Back in 1985 the TTC was still in its prime. Ridership was growing (and was higher than today's levels). There were 1800 buses in the fleet, including Trolley Buses. (We should net out at around 1400 buses this year).
For those of you who like foreshadowing, the Scarborough RT opened in March of '85. The TTC wanted a light transit solution, such as a streetcar right-of-way. The province was very clear - we will fund this project, but we want to showcase the government-owned RT technology for the world to drum up business. We'll fund the RT or nothing.
This year also marked the release of the Network 2011 report. It officially listed the transit priorities for Metro Toronto, with a planned completion of (obviously) 2011.
Highlights:
Spadina extension to Downsview (completed)
Sheppard Subway from Downsview to Scarborough Centre (completed Yonge to Don Mills)
Downtown relief subway from Donlands to Union (never started)
Eglinton West subway to Mississauga (Hole was dug, funding was pulled, hole was filled in)
The price tag over 25 years was $5 billion.
Why wasn't this $200 million a year network built? Politics. The Provincial Conservatives you see funded 75% of all subway construction (the TTC entirely funded the original Yonge line) until they lost power in the 80's. The Liberals would not support Transit 2011. The NDP came to power (although to this day I never met on Ontarian who admitted to voting for them), and even though we endured Rae Days during a recession, they committed to Eglinton and Sheppard funding. Then the Conservatives came back to power. They immediately killed two things: Photo Radar and the Eglinton Line. And all transit funding period.
And that's why the legacy of 2011 is a subway between malls and Torontonians riding buses that were bought by the Conservatives in 1983. And eco-friendly trolleys have been off the roads for more than a decade because no one would shell out money to replace the fleet.
So last week, our new transit priorities were released: Transit City.
It addresses transit needs across the city and spans to every corner. It's very simple: 120 km of light rail transit service on right-of-way. It is a 15 year plan with a price of $6.1 billion (or about $400 million a year). It immediately increased capacity compared to the existing routes without emissions. And the ROW improves travel time.
Transit City represents the most dramatic shift in transit thinking that Toronto has ever seen. It does not propose even one km of subway. It recognises that years of not building cannot be made up with a subway solution. I would suggest I will not see (well, after Spadina goes to Vaughan) another subway construction project in my lifetime. It represents logic.
So, the question begs to be asked - why are there funding announcements for a subway when two weeks later, the subway is not a priority? Did Toronto miss the boat on timing? Did Toronto try to secure funding not only for the subway, but also for Transit City? Is funding for Transit City not at risk simply due to the commitments on Spadina? If this was your money (which it is), would you have paid for Spadina or Transit city?
So let's talk about the $2 billion for Spadina. It works out to about $250 million a year until the 8 km extension is built. (if this was rolled into Transit City, and light rail was used, it would cost about $400 million) Keeping in mind I'm using simple math - this money could build 50 km of Transit City in the same time frame. Spadina, and three other lines.
This my friends is where Miller's One Cent campaign comes in. withholding 1% of the GST equals around $450 million a year for Toronto. There are other priorities of course in the city - social housing is a good example. Conceivably however, if the Province were to contribute nothing, securing the 1 cent will pay for Transit City. It will free up (a paltry) $50 million for other city capital priorities. It will reduce the TTCs capital load on buses (the new generation will need to be replaced by the time Transit City is complete). In short, with a commitment of sustainable funding, Transit City could be a reality. Perhaps it will take 20 years instead of 15 - the key is, with sustainable funding it can be planned.
On the current path, we will end up fighting for funding for light rail one line at a time. And the money will flow when the optics are good. Such as an approaching election. Transit in a sustainable city needs to have a sustainable plan. A shiny new Don Mills LRT doesn't matter much when the roof of Bloor station caves in.
The third thing: The Ontario Finance Minister providing funding for Spadina, which will run under his riding. The Provincial election is October 10.
My general philosophy on elections: I don't give a shit what you did, tell me what you're going to do. Eighty percent of Canadians are now urban. I had better be hearing about transit funding, not expressways and not grain subsidies. And certainly not same-sex marriage.
So Pete, there you go. In case you missed it, I do not support a subway extension. If 2011 had been realised - and only then - would this funding make sense.
For more transit information, I refer all to Transit Toronto which you can navigate to from my Links.
For transit opinions, I refer you to Steve Munro's website. (By the way, I haven't read any of Steve's opinions on what I've posted. He likely has a different view - or at least an easier to read one.)
