Regarding the city of Toronto and improving transportation. What exactly do you suggest - I'd argue Yonge and Finch/Sheppard are some of the best connected locals in all of Toronto. With access to GO 2 subway lines - YRT, brampton ... Moreover, it's surrounded by some of the busiest and more frequent bus routes in all of Toronto (39, 36, 60, 53)
Before amalgamation, there was basically one office building & one condo building built almost every year in downtown North York core,... And back then, this was a real downtown,... net migration of people coming into the area for work in the morning.
Since 1998 amalgamation,... we saw 45-50 condos and only one new office building built in downtown North York core,.... now, it's net migration of people out every morning,... this isn't a real downtown,... it's a vertical "sleeping community" suburb.
After amalgamation, we just don't have politicians fighting for North York like they used to,... we still have some of the same (old) politicians around
but they're now fighting for Toronto, not North York,... nobody is fighting for North York. Before amalgamation, North York was aggressive in getting all those office buildings built in North York, and North York was eating Toronto's lunch! Now, its the 905 that's eating the amalgamated Toronto's (and North York's) lunch!
North York's office scene will never ever be comparible to that of downtown Toronto's. Sure downtown North York has subway, regional bus transit system, highway (401),.... basically same ingredients as downtown Toronto. But North York doesn't have GO Train service,....real GO train service (not that Richmond Hill line to IKEA),.... downtown Toronto has GO Train service to Union station,... it brings in people (talent) from a much greater geographical area,... thus the professional talent pool that a downtown Toronto office can reach is much further than that of a downtown North York office.
Transit-wise,... the downtown North York area is the geographical centre of the GTA, so it deserves a great transit network,... do we have that? It could be a lot better. Of course, we'll never get GO Train running through downtown North York,... but the Sheppard Subway line should be extended in both direction, westward to Downsview for subway line network interoperability and eastward to Scarborough Town Centre. This will help Scarborough residents and relieve pressure off Bloor-Yonge subway interchange.
And while, we're talking subway,... extending Spadina line to Vaughan Corporate Centre??? (land of big box stores) and extending Yonge line to Richmond Hill Centre are big mistakes! Extending subway lines to low density areas in 905 at the cost of extending subway line to higher density areas in Toronto is a costly mistake and it'll cost Toronto residents dearly. Subway extension to 905 areas that are developing their own downtowns with offices will cost Toronto office development and good jobs within Toronto.
Back to downtown North York,... once the service ring road is complete they should have a bus route going around the ring road. And they should get rid of that Yonge 97 bus,... it only runs every 30 minutes and if there are actually passengers on it, I can count them on one hand,.. and that's during rush hour! It's rediculous to have a bus route on top of a subway line.
You say people aren't working in the area, where are they working? I don't see what improved transit we can offer. The traffic issue your concerned about is Yonge south of Sheppard, in other words it's the 401 W/E.
I'm concerned about traffic in the Yonge-Sheppard-401 area because that's the where Tridel Hullmark Centre site is and that's the main area the city of Toronto is focusing their traffic study on. Its a huge bottle neck! The 401 is really a huge wall,... it only has openings every 2km or so,... you're north of 401 and have to go south of it,... those small north-south side streets don't have bridges or tunnels crossing the 401!,... you need to get to Leslie or Bayview or Yonge or Bathurst, or Allen Rd or Dufferin,... basically every 2 km. At Yonge, the 401 overpass built in 1950s only has a 6 lane hole for cars, actually only 4 lanes when you take away the on-ramp lanes,... this is the bottle neck,... it can't be widen anymore,.. it service the downtown North York area (100-200m east & west of Yonge) and beyond (1km east & west of Yonge) which is the bottle,... in the last 11 years since amalgamation, the downtown North York area have seen 45-50 new high density residential condo towers jammed into this bottle!!! And these people work everywhere,... but if they're going to downtown Toronto core, best to use subway. Anywhere else south, they drive on Yonge south of Sheppard to 401,... they go anywhere more than a stone throw east or west, they go to 401,... and they'll need to go on Yonge south of Sheppard to 401. Even those going to generally north to Markham, Vaughan or Brampton opt to take 401,..
Take Yonge southbound train during AM rush,... you'll see it's pretty packed by the time it leaves Sheppard-Yonge,... a lot fuller than northbound Yonge train. Stand at Yonge & Sheppard during AM rush,... you'll see more cars leaving the area than coming in,... net migration out.
Well, there's traffic issues at Yonge-Finch as well,... you mention regional bus, they all go to Finch station,... during AM Peak there's 370 buses going southbound from Steeles Ave to Finch station,... about half are YRT and Viva buses,... clogging up Yonge Subway line. And vast majority of these passengers are going to downtown Toronto. They could just as well use Downsview station,.. on the Spadina-University subway line,.... most downtown destination is better served by University line anyways. Instead of talking about Bus express lanes on Yonge north of Finch,... they should be talking about Bus Only Express lanes on Dufferin from Downsview Station to Steeles and beyond. This fall York University Red Rocket 106 bus will have new Bus only lanes on Dufferin between Downsview Station and Finch hydro corridor. York Region is now expanding Dufferin Street north of Dufferin from 2 lanes in each direction to 3 lanes in each direction,.... but there's that little 1.5km stretch of Dufferin between Finch Hydro Corridor and Steeles that's only 2 lanes in each direction,... city of Toronto won't expand it to 3 lanes in both direction. The local city councillor of that ward, we won't mention any names but his initials are H.M.,... is against widening Dufferin Street,... he doesn't want to do anything that would benefit 905ers!
It's like, come on widen that 1.5km of Dufferin Street and put in bus only lanes,.... so YRT and Viva (about 4,000 passengers per hour during AM rush) can use Downsview Station on 66% capacity Spadina subway line (20,000 southbound passenger per hour during AM rush) instead of dumping all their buses at Finch Station and clogging 100% full capacity Yonge Subway line (30,000 southbound passenger per hour during AM rush),.... this will actually benefit midtown Toronto Yonge subway riders who are stuck on platform as packed southbound train passes by during AM rush,... come on H.M., you're the former TTC chair, geez! Why are York Region Transit riders whose property tax does NOT finacially support TTC be given first class service on Yonge Subway when midtown Toronto resident's whose property tax actually does financially support TTC be forced to wait on southbound platform as packed subway train passes by during AM rush?