TTC: Other Items (catch all)

[yrt+viva=1system]

Since TfL was brought up I think this would be an appropriate time to reflect on what sort of potential outcome may occur if Toronto went that way. We don't need to look very far to see this kind of structure in place; New York's MTA.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/07/09/can-andy-byford-save-the-subways

The article is long but well written and highly informative. And gives a glimpse of what Andy Byford has to deal with there.

 

[cplchanb]

Some more news coming out, this one relating to the TTC being interested in taking over operations for Toronto Bike Share, Toronto Parking Authority, licensing and permitting for taxis, bikeshare and car share services, the administration of road pricing, and additional transit lines not currently owned by the TTC (ie: the Eglinton Crosstown).

My 2 cents, there's a pixie dusts chance that this motion will go through. Not just because the TTC is incapable of operating even their current system properly and efficiently, but also because of the immense cost of doing all this, status-quo mayor we have at the helm, and the soon to be status-quo silo thinking TTC CEO that will be put in place. There will probably be a study going through since the city likes to take ions to study everything, but as to whether this plan will actually happen my wager is no.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toro...trol-over-transportation-in-toronto-1.4739934

not to mention where will the money to run this come from? TTC over the last 5 decades has all been about pixie dust and utopian dreams but when push came to shove either the leadership failed to secure support (SSE, TC)
or it became a gongshow when there was no money to implement or fully implement the plans properly (sheppard subway, network 2011). Now with this latest pipe dream good luck ever getting it to run properly even if council voted to do it. All that would happen is that it would deferred to the next govt or they play the blame game when it ultimately will fail.

 

[innsertnamehere]

not to mention where will the money to run this come from? TTC over the last 5 decades has all been about pixie dust and utopian dreams but when push came to shove either the leadership failed to secure support (SSE, TC)
or it became a gongshow when there was no money to implement or fully implement the plans properly (sheppard subway, network 2011). Now with this latest pipe dream good luck ever getting it to run properly even if council voted to do it. All that would happen is that it would deferred to the next govt or they play the blame game when it ultimately will fail.

It would presumably come from the existing budgets for the agencies that already run these services.

 

[Leo_Chan]

It would presumably come from the existing budgets for the agencies that already run these services.

Ah, so that's the TTC's master plan for funding. Absorb all these transit and infrastructure areas and use those budgets to fund the primary part of the TTC, while letting those new thing die off.

 

[dowlingm]

Some more news coming out, this one relating to the TTC being interested in taking over operations for Toronto Bike Share, Toronto Parking Authority, licensing and permitting for taxis, bikeshare and car share services, the administration of road pricing, and additional transit lines not currently owned by the TTC (ie: the Eglinton Crosstown).

My 2 cents, there's a pixie dusts chance that this motion will go through. Not just because the TTC is incapable of operating even their current system properly and efficiently, but also because of the immense cost of doing all this, status-quo mayor we have at the helm, and the soon to be status-quo silo thinking TTC CEO that will be put in place. There will probably be a study going through since the city likes to take ions to study everything, but as to whether this plan will actually happen my wager is no.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toro...trol-over-transportation-in-toronto-1.4739934

I have been in favour of TTC absorbing TPA for some time, if for no other reason than it puts the cost of parking vs the cost of transit into very sharp focus. They should also get the ferries back from Parks so that there is true integration across the board.

The problem is that even nominally progressive councillors have a problem with keeping their eyes away from pots of money that aren't "tax dollars" - see also Toronto Hydro. If TTC absorbed TPA's surplus cash then it isn't possible to snip a little piece out of it to fund some other worthy civic cause - instead you have to find it from general revenue.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

My 2 cents, there's a pixie dusts chance that this motion will go through. Not just because the TTC is incapable of operating even their current system properly and efficiently, but also because of the immense cost of doing all this, status-quo mayor we have at the helm,

Given that it was the TTC Chair that introduced this motion, it’s very probable that Tory supports this as well. This isn’t coming from some random councillor

 

[TheTigerMaster]

Since TfL was brought up I think this would be an appropriate time to reflect on what sort of potential outcome may occur if Toronto went that way. We don't need to look very far to see this kind of structure in place; New York's MTA.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/07/09/can-andy-byford-save-the-subways

The article is long but well written and highly informative. And gives a glimpse of what Andy Byford has to deal with there.

