Amen.
It's going to be a sad few decades for Toronto.
Except for the sad few decades that we just finished. Is it so easy to forget what it was like to have virtually no investment for 20 years?
I understand that some feel LRT is inadequate, and that subways are the way to go for much of the turf that Transit City covers.
Maybe if I had not lived through the decades-long transit drought I might feel that way too. It was a sobering experience trying to promote better transit in the 90s. Most politicians thought transit advocates were naive and without political understanding – i.e., trains and buses are lame and everyone drives -- or secretly wants to. How did this mentality shift or tip in favour of ending the transit drought?
Having been through that, I am nowhere close to buying in to the political argument for building Sheppard TC as subway, let alone the capacity/cost arguments. In isolation, it's not ridiculous though.
If you want to advocate for better transit, thinking strategically involves more than excellent organizing skills. For one, who are your allies and opponents? How does a Sheppard-centric campaign affect other projects?
Even if stopping Sheppard TC is just musing, you may tick off the people working for the next set of projects. You’d have to do your homework really well to persuade some (like me) that there is enough money to convert Sheppard (+ Finch & Eglinton?) TC lines to subway AND build DRL. It could also threaten the rest of TC, even designed as LRT. Maybe there'd be enough cash and political will left over for Bus Transit City...
Pushing for more subway lines would need serious grassroots organizing, the beginning of which is indicated by the outline given above.
So why unnecessarily alienate the (somewhat ;^) older generation of transit advocates for whom a board like this would have been a dream 10 years ago? The people who were around then would have some interesting reactions to this campaign…
These are individuals and organizations with some understanding of the political machinations at City Hall and Queen’s Park, who are familiar with transit issues and who may have a bit of useful experience to share.
Sure, you can go it alone – but why bother? It takes a lot of unpaid hours to build support, so take care before heedlessly discarding potential supporters. -ed