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nfitz said:
Precisely. A blanket statement that Vancouver doesn't mind elevated doesn't cut it. It's situational. Seems we don't mind elevated either for the SRT.
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But no one is looking at elevated right now, not even Ford.
 
nfitz said:
There's an EA to be done still. They are supposed to consider other options - especially the status quo (which would be the currently approved plan).
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Ford talked a lot about elevated transit along Eglinton - however he refered to it as monorail. I agree that he is no transit expert, but it seems obvious that Ford was considering an elevated line, but he did not articulate himself well.

It seems a bit odd that the EA process was virtually eliminated for Green Energy projects (wind turbines) that result in us paying 10 to 15 times more for electricity, but a similar thing could not be done for transit projects which do much more to benefit the environment and actually saves money (I do not know the exact amount, but the EA process does add significant costs to a project), or increase by a factor of maybe 2 (vs. 15) if median to elevated is compared.
 
BurlOak said:
It seems a bit odd that the EA process was virtually eliminated for Green Energy projects (wind turbines) that result in us paying 10 to 15 times more for electricity, but a similar thing could not be done for transit projects which do much more to benefit the environment and actually saves money.
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An EA is about environmental impacts so it will usually put environmental concerns (pollution, noise, impact on wildlife and the natural environment) before costing. Cost benifit analysis is a separate process. If cost was the driver for the EA process there would be no point. It is cheap to pollute... if it was expensive it wouldn't happen.
 
So, it looks like giving up 30 to 50 years of a revenue stream and a lot of generous assumptions leads to the private sector building the extension:http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/subway-adviser-raises-touchy-subject-of-road-tolls/article2323485/.

And here's the Sun's far more gracious coverage:
http://www.torontosun.com/2012/02/01/thumbs-up-for-sheppard-subway-extension-report

Meanwhile:
http://www.citytv.com/toronto/citynews/news/local/article/134069--rob-ford-denies-road-tolls-will-fund-sheppard-subway

I'm sure Matt can drop in on this with a youtube video of Mayor Ford's original commitment to 100% private sector funding.
 
30 to 50 year of these rights from which parts of the city, I wonder? Using all the revenue tools the city have at its disposal for such a sub-par line is folly at its' best.

AoD
 
So the idea is we would pay private businesses to make the area more attractive to private businesses?
 
BurlOak said:
It seems a bit odd that the EA process was virtually eliminated for Green Energy projects (wind turbines)
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As someone with a sister that runs those meetings; I can assure you the EA process is still pretty damn extensive for groups of wind turbines. She's spent the last 6 months working on getting approval for a dozen in the Wingham area.

A single small turbine in the middle of a farmers field for personal use is the only type that gets it easy.

The transit EA is down to 6 months and as someone who strongly supports transit, that's too short (or designers need to be more flexible). Lines still have far too many issues in the design when they get to construction.
 
Justin10000 said:
The TTC is not serving T.O. by not building one subway extension, so say Chong!

http://www.torontosun.com/2012/02/01/ttc-not-serving-to-chong

Yes, A Sheppard subway would serve Rexdale residents much better than an LRT to their neighbourhood.
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Yes, we should plan for long term construction of an elevated rapid transit route on Finch West and somehow link it up to a Sheppard West extension. That's the ideal solution, ignoring the price tag.
Also inadequate funding is not an excuse to settle for a cheaper option. Do people stop buying condo units and cars just becasue they can't pay in lump sum? If we use the same analogy, then almost no one can ever buy a condo unit unless either they won the lottery, or they're their retirement years.
 
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It appears that Ford is going to have to compromise, in one way or another. If he wants his plan to go through, he is going to have to agree to road tolls. Keep in mind, Toronto doesn't own a major crosstown roadway in that part of the city it can toll, so he will probably have to toll roadways which lead into downtown to pay for crosstown transit.

If he doesn't want road tolls, he is going to have to agree to put Eglinton above ground to take advantage of the $2 billion saved. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if he needs to end up doing both in order to get the money to complete Sheppard.

Let's assume that Eglinton above ground plus private financing is enough to complete Sheppard, so no tolls would be required. I wonder if he would budge, claiming that he got a subway to Scarborough as promised...
 
Karen Stintz's office has been tweeting that she hasn't seen the report that Gordon Chong has been leaking to the media.
 
Electrify said:
Let's assume that Eglinton above ground plus private financing is enough to complete Sheppard, so no tolls would be required. I wonder if he would budge, claiming that he got a subway to Scarborough as promised...
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I can't see him willingly compromising, as he has so adamantly doubled-down on his position -- there is no way he can accept an at-grade Eglinton and save face. Stintz offered him a way out, and he threw it in her face.
 
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