kettal
Banned
maybe santa claus and tinkerbell will say some magic words that make it happen with the power of magic!! plz dont shoot down this idea as unrealistic caus then itll never happen :(
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Transit expansion for a better Toronto! (Rally/Protest idea)
- Thread starter The Mad Navigator
- Start date
GraphicMatt
Looking forward to a FRESH START for Toronto
Here's my idea: we put together a group of some people (we will all vote to pick them!) who will be responsible for transit and other things in the public interest and then we'll give them a small percentage of our income each year which they can use to build things that will lead to a collective benefit!
CodeMonkey
Active Member
maybe santa claus and tinkerbell will say some magic words that make it happen with the power of magic!! plz dont shoot down this idea as unrealistic caus then itll never happen
I wasn't criticizing you. My point was, it feels like every idea to fix funding for transit seems to run into dead ends.
If only the real world would work that way.
*sigh*rbt
Senior Member
If it is going to happen it will be in the form of a new tax.
When Miller mentioned a potential road toll everybody jumped on him and the media made a lot of noise about how it would be a bad idea.
Recently there have been a dozen or so articles accepting tolls as a potential reality. Not liking the cost but accepting them if it helps solve the issue. If McGuinty is re-elected I would expect to see a GTA wide road toll discussion appear pretty quickly without all that much in the way of opposition. If Hudak is elected then I really can't predict what will happen.
Fantomex
New Member
M II A II R II K
Senior Member
A cheaper way to improve rapid transit would be to make all the GO Train lines express that only has stops in the 905 region except Union. And to have the TTC run it's own trains on the same tracks to service the 416 GO Train Stations with no extra fare other than the already existing TTC fare.
One example is people could transfer from Main Station and go straight to Union at no extra cost, and it would certainly relieve both the Yonge and Danforth lines without laying another inch of track.
One example is people could transfer from Main Station and go straight to Union at no extra cost, and it would certainly relieve both the Yonge and Danforth lines without laying another inch of track.
kEiThZ
Superstar
That's still expensive and hugely complicated. There'd be congestion on the GO tracks. And the TTC would have to buy more trains. Far better to have full fare and service integration, more reliable and regular GO service and well designed transfers inside the 416.
Fresh Start
Banned
Okay here are my takeaway observations from tonight's Public Transit Coalition launch in Councils Chambers at City Hall. I'll try to be as objective as I can.
- At 6:00 PM about 100 people were seated, more filed in after the official start time growing to around 200, so the meeting didn't begin til 6:30
- Cameos!! Steve Munro, Adam Giambrone, Save Our Sheppard's Patricia Sinclair and her supporters
- Casual Wednesday? Many of the councillors dressed down for the event
- The hand-outs were exactly the same as those that've been circulating in TTC vehicles ever since the budget cuts. No additional goodies for the fanboys. Sorry guys.
- Emcee Big Norm in da house! Q and A session revealed that we're not at war with East Asia afterall; rather we have an inferiority complex to London, Paris and Los Angeles because of their extensive LRT networks. Subtle.
- Interesting statistics. According to the PTC, building the Eglinton-Crosstown LRT alone will produce 10,000 new jobs; subways cost 3-5 times more than LRT. Assurances that the St Clair debacle won't repeat itself. (I'll hold you to that promise TTC)
- With the $4 billion off the table, the TTC will use the remaining $3 billion guaranteed upto 2015 on SELRT and one of either Finch West LRT or the Scarbrough RT rebuild to Sheppard/Markham. Eglinton's off the table.
- "Save our Transit!" chant-rousing at first then gradually morphed into "Save Transit City!" chants initiated by the emcee. Again, subtle.
- Barbara Stone representing Weston-Mt Dennis said that her community is the 2nd poorest in all of Ontario (Google-search that), and that the LRT would be their only lifeline into/out of the rest of the city. (Um, GO station(s)?) The Kodak lands LRT maintenance yard would provide skilled-labour jobs for her community vs. the area becoming another big-box centre filled of minimum wage earners. (She has a point.)
- Ashwin Babalohan (sp?) of Scarborough. Basically blames the bus service for ruining his life, recalls his freshman year in college when football tryouts at St George Campus would require him to leave home at 4 in the morning and get back home 11 at night due to multiple transfers and such. (Word of advice: Don't blame the player (bus) blame the game (route mismanagement).)
