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denfromoakvillemilton

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Tomorrow, it's 2015. While we have had a lot of setbacks, we have had successes. This is not a thread for the next year, but the next 5. I want to know:


1) What went well in GTA transit from 2010 - 2014
2) What didn't go so well from 2010 - 2014
3) What would like to happen between now and January 1, 2020
4) What do you think will happen in reality between now and January 1, 2020
 
Tomorrow, it's 2015. While we have had a lot of setbacks, we have had successes. This is not a thread for the next year, but the next 5. I want to know:


1) What went well in GTA transit from 2010 - 2014
2) What didn't go so well from 2010 - 2014
3) What would like to happen between now and January 1, 2020
4) What do you think will happen in reality between now and January 1, 2020

I believe that there was no year 0. Thus, the decades start at 1 and end at the end of 10. Thus, we are only 40% of the way through the decade.

This list for #2 is too long.
 
Well nothing I wouldn't say nothing went well for the first part of the decade.

Toronto finally got some new subway cars and streetcars. Union is underway as is Eglinton. The worse part was the constant battles between warring factions and of course the money down the drain on UPX.

I think the next 5 years will be very good ones for Toronto, probably the best in 50 years. Tory is very serious about SmartTrack and the province similarly wants RER. Go frequency is one the rise and most of the corridor improvements are almost done meaning the frequency can really start being beefed up. I think you will find fare integration with GO sooner rather than later and probably a no separate go fare for travel between roughly Kennedy and Bloor West via Union with more stations to boot which will help relieve Y&B, offer a fast and affordable way downtown and provide much better service for the massively growing downtown core and new areas which currently have no more service than they did a decade a go.

I think you will also find the province laying down the law and demanding Toronto cough up some of it's own money for these iniatives which may result in gas taxes/tolls/sales tax to help fund them with a plebesite which is what Vancouver is doing and most US cities.

Frankly I don't think things have looked so good for Toronto in a long time and politicians know that the citizens are getting tired of the endless studies and want construction on projects immediately and Tory is the guy to do it. He has a good relationship with Wynne and is very much alighned with her way forward ie ST/RER and Tory will have a lot of pull with Harper in the coming election and the goodies he will be handing out.
 
What needs to happen by 2020?

- Significant progress on GO RER/SmartTrack. Concurrently, keep increasing GO service. 30 min all day two way service on the Georgetown line now that they have the tracks
- Finishing and/or making progress on the projects we've already started, approved and funded (Spadina ext, Eg, Finch, Sheppard).
- Restoring & improving existing service, both subway & surface. New bus garage, buses, streetcars
- Everything in the "opportunities to improve service" report, 2 hour fares, POP on all surface routes, new express bus lines.
- Finish ATO installation already, switch Yonge to automated operation. Improve subway reliability, repair tracks, signals, everything.
- Hurry up and finish Presto on TTC already

I think good times are ahead.
 
So,isn't the mid-point of the decade technically the end of 2015? That would be the end of 5 years....
 
So,isn't the mid-point of the decade technically the end of 2015? That would be the end of 5 years....
What went well in 2010-2015:
Lakeshore West 30-min all day service all day, even Sundays - and during Xmas Eve and Boxing Day! (I used GO on these days). Was surprised the train still got half full by Union, of a different clientile (Families instead of business commuters).

Wat will go well I hope over the next 5 years: All the RER and RER-derived initiatives (e.g. SmartTrack style systems), with shovels well in the ground by 2020.

What else went well in the Ford years: Almost nothing else, except finally being able to pay for subway tokens by Interac.
 
1) What went well in GTA transit from 2010 - 2014
Substantial completion of the Spadina Extension
Shovels in the ground for the Eglinton Subway
Mississauga and York Region Transitway phase 1 completions.
New Subway trains.
New Streetcars ordered and begun delivery.
Half-hour service on Lakeshore GO lines, making GO a real transit option.
Incremental expansion of GO on most other lines.
Pearson Airport Rail Link substantial completion.

2) What didn't go so well from 2010 - 2014
Finch and Sheppard LRT remain in limbo
SRT replacement is still a moving target

3) What would like to happen between now and January 1, 2020
May as well just post a link to the Fantasy Transit Map thread...

4) What do you think will happen in reality between now and January 1, 2020
Opening of Spadina Extension
Substantial completion of Eglinton Subway/LRT
Funding of the Hurontario LRT, with shovels in the ground
All-day GO service on a (non-Lakeshore) line or two (perhaps under the banner of SmartTrack)
Finch(/Sheppard) LRT construction
Substantial delivery of new Streetcars. Riding one of the CLRVs will become nostalgic.
 
Last edited:
TTC success could mean the ‘Roaring 20s’ for Toronto

Read More: http://globalnews.ca/news/1748136/ttc-success-could-mean-the-roaring-20s-for-toronto

.....

There were more than 533 million rides this year. That’s nearly fifteen times the population of Canada. It’s a stat that the CEO of the TTC all at once celebrates and laments. Andy Byford says the growth in ridership is one of the transit service’s greatest challenges. It’s part of what he calls the “triple whammy” curse on Toronto’s public transit.

- But Byford is a self-proclaimed optimist. In a wide-ranging year-end interview, he said he’s confident that Toronto’s transit system will return to its glory days within the next seven years. It’s Byford’s goal to make Torontonians proud of the TTC again. --- While politicians and media are focused on the efficacy of Mayor Tory’s SmartTrack initiatives, Byford has taken something akin to the “broken window” approach to service delivery at the TTC. He wants your ride on the TTC to be “forgettable”, as in you accessed the system easily, your ride arrived on schedule and you got where you needed to go without incident.

- Then there is SmartTrack. The big idea that John Tory rode into the Mayor’s office; an idea that has all the right people, (i.e., Premier Wynne and Prime Minister Harper), nodding in the affirmative; an idea the voters embraced even if the funding model was still a bit sketchy; an idea that Metrolinx hasn’t dismissed. --- It is, however, an idea that wasn’t born at the TTC. But now it’s expected that Andy Byford will turn this idea into an initiative and, ultimately, into a seamless integration of key TTC and GO lines in Toronto. And it’s got to be completely up and running by 2022.

- Byford particularly likes the idea of finally making better use of the GO tracks that wind through Toronto. --- “I think the really smart bit about SmartTrack is that it’s an overlay onto what GO were going to do any way but the really smart bit, the selling point is that you in fill with local stations to effectively create a stopping service which will, at a stroke, take some of the pressure off the east-west Line 2 for the TTC and mean that people can get downtown much quicker by following an alternate route.”

- “Within that 7 years SmartTrack will be up and running. Within that 7 years all of our new streetcars will be rolled out. Within that 7 years the Spadina extension will have been operating for quite some time. We’ll have had renewed bus fleet in large order. We’ll have added service. The culture change will have really take effect so that customers feel valued. So I’m very confident for the future. I think it will look fundamentally different.” --- If all goes as Byford and Tory plan, the TTC and Toronto may well be celebrating a twenty first century version of the “roaring 20s.”

.....




GNEWS-TRAFF5-123014_tnb_2.jpg
 
Happy New Year 2022, everyone!

SmartTrack open, Crosstown open, Spadina extension open, UPX open, Union Revitalized, Scarborough subway under construction, GO RER electricification well under way.

Lots of us see a lot of things happening between 2015 and 2022.
 

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