Categories: Transit, Politics, Toronto
2007-03-21
2007-03-19
Transolotics
So there's been a lot of transit politicking as of late.
Federally, the Conservatives maintain their minority government, while maintaining a holding pattern for an election. Hell, they even announced AIDS funding.
Provincially, an election is required (under the current government's legislation) to occur in October.
Municipally, we just re-elected a mayor on a platform (namely 1 cent of the GST) he announced during his victory speech.
Mix all of this together, and add a dash of Environmental Awareness and you get a transit concoction.
Let's break it down.
Funding
First off, Toronto's recently approved capital budget gives half to the TTC, and half to the rest of the city. Think about that.
Name a city anywhere in which half of its capital goes towards transit. The other half towards everything else - roads, water mains, community centres, police cars. It simply is not sustainable.
Make no mistake: We are running the most undersubsidised transit system in the world. It is up to Toronto - an no one else - to pay for transit. What do we get for the money? Bare minimum. the budget will buy a bus to replace the 24 year old one that took me home this evening. It won't however cover the cost of paint for the 16 year old bus terminal that hasn't seen maintenance since it opened. You may recall a time when the province picked up 75% of the capital budget tab, and the city the rest. In that era, one still had to kick and scream to get subway extensions and the like, but day-to-day capital flowed. If that formula was in place today, the city commitment to transit capital would be more like 15%
Of note, Toronto refused to pay the capital against security cameras in the system. You may recall my rant about the sliver of $40 million the Feds gave under terrorist security. (One facility, Union Station received about as much as all of the TTC). The good news is the city is pushing this back to the feds. The bad news is our transit system will be no more secure this year. And likely less secure than other major Canadian systems.
The Spadina Subway
There was been talk and assessments for some time with an eye to extend the Spadina subway to York University and beyond. Recently, the 'beyond' was defined as about 3 km into Vaughan. The funding is now in place for this $2 billion extension - the feds dropped by to give a third of the cost. McGuinty ponied up a third, and Toronto and York Region split the other third (notice the Municipal level was still left with 33%, not 25% of this capital expense)
So who benefits once this thing is built? In Toronto, folks who go to York, for school or work. And folks who feel the need to go to Downtown Vaughan - which I presume consists of a big Wal-Mart and a Chapters. In Vaughan on the other hand this benefits everyone who actually works in Toronto.
Peter (the asker of my opinion) lives in York Region and works in Toronto. He also takes transit. His lot in life will be better because presumably there will be a shift of passengers off the Yonge line, which today runs at crush-load capacity in the morning. Pete by the way is a missed demographic with the TTC, but that's a different rant for a different day.
Back on course: Is this truly a transit priority for Toronto? One would think, given it took a decade to get funding to build the Sheppard Subway. I remember a time when what was built as Sheppard was only phase I. It was to stretch to Scarborough. As it stands four years later it is effectively a shuttle between two malls, saves 10 minutes on the commute, and costs the TTC about $2 million more a year to operate that to simply close it and go back to buses. So why is all this money falling on Spadina, in the name of the environment? Why not extend Sheppard, for example?
It seems the last time the Feds paid any attention to Toronto, it was to provide show shoveling services courtesy of the Army. $670 million out of the blue, to get a bunch of punks to York? (The punks of course being the faculty) Is Keele St. in a war torn state? Look, the federal government simply doesn't fund city projects. Unless it's the Centennial. Or the Olympics. Maybe.
There must be a logical connection. How do you get Conservative Feds and Provincial Liberals to separately but mutually support this? Hmmm.
The Logical Connection
Vaughan is a city that thinks it's so slick (probably because Canada's Wonderland is there), it at one time had radio advertising campaigns touting how and why it was better than Toronto. You recall "The city above Toronto, the City of Vaughan" eh? Of course, there was never a mention about how there is no hospital within it's city limits. Vaughan is also in the 905. The 905 typically votes Conservative.
Toronto of course is located at the Centre of the Universe. It has zero representation on the government side of Parliament. We voted Liberal, with a spattering of NDP. (That's a good reason why Harper should have shown up last summer)
So McGuinty paid $650 million to the benefit of the 905ers. Who now may be persuaded to vote Liberal on October 10th.
Harper paid $650 million one would think to the benefit of the 416ers. In case they want to go to Wal-Mart I suppose. This of course will sway some votes. He definitely solidifies the votes in 905 (Further transit funding was announced there). Our dear Harper needs to gain seats in Toronto in order to get a majority.
