mgl
Active Member
It's time to email your MPPs. Nothing will likely change, but they thought transit funding was an easy cut that would generate the least complaints, so prove them wrong.
|
|
|
Ontario Budget Cut and Transit Expansion
- Thread starter AlvinofDiaspar
- Start date
fiendishlibrarian
Active Member
Are you kidding? Knowing that these tanks are going to be around for another five years or so is the best news of the day. Around 52 were just rebuilt, you can bet at least that many more will be refurbished, meaning the bus fleet has become *that* much more reliable.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2639/3879672423_581542d49d.jpg
tkip
Active Member
History repeats itself.....
Again, transit plans get shelved. I'm sorry but I'm in my 40's, seen very little transit expansion over the decades as I've grown up and somehow think when I'm in my 70's, we'll still be watching announced plans get shelved to save money.
Let's be honest. Our governments don't give a shit about transit in this country, this provice and this city.
This just makes our city look more and more like a joke. We want the world to notice us and yet we can't get any decent expansion for our transit system. I'm just embarassed. It's inexcusable.
Why should we be choosen as hosts for events like the Pan Am games or god forbid the Olympics when it's obvious our government can't even get transit right.
Again, transit plans get shelved. I'm sorry but I'm in my 40's, seen very little transit expansion over the decades as I've grown up and somehow think when I'm in my 70's, we'll still be watching announced plans get shelved to save money.
Let's be honest. Our governments don't give a shit about transit in this country, this provice and this city.
This just makes our city look more and more like a joke. We want the world to notice us and yet we can't get any decent expansion for our transit system. I'm just embarassed. It's inexcusable.
Why should we be choosen as hosts for events like the Pan Am games or god forbid the Olympics when it's obvious our government can't even get transit right.
Rainforest
Senior Member
unimaginative2
Senior Member
On the one hand, I'm sad about the bus funding, but on the other hand I won't be crying too much about not getting more Orion 7s. Maybe they can look at a redesigned model (Orion 8?) when they start buying again.
You can understand my confusion when I read this in the Globe:
You can understand my confusion when I read this in the Globe:
Rainforest
Senior Member
If they need to defer $4b, the most logical choice is to defer Eglinton entirely ($4.6b) and proceed with Finch, SRT, Sheppard, and VivaNext as planned. Cutting a piece out of each project, or dragging all of them beyond 2020, does not make any sense.
Sheppard won't get cancelled because it received federal funding, and SRT won't get replaced with subway because of the wrong optics (rapid transit in the corridor exists already ...)
Interestingly, if they defer Eglinton, a slim chance to upgrade a portion of Sheppard to subway will remain. Not immediately of course; but in a few months, they might agree to spend a small piece of "savings" from Eglinton to upgrade Sheppard (say from Don Mills to Warden) and thus show that they still care about transit.
Sheppard won't get cancelled because it received federal funding, and SRT won't get replaced with subway because of the wrong optics (rapid transit in the corridor exists already ...)
Interestingly, if they defer Eglinton, a slim chance to upgrade a portion of Sheppard to subway will remain. Not immediately of course; but in a few months, they might agree to spend a small piece of "savings" from Eglinton to upgrade Sheppard (say from Don Mills to Warden) and thus show that they still care about transit.
unimaginative2
Senior Member
Actually, I'd much rather have Eglinton and delay Sheppard, Finch, Scarborough-Malvern and VIVA. It serves the entire city, too, so you can't argue that you're favouring one area over another.
jn_12
Senior Member
He wouldn't? So you're telling me the only people who knew what was in the budget were Cabinet/caucus members? They wrote it themselves too eh? Poor Mr Duncan... I mean it took me 3 months to write a 130pg thesis. I can't imagine how long hard he worked on the budget all by himself.
Give your head a shake. Smitherman is an insider, and someone from the Liberals would have chatted with him off-the-record without anyone being none the wiser.
Oh and PS. I was a poli sci major in my undergrad who also had the opportunity to learn from a former cabinet minister, so no need to try to give lessons on Parliamentary procedure. Thanks.
Rainforest
Senior Member
Scarborough-Malvern is not funded anyway. SRT upgrade / extension is funded, but the upgrade cannot be delayed because Mk-I's are approaching the end of their life and without any upgrade, the city would lose existing SRT service.
I suppose delaying the extension part of SRT, plus Finch, Sheppard, and VivaNext would be worth $4b they seek. However, deferring VivaNext is unlikely due to the importance of the York Region's swing ridings, and deferring Sheppard is unlikely, too, due to the federal involvement and possibly due to already signed contracts.
Complaints about favoritism are inevitable either way. Eglinton would serve midtown and give nothing to the northern parts, whereas Sheppard + Finch + VIVA would serve the north and give nothing to midtown.
Second_in_pie
Senior Member
I agree with you almost 100%, but I so do not want to.
"Remember when Toronto had a state of the art transit system half the cities in the world envied? Neither do I!"
I just created a facebook group for it: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=107969969225183&ref=mf
Hopefully we can get enough people and get something organized. As was stated before, I think this is definitely protest-worthy. We've seen transit expansion go down the tubes once before in the past decade and a half, and I'm sure as hell not going to stand idly by as it happens again.
Hopefully we can get enough people and get something organized. As was stated before, I think this is definitely protest-worthy. We've seen transit expansion go down the tubes once before in the past decade and a half, and I'm sure as hell not going to stand idly by as it happens again.
tkip
Active Member
While I agree with protesting I just know that the majority of people are going to ignore the news about cancelled transit lines, and yes, in my view they've been cancelled, and thus we get the government we deserve because we keep voting these guys into power who don't do anything for this city.
But we voted them into power on the promise of transit expansion, not the promise of transit expansion followed by the repealing of half of what they promised. If another leader had campaigned on the promise of cutting transit expansion and won, they I would agree with you, we deserve what we get.
vz64
Active Member
What about 204 Bombardier streetcars order? Are we still going to get them?
sixrings
Senior Member
OK why not make Eglinton LRT and the SRT line one line and thats it. Then later they could still build the sheppard subway extension and the DRL.