[raptor]

https://www.facebook.com/groups/413180405403017/permalink/1958356977552011
Site preparation supposedly underway

But, IO hasn't announced the winning bidder yet? Can anyone decipher the contractor's name on the orange pylons?

 

[Allandale25]

^ Someone could always email the project team (see under "Have Your Say") and ask what's happening and what work is being done in those pictures:

• E-mail the project at RERDavenport@metrolinx.com.

 

[crs1026]

Very interesting that neither ML nor IO haven’t started communicating - if this project is indeed going forward.

In the back pages of that FB group, it shows that the community wrote the new Premier just after the election, and he deflected a response to the Minister.... and we haven’t heard anything since.

- Paul

 

[Allandale25]

^ The local MPP has commented:

 

[SaugeenJunction]

^ The local MPP has commented:

Now we know roughly when Metrolinx will have their fateful Treasury Board meeting to either allow or kill RER.

 

[Allandale25]

^ Good point.

 

[robmausser]

^ The local MPP has commented:

Whats up with the camel case on mEtrolinx?

 

[dowlingm]

Whats up with the camel case on mEtrolinx?

Probably an accidental custom autocorrect.

 

[Allandale25]

More pictures, as seen here:

 

[SaugeenJunction]

More pictures, as seen here:

This is clearly site prep work. This makes me happy.

 

[steveintoronto]

Very interesting that neither ML nor IO haven’t started communicating - if this project is indeed going forward.

In the back pages of that FB group, it shows that the community wrote the new Premier just after the election, and he deflected a response to the Minister.... and we haven’t heard anything since.

- Paul

Agreed, aggregiously. See: https://ipolitics.ca/2018/09/26/ontario-to-chip-away-at-deficit-in-fall-economic-update/

Now we know roughly when Metrolinx will have their fateful Treasury Board meeting to either allow or kill RER.

^

This is clearly site prep work. This makes me happy.

A lot more prep than that has been done on projects this regime is putting the kibosh on.

Beware of statements like this:

Speaking to reporters outside the legislature, ( Bethlenfalvy) said selling a public asset makes no financial sense if it means the government will lose revenues.

“It’s important that we look at everything, but we’ll need good business cases. If the business case is a one-time benefit with loss of revenue in the future and higher prices for Ontarians, then I don’t think that’s a good business case,” Bethlenfalvy said.

He wouldn’t specifically rule out selling Crown corporations like the LCBO.

https://ipolitics.ca/2018/09/26/ontario-to-chip-away-at-deficit-in-fall-economic-update/

Specifically note "if it means the government will lose revenues". GO Transit is the best farebox return in North Am transit systems, but it's far from 'revenue neutral' in this regime's doublespeak. It's a revenue loser in their shuttered vision, now, and in the future.

Is it possible that Metrolinx in whole will be sold? Perhaps, it's more likely that limbs will be hacked off to sell as individual operations, including the plant, and Metrolinx is reformed into a transit *operator* only on private infrastructure that may or may not also run its own transit operations in lieu of Metrolinx doing so, but integral to ticketing.

Can that work? Absolutely, it works very well elsewhere. Can it work under this regime? Highly doubtful...it portends disaster.

 

[SaugeenJunction]

Specifically note "if it means the government will lose revenues". GO Transit is the best farebox return in North Am transit systems, but it's far from 'revenue neutral' in this regime's doublespeak. It's a revenue loser in their shuttered vision, now, and in the future.

Is it possible that Metrolinx in whole will be sold? Perhaps, it's more likely that limbs will be hacked off to sell as individual operations, including the plant, and Metrolinx is reformed into a transit *operator* only on private infrastructure that may or may not also run its own transit operations in lieu of Metrolinx doing so, but integral to ticketing.

Can that work? Absolutely, it works very well elsewhere. Can it work under this regime? Highly doubtful...it portends disaster.

If I remember correctly, parts of RER will be revenue positive once electrified and taken to 15-min service. This would mean the government should proceed.

 

[Allandale25]

^ Your memory is correct. There's a graph that shows this in the Business Case Analysis.

 

[steveintoronto]

If I remember correctly, parts of RER will be revenue positive once electrified and taken to 15-min service. This would mean the government should proceed.

Ah...but that plays right into their agenda. That means they can sell "parts"...and the "Mother of all DBFOMs", now delayed for the next stage, can be re-evaluated for partial or total sale-ability.

I'm just the 'messenger' (harbinger?) on this, but their ideological direction is becoming very clear. They also claim to want to "upload the subway"...which doesn't pay it's own way through the farebox, let alone infrastructure cost. So what is that all about?

They'll pounce on every opportunity to 'not spend money' no matter what they might say. "Ontario is open for business". I'm reminded of the Twilight Zone episode: "To serve Man":

The story is based on the 1950 short story "To Serve Man", written by Damon Knight.[3] The title is a paraprosdokian using the verb serve, which has dual meanings of "to assist" and "to provide as a meal." ...The episode, along with the line "It's a cookbook!" have become elements in pop culture.[4][5]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Serve_Man_(The_Twilight_Zone)

 

[raptor]

I think you guys are over complicating things. It all comes down to who Fords want to stick it to (such as Patrick Brown with Peel Regional Chair position, and then Brampton's University), or which friend (read: partner) they want to hand out contracts to.