[M II A II R II K]

David Miller: Toronto's future rides on commitment to transit


Apr 09 2010

Tess Kalinowski

Read More: http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/ttc...des-on-faltering-commitment-to-transit-miller

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It was to have been his legacy, a suburban light rail plan that would attract European-style mid-rise development to Toronto’s suburban avenues. Along the way it would revolutionize the commutes and connections of residents in the city’s most underserviced neighbourhoods. Now as David Miller’s Transit City plan appears to be falling off the tracks, the mayor says there’s still time to save the city from a bleak descent into previously unimagined smoggy gridlock.

“The alternatives on the table are two: One is, our roads continue to get more and more crowded, the other is Transit City,†said Miller. In an exclusive interview with the Toronto Star last week, he conjured an image akin to a traffic-riddled apocalypse — a Toronto where every road resembles Highway 7 at rush hour, developers put the squeeze on established neighbourhoods, and the city’s most vulnerable residents pay for the province’s shortsighted failure to commit to transit.

People will sit in cars and bus service will deteriorate as the roads become increasingly choked by traffic serving 1 million additional residents in 20 years, said Miller. “A single mum — like my mum, who worked three jobs and went to school so she could get her degree and get paid decently — will be stuck on the bus and probably won’t even be able to work a third job. So she’ll be working two (jobs) and she certainly won’t be able to go back to school. She’ll be stuck on the bus, sitting in traffic waiting to get home,†he said.

Miller, whose term ends this fall, is running out of time to persuade the province to reverse the blow it dealt Transit City two weeks ago. That’s when the provincial budget directed its regional transit agency Metrolinx, to defer $4 billion of the $9.5 billion it had committed to building light rail on Sheppard, Finch and Eglinton, renovating the SRT and expanding bus rapid transit in York Region over the next five years. The province says it’s simply a slowdown. Miller says it will likely mean the end of one or more lines.

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[valkoholic]

Like most people, I'm disaponited by the reduction in transit funding. But I have to admit I'm pleased that metrolinx was able to stick up to the Miller and not build his legacy projects, instead buidling lines they felt (rightly or wrongly) were best for the City. It's too bad the needed transit expansiion has slowed down, but hopefully the days of politicians planning transit expansion are over in Toronto.

 

[Second_in_pie]

Well was it really Metrolinx that opposed him? It seems that the Ontario government just cut all the strings they could get. Nothing strategic about transit planning there, and nothing involving Metrolinx. Anyways, the SELRT is one of the only projects that's still going through, and that doesn't make the tiniest bit of sense when given a limited budget.

I'll agree that we shouldn't see any more politicians planning transit. Perhaps this is just a much needed break for Metrolinx to create a real regional plan (as opposed to sewing up all the MO2020 projects,) and figure out it's powers with the Province and GGH municipalities. Maybe two or three years for that to happen, and Metrolinx can begin to get it's own funding, the Province has less pressure, and a real plan's been worked out. While it's a shame that so many transit projects lost funding, a proper planning process is needed to make sure who oversees what projects and where the money's coming from. Metrolinx was supposed to entirely take over transit in the GTHA, but so far I've seen absolutely none of that.

 

[sixrings]

To be fair to Miller. Most ppl dont want politians in charge of transit because they make bad decisions based on 2 typical thoughts. 1. Being bias (where they came from- Mel Lastman). or 2. To gain votes. Millers plan I cant believe was being bias. I cant see how the transit helps any of his areas. Also TC was for the most part helping priority communities which didnt have sufficient transit. Statistics show people in these areas are the least likely to vote. SO at least to me who seems to be nutral on if MILLER was a saint or the devil, that this plan was created with the well being of the city not with the well being of Miller in mind.

 

[reaperexpress]

The alternatives on the table are two: One is, our roads continue to get more and more crowded, the other is Transit City,” said Miller. In an exclusive interview with the Toronto Star last week, he conjured an image akin to a traffic-riddled apocalypse — a Toronto where every road resembles Highway 7 at rush hour, developers put the squeeze on established neighbourhoods, and the city’s most vulnerable residents pay for the province’s shortsighted failure to commit to transit.

I don't think it's a good idea for Miller to say that Transit City is the only way to solve our transportation problems. That would just support people's idea that the TTC refuses to take input and just pushes ahead regardless. For example, there was the fiasco in Weston about the Eglinton LRT alignment where the TTC dismissed everyone's opinion because the decision had already been made. There are many different ways to solve transportation problems and they are not all LRT + a subway to Vaughan.

