Spite is a lousy reason to make policy decisions. The city saves money every time someone decides to use active transportation instead of driving or transit. Bike licensing will provide a huge disincentive to those who would bike -- especially casual cyclists -- particularly if you set the fee...

The City of Toronto has looked at bicycle licensing at least THREE TIMES since the 1980s and each time staff comes back saying the same thing: it costs a lot; it's difficult to enforce; and it discourages would-be cyclists. Every person who leaves their car at home and uses active...

Signal priority has always seemed half-assed in Toronto. They'll install the technology and keep it working -- sort of -- but there's no metric for evaluating its effectiveness. As it is, the most common occurrence I see of 'signal priority' on streetcar routes is a light holding green while a...

Express + Local Service comes at a significant cost, as you're paying someone to drive a bus and operate a streetcar/LRT. (Throw a subway line into the mix and the price goes up even further.)

Probably worth it in the local sense -- it's improved St. Clair and surrounding environs -- but not worth it in the broader, political sense, as it was all the troubles associated with this project that contributed to the atmosphere that elected Rob Ford and killed on-street LRT projects for...

I suppose it's fair that Apple, as industry leader, gets to wear the brunt of the blame for the Foxconn thing, but the problems relating to working conditions in those Chinese factories are hardly limited to iProducts. The whole consumer electronics industry relies on cheap Chinese labour...

Getting Quebec is no small thing. Yes, the NDP support Quebec's status as distinct within Canada, but they're not a separatist party. Once you have a good handle on Quebec, you're not far off from forming a government. The Liberals won majorities for years entirely off their strength in Quebec...

Unbiased straight news doesn't exist. Writers have opinions about things.

That's quite the declarative statement re: the federal NDP. Had Jack Layton not died, I think they would have had a very good shot at forming government at some point. The provincial NDP is different, of course. Their problem is that they are not a very good party.

The Giambrone "sex scandal" could have been stick handled far better. Here's what he should have done: released a statement admitting that, as an unmarried man, he has had relationships with a bunch of women. Then indicate that his private life is private and he wants to focus on the issues...

I don't see how it would ever get to that point. Once there are a solid block of councillors working against the mayor, his powers become relatively few. If his popularity continues to tank, even right-leaning types like Denzil Minnan-Wong will be smart enough to jump ship and play games.

Gotta find someone else to sell. Toronto Hydro, maybe? There's an off-chance they might try to weasel their way out of the new streetcar contract, as between the new LRVs, the car house and other associated costs the city is probably on the hook for a billion dollars in capital costs related to...

It'll be a spur line off the 504, I think. Eventually it will connect with the Queens Quay East line and future planned transit for the Lower Don Lands / Port Lands.

The solution is to not repeat the mistakes of the past, which saw shelters and subsidized housing all confined to the same neighbourhoods. Smaller, neighbourhood-oriented shelters spread out across the city are far more effective from all perspectives. When the shelters were built through the...

Awareness is nice and all, but, really, it's a bit like becoming more aware of your appreciation for living after someone tries to shoot you. The reality is that Port Lands and Lower Don Lands development is still a ways off. There's a ton of technical work that needs to happen. They're not...

But is this really true or do you just perceive it to be the case? Conservative Mel Lastman gave the unions a "Jobs for Life" clause in their contracts, and bent over backwards to avoid strikes or work stoppages. David Miller went to war with his supposed union allies to wring concessions from...

And, seriously, this "ticket takers make too much money!" debate is beyond boring. There's no way for any government to just arbitrarily slash wages. If you want to have a proactive conversation, let's talk about why our governments and TTC management has been so incredibly slow to roll out an...

Good question. I wouldn't think so, but I'm not sure -- did you get take part in the survey that asked for demographic information?

The Moss Park housing complex definitely needs to come down. It's a bastion of a last-century approach to public housing that clearly doesn't work. A mixed-use development featuring a restoration of the street grid -- reconnecting Seaton, Ontario & Berkeley Streets -- would be a significant boon...

Yep. It's minor in the grand scheme of objectionable things, I guess, but the Rob Ford administration will appoint a slate of civic appointees that are far whiter and far maler than what we've seen in the past. We'll go from a roughly 50/50 male/female split to 75/25, and the number of...