TTC: Other Items (catch all)

[TheTigerMaster]

I hope the TTC has a good amount of security in that building, seeing how easy it is to access from Yonge.

 

[ehlow]

One of the reasons TTC & GO ridership keep increasing:

Gas prices in record territory for Canadian motorists
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/repo...sts-spike/article18122485/#dashboard/follows/

Gas prices just keep rising, and just to state the obvious, the vast majority of cars being sold and used are still not electric.

 

[innsertnamehere]

meh. got a while to go before we hit Euro style $2.50 a litre.

 

[Johnny Au]

Thank you Vladimir Putin for the increase in public transit ridership in the Greater Toronto Area (he is partially responsible).

 

[TheTigerMaster]

I wonder if/when transit modal share will exceed 50% in Toronto or when private car will dip below 505.

In the 2006 census we were already at nearly 35%. I'd imagine it would have creeped higher over the past 8 years

 

[innsertnamehere]

I don't see ownership rates dropping below 50% suburbs still need them, even the new urbanism ones.

 

[ehlow]

http://www.torontolife.com/informer/people/2014/04/24/bruce-mccuiag-ceo-of-metrolinx/

Q&A: Metrolinx CEO Bruce McCuaig on political turmoil, public transit and his favourite rapper

Bruce McCuaig was hired to keep transit planning on track despite chronic indecision at city hall. So why is the TTC still trapped in flip-flop purgatory?

By Malcolm Johnston | Photograph by Luis Mora

Interesting exchange here:

What’s the best solution for Scarborough: subway or light rail transit?
Light rail. We’d already invested $80 million in the project.

Why weren’t you more vocal when Ford reversed course and announced the new subway plan last summer?
Well, we wrote letters to council and held media briefings.

Olivia Chow wants to revert the *Scarborough subway back to LRT. If she becomes mayor, are we going to change course yet again?
It’s possible. As a public agency, we have to be responsive to the government’s choices.

Good lord. Shouldn’t major transit decisions be irreversible? Think of all the cool stuff we’d have by now.
In theory, it sounds wonderful, but in practice, it’s illegal.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

I'm shocked that he says the SRT was best for Scarb. I'd think he'd avoid that for political reasons.

 

[junctionist]

That's the beauty of Metrolinx: it's supposed to be a regional body whose only concern is building the right transit for the demand, not winning votes. If only there was less political interference in their work, we'd be better off.

 

[Electrify]

I still have mixed feelings about what to do with Scarborough. One thing about the subway debates is that one side appeals solely to logic, while the other focuses exclusively on emotional appeal. Agree or disagree with suburban subway expansion, the subway advocates need to argue the logical benefits of their subways rather than "we are being left out, whaaaa!" (ignoring the fact that of the major three suburban municipalities, Etobicoke has far less rapid transit than Scarborough).

I've gone into my logical arguments behind the Danforth subway expansion before, so I won't go through them again unless asked. However, Chow's point that the refurbishment of the line could start as soon as next year, with an opening date several years sooner than the subway does grab my attention.

 

[innsertnamehere]

the problem with that is that it requires 3 years of a shut down SRT, not something that is exactly appalling.

 

[salsa]

the problem with that is that it requires 3 years of a shut down SRT, not something that is exactly appalling.

But if the LRT is the better plan, then so be it. There will always be some construction pains no matter what you build.

 

[M II A II R II K]

Are Toronto’s LRT plans doomed to go nowhere?

Read More: http://metronews.ca/voices/ford-for-toronto/1013870/are-torontos-lrt-plans-doomed-to-go-nowhere/

.....

According to the revised construction schedule established after the provincial budget in 2010, LRT on Sheppard Avenue East would have opened to regular service this year. With that, Toronto would have a real, honest-to-goodness LRT line.

- The warning signs are everywhere. The Scarborough debate saw subway proponents consistently slag LRT as a slow and low-capacity technology, not fit for a big city. Liberals in Queen’s Park seem to hardly ever refer to the Eglinton Crosstown line as LRT, as if they’re ashamed it didn’t end up being built as a real subway. And mayoral candidate John Tory last week confirmed that he’s undecided on the future of LRT on Finch West and Sheppard East, seemingly opening the door to more debate on those projects should he win in October.

- Meanwhile, Metrolinx Chair Robert Pritchard, in a keynote address to the Empire Club this week, talked about the sorry state of LRT projects in Toronto. “We have made less progress than we hoped on our plans for LRTs on Sheppard and Finch and our plan to replace the Scarborough RT,” he said, understating things greatly.

- “We believe LRTs are an excellent solution for routes that need more than bus service but lack the ridership demand to warrant a much more expensive subway. However, absent a live working LRT in Toronto, we have had difficulty maintaining the necessary political consensus to allow these projects (apart from the Crosstown) to proceed on the original timetable. We continue with essential preparatory work, but don’t yet have shovels in the ground.”

- And without shovels in the ground, it’s easy to imagine LRT plans for Sheppard and Finch slipping into the void, like so many other forgotten Toronto transit projects. That would be a big loss — not just for commuters along those corridors, but for everybody in the city.

.....

 

[PinkLucy]

Well, this doesn't sound good. Does anyone know what the structural issues are?
Service suspended E/B at Yonge stn due to structural issues. E/B trains will be turning back at St. George stn. Shuttles en route.

 

[Wrenkin]

Twitter suggests loose ceiling slats.