But what’s difficult to understand is how a city like Toronto can go from hailing the construction of a 120 km network to building one new light rail line by 2020. Is Mayor Miller the only politician who’s truly committed to improving the region’s transit systems? Or are others simply too scared to make the necessary decisions — whether that means the prioritization of specific lines or targeted tax increases — to make expansion possible?
Mr. McGuinty’s instructions to Metrolinx to choose how to spend more limited funds is a punting away of those difficult decisions, an unwillingness to accept the political consequences of doing what is necessary to build a better transit system. The willingness of many mayoral candidates to play along is less than helpful. Toronto’s citizens don’t want to forever be stuck with the same limited transit system they have today, do they?