- "Scandalous!" one concillor's reaction to Ashwin's story. Bus service affects and limits who people can be and what they can achieve in life, Ashwin chimed in. (Oh dear lord, this is starting to sound a lot like propaganda.)
- Affluent downtowners vs. the politically disempowered suburbs. (their words) No community building opportunities between suburban neighbourhoods because of lack of rapid transit.
- The Province is counting on downtowners to not care about TC cuts, and service from Scarborough to be so poor that most people from the 'burbs won't bother to show up for protest rally, said the emcee. (you decide whether they were right.)
- Emcee Norm called Dalton McGuinty's office at 6:45 PM knowing in advance that office hours ended quite some time prior.
- Attendees encouraged to do things many in the audience expressed that they were already doing: calling McGuinty, pressuring their local MPs, making donations to the Coalition, organizing community meetings about Transit City
- "Subway canvas, next week." Say what?! Are they trying to give SOS some false hope here?
- At 7 PM our exiting Mayor graced us with his presence; then just as quickly as he appeared from behind the curtain, he vanished again. Basically he said the public must fight for themselves, that Transit City will cut bus commute times down by two-thirds. Standing ovation. Chaos ensues.
- CAW union-workers were pleased with the turnout, at least that was the sentiment aboard the elevator ride down.
Fresh Start's Editorial:
The Public Transit Coalition launch only lasted 30 minutes of actual discussion which was limited to defaming buses and the extolling of LRT as the next greatest invention since sliced bread. It can make Toronto world-class, it can generate tech jobs in delapidated communities, it can unite the city. It listed a number of Priority Neighbourhoods which overlapped with the proposed LRT corridors, but the impoverished inner-city communites of Parkdale, Regent Park, Alexandra Park and Pelham Park were notably absent from the PN list. So in essence, only suburban poor are represented by Transit City is what this diagram alludes to, and that the core is pretty well off already and doesn't need further transit expansion. Seriously there was no mention of the DRL at all.
Politicians played a low-key role to their credit, making this sound like a completely community organized initiative. Indeed, the crowd consisted of Torontonians from all walks of life and many people I spoke to were supportive of any transit improvements. But when the emcee made any mention of subway expansion, the crowd particularly lit up and were vocal which I took to mean that they were in tacit support of more subways even in this funding crisis situation. In sum, "Save our Transit" (of any form or incarnation) was the stronger sentiment of the crowd in general than "Save Transit City."
- At 6:00 PM about 100 people were seated, more filed in after the official start time growing to around 200, so the meeting didn't begin til 6:30
- Cameos!! Steve Munro, Adam Giambrone, Save Our Sheppard's Patricia Sinclair and her supporters
- Casual Wednesday? Many of the councillors dressed down for the event
- The hand-outs were exactly the same as those that've been circulating in TTC vehicles ever since the budget cuts. No additional goodies for the fanboys. Sorry guys.
- Emcee Big Norm in da house!
Q and A session revealed that we're not at war with East Asia afterall; rather we have an inferiority complex to London, Paris and Los Angeles because of their extensive LRT networks. Subtle.- Interesting statistics. According to the PTC, building the Eglinton-Crosstown LRT alone will produce 10,000 new jobs; subways cost 3-5 times more than LRT. Assurances that the St Clair debacle won't repeat itself. (I'll hold you to that promise TTC)
- With the $4 billion off the table, the TTC will use the remaining $3 billion guaranteed upto 2015 on SELRT and one of either Finch West LRT or the Scarbrough RT rebuild to Sheppard/Markham. Eglinton's off the table.
- "Save our Transit!" chant-rousing at first then gradually morphed into "Save Transit City!" chants initiated by the emcee. Again, subtle.
- Barbara Stone representing Weston-Mt Dennis said that her community is the 2nd poorest in all of Ontario (Google-search that), and that the LRT would be their only lifeline into/out of the rest of the city. (Um, GO station(s)?) The Kodak lands LRT maintenance yard would provide skilled-labour jobs for her community vs. the area becoming another big-box centre filled of minimum wage earners. (She has a point.)
