TTC suspects province is plotting a takeover

[drum118]

Even if we got an extension of the 24, which runs from Brampton GO to Collingwood Ave (north of Mayfield) and Hwy 10 every 30 minutes until 7pm, I would be very happy, as my regular commute sees me back in Brampton no later than 6:30.

The problem is that under the current town council, no matter how small the subsidy needed, the town would not pay it, as they don't see the value of transit. Many people in this neighbourhood believe that the vandalism problems are caused by outsiders (when they really are, IMO, caused by bored kids who can't go anywhere), and the Hwy 410 fight has resulted in the NIMBYs organized and still generally pissed off - so there's another stumbling block.

As for Bolton, YRT would be the likely contractor (assuming you expand the meaning of the word "likely").

I've been walking from the Orangeville GO bus stop at Hwy 10 & Valleywood Blvd alot recently. Its a 20 minute walk, complete with no sidewalks due to snow piles and the mud of the 410 side.

I'm looking at a folding bike for the spring. Hopefully that will tie me over until hell freezes over.

Coincidentally, I'm doing a presentation about the Caledon bus licensing scam/by-law at Ryerson towards the end of March, if anyone is interested. Drop me a line if you're willing to risk getting weird looks from the chair of the TCHC.

When I looked at a GTA system a few years ago, I saw MT taking over BT 2 and taking it north to Mayfield as stage 1. Stage 2 would be to Caledon and stage 3 to Orangeville. I still see this using LRT's.

I also saw BT 1 being extended to Georgetown.

There would be a new route going south from Georgetown to Milton and then branching to Oakville and Burlington. The line would also connect with Acton.

Heard a lot about the anti transit views up your way.

I have no problem getting weird looks surrounding transit.

Looking at the map I did, I had routes on roads 24, 4, 10, 1, 7, 19 going north to hwy 9. Hwy 9 route would run to Port Perry from Orangeville.

I also see a GO DMU train using the Orangeville line in the next 20 years.

 

[doady]

Sort of related: in Mississauga, the southern part of Churchill Meadows, after all these years, finally got transit service for the first time when the 35 was extended to Ninth Line last month, but now residents along Erin Centre Blvd have launched a petition to get the buses banned from their street.

Of course, the petition will not work since the city rarely ever listens to NIMBYs, and there are many lesser streets in Mississauga that have 3 times the bus service. And plus, there was another petition a few years back from the same neighbourhood calling for the immediate extension of transit service.

This is the land of Roger Anderson, did you expect a big success with DRT? Apart from the GO fare agreement (an extension of a policy already in place with Whitby) and the OUIT-Pickering route, there has been little to make transit regionalized.

There is still not a single combined region map for DRT, not even a combined map for Ajax and Pickering even though they were already one system before DRT. It is a strange way to combine transit systems.

Let us remember also that Durham region has the only politicians that fought against the greenbelt. The mayor of Ajax was the only one there to support it.

 

[RedRocket191]

Who knows maybe Valleywood will be amalgamated into the City of Brampton someday given how cut-off it is from the rest of urban Caledon.

At any rate the total community doesn't even stretch over to Kennedy, so extending 24 Van Kirk along Valleywood, Royal Valley, Brookstone and Snelcrest and back would only add on an extra 10 mins to a round trip.

They are building the area from the Etobicoke Creek east to Kennedy, but the current Valleywood will only be connected by pedestrian paths that will be impassible in the winter, flooded in the spring and muddy in the summer.

I would support Brampton annexing Valleywood. It's a much better fit and can be served more easily in all municipal services (although I haven't done the calculations to be sure).

 

[smuncky]

with all this talk of combining transit services, i'd like to know how NJ transit in new jersey runs their buses, trains, and LRT networks. i'd imagine running a whole state would be even more difficult then a smaller region.

how can we learn from examples like NJT to intergrate our transit the same way they've done?

