Which is a great argument for continuing with all the construction that is being started and tendered now, and will start in 2010. Going back the design/EA phase would start construction after any stimulus is needed.
That's only one line though, and most of the contracted out work would had to have been done regardless of what mode ultimately goes along Sheppard East. TC ideology precedes the economic downturn. We need a new visionary proposal in the
here and now to deal with here and now's challenges which will only worsen as public transit usage goes up because private car ownership will soon become a luxury beyond the reach of many middle-class Torontonians. That's why we don't screw up arterials like Eglinton and Sheppard with anything less than subways because when demand exceeds the capacity of road-median LRTs that'll be held up at lights; the politicians won't own up to their mistake and be reluctant to spend money in the future to build subways that should have gone along these corridors in the first place.
Like I said before, the money's already in place for the most part ($12-15B) and there are countless streams of funding that the City/Province aren't even considering that could assist in increasing market efficiency and reducing social costs. For every $20 the Province lacks in matching dollars it forgoes $80 in federal money. Why should things have to be this way? The most common forms of transit funding the municipalities/Gov’t of Ontario could explore include various types of loans, bonds, subsidies, and beneficiary charges. Other methods include public-private partnerships, internal cross subsidization, converting carpool lanes to toll lanes, existing tolls, gas taxes, development fees, provincial real estate transfer/deed recordation taxes (e.g. $3.30 per $1,000 of property conveyed), and parking taxes which can be levied as a percent surcharge on parking transactions or as a flat fee for hourly/daily/monthly rates. Fluctuations in the economy that might greatly reduce one particular revenue source, may leave other revenue sources relatively stable or even increased.
I would also recommend the Province/Ottawa hire an independent consultant group to conduct a formal audit of the transit agency (TTC), to determine whether the same or better public transit services could be provided at a lower cost. Chances are tens of millions of dollars could be saved from improvements to its service efficiency and route management. Paying drivers to park vehicles to go buy a Tim Horton’s or read the newspaper while their passengers are running late for work is just one of several easily identifiable problems that need correction. But the simplest way to yield all the benefits of Transit City (in terms of coverage area); but allow for true higher-order grade-separated transit to operate into priority destinations such Agincourt, the Scarborough Centre or PIA; is to just cancel the parts of TC that don't work and upgrade/downgrade mode types to balance out the expense.