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I think airport cabs can be flagged down at the airport and pre-arranged in the city, whereas city cabs can be flagged down in the city and pre-arranged at the airport. If that is the case there isn't any problem. If they start allowing airport cab taxi stands in the city, then there is a problem of equality because Toronto cabs can't do the same at the airport.
 
>>>I think airport cabs can be flagged down at the airport and pre-arranged in the city, whereas city cabs can be flagged down in the city and pre-arranged at the airport.<<<

The problem I have always had with prearranging Toronto cabs at Pearson is that it can take a really long time, because of the long process.

1. You call for a cab
2. Head to the pickup point and wait for the cab
3. Cab arrives
4. Commissionaire tells the cab to go back and pay the $10 fee
5. Wait for cab again
6. Cab comes back and picks you up
7. Head to destination.

That's the way it always has worked for me. On the other hand, I haven't been to Pearson much since Porter started flying so maybe it is more efficient now.
 
Steve Munro posted a letter that was sent from WCC to the Minister of the Environment.

http://stevemunro.ca/?p=2549

While, admittedly there are some valid points in there. It seems that the underlying message is that there should be no increase in rail traffic (and likely reduced or no traffic) and/or that Weston should become some sort of "hub" (though the definition of hub seems vague. Apparently 7 bus routes creates a hub).

They want electrification, trenching of the lines, etc, etc, etc, but also want to be compensated for any "noise" or "disruption" caused by construction. Might as well leave things as is, ahh WCC is now happy.
 
There's accomodation, and then there's appeasement. I think WCC has just crossed that line.
 
Woodbridge_Heights said:
They want electrification, trenching of the lines, etc, etc, etc, but also want to be compensated for any "noise" or "disruption" caused by construction. Might as well leave things as is, ahh WCC is now happy.
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:eek: If that was the case, there wouldn't be any construction going on in the city at all if everyone wanted compensation for noise and disruption.
 
This is why it is bad to have the entire transit "advocacy" segment of Toronto be fronted by left wing bag men. Instead of focusing on technical concerns (like, say, emissions) they just have completely ideological rants about how "private interests" this and "business elite" that, with the punch line usually revolving around SNC Lavalin's CEO pumping Sarin gas into the school.
 
Their technical analysis is amateur and Helen Lovejoyish ("won't somebody think of the children") in nature and just serves as a fig leaf for hardcore NIMBYism backed up by this kind of Naomi Kleinism:


We’ve seen the answer to this question in the 407 and many other projects in Ontario. The politicians and senior bureaucrats that greased the wheels and provided billion-dollar profits to private corporations retire from public “service.” Then they take astonishingly well-paying jobs, consulting contracts and seats on the board of directors from the same companies that they just handed billion-dollar benefits to at the public expense.

And the best thing of all is that under our current corruption laws this is all perfectly legal. Corrupt as hell, but legal. Of course those laws were made and maintained in place by the same politicians who use these corrupt loopholes to line their own pockets.

When I was in the Canadian Army I saw the exact same thing over and over again. The people in charge of government military procurement would retire. Then they would take astonishingly well-paying jobs, consulting contracts and seats on the board of directors of the companies to which they just handed billions of dollars of government military procurement money.

And this corruption is all legal.

I venture to predict the future of the private airport link. Here is what my crystal ball reveals to me: If they are successful in pulling it off, we will see many of the key senior bureaucrats who handed these billion-dollar favours to the private company retire from public service. They will then take astonishing well paying jobs (far more than what they now make working in public service), consulting contracts and seats on the board of directors of…
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Whoaccio said:
Their technical analysis is amateur and Helen Lovejoyish ("won't somebody think of the children") in nature and just serves as a fig leaf for hardcore NIMBYism backed up by this kind of Naomi Kleinism:
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What kind of analysis you expect from a community group? They're concerned citizens fighting for the health of their community. Even venerated analyst Steve Munro has edited and given some praise to the document. I can't help but think that many of their concerns are sound.

