[RedRocket191]

Can anyone imagine what would have happened if the TTC were controlled by Mike Harris 12 years ago?

Might I ask you:

What's stopping someone like Mike Harris from getting elected as mayor of Toronto?

No matter who runs the system it is always vulnerable to people who are anti-transit.

 

[Edward Skira]

What's stopping someone like Mike Harris from getting elected as mayor of Toronto?

The people of Toronto.

 

[RedRocket191]

The people of Toronto.

Mike Harris was elected because the voters believed he was the right choice. David Miller was elected because the voters believed he was the right choice.

What either actually does once they get into office is anybody's guess.

If Mike Harris stood up and said "I will cut transit funding" would he have been elected?

Ultimately, you have to judge for yourself how truthful a candidate is being and what, if anything, they are hiding - because ANYONE can lie and to deceive if they really want to.

 

[urbanfan89]

^ Mike Harris could not have come to power without the 905 region. Hence the people of the 416 never supported him. If the voters of Durham Region elect mayors and regional chairs who don't give two rats about transit, then at least it doesn't affect York or Toronto or Missisauga.

That's why all existing agencies should be left free, with the Province allowing Metrolinx to be an autonomous, behind-the-scenes agency that enables fare integration across borders and service standards.

And here's another problem: we've already had the fiasco of ICTS trains, CLRVs, and CNG buses. We even had Dalton blather about hydrogen fuel cell GO trains! Maybe in 100 years we'll have the premier fund research into installing jet packs on buses...

We can't afford to let Queen's Park control transit outright.

 

[afransen]

Transit planning should be arms-length from politics, but I'm not so sure that a metro-level transit agency is a bad idea. There is probably substantial synergies to be obtained through their merging.

 

[doady]

^ Exactly, a single regional transit agency does have to be run by politicians or be influenced by petty politics. What is the big deal anyway? The TTC is already run by politicans, but MT, YRT, BT, etc. are not...

 

[RedRocket191]

^ Exactly, a single regional transit agency does have to be run by politicians or be influenced by petty politics. What is the big deal anyway? The TTC is already run by politicans, but MT, YRT, BT, etc. are not...

All the systems are controlled by politicians.

MT for example has to report to Mississauga City Council. The only difference is that the TTC is so large that it is managed by a subset of council instead of the entire council.

 

[JasonParis]

My only issue with this would be that Metrolinx base service on ridership, not population. Otherwise Toronto's gets entirely screwed.

 

[tempperm]

My only issue with this would be that Metrolinx base service on ridership, not population.

Chicken or egg?

Spin it anyway you like, but for the 905 to prosper, Toronto has to suck it up; or at least until 905 service levels approach Toronto's.

 

[allabootmatt]

Why do we have to 'suck it up?' Toronto taxpayers fund the overwhelming majority of TTC operations, and expect service commensurate with that commitment of tax dollars. The prosperity of the 905 is not our problem.

 

[MisterF]

Why should 905 service levels approach Toronto's? It's a low density, suburban, pedestrian-hostile environment for the most part. Every city in the world has its best transit in the centre, with lower levels of transit on the outskirts. Expecting downtown to "suck it up" with overcrowded and slow surface routes while the suburbs get gold plated service is ridiculous and wasteful. It's not a chicken and egg situation - service levels are lower in the suburbs because demand is lower, not the other way around.

BTW, in some ways 905 service levels are already better than the city's. Get on a bus on Hwy 7 and you'll get where you're going relatively quickly. Get on a streetcar in the Beach or King West and it takes forever to get anywhere.

 

[doady]

All the systems are controlled by politicians.

MT for example has to report to Mississauga City Council. The only difference is that the TTC is so large that it is managed by a subset of council instead of the entire council.

Politicians in the 905 don't have direct control of their transit system like politicians in Toronto. Hearing reports about transit doesn't necessarily mean you are actually involved in the decision-making and planning of the system. Besides, the 905 doesn't have any politicians as bad as Rob Ford, so if anything it is the 905 that should be worried.

 

[Anth]

I thought the whole point of a regional system is precisely to avoid this artificial 416/905 nonsense.

That even transit geeks here perpetuate the simplistic myth that everything suddenly becomes suburban wasteland over an arbitrary boundary only emphasizes the need for the province to take everything over. When it comes to GTA parochialism, unfortunately it always seems that only the stick ever makes a difference.

 

[MisterF]

I thought the whole point of a regional system is precisely to avoid this artificial 416/905 nonsense.

That even transit geeks here perpetuate the simplistic myth that everything suddenly becomes suburban wasteland over an arbitrary boundary only emphasizes the need for the province to take everything over. When it comes to GTA parochialism, unfortunately it always seems that only the stick ever makes a difference.

I never said anything of the sort. My argument is simply that mass transit should be built where the demand warrants it. It just so happens that there's a lot more demand in unserved and underserved parts of central Toronto than the suburbs. Hopefully a regional system, which I favour, would do this better than the TTC has been doing.

 

[lordmandeep]

um Mike Harris did win quite a few seats in Toronto...