[leopetr]

I'd be careful about reading too much into newspaper comments. They're just as insular as any other forum and they usually don't reflect the general public.

My understanding is that, in some cases, political factions hire paid trolls to fill newspaper comment sections with their brand of insanity. I've seen a Craigslist ad hiring trolls to astroturf newspaper comments for a specific cause, and it fits into what I know about the less ethical side of online marketing.

Also, consider the labour costs difference between places like India and here. Sites like Rentacoder and Amazon Mechanical Turk take advantage of it to link people up with very cheap freelancers. I would imagine that hiring someone from the developing world to spam your political talking points on the Globe and Mail website can be quite cheap, as long as you don't mind non-standard grammar and spelling.

This is not to say that everyone who posts there is fake.

 

[kEiThZ]

My understanding is that, in some cases, political factions hire paid trolls to fill newspaper comment sections with their brand of insanity. I've seen a Craigslist ad hiring trolls to astroturf newspaper comments for a specific cause, and it fits into what I know about the less ethical side of online marketing.

Also, consider the labour costs difference between places like India and here. Sites like Rentacoder and Amazon Mechanical Turk take advantage of it to link people up with very cheap freelancers. I would imagine that hiring someone from the developing world to spam your political talking points on the Globe and Mail website can be quite cheap, as long as you don't mind non-standard grammar and spelling.

This is not to say that everyone who posts there is fake.

I seriously doubt that astroturfing is as common as some people suggest it is. Seems more likely to me that there's just a lot more ignorant people with bad spelling and grammar out there.

And I know the Craigslist ad you speak of. But nobody has ever proved how legitimate that was or if it was an effort to defame the group supposedly putting out the ad. After all, one would think that it'd be common sense for astroturfers not to advertise their activity...least of all in a market where they are active.

 

[lafard]

The Craigslist ad was probably fake.

yet, since it appeared and raised awareness of astroturf, I can't help but notice the pro-Ford propoganda on various media sites has dropped to about 10% of what it was...

 

[Ed Drass]

So, if Transit City was intended to shift TTC staff and planners from their (self?)-imposed subway focus, is it fair to say the TTC has now moved to a subway fetish position -- even more focused than before?
Considering that the Eglinton ("Blue!") line is in many ways a Metrolinx-led project now, and the city/mayor's office in currently spearheading Sheppard, the TTC is planning nothing in the way of serious upgrades to any routes in 416 save the Spadina extension. No new bus lanes -- even queue jump lanes, maybe not even Transit Priority signals. NOTHING. Oh wait ... Finch is getting something nebulous. (Let me know when proposals go out to stakeholders...)

What have we come to? Where is the silver lining, at least until a minority of York U students get to ride their first train to school in how many years from now?

sigh.

I blame society.

ed d.

 

[gweed123]

So, if Transit City was intended to shift TTC staff and planners from their (self?)-imposed subway focus, is it fair to say the TTC has now moved to a subway fetish position -- even more focused than before?
Considering that the Eglinton ("Blue!") line is in many ways a Metrolinx-led project now, and the city/mayor's office in currently spearheading Sheppard, the TTC is planning nothing in the way of serious upgrades to any routes in 416 save the Spadina extension. No new bus lanes -- even queue jump lanes, maybe not even Transit Priority signals. NOTHING. Oh wait ... Finch is getting something nebulous. (Let me know when proposals go out to stakeholders...)

What have we come to? Where is the silver lining, at least until a minority of York U students get to ride their first train to school in how many years from now?

sigh.

I blame society.

ed d.

Isn't the Kingston Rd BRT project still on track? That one has always been under the radar, but I haven't heard anything about it being cancelled.

 

[nfitz]

Isn't the Kingston Rd BRT project still on track? That one has always been under the radar, but I haven't heard anything about it being cancelled.

It's 100% unfunded ... which would put it in the same status as the Don Mills LRT, and the Jane LRT. Study is still ongoing ... http://www.toronto.ca/involved/projects/kingston_road_ea/index.htm

 

[kEiThZ]

^ That sucks. That BRT would have a great payoff, I would think. And it wouldn't be nearly as expensive as many of the other projects. I'd like them use curbside lanes to start though.

 

[Dan416]

I think now is time to start worrying about what Ford is doing to Toronto. I think previously it was too early to fear-monger. But with the Waterfront thoughts by Doug Ford, I'm starting to worry.

 

[EnviroTO]

BRT is dead. It would take away lanes on the street which was the whole thing Rob Ford was against. He wasn't against the speed of LRT, nor the technology, nor the cost. He was against lanes of roadway being reduced. It is the same reason I honestly thing the Queens Quay project is dead. I think Rob Ford's tour of Roncesvalles was really to see if there was something he could cancel there.

 

[jje1000]

I think now is time to start worrying about what Ford is doing to Toronto. I think previously it was too early to fear-monger. But with the Waterfront thoughts by Doug Ford, I'm starting to worry.

You should have started worrying months ago. The signs were already there.

 

[gweed123]

BRT is dead. It would take away lanes on the street which was the whole thing Rob Ford was against. He wasn't against the speed of LRT, nor the technology, nor the cost. He was against lanes of roadway being reduced. It is the same reason I honestly thing the Queens Quay project is dead. I think Rob Ford's tour of Roncesvalles was really to see if there was something he could cancel there.

He was against LRT because it was "taking away roadspace from cars" AND because they were "streetcars". Let's not forget, he also wanted to replace streetcars with buses. This BRT project meets one of his two criteria. The question is, which one is more important?

Also, he was willing to do "enhanced bus service" on Finch, which would presumably involve taking away portions of lanes for traffic. So clearly he's not against buses.

 

[gweed123]

I think now is time to start worrying about what Ford is doing to Toronto. I think previously it was too early to fear-monger. But with the Waterfront thoughts by Doug Ford, I'm starting to worry.

My summary of Doug Ford's commentary on the Waterfront: "I haven't done any research. I don't know what the fuck I'm talking about. But I'm going to shoot my mouth off about it and give my opinion on it anyway."

Come to think of it, that could be used for any Ford policy decision couldn't it???

 

[Thoughtless Miscreant]

He was against LRT because it was "taking away roadspace from cars" AND because they were "streetcars". Let's not forget, he also wanted to replace streetcars with buses. This BRT project meets one of his two criteria. The question is, which one is more important?

Also, he was willing to do "enhanced bus service" on Finch, which would presumably involve taking away portions of lanes for traffic. So clearly he's not against buses.

You're assuming "enhanced bus service" was actually going to be enhanced in some way. For all we know he intended to run an express bus from Finch West to Humber College and leave it at that.

 

[nfitz]

For all we know he intended to run an express bus from Finch West to Humber College and leave it at that.

I'm not sure why one would think it's anything more than that ... and perhaps some queue jump lanes at 2 or 3 bad traffic lights. Clearly there isn't the $ there to start building wider roads, and no one would suggest we take a lane away from the existing road.

 

[sixrings]

I think the pro subway or anti transit city people were just happy to hear certain lines were cancelled or that other lines were going underground... then they were overly optimistic to think that FORD would actually improve the remaining transit issues by BRT or other things... In the end I feel bad for anyone who doesnt live close to a Subway line... Its going to get brutal on these bus routes...

I know people are going to say well the people near Jane and Finch voted for him but if you dont live in the neighbourhood you dont realize that people who would typically not be conservatives are voting conservative because they live directly accross from community housing and they see daily the waste and abuse that is happening.. I understand their frusteration but this is not going to fix the problem.. Community housing needs to be completely reworked. Voting Conservative isnt going to help that, instead its just going to make the rich richer... and our transit Shittier...