 

[nfitz]

But I have to admit I'm pleased that metrolinx was able to stick up to the Miller and not build his legacy projects, instead buidling lines they felt (rightly or wrongly) were best for the City.

To what do you refer? I haven't seen Metrolinx build anything in Toronto in addition to either the original Move2020 or the Big Move plan; all I've seen them do is cut.

 

[gweed123]

I don't think it's a good idea for Miller to say that Transit City is the only way to solve our transportation problems. That would just support people's idea that the TTC refuses to take input and just pushes ahead regardless. For example, there was the fiasco in Weston about the Eglinton LRT alignment where the TTC dismissed everyone's opinion because the decision had already been made. There are many different ways to solve transportation problems and they are not all LRT + a subway to Vaughan.

I agree completely. It's setting up a false reality saying "it's Transit City or nothing". That's pretty much what he's saying. While I don't want to see transit expansion fall by the wayside (again), hopefully this break will allow people to wake up and realize that Transit City is a $15 billion mistake, and that money can be reallocated for other transit projects that are actually needed, not an LRT line to (almost) the zoo. The DRL would be a perfect example of this. Any transit planner with a truly unbiased view would see this line being essential to ANY type of transit expansion in the future.

 

[LAz]

I hate this monster. To say that there are two options... tramifying Sheppard or doing nothing. Wha? Wha? Let me rephrase that... Millar, are you messed up or just evil?

 

[Fresh Start]

Now as David Miller’s Transit City plan appears to be falling off the tracks, the mayor says there’s still time to save the city from a bleak descent into previously unimagined smoggy gridlock.

Gawd, Miller's delusional. His cheap shots at the bus network are particularly absurd given the TTC's complete, utter neglect and failure to implement dedicated transit-only lanes down major arteries. The Euro-style development he sought to attract with Tramsfer City would only have been of benefit to developers. Ask the condo-dwellers along the Sheppard subway ROW just how many of them even ride on it daily. But of course these lines are not really being built with the customer in mind, so of course higher-order transit will continue to be built through low-density suburban sprawl while Eglinton and the downtown core is absolute misery for both motorists and transit users alike to get through daily.

 

[gweed123]

I'd prefer to think of him as being well-intentioned, ill informed. I praise him for the fact that he was the first mayor in a long time that actually had a solid vision for transit. I just happen to disagree with his final product. If he took a more balanced approach instead of an 'LRT everywhere' approach, I think a lot more people would be supporting his vision. Using a mixture of subway, LRT, and BRT would have removed his perceived bias for or against particular modes.

 

[Hipster Duck]

I agree completely. It's setting up a false reality saying "it's Transit City or nothing". That's pretty much what he's saying. While I don't want to see transit expansion fall by the wayside (again), hopefully this break will allow people to wake up and realize that Transit City is a $15 billion mistake, and that money can be reallocated for other transit projects that are actually needed, not an LRT line to (almost) the zoo. The DRL would be a perfect example of this. Any transit planner with a truly unbiased view would see this line being essential to ANY type of transit expansion in the future.

Not only that, but his single mother comment was a cheap move. There should be a way for him to describe the mobility problem of Toronto without resorting to Glenn Beck-style histrionics.

 

[GraphicMatt]

I hate this monster. To say that there are two options... tramifying Sheppard or doing nothing. Wha? Wha? Let me rephrase that... Millar, are you messed up or just evil?

Attempting to build a light rail transit line on a suburban arterial is, in fact, the most unimaginatively evil act I have heard about in years. Truly this is the work of some sort of twisted madman hellbent on destroying everything we hold dear as a good and just society. I spit on him, his ambitions, and offer a solemn salute to those brave heroes who risked it all to stop his plan from reaching fruition.

 

[EnviroTO]

Next thing you know that evil man will say there is only one option on Lawrence East... bus or nothing. Wha? Wha? Let me rephrase that... Millar you are a baby killer.

 

[ITcomputer]

Not only that, but his single mother comment was a cheap move. There should be a way for him to describe the mobility problem of Toronto without resorting to Glenn Beck-style histrionics.

Won't someone think of the children????

[img noborder]http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/0/229/98183-106343-helen-lovejoy_large.jpg[/img]

 

[sixrings]

Sheppard is pretty suburban. With that said I do see all of the new development in the area which came after the subway was built. Still I think LRT is more then adequate for such a corridor. However Id make the spacing farther apart.