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Transit expansion for a better Toronto! (Rally/Protest idea)
- Thread starter The Mad Navigator
- Start date
Cranky Old Fart
New Member
Waste of time.
My 40 years of experience has told me that Queen's Park doesn't give a Rat's for the people of Toronto. The idiots we've been electing from the GTA to sit in Queen's Park as MPP's have by & large been a collection of bankbench do nothing Muppet's doesn't matter which Party they come from.
A better rally or protest would to march in the streets for our independence from Ontario !
My 40 years of experience has told me that Queen's Park doesn't give a Rat's for the people of Toronto. The idiots we've been electing from the GTA to sit in Queen's Park as MPP's have by & large been a collection of bankbench do nothing Muppet's doesn't matter which Party they come from.
A better rally or protest would to march in the streets for our independence from Ontario !
TOareaFan
Superstar
kettal
Banned
Fresh Start
Banned
Given that our Prime Minister is from Leaside, you'd think that'd help our cause. Toronto as a self-regulatory city-state sounds like an intriguing proposition, although national capitals are typically higher up on the list for such designation.
wyliepoon
Senior Member
I wonder if the TTC would provide any free advertising space for groups advocating for more transit funding from the Province or Ottawa, or to promote a demonstration for more transit funding. I somehow can't see the TTC rejecting that - to reject it would be to shoot itself in the foot.
If not, go for some rogue advertising. I've previously mentioned an idea to put up some fantasy subway maps (showing possible network extensions) on subway train cars where subway route maps have gone missing. I bet the media would love to do a story about that.
If not, go for some rogue advertising. I've previously mentioned an idea to put up some fantasy subway maps (showing possible network extensions) on subway train cars where subway route maps have gone missing. I bet the media would love to do a story about that.
Ervin
Active Member
I have an effective idea; blocking off the Don Valley Parkway.
Maybe this will force a number of drivers to use transit for a day, and that way you could say you're doing it to help fund the transit system.
Maybe this will force a number of drivers to use transit for a day, and that way you could say you're doing it to help fund the transit system.
GenerationW
Senior Member
Tewder
Senior Member
I've said it many times here that the only reason Toronto is consistently overlooked for funding from the feds and provincial government is because there is absolutely ZERO political gain to be had. In a perfect world politicians and governing leaders would do the right thing in recognizing the importance of Canada's main city and economic engine by investing money in it but the reality is this simply doesn't happen. Instead they direct funds in ways that are the most efficient for getting re-elected. Plain and simple. The Libs don't spend money in Toronto because they know the votes are sewn up (more or less) and the Conservatives don't because they know they have no shot at securing seats.
The only way to change the rules of the game is for Toronto to learn to start to advocate for its specific interests by playing the political 'game' rather than relentlessly advocating for its 'ideologies' in a way that consistently leaves it alone in the cold and dark. Quebec has played the political game well for years, moving its more ideological aspirations from the front to the the back burner over and over again as needed, and when more politically expedient to do so. Toronto needs to take a leaf out of this book. I'm not suggesting a faustian deal or anything like that but simply a more realistic take that there are benefits to be had under all political administrations, and all the more so if they are not allowed to get too comfortably complacent in power. And as for ideology most Canadian political parties are fairly centrist anyway - the platforms really aren't all that different between them, political/economic stances usually determined by who is in power at the given time - and will ultimately be punished if and when they attempt to stray too far from this, which they invariably will. Toronto has power to wield but it just doesn't know how to brandish it, yet.
I like the idea of a protest, and I like the idea of Torontonians coming together to demand something forcefully that is their right to begin with. Forget all the other issues like who is left of centre and who is right etc and make Transit (and by extension the economy, the environment and urban planning) the central important issue it deserves to be now. It is time to back politicians into a corner and make the demand. The people of Toronto wield the vote and wield the power, at all levels of government. Don't forget that.
Tewder
Senior Member
Another idea.... How about raising the driver's license renewal fee to fund public transit? I've always found the renewal fee here quite low compared to other places I've lived. It would be a fairly easy and fast thing to implement, and this way drivers get to contribute to easing gridlock through transit and easing the pollution levels to which they contribute. Makes a lot more sense to me than road tolls which will just create further havoc and that will unfairly punish those drivers who genuinely need to drive the roads in question (but who maybe wouldn't if they had transit options anyway).
Given approx. 4 million drivers in the province and a license surcharge of say $50.00 you'd get 2 or 3 hundred million a year (if my math isn't failing me)... then ensure that the feds, or feds and provincial government match it each year and voila! Earmark this money each year for transit and then put the shovels in the ground - for subways! - right away. After this is done I would lower the license renewal fee to $25.00 and earmark these funds to subsidizing fares to promote the use of transit.
Given approx. 4 million drivers in the province and a license surcharge of say $50.00 you'd get 2 or 3 hundred million a year (if my math isn't failing me)... then ensure that the feds, or feds and provincial government match it each year and voila! Earmark this money each year for transit and then put the shovels in the ground - for subways! - right away. After this is done I would lower the license renewal fee to $25.00 and earmark these funds to subsidizing fares to promote the use of transit.
W. K. Lis
Superstar
The City of Toronto subsidies refuggees from the 905 who travel on the TTC at about 30%. 70% comes from the farebox and 30% from the Toronto taxpayers.
The province of Ontario dumped the QEW east of the 427 onto Toronto. Now the 905ers who drive on that former QEW and the Gardiner and the Don Valley and the arterial roads of Toronto travel on those roads for free. Do they pay to fix the potholes, no they just make them and complain.
Some cities in the United States sell bonds (some of them tax-free) to help complete their projects. With interest rates low, couldn't the city, or Metrolinx, sell bonds at the current low rates and get them fixed or with small increases for the term of the bonds? At least at or a little above the inflation rate?
The province of Ontario dumped the QEW east of the 427 onto Toronto. Now the 905ers who drive on that former QEW and the Gardiner and the Don Valley and the arterial roads of Toronto travel on those roads for free. Do they pay to fix the potholes, no they just make them and complain.
Some cities in the United States sell bonds (some of them tax-free) to help complete their projects. With interest rates low, couldn't the city, or Metrolinx, sell bonds at the current low rates and get them fixed or with small increases for the term of the bonds? At least at or a little above the inflation rate?
GenerationW
Senior Member
Perhaps, but that still leaves Toronto at the mercy of the province. Who knows how much of that money would find its way to the city?
What we need is for the Toronto to have the power to raise large amounts of money that will be strictly (or mostly) dedicated to transit. Some have suggested that could be done by way of road tolls, or a municpal sales tax. Or how about a city gas tax?
If this is possible, the time to do it is now. Interest rates won't stay this low forever.
W. K. Lis
Superstar
Maybe after getting back their return from their ownership of GM and Chrysler, there might be a few pennies for transit.
doady
Senior Member
Perhaps the 905 systems should stop subsidizing refugees from the 416 as well.
GraphicMatt
Looking forward to a FRESH START for Toronto
Perhaps we should have a regional body responsible for transit across the entire GTA. Perhaps that regional body should get off their asses and produce a plan for funding the transit strategy they say is vitally important to our economic future.