That quote wasn't even from the WCC.
 
junctionist said:
That quote wasn't even from the WCC.
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so if we can attribute any quote to the WCC because the quote is against the project in whatever way, can we attribute any quote to the project because it is for it?

for example:

"the blue 22 is good because it will close the streets, be like a wall and keep all the poor, blacks & criminals on the other side"

- quote by somebody that was pro-project.

should this quote be tied to and attributed to proponent groups for blue 22 because someone happened to say it and was for the project?

guilt by association anyone?
 
Decision on west-end diesel trains imminent

Residents in Toronto's west end will hear Monday afternoon if the Ministry of the Environment has approved a contentious proposal to allow hundreds of new diesel trains to pass by their neighbourhoods.

Metrolinx — the regional transit agency formerly known as the Greater Toronto Transit Authority — wants to expand the GO Transit line's south Georgetown corridor to link Union Station and Pearson International Airport.

If the project goes ahead, total traffic on the Georgetown corridor is expected to increase to more than 400 diesel trains a day from about 50.

Community groups have opposed the proposal, saying emissions from the diesel trains would hurt the health of thousands of people who live in the area around the tracks.

The Clean Train Coalition has organized a number of protests against the proposal, most recently a rally on Saturday that drew hundreds of protesters in Parkdale.

Many of the community groups want any new trains to be electric.

Metrolinx has said electric trains are an option down the road. But the estimated $1.5-billion cost to electrify the line is too expensive to implement immediately, the agency said.

Toronto's chief medical officer of health, Dr. David McKeown, has also said that the new trains could impact public health. He wrote to the Ministry of the Environment to say he is worried the expansion could cause air quality issues.

Diesel exhaust has been identified as a probable human carcinogen by several agencies, including the International agency for Research on Cancer.

Metrolinx, however, has said there is no increased risk of cancer for people living near the tracks. Any increased emissions generated by the expansion would fall within the limits defined by the ministry, Metrolinx has said.

The ministry, meanwhile, has previously said the exhaust levels would fall within acceptable limits.

CBC.ca
 
This just in from The McGuinty Governmentâ„¢

Strict Conditions Placed On Metrolinx Rail Transit Expansion

October 5, 2009 6:31 PM

McGuinty Government Requires Newest Diesel Technology, Health Risk Studies

Environment Minister John Gerretsen is attaching 18 strict conditions to the approval for new rail services planned by Metrolinx in the Greater Toronto Area.
Metrolinx has been given the green light for expansion of the GO Transit Georgetown South rail corridor and new rail service between Union Station and Pearson International Airport, as part of the Regional Transportation Plan for the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA).

This project would improve air quality by shifting people from cars to state-of-the-art diesel trains. The engines on these trains would meet the toughest emission standards when new technology is expected to be commercially available.

This means that the trains that will go through Weston each day would have the newest technology, resulting in approximate reductions of 90 per cent particulate matter and 80 percent nitrogen oxides over current engines.

The Georgetown expansion is part of the GO Transit Rail Improvement Program (GO TRIP), a $1-billion expansion initiative funded by the federal and provincial governments and local municipalities through the Canada Strategic Infrastructure Fund.

To ensure the rail line expansions are operated in a way that protects human health, the 18 conditions on its approval require Metrolinx to:

Conduct further studies regarding predicted human health risks from train traffic, develop mitigation measures for unacceptable risks that are identified, and implement those measures after they are approved by the Ministry of the Environment (MOE).
Develop and implement an ambient air monitoring and reporting plan in consultation with the public. Metrolinx will be required to report the results to the MOE and make the data publicly available.
QUICK FACTS

Metrolinx is an agency of the Ontario government that provides leadership in developing an integrated, multi-modal transportation network in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. It is responsible for the operation of the GO Transit and the provision of other transit services.
The state-of-the-art emissions standards expected to be in place in 2015 are the Tier 4 standards that have been set by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. The Metrolinx project is expected to begin operating in 2015.
New diesel technology, in combination with low-sulphur diesel fuels, is expected to make reductions of 90 per cent particulate matter and 80 per cent nitrogen oxides over current engines.
When planned transit improvements to the current GO system are complete and the system is operating at a maximum level, we expect decreases in emissions that are equivalent to removing tens of millions of car trips a year from our roads. For example, greenhouse gas emissions (in the form of carbon dioxide [CO2]) could be reduced by over 100 kilotonnes annually.
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