Toronto Crosstown LRT | ?m | ?s | Metrolinx | Arcadis

[DonValleyRainbow]

A lot of the "urbanites" I've talked to all seem, at this point, to take a cautious liking to John Tory for some reason. This kind of thing is good because it shows them, and anyone else who may be drawn to voting for the man, that he's no compromise builder or friend of urbanism - he's still a fundamentally Tory individual, with no pun intended.

Well the big thing with this is, although it is still Tory in the sense that its "We don't need to spend taxpayer money on all these streetscaping frills", it can be framed as "Tory does not support this and wants Eglinton to look like another ugly grey concrete jungle".

Take your pick:

 

[MrsNesbitt]

Well the big thing with this is, although it is still Tory in the sense that its "We don't need to spend taxpayer money on all these streetscaping frills", it can be framed as "Tory does not support this and wants Eglinton to look like another ugly grey concrete jungle".

Take your pick:

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You're right of course. And neither of those two interpretations will win him any support from urbanists, or for that matter outside of the stereotypical suburban car-driving cuts-happy PC family demographic.

 

[ehlow]

this might be a dumb question, but will the crosstown trains be coloured green like we've seen in all the renderings?

To me it seems like Metrolinx is trying to get rid of all TTC related branding..

By the way I'm not sure if this has already been mentioned but there's hoarding around the Eglinton bus bays showing the green vehicles and an LRT map with Finch, Sheppard and Eglinton.

 

[junctionist]

A lot of the "urbanites" I've talked to all seem, at this point, to take a cautious liking to John Tory for some reason. This kind of thing is good because it shows them, and anyone else who may be drawn to voting for the man, that he's no compromise builder or friend of urbanism - he's still a fundamentally Tory individual, with no pun intended.

The Eglinton Connects issue might not lose him that many votes. It'll mostly be a few progressives, cyclists and informed people around Eglinton that will probably not vote for him on this issue. If I owned property near Eglinton, I'm clamour for an overhaul like that on St. Clair which resulted in so much new investment and a noticeable increase in property values. He shouldn't have floated the idea of cancelling the project--it seems reactionary in a Rob Ford circa 2010 manner. We've moved past that.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Interesting. What about using AstroTurf, or something similar? Same aesthetics and general purpose as grass, much less maintenance.

The Queenway right-of-way should be used as grass test beds, to get experience and test which grass species would be best for the Toronto climate.

 

[WislaHD]

Well I just spent the past two weeks telling everybody in my neighborhood that I've come in contact with to not vote for Tory over Eglinton Connects, so there is that.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

To me it seems like Metrolinx is trying to get rid of all TTC related branding..

By the way I'm not sure if this has already been mentioned but there's hoarding around the Eglinton bus bays showing the green vehicles and an LRT map with Finch, Sheppard and Eglinton.

I agree. However the TTC will be operating the line. Vehicle branding, signage etc... will likely be under control of TTC.

Anyways if ML were to exist on ML branded vehicles, regardless of customer service impact, it would reflect very poorly on that agency.

 

[innsertnamehere]

They are painting them green to try and drive some realization that its not a TTC project Metrolinx is trying to increase awareness of what it is doing, as there seems to be this perception that it does crap all. Once it comes to opening day the trains will likely be TTC red with a small Metrolinx logo somewhere on the train like there is on the new livery GO buses.

 

[W. K. Lis]

They are painting them green to try and drive some realization that its not a TTC project Metrolinx is trying to increase awareness of what it is doing, as there seems to be this perception that it does crap all. Once it comes to opening day the trains will likely be TTC red with a small Metrolinx logo somewhere on the train like there is on the new livery GO buses.

If there are enough of those decals, they wouldn't even need to paint the vehicles.

 

[Palma]

I agree, John Tory is making a huge mistake. This will not win him votes from urbanites.

I am really surprised at Tory. How much will it add to commute time? Not only that, but is it not the point to get people out of their cars and using the LRT along Eglinton. The same thing with Tory saying taking down the Gardner will add to commute time. What, like 5 min. I don't know who is coming up with his policies

 

[Palma]

The Eglinton Connects issue might not lose him that many votes. It'll mostly be a few progressives, cyclists and informed people around Eglinton that will probably not vote for him on this issue. If I owned property near Eglinton, I'm clamour for an overhaul like that on St. Clair which resulted in so much new investment and a noticeable increase in property values. He shouldn't have floated the idea of cancelling the project--it seems reactionary in a Rob Ford circa 2010 manner. We've moved past that.

But if Tory is elected, could he really cancel it? It would need a majority of councillors to vote with him and that is not a given

 

[EnviroTO]

Cycle Toronto: "John Tory's proposal to cancel Eglinton Connects irresponsible and short-sighted"

For heavens sake I was hoping to vote for Tory. The polls showing him 3rd and his stances on issues like these are forcing me closer to voting for Chow who I don't even like. I can't vote for someone who doesn't see the value of projects like these where lanes that are freed up can't become part of a streetscape improvement initiative. Do we really need to convert bus diamond lanes into a traffic lane here?

 

[MrsNesbitt]

It's just Tory showing his true colours here. It's a dumb idea to cancel it and frankly it's not going to win him any new votes at all.

Sadly I don't live in the City of Toronto so it's a moot point but I could never see myself voting for him.

 

[WislaHD]

But if Tory is elected, could he really cancel it? It would need a majority of councillors to vote with him and that is not a given

Ford got Transit City cancelled, so I am sure it is possible. Why should most of those councillors care about Eglinton? It doesn't go through their wards.

For heavens sake I was hoping to vote for Tory. The polls showing him 3rd and his stances on issues like these are forcing me closer to voting for Chow who I don't even like. I can't vote for someone who doesn't see the value of projects like these where lanes that are freed up can't become part of a streetscape improvement initiative. Do we really need to convert bus diamond lanes into a traffic lane here?

Here is to hoping David Soknacki becomes a front-runner candidate.

 

[howl]

It's just Tory showing his true colours here. It's a dumb idea to cancel it and frankly it's not going to win him any new votes at all.

Sadly I don't live in the City of Toronto so it's a moot point but I could never see myself voting for him.

Quite frankly I was on the fence between Chow and Tory up until yesterday.

My take is that he is pandering to the "screw-the-urbanists" suburban crowd that are planning to still vote for Ford. That particular brand of suburbanites doesn't care about making the city better or even saving money. They only care about having more power than their urban counterparts. It's the somewhat-ironic anti-elitists camp he's trying to win over. There is an American style us-or-them mentality that has crept into the suburban consciences and urbanists are the "them". Tory has just shown that he is not below using American-style divisive political tactics to get himself elected. This is NOT the kind of man you want as a leader.