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

Surprised nobody's posted this yet:

TTC seeks art consultant for LRT line

TTC seeks highly qualified consultant to choose art for the planned Eglinton Crosstown LRT line. Candidate must work closely with local artists, engineers and project staff. Two-year contract pays up to $420,000.

In an environment of shrinking government budgets, the TTC and Metrolinx are taking what some may view as a bold step in hiring a pricey art consultant for a light-rail transit project.

The new $8.2 billion, 20-kilometre line — set to begin construction this year and be completed by 2020 — is planned to run underground all the way from Black Creek to Kennedy station, and continue above-ground along the existing Scarborough Rapid Transit route.

The line will have up to 26 stops.

This week, the TTC ran an ad in a local newspaper advertising the consultant role. The notice seeks someone to work on a design team that will coordinate and oversee the creation of “integrated artwork’’ that will be supplied by selected artists.

The TTC hopes to fill the position within the next year or so.

TTC spokesperson Brad Ross defended the hiring, saying the province is footing the entire bill for the line and the consultant through Metrolinx. The TTC is doing the design and engineering work for the line itself.

The consultancy is not a staff position, Ross said, adding that the $420,000 represents an “upper limit’’ for the cost. For comparison, according to the province’s salary disclosure, or “sunshine,’’ list David Moos earned $122,363.16 in 2010 as curator at the Art Gallery of Ontario — a staff position.

Hiring a consultant for station design and art isn’t a new idea for the TTC. An international competition was held to choose architectural designs and art for stations along the planned Spadina subway expansion to York Region. An art consultant was also used for stops along the completed St. Clair Ave. right-of-way streetcar line.

“The stations themselves and the public space for the LRT stations need an element of design and pleasing aesthetics. That’s what this process is about, ensuring consistency and artist merit to the public space,’’ Ross said.

The art that eventually appears could be in the form of murals, mosaics, “you name it,’’ he added.

Renowned local artist Eldon Garnet called the job posting a good first step for the TTC. He said art in subway and transit stations can serve as markers of the “cultural identity’’ of each stop.

He referred to the “dislocated walls’’ artwork of artist Vito Acconci, which can be found at the Yankee Stadium station in New York.

“It distinguishes the station ... and visitors are exposed to premium public art — not just low-quality public art. There’s a big difference,’’ Garnet said.

Garnet said a large percentage of the art on the TTC hasn’t been high quality, something he thinks may change given the decent pay that appears to be in the offing for the new consultant for Eglinton.

“The TTC and those organizations are somewhat conservative,’’ Garnet said.
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http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1037692--ttc-seeks-art-consultant-for-lrt-line

Province halts ‘very rich contract’ for TTC art consultant

That didn’t last long.

Ontario Transportation Minister Kathleen Wynne Thursday morning ordered the TTC and Metrolinx to pull an ad seeking a consultant who was to help choose art work for stops along the Eglinton Crosstown LRT.

In a telephone interview Wynne said she first learned of plans to hire an art consultant for up to $420,000 over two years after reading it Thursday’s Star.

Right away she contacted Metrolinx CEO Bruce McCuaig and instructed him to take the job posting down.

Though the TTC took out the ad in a local newspaper Monday, Metrolinx, a provincial agency was to foot the bill for the non-staff position.

The new $8.2 billion, 20-kilometre line is set to be finished in 2020, and is planned to run underground all the way from Black Creek to Kennedy station, and continue above-ground along the existing Scarborough Rapid Transit route. The province is footing the bill for the line, and the TTC is doing the design and engineering work.

It’s to have up to 26 stops.

Wynne said now isn’t the time to be talking about pricey postings for art consultants for the line.

“There’ll be lots of time to talk about art in the stations … but our focus right now is getting the line built. That kind of contract, hundreds of thousands of dollars for an art consultant is unacceptable at this point.

“It’s a very rich contract,’’ she added.

When asked why she or someone in her office wasn’t made aware of the job posting before it went out, Wynne said her understanding is “the TTC had responsibility for this particular process.’’
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http://www.thestar.com/news/ttc/art...lts-very-rich-contract-for-ttc-art-consultant

I don't want to jump into knee-jerk "gravy" reactions, but is $200,000 per year to hire an art critic to dictate what pieces go where comparable to the going rate in the private sector? I would have assumed that the architects for the individual stations would have already penciled in some artistic designs into the build of the stations, and that the project managers would be the ones who would implement and coordinate artworks into the stations.

One only needs to look at the current SRT to see how depressing bland metro stations can be...
 
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Why bother with art right now? Just build the stations and get the line running already. The art can always come later, when the City and Province are in better financial shape.
 
Tuscani01 said:
Why bother with art right now? Just build the stations and get the line running already. The art can always come later, when the City and Province are in better financial shape.
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And that's the reason that cities all over the world have beautiful subway station, and our are frequently compared to public washrooms.
 
nfitz said:
And that's the reason that cities all over the world have beautiful subway station, and our are frequently compared to public washrooms.
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I guess that puts Toronto in the big leagues! Our stations look like public washrooms and the stations in Paris smell like public washrooms!
 
