quicksilver
Active Member
This pro-LRT or pro-subway business has to stop, one technology isn't better than the other, they are just simply that, different forms of transportation technologies. We decide on the technology that best suits the route and transit corridor at the best price. The reason why the SRT route is being so hotly debated and flipping back and forth is because both the LRT plan and the B-D expansion suit the SRT route well and have their share of pros.
I think there are a couple more reasons for this continued debate:
1. Politicians trying to make a name for themselves, whether they are the "LRTs are good enough for Scarborough" crowd like Josh Matlow or the "Subways Subways Subways" chant of the Edenbridge mafia. The bribery set sniff a wedge issue and won't let go, ever.
2. It's easy news for the local news outlets. No homework necessary. Just feature every new idea about what Scarborough deserves or doesn't for transit and you are certain to sell some stories, or ad click-throughs, or build some backlinks.
The debate should nonetheless end in October. Either Chow will win and we will get the SELRT and an LRT replacement for the SRT (but hey lets demand through service at Kennedy), or Tory will win and we will get a Bloor Danforth subway extension to Sheppard and McCowan but maybe no SELRT. The Liberals, for better or worse, are in power until 2018, a year past even the delayed SELRT's start date. Hudak can't ruin the party any more.
All that said, I think it would not be wise to leave the federal conservative's money on the table either for the SELRT or the BD extension. They care little about transit, and could use this excuse to avoid contributing to Toronto in the future.