Rob Ford's Transit plan

[nfitz]

Has Pantalone made the DRL a part of his platform? That would be news to me.

No he hasn't; but he has supported Metrolinx's plan which includes it. And he did vote for it, I believe, at council in January 2009.

I'm somewhat mystified that he hasn't touched the subject, one way or another, actually. He certainly hasn't indicated he doesn't support it; however only Thomson has indicated where the money will come from.

 

[W. K. Lis]

To make heavy rail subways a viable proposition, heavy density must be zoned to support high-rise development along the routes. Not many neighbours would enjoy to have a high-rise building (office or residential) next to them.

For light rail, medium density is preferred to be developed. That means low-rise buildings along the route.

Of course, buses will still be used in the sprawling low density neighbourhoods.

So with Rob Ford, it will be high rises along his subways, and sprawl everywhere else.

 

[Dan416]

No he hasn't; but he has supported Metrolinx's plan which includes it. And he did vote for it, I believe, at council in January 2009.

I'm somewhat mystified that he hasn't touched the subject, one way or another, actually. He certainly hasn't indicated he doesn't support it; however only Thomson has indicated where the money will come from.

By that definition, every candidate supports it because they haven't voted against it. It seems to me Thomson is the only proponent of it who is planning for it.

 

[nfitz]

By that definition, every candidate supports it because they haven't voted against it. It seems to me Thomson is the only proponent of it who is planning for it.

How did Ford vote when it came to council?

It's almost as if no candidate wants to touch it, because they don't think it will get them any votes in the suburbs where things are in play. And they all know that if Metrolinx is pushing the Yonge line, that the DRL is a foregone conclusion ... so why waste capital fighting for something that you are gong to be gifted with.

Where this goes, is no candidate is campaigning to the old city. Even though they make up a large portion of the voters in the city ... particularily, as discussed in another thread, they have a much higher turnout than suburban voters (perhaps because they can walk to the polling station ... rather than needing a car )

 

[taxman]

The streetcars were on Toronto streets long before there were this many cars. The solution isn't to remove a streetcar, which can carry dozens of people at once, but to remove cars, most of which have one person inside them. Charge a congestion fee for the right to drive on downtown streets and then both cars and streetcars will move more quickly. There are just too many cars in this city. If you're driving downtown, you are part of the problem.

Actually maybe people need to use their legs a bit more. I have used the street car once in two years. I do have a car, but thats because I need it for work sometimes. So in short, I am not part of the problem .... in your eyes.

 

[Ed Drass]

Just waded through the SUN online comments about Rossi's tunnel plan. More hysterical cussing and crap on there than usual, but I noted quite a number of commenters dissing the idea because Rossi is a Liberal and therefor a liar...
Presumably these are right-leaning folks who disagree it will happen -- but who are not necessarily against the idea.

Then I came across this interesting post, apparently from the chair of Rob Ford's transportation committee:

James Alcock Report Comment
September 14th 2010, 7:07am
This is a great idea! Finally, someone has had the guts to talk about expressways. Putting it iin a tunnel is exactly what we should be doing. Other cities have done it, Toronto should too. However, I feel that a 400 Extension is a better route than extending the Allen to the lakeshore. Black Creek should be upgraded to expressway standard and extended via a tunnel to the Gardiner. It is easier and cheaper to build as it can be built under the Georgetown rail corridor. The Allen could then be extended in a tunnel only as far as Dupont Street and Spadina Road. The Gardiner could then be extended east in a tunnel to connect to Kingston Road in Scarborough. Well done to Mr. Rossi for bringing this idea forward. It's needed.
END>>

Ed: Looking forward to hearing official Ford position on new expressways. BTW: The Moving Toronto plan includes a bunch of those missing arterial road links that Ford supposedly supports but (I think) has not named. Marked in blue: http://www.gettorontomoving.ca/Roads.html

A quick google search shows James Alcock is a member of the Toronto Party.

His "Get Toronto moving plan is here:

http://www.gettorontomoving.ca/

A pretty typical plan:

-Extend the subway to Sherway Gardens
-Use the Scarborough ROW for a subway, and extend to zoo.
-Replace the streetcars with electric trolleybuses(Why??)

Actually, the plan is pretty bad. I think Rob Ford used some of the ideas from this plan.
-

 

[Mulder]

To much emphasis on new building and hardly any on fixing the current problems that plague the system.

401 East bound, where you have express merging lane ending and Warden onramp lane ending. And then not even 1km later, you have another lane ending that pulls into Kennedy?

6 Lanes of traffic into 3 in less than 1 KM.

 

[Hipster Duck]

To make heavy rail subways a viable proposition, heavy density must be zoned to support high-rise development along the routes. Not many neighbours would enjoy to have a high-rise building (office or residential) next to them.

For light rail, medium density is preferred to be developed. That means low-rise buildings along the route.

Of course, buses will still be used in the sprawling low density neighbourhoods.

So with Rob Ford, it will be high rises along his subways, and sprawl everywhere else.

What the hell? This kind of infantile analysis is what would happen if Spacing had a resident Glenn Beck.

 

[Woodbridge_Heights]

Transit City would then be followed by "Transity City BRT", which again had no mention of a DRL.

 

[Woodbridge_Heights]

Furthermore the city was looking as spending nearly one billion dollars to rebuild Bloor-Yonge station to help relieve the congestion there. Someone had to raise their hand and say "you know we could probably build a DRL with that kind of money" before it was even considered

 

[nfitz]

Transit City would then be followed by "Transity City BRT", which again had no mention of a DRL.

Surely this is all trumped with the current TTC DRTES. We criticize Rossi for announcing a highway tunnel without studying it or costing it. TTC is currently studying and costing the DRL ... I'm not sure the motivation of many here to try and ignore that.

 

[gweed123]

Surely this is all trumped with the current TTC DRTES. We criticize Rossi for announcing a highway tunnel without studying it or costing it. TTC is currently studying and costing the DRL ... I'm not sure the motivation of many here to try and ignore that.

I'm not ignoring it, I'm just curious why so many of the mayoral candidates have chosen to ignore it on their transit plans, and why it hasn't shown up on any of the TTC's city-wide transit plans.

 

[nfitz]

I'm also curious. My theory was that providing infrastructure to downtown doesn't help any candidate in the suburbs where the fight is going on, not even Pantalone who already looks as though he is biased towards downtown.

And they all know it will have to happen if the province pushes the Yonge extension ... so why waste the energy fighting for something that's going to be given to you ... at least for Phase 1.

 

[gweed123]

I'm also curious. My theory was that providing infrastructure to downtown doesn't help any candidate in the suburbs where the fight is going on, not even Pantalone who already looks as though he is biased towards downtown.

And they all know it will have to happen if the province pushes the Yonge extension ... so why waste the energy fighting for something that's going to be given to you ... at least for Phase 1.

I just think candidates (and the city in general) hasn't done a good enough explanation of cause and effect with respect to the DRL. Yes, it may not help get you from your door to the subway any faster, but it will certainly make sure you can actually get ON a subway car when you get there. I think this is the disconnect. People associate 'transit improvements' with the first 5-10 minutes of their trip, instead of the last 20-30. To me, making those last 20-30 mins more comfortable and easier outweighs saving 1 or 2 minutes getting to the subway. I'd gladly wait at a bus stop instead of an LRT stop for an extra 3 minutes if it meant I didn't have to have someone crammed into my armpit when I got onto the subway.

 

[nfitz]

Perhaps we'll see it if Pantalone ever decides to start running a campaign ... it's almost like he doesn't want to win, and was ready to retire.