 

[RedRocket191]

While we're at it, check out New York MTA, Transport for London and TransLink Vancouver, to name a few.

 

[JasonParis]

Whatever the solution - hands off the TTC!
Feb 27, 2008 04:30 AM
TORONTO STAR
Royson James

It's such an irresistible prize – taking over the TTC – that it's become fashionable to recommend moving control of our transit system as far away as possible from the people it serves.

But such an approach will not work – not for TTC users, the customers who pay the freight.

Editorialists scratch their tall foreheads and pronounce that maybe Queen's Park or its surrogate, Metrolinx, should run the TTC. Premier Dalton McGuinty, who's become an irritating meddler lately, floats trial balloons about the takeover.

And Mayor David Miller's "independent fiscal review panel" came close to recommending it before concluding: "From our assessment, an uploading of the TTC to the province is neither necessary nor practical at this time."

Phewww. Close. But next time? Get ready for Big Transit.

With ridership approaching all-time high records, TTC users deserve to know how such an "upload" will get them a bus more quickly, or the Queen St. street car to show up and not kick everyone off as it short turns – and they'll vote for the transfer of operations.

Proponents offer several arguments:

One, it will quicken our evolution toward an integrated transit system across the GTA and beyond. Y'know, passengers will be able to swipe a card and travel unimpeded.

For one, you don't need to create a massive, unavoidably unresponsive bureaucracy just to ensure a passenger can travel from Oshawa to Mississauga on transit without paying several fares and battling several fare mediums.

Just put in the computer chip and get to it — which is what diligent minds are studying now. Speed it up, yes, but keep your hands off the decisions around how frequently my bus shows up. It's bad enough to manage a system from the Rouge to Etobicoke Creek; let's not pretend that the same people in charge of the one bus in Lake Simcoe can respond effectively to the buses along the Viva routes. Two, it will open up the system to wider competition and private sector involvement. And, imagine the savings!

Would such an outcome be more likely with Metrolinx, the GTA transit body that co-ordinates service across the region and runs GO, than the TTC? Yes, marginally. But don't expect it.

Three, and most beguiling, is the expectation that such an upload would push more than $200 million a year, no, make that, $400 million, in tax costs onto the province, leaving that money for the city to spend on its projects.

Is that a reasonable expectation? Toronto dumps its transit costs, gets the province to contribute even more money to enhance service and fund its Transit City streetcar plan, and we are free to use the savings to provide free recreation and skating and swimming classes? Nice dream.

Regional transit integration should be pursued vigorously – but not at the expense of TTC riders who pay a good sum for crammed, too-often unreliable service.

Users of the Queen streetcar often complain that the TTC currently constricts service on that money-making line so that it can provide a reasonable service level on suburban routes in North York, Scarborough and Etobicoke. Imagine stretching the net out to Scugog and Caledon?

Some suggest sending the subway operations to Metrolinx and leaving the rest of the system to the TTC. That's asking the TTC to send their top money-maker to Metrolinx. How, then, to pay for the routes that take home hotel workers and off-peak users?

Integrate service across the GTA, yes. But hands off the TTC.

Royson James usually appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Email: rjames@thestar.ca

 

[RedRocket191]

I have great respect for Mr James, but I love how quickly he responded to this breaking news...

Anyway, he and I share the same views:

"For one, you don't need to create a massive, unavoidably unresponsive bureaucracy just to ensure a passenger can travel from Oshawa to Mississauga on transit without paying several fares and battling several fare mediums.

Just put in the computer chip and get to it — which is what diligent minds are studying now."

The problem is that the TTC hasn't been very receptive to the "get to it" approach.

 

[Chuck]

In dealing with the TTC professionally, I have learned that the TTC is anything but efficient - if they manage to pay for 75% of costs from fares, the number could easily be 85% if they got their house in order. But having said that, the province isn't exactly the most efficient body either. I see no reason for the province to take over the TTC, unless it would guarantee more cooperation and integration between GTA transit systems.