There are those who want to cancel the Transit City lines entirely and build the Downtown Relief Line.
You almost sound scared that such a thing will come to fruition. The whole plan needs to be scrapped. These lines would turn out to be a massive waste - that would need rebuilding within 15 - 20 years. Case in point, the Spadina LRT - in service since 1998 - is already planned for rebuilding over the next two years. $13 billion for slow "streetcar" lines that have a short lifespan is clearly not the right solution for Toronto. Politicians will promise anything to get elected, which is precisely what Miller did in '06.
There has been no study of where the DRL would go and type of rapid transit it should be (heavy rail vs. light rail).
Are you serious?
http://metronauts.ca/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/25year.jpg
http://www.metrolinx.com/thebigmove/lookingforward/5_3_years16to25.html
It is pretty clear that this provincially appointed body wants subway technology across the Queen/King corridor. By their own estimates 17,500pphpd is how much passengers would ride a DRL during peak hour, far beyond the minimum threshold set for subway-level capacity.
No environmental assessment has been done on the DRL.
http://spacingtoronto.ca/2009/01/29/city-council-boards-the-drl-bandwagon/
As a caveat for that wasteful Yonge extension to Highway 7 project an EA
must be done, no bones about it. We were very close to one as recently as last fall.
No funds were even allocated for a study, no less an EA, or for any kind of construction.
We'd have an assessment right now if our corrupt city council, of which there are many but mainly Giambrone, didn't reallocate the all of $3 million for an EA to help fund $165-$177 million monstrosities in Vaughan. I wasn't aware outer suburban interests superceded our's.
Switching to the DRL would just delay all construction for years, TC was announced in 2007 and here in 2010 we are just beginning to start on the Sheppard East LRT, that’s 3 years. Couldn't we build something, anything, while doing a study and EA?
Sheppard East LRT, who the fig cares if that's deferred? If you want to build something in the grand meantime start a subway-grade tunnel underneath Eglinton Avenue. It's in TC so we can keep up the pretense that this is a victory for the light-rail tram.
Build something, anything reeks of desperation, like we're so eager to see some form of accomplishment for all these years of planning that we'll settle for any mediocrity being thrown Toronto's way.
But DRL doesn't need an extensive study, which to me is code for "let's pile on as many bogus unwarranted expenditures as we can that the taxpayer will wind up paying for." It has been assessed in so many studies over the years that your head will explode wondering why politicians are so afraid to tackle this beast. There was the:
- RTES of 2006
- Ridership Growth Startegy of 2003 (http://www3.ttc.ca/PDF/Transit_Planning/ridership_growth_strategy_2003.pdf)
- Network 2011 of 1985
- “Choices For The Future” of 1975
- Metropolitan Toronto and Region Transportation Study (MTARTS) of 1969
- “Metropolitan Toronto Transportation Plan” of 1964
- Draft Official Plan of the Metropolitan Toronto Planning Area of 1959
- Rapid Transit for Toronto of 1944
- Department of Railways and Bridges of the City of Toronto Engineers' Rapid Transit Subways plan of 1911
All that's been done is planning and Transit City's no exception. Suburbanites, you live in the boonies 'cause the rent is cheap. What do you thibk will happen if you get your Transit City wish? Rents will skyrocket and you'll be forced to move farther away. So you'll have even farther commutes to contend with than the local bus route which was feeding you directly into the subway now. Counterintuitive, no?
How much would a heavy rail DRL cost, in comparison with Transit City? The study could provide some answers.
What we do know is that Transit City is now a $8.15 billion, 51.6 km project to be completed some time in the 2020s. The TTC claims subways now cost on average $300 miilion per kilometre. That would mean reallocated Transit City dollars could afford us just over 27 kilometres of new subways. The DRL route from Don Mills and Eglinton to Dundas West (or Keele) via Queen/King is roughly 19 kms. That's enough money left over to build central Eglinton (Mount Dennis to Mount Pleasant) or make minor extensions to the Sheppard and Bloor lines.
Yes, I want a Downtown Relief Line. I would like to see funds for a study to start now, but with the city being short on funds as is, what would you cut? Pothole repair? Snowplowing (luckily 2009-2010 had little snow, but next year?)? Stop installing elevators in the old subway stations? So continue with what we have, and hope we get the funds to at least do a study on the DRL.
You realize that money is allocated on a project specific basis right? No, I will not support status quo "do-nothing"-itis and hope for better tommorrow. Toronto won't magically go from having tri-level governmental support for rapid transit expansion to zilch just because the majority of citizens are in favor of switching our priorities to a proven functional technology.