- Ashwin Babalohan (sp?) of Scarborough. Basically blames the bus service for ruining his life, recalls his freshman year in college when football tryouts at St George Campus would require him to leave home at 4 in the morning and get back home 11 at night due to multiple transfers and such. (Word of advice: Don't blame the player (bus) blame the game (route mismanagement).)
- "Scandalous!" one concillor's reaction to Ashwin's story. Bus service affects and limits who people can be and what they can achieve in life, Ashwin chimed in. (Oh dear lord, this is starting to sound a lot like propaganda.)
- Affluent downtowners vs. the politically disempowered suburbs. (their words) No community building opportunities between suburban neighbourhoods because of lack of rapid transit.
- The Province is counting on downtowners to not care about TC cuts, and service from Scarborough to be so poor that most people from the 'burbs won't bother to show up for protest rally, said the emcee. (you decide whether they were right.)
- Emcee Norm called Dalton McGuinty's office at 6:45 PM knowing in advance that office hours ended quite some time prior.
- Attendees encouraged to do things many in the audience expressed that they were already doing: calling McGuinty, pressuring their local MPs, making donations to the Coalition, organizing community meetings about Transit City
- "Subway canvas, next week." Say what?! Are they trying to give SOS some false hope here?
- At 7 PM our exiting Mayor graced us with his presence; then just as quickly as he appeared from behind the curtain, he vanished again. Basically he said the public must fight for themselves, that Transit City will cut bus commute times down by two-thirds. Standing ovation. Chaos ensues.
- CAW union-workers were pleased with the turnout, at least that was the sentiment aboard the elevator ride down.
Fresh Start's Editorial:
The Public Transit Coalition launch only lasted 30 minutes of actual discussion which was limited to defaming buses and the extolling of LRT as the next greatest invention since sliced bread. It can make Toronto world-class, it can generate tech jobs in delapidated communities, it can unite the city. It listed a number of Priority Neighbourhoods which overlapped with the proposed LRT corridors, but the impoverished inner-city communites of Parkdale, Regent Park, Alexandra Park and Pelham Park were notably absent from the PN list. So in essence, only suburban poor are represented by Transit City is what this diagram alludes to, and that the core is pretty well off already and doesn't need further transit expansion. Seriously there was no mention of the DRL at all.
Politicians played a low-key role to their credit, making this sound like a completely community organized initiative. Indeed, the crowd consisted of Torontonians from all walks of life and many people I spoke to were supportive of any transit improvements. But when the emcee made any mention of subway expansion, the crowd particularly lit up and were vocal which I took to mean that they were in tacit support of more subways even in this funding crisis situation. In sum, "Save our Transit" (of any form or incarnation) was the stronger sentiment of the crowd in general than "Save Transit City."
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GenerationW
Senior Member
Thanks for attending!
OR the SRT? Haven't we been told for years that this rebuild is mandatory/essential/crucial by 2015 (or whenever)??? By not committing to the SRT and one of the other two, they reveal themselves to be fools, and lend credence to the notion that Sheppard is simply a tool to kill any short- to mid-term subway expansion beyond Spadina.
An unnecessary distraction for what our current civic leaders desire? Sounds like the DRL is dead, at least for now.
People are excited by subways -- who knew?
Justin10000
Banned
The crowd was enthusiastic for transit, period.
The modal bias is getting old.
The modal bias is getting old.
M II A II R II K
Senior Member
Not much to be enthusiastic about when all we ever get is pigeon scraps in transit expansion per decade.
M II A II R II K
Senior Member
And to use an old quote from UT....
"Toronto produces new subways like old people fuck, don't expect anything to happen any time soon"
Probably best to just think you're in any other Ontario city where using and relying on a car a lot of the time is the reality.
"Toronto produces new subways like old people fuck, don't expect anything to happen any time soon"
Probably best to just think you're in any other Ontario city where using and relying on a car a lot of the time is the reality.
Calrissian
Active Member
Interesting, since Adam Giambrone was quoted in the National Post today to say:
Despite the uncertainty, Mr. Giambrone said the TTC is determined to keep projects moving. He said it is planning to order tunnel-boring machines for the Eglinton Crosstown in June.
"If this is really about a deferral for a chunk of it out of the five years, then we want to see where the financial models are, so that we can actually see that, yes, you're planning on spending this money, these aren't cancellations," Mr. Giambrone said.
Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/toronto/story.html?id=2936432#ixzz0lsws3BT0