He is trying to say that supporting one project doesn't mean opposing another, completely unrelated project. Maybe it does in the streetcar fanboy la-la-land where all subways must be opposed lest they preclude construction of a few miles of streetcar.
Not sure the issue then. We've already got the bus routes and subway then. We could build another half-dozen subway stations (and not have bought the trains!) for the price of over 60 km of LRT routes (including vehicles).
Not sure where you're getting your figures. Does the $2.5 billion figure for Sheppard come from anywhere other than your imagination? Subway routes and streetcar routes are clearly far from equivalent. You still haven't mentioned how these new streetcars will be different from their models that the TTC has already built. Models which offer no time savings and not very much improvement in reliability. I used to have to ride Spadina every three times a day. That's not a fate that I would wish on anybody.
Besides, although some politicians in the city are against the Spadina Extension, others are in favour. I don't think providing much better service to York University is merely a 905 issue. Have you ever tried to drive within Toronto in that area? It's absolutely dreadful anywhere near rush-hour; I'd much rather drive downtown that be near the Allen and Finch areas. And it's not like there are great transit options there.
Absolutely. It's an absolute nightmare. That's why I think a subway is absolutely essential. Unfortunately, TTC commissioners have tried to shoot it down at every juncture. During the latest budget debate, they successfully killed city funding for it. Fortunately, the province so quickly picked up the slack with MoveOntario 2020 that it didn't matter.
I haven't heard any negative comments about the Yonge Line extension. The comments I've heard, is that it can't be done until the capacity problems are solved - but by the time it is completed, the new higher-capacity trains will in place, and the signalling upgrade will be completed to allow higher frequencies. The two remaining bottlenecks are the capacity for changing directions around at Downsview and Finch. Now with the Yonge extension (and the Spadina extension) these issues will be solved. Have you seen how many buses are running on Yonge north of Finch? I don't really see how one can object to this.
I obviously support this subway extension, and it's a pretty complete no-brainer as you've shown.
??? Are you opposed to absolutely everything. Your opposed to the two announced subway extensions. Your opposed to the SRT capacity increase and extension. Your opposed to more LRT. What are you in favour of?
Uhh...have you read a single thing I've written? I don't care if you haven't, but please don't try and then tell me what I think.
I'm wildly in favour of not only those two subway extensions (driven by York Region, since Toronto has completely abdicated any responsibility for new rapid transit) but many others across the city.
I do think it's a complete waste of money to renovate an orphan system and extend it to the middle of nowhere, retaining a time-consuming transfer for everyone in Scarborough when for not much more money, we could replace the entire system with a subway extension from Kennedy.
Opposed to LRT? That really jives with my comments a couple posts up:
"Finch West, Eglinton, Jane, Kingston, 905 routes = Great for LRT"
So? Why does it matter if they are TTC-lead or GTTA-lead? The Kipling reconstruction has been transferred from TTC to GTTA - is this bad?
The point is that Toronto asked for not a single subway extension when the Province was prepared to provide full funding for it. This is a disastrous failure. We're never going to get a gift like MoveOntario2020 again. We were offered essentially unlimited money, and we've refused to ask for a single subway improvement.
I can't say that I believe it is. Both are equally deserving - and if there was enough money around, I'd sooner see the Sheppard subway expanded. But with $2.5 billion to do it - wouldn't it be better get 65 km of service, rather than 8 km. I'd love to see the Sheppard subway expanded! I just don't think it's a good a choice with a limited budget.
What does "65 km of service" mean? For the $6 billion they're spending on Transit City, we could have 6,500 kilometres of bus routes. People have been going on about this zero sum stuff for years. Building a $1 billion subway does not mean that we have to cancel $1 billlion in streetcar projects! MoveOntario2020 funding was essentially unlimited! We could have had subways and streetcars all over the place. Unfortunately, some councillors are so fixated on streetcars that they're all we're getting.
Why does it matter if they are City of Toronto projects or not? Personally, I'd think that an east-west Queen subway connecting to the B-D line (near Pape and some point on Bloor) would be more useful.
I agree. It's called the downtown relief line. It would run on the rail corridor and on Front through downtown. I've been pushing that for years and years. Read the Transit Toronto article.
If you don't like it, petition the GTTA. A lot of their regional planning was based on the assumption that the Sheppard subway would be constructed. And given what they want to build at Agincourt, it would make more sense for their to be subway service there.
Absolutely right. That's why I'm hoping against hope that somehow, miraculously, the GTTA will step in and build the damned subway.
That would be because it's a plan for regional streetcar expansion. There are other plans for subway expansion, SRT expansion, and even bus expansion. It's not the be-all and end-all of future change to TTC service.
No, Transit City is the TTC's plan for expansion, and it's all-streetcar. That is the future of the TTC. $6 billion in streetcar lines. That's the problem. All we're getting is streetcars (and a preposterous RT extension). If it were a remotely balanced plan, there would be nothing wrong with it. It's not a regional plan. It's a Toronto plan. Every region has its own plan. Haha... plan plan plan.
Not seeing the issue here. So? St. Clair seems to be a big success between Yonge and Bathurst. Why not model on St. Clair (just let's not put the stupid poles in the middle of the track, which stops buses and emergency vehicles from being able to use it! - but I think they've learned their lesson on this one - the Cherry Street cross-sections don't have this).
A big success? It doesn't save people a minute of time. The TTC has also terribly bungled the construction. Like I've said, I support light rail. I'm just terrified that we're putting all our eggs in one basket, and it's a basket that the TTC doesn't know how to make.
Why would they bunch up at each end? There will still be an dedicated right-of-way on either side. You don't see the same kind of unpredictable service on Spadina as you do on Queen Street.
Wow. Oh my god. Are you joking? Have you ever, ever ridden Spadina? I live on Spadina, and it's the most unreliable service in the entire city. Today, it was five of them that were bunched up, and I had to wait 25 minutes. When I used to take it from Front to Hoskin, I would have to budget at least 40 minutes for a trip that takes at most about 45 minutes to walk. I would regularly wait 20 minutes or more at rush hour, and then two or three would have to pass me by, overfull, before I could climb on car 3 or 4 in the bunch which had nobody aboard.
