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SmartTrack (Proposed)

The truth finally comes out. Just like what many here have been saying for the past 2 years, Smarttrack is just GO RER but with additional stops which costs would be fully borne by the city.

Essentially, Tory has screwed over the city for putting taxpayers on the hook for something they never had to pay for in the first place. In fact, he could've simply begged Metrolinx to build 2 additional stations and eventually they would've budged so they could get around paying up any money for a DRL.

We have such a brilliant mayor!
 
“The one thing that’s very clear is that there’s been a longstanding debate over what revenue tool the province could find to pay for transit priorities. They found one: It’s called the city of Toronto,” said Councillor Josh Matlow (Ward 22, St. Paul’s).
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FFS. What ever happened to "Toronto taxpayers are funding the rest of the province?" (A) That's not a bad thing, and (B) for someone like Matlow who seems to think it is, it's better when the province leaves municipalities to pay for their own transit project, since this supposedly-awful "being a province" thing has a lower net cost to Toronto.
 
Said it before, and I will say it again - if anyone believes that Ms Wynne is taxing Chatham or Espanola or Thunder Bay to raise the Provincial funding that pays for Toronto's transit, they may have been eating too many of Mr Tory's bake sale brownies.

Toronto is the tax revenue generator that pays for Toronto's transit. The never ending clamouring to have Queens Park pay for things is just a charade that politicians play in hopes of getting reelected. A more honest, transparent tax regime would put the onus to raise the money on Toronto, by ourselves, and lower provincial taxation.

- Paul
 
Every toronto mayor acts like they can get transit money from the province and feds. We have to pay our own way. Too bad we don't like taxes or LRT. Expensive tastes little or no money
 
crs1026 said:
Said it before, and I will say it again - if anyone believes that Ms Wynne is taxing Chatham or Espanola or Thunder Bay to raise the Provincial funding that pays for Toronto's transit, they may have been eating too many of Mr Tory's bake sale brownies.

Toronto is the tax revenue generator that pays for Toronto's transit. The never ending clamouring to have Queens Park pay for things is just a charade that politicians play in hopes of getting reelected. A more honest, transparent tax regime would put the onus to raise the money on Toronto, by ourselves, and lower provincial taxation.

- Paul
Click to expand...

Not that Toronto is particularly great at the whole transit revenue thing to have much in terms of believability, but the current situation looks a little like paying for the provincial government to determine priorities based on their immediate electoral interest.

sixrings said:
Every toronto mayor acts like they can get transit money from the province and feds. We have to pay our own way. Too bad we don't like taxes or LRT. Expensive tastes little or no money
Click to expand...

The problem is one of scale - the success of transit referendum in the old city is probably secure - but given our current structure, a non-starter in determining priorities. Let's face it - the problem is structural, and it predated the megacity (just look at the dynamics of the old Metro)

AoD
 
Was there a reason why the Spadina GO Stop will only service Barrie, and not the 'SmartTrack' Route? I thought they couldn't physically put a station there, but if they can, why not serve both lines? Spadina will be a great stop for the SmartTrack route IMO
 
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...ded-built-as-promised-report/article32591560/

“We’ve basically given in to everything the province has ever wanted from us, in order to be able to name a few stations after John Tory’s campaign pledge,” said Councillor Gord Perks.

“If you track the change in language since Mayor John Tory was elected, the things that the province was prepared to pay for is smaller and smaller and the things the city has to pay for get bigger and bigger. And all of this for something that doesn’t look remotely like what the mayor campaigned on.”
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bale.png


Seriously!!!!

Billions to name 7 to 8 stations...Those billions could have extended the DRL to Bathurst in Phase 1. What a waste of time. DRL was the solution all along. SMH

Perks is right, the city got outsmarted and outmaneuvered right from the get go...embarrassing
 
Cobra said:
Perks is right, the city got outsmarted and outmaneuvered right from the get go...embarrassing
Click to expand...

Well, consider the relative bargaining positions. On the Stouffville-Mount Dennis segment, the Province's position would have been (truthfully)

"We already have an intended use for that corridor (RER) and the wheels are in motion to build that, and we were here first. You can add your idea to that, but only at your expense...tell us how much you can spend and we will tell you how much we can add for that amount"

On the Mount-Dennis - Renforth- Pearson portion, the Province's position (again, truthfully) was likely - "We considered that for a while, but Premier McGuinty subsequently decided that the Province's commitment ends at Mount Dennis only. Again, if you can provide City or Federal money, we're willing to facilitate, but no new money from us."

There was a lot of flirtation (on both sides) beyond that....but if you are looking for hard clear positions, that's the lay of the land when Smarttrack arrived. The onus is on the City to demonstrate that this had changed since.

I thought the report was rather well crafted to remind Council of some of this history in a way that was unarguable but without pointing fingers or causing any loss of face for anyone. Staff seem to have learned a few tricks to keep Council on a fact-based plane.

- Paul
 
amnesiajune said:
Three things to point out:

1. Metrolinx is building Option C. The only difference between the map and what they've committed to is no Ellesmere station

2. Annual ridership is 30.4 million. Average ridership works out to ~83,000 per day, but ridership will be a lot higher during peak hours, which is what the TTC usually factors into its planning. Roughly 45% of the TTC's total ridership is weekdays from 5 am to 9 am and 3 pm to 7 pm (5% of the TTC's total operating hours)

3. The study seems to say that it's based on existing fare structure, i.e. no transfers between the TTC and Go Transit. Obviously it'll get a lot more ridership if (or more accurately, when) fare integration happens.
Click to expand...

get out of here with some actual logic and numbers...
 
salsa said:
Someone is feeling a little testy today.
Natalie Johnson@NatalieCTV
John Tory: To the people criticizing my transit plan, I would ask them, what's your plan?
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Perhaps he should have asked that of people who pointed out the shortcomings of his plan before he acknowledged them in face of reality as to what their plans were. Oops, of course that didn't happen.

AoD
 
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