Is that Logical?
Well, no.
Vote getting aside for a minute, none of this moves us towards sustainable funding. It's still piecemeal. It is political.
Recently Toronto, via Miller, launched the 1 cent campaign - its basis being, give Toronto 1% of GST revenue, or we won't vote for you. Again. This of course isn't targeted to transit funding but rather general municipal funding. This makes Miller's campaign related to transit funding, but really nothing to do with it. Kind of like invading Iraq and relating it to fighting terrorism.
What is logical
You'll need to wait for my next post, where I'll explore what really is the transit priority.
All you need to do in the meantime is remember the following:
Categories: Transit, Politics, Toronto
Federally, the Conservatives maintain their minority government, while maintaining a holding pattern for an election. Hell, they even announced AIDS funding.
Provincially, an election is required (under the current government's legislation) to occur in October.
Municipally, we just re-elected a mayor on a platform (namely 1 cent of the GST) he announced during his victory speech.
Mix all of this together, and add a dash of Environmental Awareness and you get a transit concoction.
Let's break it down.
Funding
First off, Toronto's recently approved capital budget gives half to the TTC, and half to the rest of the city. Think about that.
Name a city anywhere in which half of its capital goes towards transit. The other half towards everything else - roads, water mains, community centres, police cars. It simply is not sustainable.
Make no mistake: We are running the most undersubsidised transit system in the world. It is up to Toronto - an no one else - to pay for transit. What do we get for the money? Bare minimum. the budget will buy a bus to replace the 24 year old one that took me home this evening. It won't however cover the cost of paint for the 16 year old bus terminal that hasn't seen maintenance since it opened. You may recall a time when the province picked up 75% of the capital budget tab, and the city the rest. In that era, one still had to kick and scream to get subway extensions and the like, but day-to-day capital flowed. If that formula was in place today, the city commitment to transit capital would be more like 15%
Of note, Toronto refused to pay the capital against security cameras in the system. You may recall my rant about the sliver of $40 million the Feds gave under terrorist security. (One facility, Union Station received about as much as all of the TTC). The good news is the city is pushing this back to the feds. The bad news is our transit system will be no more secure this year. And likely less secure than other major Canadian systems.
The Spadina Subway
There was been talk and assessments for some time with an eye to extend the Spadina subway to York University and beyond. Recently, the 'beyond' was defined as about 3 km into Vaughan. The funding is now in place for this $2 billion extension - the feds dropped by to give a third of the cost. McGuinty ponied up a third, and Toronto and York Region split the other third (notice the Municipal level was still left with 33%, not 25% of this capital expense)
So who benefits once this thing is built? In Toronto, folks who go to York, for school or work. And folks who feel the need to go to Downtown Vaughan - which I presume consists of a big Wal-Mart and a Chapters. In Vaughan on the other hand this benefits everyone who actually works in Toronto.
Peter (the asker of my opinion) lives in York Region and works in Toronto. He also takes transit. His lot in life will be better because presumably there will be a shift of passengers off the Yonge line, which today runs at crush-load capacity in the morning. Pete by the way is a missed demographic with the TTC, but that's a different rant for a different day.
Back on course: Is this truly a transit priority for Toronto? One would think, given it took a decade to get funding to build the Sheppard Subway. I remember a time when what was built as Sheppard was only phase I. It was to stretch to Scarborough. As it stands four years later it is effectively a shuttle between two malls, saves 10 minutes on the commute, and costs the TTC about $2 million more a year to operate that to simply close it and go back to buses. So why is all this money falling on Spadina, in the name of the environment? Why not extend Sheppard, for example?
It seems the last time the Feds paid any attention to Toronto, it was to provide show shoveling services courtesy of the Army. $670 million out of the blue, to get a bunch of punks to York? (The punks of course being the faculty) Is Keele St. in a war torn state? Look, the federal government simply doesn't fund city projects. Unless it's the Centennial. Or the Olympics. Maybe.
There must be a logical connection. How do you get Conservative Feds and Provincial Liberals to separately but mutually support this? Hmmm.
The Logical Connection
Vaughan is a city that thinks it's so slick (probably because Canada's Wonderland is there), it at one time had radio advertising campaigns touting how and why it was better than Toronto. You recall "The city above Toronto, the City of Vaughan" eh? Of course, there was never a mention about how there is no hospital within it's city limits. Vaughan is also in the 905. The 905 typically votes Conservative.