I don't disagree with the idea of having public art, but I question the timing. Couldn't this have waited until after the election when politicians aren't like sharks circling around for the slightest hint of blood? The spin squads are in full force, and anything even remotely resembling gravy is going to be jumped on by the Hudak crew. This project doesn't need a bigger bullseye on it than it already has.
 
gweed123 said:
I don't disagree with the idea of having public art, but I question the timing. Couldn't this have waited until after the election when politicians aren't like sharks circling around for the slightest hint of blood? The spin squads are in full force, and anything even remotely resembling gravy is going to be jumped on by the Hudak crew. This project doesn't need a bigger bullseye on it than it already has.
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Hence the reason why it was quick quashed.
 
jje1000 said:
Hence the reason why it was quick quashed.
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I agree. I think Wynne made the right decision in quashing it as soon as it came to light. My point though is that the person who first put it out there should have had a bit more political sense than to put it out there now, especially seeing as how it wasn't integral to the project. It's not like it was a tender for the electrical contract or something.
 
It's entirely reasonable to plan for public art and to hire a person to oversee the implementation - but $200K per year does seem a bit much when compared to $122K for the curator of the AGO. If the $420K is supposed to cover an office and small team of staff then maybe it's not so bad. That said, I think this should probably be contracted out to an EGD company who will no doubt already be working on the themed environment and wayfinding signage already. Assemble a small panel of volunteer officials and citizens (who get a small honorarium for being involved) and let them select the winning designs. This way the final decisions aren't made by "some six figure bureaucrat" (as it will no doubt be painted).
 
Marko said:
It's entirely reasonable to plan for public art and to hire a person to oversee the implementation - but $200K per year does seem a bit much when compared to $122K for the curator of the AGO. If the $420K is supposed to cover an office and small team of staff then maybe it's not so bad. That said, I think this should probably be contracted out to an EGD company who will no doubt already be working on the themed environment and wayfinding signage already. Assemble a small panel of volunteer officials and citizens (who get a small honorarium for being involved) and let them select the winning designs. This way the final decisions aren't made by "some six figure bureaucrat" (as it will no doubt be painted).
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My beef was more with the timing than the dollar amount. But yes, I agree with you.
 
I don't live in the area, but I recently drove along Eglinton from the 401 to Yonge. I was surprised by how wide the road in the west (from Martin Grove to Black Creek). As I drove along, I just imagined what the area could look like with the lrt running down the centre of the road. There is more than enough space to add the lrt and not reduce driving lanes. But I know as long as Rob Ford is the mayor, this won't be possible.

Any ways, I like that the lrt will be undergound in the central part (because it was necessary), but I thought it would be cool if the line was elevated from Black Creek or Jane to Pearson. Even though some people believe elevated rail can be ugly and create barriers, having rode the skytrain in Vancouver and elevated subways and express rail in Seoul, I think it can be a great alternative to going underground. If it is elevated in the East, why couldn't it be elevated in the West (especially if it would be cheaper).

Moreover, I would just like to see Pearson be connected to the city by an affordable, quick and accessible transit line. The ARL will be great for people heading downtown, but I think the LRT connection will be more useful for average Torontonians who want accessible and easy way to get to the airport. my friend visiting from Korea was blown away that Pearson didn't have one. I hope this connection can be built within my life time so I will have a chance to use it haha.

Also I heard they are going with POP on the LRT. Does anyone know why? I heard the Skytrain is changing over from POP to fare gates because of fare evasion. Why would they adopt this on the line instead of installing electronic fare gates (like the one in my avatar) that would be integrated with presto. Having used these, I think they are superior to any gate system we have in Toronto.

Has anyone heard anything about when the Pearson part of the Crosstown lrt will be finished by?
 
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Suppose to be completed to Pearson by 2020...........oops, I mean 2120.
Probably not for 30 or 40 years at the rate Toronto transit expansion proceeds. Remember this is a city that has only managed rapid transit expansion of just 14km in the last 30 years. Also, it won't happen as the City refuses to even consider elevated transit unlike every other place on the planet. Much of Calgary's new West LRT line under construction will be elevated and will be true mass/rapid transit but even in ultra low-wage Calagary the 8km line is costing only $800 million.
 
I think the Pearson connection is currently TBA. Currently the line will be from Black Creek to Scarborough Town Centre by 2020. The speculation is that Metrolinx wants to wait out Ford's term before proceeding with the west end, since there is ample room for a Calgary styled line with ROW and at-grade crossings.

I also agree with you about elevated rail. In the developed world, we are really going to have to review our options for rapid transit over the next century. The construction costs are too high in the developed world for underground transit, and this is becoming true even for areas with high density. For the last few decades, pre-metro light rail lines have been able to support our rapid transit needs, but the limited capacity of these lines may soon make us realize we need fully grade separated mass transit. When this happens, we are going to face a dilemma: Are we going to pour billions into building our transit underground, or are we going to accept visual barriers and build our transit above ground? Personally, I think the latter makes the most sense.
 
The best way to build Eglinton West west of Royal York would be a trench similar to the old part of the Yonge Line along one side of the road. This is cheap and will provide more capacity which is badly needed because of the huge volumes of traffic traveling between Toronto and Mississauga, which this extension will connect to via the Mississauga Transitway. (The section of the 401 parallel to this section of Eglinton is the busiest section of highway in Canada).

With the decision to bury Laird Drive to Kennedy the choice of LRT technology makes no sense and should be abandoned.
 
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