The political structure in NY is quite different than what is being proposed here. In NY, the state owns the infrastructure and the city operates it, which results in a lot of political back-and-forth over who is really responsible for running the trains on time. With this recent TTC proposal, the TTC remains owner and operator.

 

[drum118]

Portion of TTC Line 1 closed this weekend

July 10, 2018

This weekend, July 14-15, Metrolinx requires a closure to Line 1 Yonge-University between Lawrence and St Clair stations to continue construction of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT.

Shuttle buses will run frequently along Yonge St., stopping outside each station along the route. Customers can use the 97 Yonge bus, in addition to the University side of Line 1 as alternatives during the closure.

To keep transit and traffic moving, parking will be restricted on the following streets:

- Yonge St. between Eglinton and St. Clair Aves. (Saturday only)
- Lawrence Ave. W. outside of Lawrence Station
- St Clair Ave. E. outside of St. Clair Station

Parking will also be restricted on Bedford Park and Avoca Aves., and on Pleasant Blvd.

Wheel-Trans will be available upon request from any station through the weekend. Customers can speak with any TTC staff member for more information about service frequency.

Current work on the Eglinton Crosstown LRT project includes construction below the existing Eglinton subway station.

The Eglinton Crosstown LRT is scheduled to open in 2021.

A similar closure will take place next weekend, July 21-22. The TTC is committed to keeping customers informed about work and events that impact service and about alternative routes. For the most up-to-date information, follow @TTCNotices on Twitter or sign up for eAlerts.

 

[innsertnamehere]

2 weekends in a row. Getting busy on the Crosstown.

 

[steveintoronto]

So they are considering a TFL style system? This won't work in Toronto given that there are too many competing committees, councilors and departments all with their own agendas.

The political structure in NY is quite different than what is being proposed here. In NY, the state owns the infrastructure and the city operates it, which results in a lot of political back-and-forth over who is really responsible for running the trains on time. With this recent TTC proposal, the TTC remains owner and operator.

I was going to quote other posts, but the two posters now quoted have narrowed it down. Without getting into NYC's radically different ownership structure (When NYC declared bankruptcy, NYState took over a lot of transit infrastructure, but operational funding is still complex, and the buses are a separate one from rail, etc)

But for TfL:

https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/about-tfl/how-we-work

And the real point of note:

How we are governed
TfL is a statutory body created by the Greater London Authority (GLA) Act 1999. This Act gives the Mayor of London a general duty to develop and apply policies to promote and encourage safe, integrated, efficient and economic transport facilities and services to, from and within London.

• Meetings
• Board Members
• Chief Officers

• Subsidiary companies
• IIPAG

TfL's standing orders lay down the decision-making structure and proceedings, together with the Scheme of Delegation.

The GLA Act (Schedule 10) sets out how the Board may establish committees and how it may delegate certain functions to either those committees or to an officer(s) of TfL.

The delegations are set out in the Scheme of Delegation which is included in the standing orders. That document, along with the TfL committees and panels document setting out the terms of reference and the membership for the committees and advisory panels, are on the standing orders page in Publications & reports.

TfL's code of corporate governance provides further details of our governance arrangements, particularly around risk management and standards of conduct. We are committed to acting in accordance with the Nolan Principles of public life, namely: selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership.
[...]

https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/about-tfl/how-we-work/how-we-are-governed

Watch this *very closely* as Ford is about to pull a fast one, possibly/probably pointing to this to increase the powers of the Mayor *without the attendant Act and sources of funding*!

Toronto would be fugging lucky to have something like TfL, but London has a legal and constitutional standing with Parliament, Toronto is a creature of QP, and QP pizzes and bum-thingies Toronto whenever it wishes. And be prepared to bend-over for more.

Some retrospect on why Greater Toronto will never have the London UK GLA model:

6 million people and no regional government: Keenan
By EDWARD KEENAN Columnist
Fri., Feb. 13, 2015
Note: This article has been edited from a previously published version.