Toronto of course is located at the Centre of the Universe. It has zero representation on the government side of Parliament. We voted Liberal, with a spattering of NDP. (That's a good reason why Harper should have shown up last summer)
So McGuinty paid $650 million to the benefit of the 905ers. Who now may be persuaded to vote Liberal on October 10th.
Harper paid $650 million one would think to the benefit of the 416ers. In case they want to go to Wal-Mart I suppose. This of course will sway some votes. He definitely solidifies the votes in 905 (Further transit funding was announced there). Our dear Harper needs to gain seats in Toronto in order to get a majority.
Is that Logical?
Well, no.
Vote getting aside for a minute, none of this moves us towards sustainable funding. It's still piecemeal. It is political.
Recently Toronto, via Miller, launched the 1 cent campaign - its basis being, give Toronto 1% of GST revenue, or we won't vote for you. Again. This of course isn't targeted to transit funding but rather general municipal funding. This makes Miller's campaign related to transit funding, but really nothing to do with it. Kind of like invading Iraq and relating it to fighting terrorism.
What is logical
You'll need to wait for my next post, where I'll explore what really is the transit priority.
All you need to do in the meantime is remember the following:
- $2 billion
- Sustainable funding
- A subway that will go through the Provincial Finance Minister's riding
Categories: Transit, Politics, Toronto
For Pete's Sake
During one of our smoke breaks, Peter told me he was surprised I hadn't posted about the announced funding for the extension of the Spadina Subway. (Which, for reasons obvious to Torontonians cannot be called the "Spadina Extension")
Let me introduce Peter: He is a colleague at work. The first time I met him, he was wearing a bandana - on his head - and sporting a Harvey's burger - at his desk. He de-punkified in quick order and ended up getting hired to do the same thing I was in my last role, which was in short moving mountains instead of counting boxes. He's actually really good at it. Ah, to be in my 20's again, that magical, pre-jaded era.
In any event, I owe Pete an answer. Which, if you haven't already you will soon read.
Categories: Friends, Transit
Let me introduce Peter: He is a colleague at work. The first time I met him, he was wearing a bandana - on his head - and sporting a Harvey's burger - at his desk. He de-punkified in quick order and ended up getting hired to do the same thing I was in my last role, which was in short moving mountains instead of counting boxes. He's actually really good at it. Ah, to be in my 20's again, that magical, pre-jaded era.
In any event, I owe Pete an answer. Which, if you haven't already you will soon read.
Categories: Friends, Transit
2007-03-05
Friday Feast #133
Appetizer
What does the color pink make you think of?
The 1980's comes to mind as does the name of an initiative at work. An initiative that caused me a good deal of grief. Until it was killed.
So the colour pink makes me think of an entity stuck 20 years ago, collapsing under the shear weight its own bureaucracy. The colour pink is in fact a paradox.
Soup
Name something you thought you had lost, but later found.
Thinking I've answered this question before, I took a look. Turns out the question was whether I lost anything important to me. So the dark side of me chuckles as I can safely say the answer doesn't apply here as well.
I thought I lost my mind.
I lost my patience
I thought I lost my virginity one time, but I really didn't due to a technicality.
Salad
In 3 words, describe this past week.
Bullshit then hibernation.
Main Course
What are you obsessed with?
What am I not obsessed with? Perfect example: If I update the blog, good bet it's a Feast.
Dessert
What kind of perfume or cologne do you like to wear?
I've been wearing some Italian stuff, but not big on the scene.
Categories: Feast
What does the color pink make you think of?
The 1980's comes to mind as does the name of an initiative at work. An initiative that caused me a good deal of grief. Until it was killed.
So the colour pink makes me think of an entity stuck 20 years ago, collapsing under the shear weight its own bureaucracy. The colour pink is in fact a paradox.
Soup
Name something you thought you had lost, but later found.
Thinking I've answered this question before, I took a look. Turns out the question was whether I lost anything important to me. So the dark side of me chuckles as I can safely say the answer doesn't apply here as well.
I thought I lost my mind.
I lost my patience
I thought I lost my virginity one time, but I really didn't due to a technicality.
Salad
In 3 words, describe this past week.
Bullshit then hibernation.
Main Course
What are you obsessed with?
What am I not obsessed with? Perfect example: If I update the blog, good bet it's a Feast.
Dessert
What kind of perfume or cologne do you like to wear?
I've been wearing some Italian stuff, but not big on the scene.
Categories: Feast
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