city is legally a "child" of the province, I hope that the current and future governments of the province will make a note of this behaviour in their dealings with the city and the TTC.

Has the TTC Commission ever been more than a rubber stamp for the city? It certainly was just a rubber stamp during the Miller years.

 

[GenerationW]

It certainly was just a rubber stamp during the Miller years.

And I'm sure the bringer of higher oil prices has dozens of posts on here complaining about that!

 

[Dan416]

And I'm sure the bringer of higher oil prices has dozens of posts on here complaining about that!

Please don't get him started on another rant about the price of a barrel of crude oil. Please. Stop.

 

[drum118]

Has the TTC Commission ever been more than a rubber stamp for the city? It certainly was just a rubber stamp during the Miller years.

Some stuff was rubber stamp under Miller, but a lot of stuff was over turn caused by puplic input. Miller commisioners were willing to weight the puplic input vs. the staff recommendation to the point that even the commisioners over rule staff report even without puplic input also.

Under Ford Commissoners, you are wasting your breath and time so far. They should say from the start of the meeting, public input is a waste of time as the decession was been made at the moring meeting that was close to the public to go with staff recomendation.

Better still, cancel public meeting all together and save everyone time.