The Big Smoke is a big city, getting bigger all the time. That’s not exactly a revelation, but you can mark another milestone on the growth chart with the news this week that the Census Metropolitan Area of Toronto has surpassed 6 million population (reaching 6,055,724, to be exact) for the first time.
[...]
Highways, transit, housing, immigration settlement, social services, economic development and jobs — these are among the truly regional concerns that would best be made (and paid for) by an administration whose mandate is the health of the region as a whole. Instead, our local municipal governments compete with each other — for provincial and federal dollars, for businesses and jobs, for residents — instead of allowing us to compete together against different cities.

Greater Toronto government is not a new idea. As far back as the 1990s, the GTA Task Force headed by Anne Golden suggested the need for a metropolitan regional government. In a 2012 speech to the Toronto Board of Trade, Golden stressed that the need for such an entity had only grown. “While our city-region has many advantages, they are being undermined by our failure to think and act like a region,” she said.

The idea of more government administration bodies is never one that sets the heart aflame — understanding city decisions is already complicated and frustrating enough. But there are a lot of reasons to wish Toronto’s metropolis was served by a metropolitan government. A growing number of reasons. More than 6 million of them now.

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/02/13/6-million-people-and-no-regional-government-keenan.html

I bite my lip...

 

[Johnny Au]

More reasons why the Greater Toronto Area should be its own province

New Yorkers are frustrated with Albany controlling their subway system

 

[JSF-1]

Well New York did kind of bring that one themselves when they went Bankrupt in I believe the 1930's. It forced the state to strip NYC of its "Home Rule" (a concept that doesn't exist in Canada beyond the Provincial level). NYC is the only Single-tier City (I believe) besides Washington DC to not have Home Rule although DC is a special case. Then of course there's the fiasco in the 1970's and you can see why Albany has NYC on a short leash. Nonetheless New Yorks hands are tied and the state is always breathing down there necks; and then add in the current Mayor vs. Governor relationship and things start going to hell real fast.

 

[steveintoronto]

Well New York did kind of bring that one themselves when they went Bankrupt in I believe the 1930's. It forced the state to strip NYC of its "Home Rule" (a concept that doesn't exist in Canada beyond the Provincial level). NYC is the only Single-tier City (I believe) besides Washington DC to not have Home Rule although DC is a special case. Then of course there's the fiasco in the 1970's and you can see why Albany has NYC on a short leash. Nonetheless New Yorks hands are tied and the state is always breathing down there necks; and then add in the current Mayor vs. Governor relationship and things start going to hell real fast.

Not sure on the dates, or even if bankruptcy actually happened, but it was damn close in the Seventies:

[...]
The panel, made up of the governor, the mayor, the city and state comptrollers and three business executives appointed by the governor, was so aggressive in its belt-tightening that at one point Mayor Beame said the state was allowing the city little more than the power to tax residents more heavily.

Many public officials feared that the city had given up too much of its sovereignty, and labor leaders feared that collective bargaining had been diminished to a mere memory.

''In the eyes of many people in the city, it was most distasteful,'' Mr. Carey recalled. ''They saw the control board as the end of home rule, as the end of self-government. Some saw bankruptcy as a better alternative.'' 'Extremely Nervous'
[...]

https://www.nytimes.com/1986/06/30/nyregion/financial-control-board-loses-most-of-it-s-control.html

One has to wonder how close that situation is to Toronto's? Not the degree, but the condition. The City of Toronto Act allows some modes of taxation and tolling, as we well know with the DVP, but only at the pleasure of QP.

I shudder when reading what I quoted above, it forebodes the path we're on.

 

[smallspy]

2 weekends in a row. Getting busy on the Crosstown.

It's only going to get worse before it gets better. They have a lot of catching up to do from the 2 months of cancelled closures.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

It's only going to get worse before it gets better. They have a lot of catching up to do from the 2 months of cancelled closures.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.

Why were those closures canceled?

In any case, better get them out the way before Line 1 ridership ramps up in the fall