nfitz
Superstar
I wouldn't describe anywhere in Toronto as a slum.I don't know if I would consider that a slum. But maybe it didn't turn into the downtown many people expect a subway to bring to an area.
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I wouldn't describe anywhere in Toronto as a slum.I don't know if I would consider that a slum. But maybe it didn't turn into the downtown many people expect a subway to bring to an area.
5. Don't worship engineers overmuch. #1 project for TTC engineers is to rebuild Bloor-Yonge with more platforms. Moving a skyscraper is the most fun you can have, engineering-wise.
Open question: is a more authoritarian, less consultative model towards transportation planning part of the solution? When you look at the golden age of transit building (and, admittedly, highway building) there seemed to be far less dithering and more damn-the-consequences building.
Open question: is a more authoritarian, less consultative model towards transportation planning part of the solution? When you look at the golden age of transit building (and, admittedly, highway building) there seemed to be far less dithering and more damn-the-consequences building.
1. Politicians are not going to take notice of a forum thread on an infrastructure nerd website.
2. It's not that stark. There are choice riders in the suburbs too. As you note, most of them travel downtown because suburb-to-suburb commutes are unpleasant.
3. What's your reference point for people not being dropped off at at-grade LRT stops? There's no LRT in Toronto right now. The closest thing is Scarborough RT.
People do get dropped off at bus terminals (e.g Richmond Hill Centre, Promenade Mall, York University). I've seen people get dropped off at random Viva stops, and that's mixed traffic pre-BRT. There's no reason why they wouldn't be dropped off next to a properly built at-grade LRT line.
4. Ten bucks says Transit City will get heated shelters. Viva's getting them already.
5. Don't worship engineers overmuch. #1 project for TTC engineers is to rebuild Bloor-Yonge with more platforms. Moving a skyscraper is the most fun you can have, engineering-wise.
Open question: is a more authoritarian, less consultative model towards transportation planning part of the solution? When you look at the golden age of transit building (and, admittedly, highway building) there seemed to be far less dithering and more damn-the-consequences building.
As Mayor-elect Rob Ford considers which city councillors to appoint to the TTC board, a respected transportation expert is saying it’s time to take the politicians out of public transit altogether.
If transit agencies want to get customer service right, they must be run by boards with the necessary skills, according to the latest report by Richard Soberman, who earlier this year wrote a damning appraisal of the TTC’s management of the St. Clair streetcar project.
Politicians usually lack objectivity and transit expertise, and they are prone to micro-managing transit staff, says the former chair of civil engineering at the University of Toronto.
His report recommends transit boards be composed of business and community leaders nominated by professional associations, and by citizens who would apply for the job.
“You have to create a culture in an organization that actually says, ‘Serving customers is our priority.’ In other words, it is demand-oriented. Typically all transit organizations are supply-oriented,†Soberman told reporters.
If the Toronto area is going to more than double transit ridership in the next 25 years to avoid choking on gridlock, it has to attract riders who could drive their cars but choose transit because it is a better option.
That kind of customer service has to come from the top of the organization, and that will only happen if the agency has neutral oversight, said the report.
He cites as examples of transit mismanagement by politicians the Scarborough RT, which he says should have been designed so that it could be converted to a subway, and the Sheppard subway, which has growing ridership but represents an investment that would have been better spent on Eglinton.
Soberman, who does consulting for the TTC, would not talk about the TTC’s specific customer service issues, saying only that all companies have customer problems and that public transit agencies have to balance service against resources.
He noted that the TTC’s public service panel was also appointed by the politicians on the TTC, not the management.
“If you’ve got a problem with customer service, then it should be the management that says: ‘We’re going to deal with this.’ The people who run the organization know what the problems are. They know where the complaints come from,†he said.
“The TTC is the second highest recipient of (city) taxpayer dollars after the police. Having direct oversight of the people who distribute those dollars is very important,†said outgoing TTC chair Adam Giambrone.
Some people who advocate for political boards say private-sector appointees tend to have limited knowledge of public transit and often come with their own political affiliations.
During the municipal election campaign, Ford’s campaign supported the idea of putting private-sector leaders on the TTC board as well as “fiscally responsible and experienced city councillors.â€
Soberman’s report, published Tuesday by the Residential and Civil Construction Alliance of Ontario, also calls for guaranteed, ongoing funding from senior governments, rather than the one-off project funding that is the norm.
Governments will also have to consider new sources of revenue to build transit — most likely a gas surcharge or road tolls via GPS-based metering.
“We are very supportive of anything that gets infrastructure off the grond,†said RCCAO executive director Andy Manahan.
Open question: is a more authoritarian, less consultative model towards transportation planning part of the solution? When you look at the golden age of transit building (and, admittedly, highway building) there seemed to be far less dithering and more damn-the-consequences building.
This is what Klein did when he was mayor of Calgary.
The first section of the CTrain network was the south line to Anderson. Everyone said it was a waste of money and time. Many citizens and especially drivers didn't want it because it , unlike TC, put transit service first which means all grade crossings used real priority stopping traffic with lights and barriers so the train wouldn't be slowed down one bit.
Of those who wanted the CTrain they wanted a downtown tunnel like Edmonton's newly opened LRT but Klein refused stating it was more important to have a larger system than a short system with a tunnel.
Needless to say Klein was right and now Calgary has an ever growing mass/rapid transit system that is, by far, the most successful in NA with a whopping 300,000 passengers a day in a city of less than 1.1 million.
He just said damn the consequences and so called "experts" took the bull by the horn and built it.
Since then the CTrain expansion has never stopped and has provided Calgarians with a transit system that is envied by outsiders and happily used by it's citizens.
He did it right the first time by making sure that is was, unlike TC, a true mass and rapid transit system.
Meanwhile Calgary is going ahead and building their LRT (might as well since they have the money from oil). See this link for their plans for expansion.