August 22nd, 2006
TTC Today: no firm funding, bad mojo at helm, future of the RT
By Matthew Blackett // 5 Comments
The federal Conservatives has said that funding for subway expansion is not firm. From the Toronto Star:
Federal funding to help extend the Spadina subway line to York University and into Vaughan is far from a sure thing, warns Finance Minister Jim Flaherty.
In his most pointed comments yet on the proposed $2 billion TTC expansion, Flaherty had some sobering news yesterday for subway riders." There isn't any firm money on the table," he told the Toronto Star. While Flaherty said he has been having "constructive discussions" about the long-awaited subway extension with Ontario counterpart Greg Sorbara — including a private meeting Aug. 14 in Ottawa — a final decision is not expected until year's end.
Also, Kevin McGran of the Star wrote a good analysis piece on the subway car purchase controversy that has been brewing for a few months.
Nothing ever comes easy to the TTC. They dig a hole to build a subway along Eglinton. They fill it in. They build a subway along Sheppard instead, but stop halfway. They build a Scarborough Rapid Transit line they don't really want but now have to replace.
Now the debate rages over Bombardier's controversial sole-source bid to build subway cars for the Yonge-University-Spadina line. If the TTC braintrust's history holds true, they'll find a way to screw this up. Reports on the issue are being kept under wraps and being examined by TTC commissioners.Individually, it must be noted, the politicians who oversee the TTC and the individuals at the highest staff level are all extremely bright, intelligent proponents of mass public transit. They know how to battle gridlock. They know how to make the trains run on time.
Over in Scarborough, where the aging RT system needs to be addressed, a closed-door meeting will be held on its future.
photo from Toronto Star
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The Steeles-Highway 7 extension is purely political both of its boosters (provincial Libs) and its naysayers (fed Tories). If there were buses bumper to bumper along a busway to Vaughan CC I could understand it but there aren't. Instead it will feed people into subway who should be on GO.
This crap is going to delay the York U extension TTC actually need to replace the masses of buses from Downsview and have completed an EA as far as Steeles for, and meanwhile there's still no money to replace SRT.
Be it a highway through Nothern Ontario, an airport downtown or a subway in North York, infrastructure development is always political nowadays. Was it like this the past? I haven't lived long enough to know. The old story of streetcars running bumper to bumper on Yonge Street before the subway suggests that there was a time when need trumped politics. However, I think the parties realise infrastructure is a political weapon that is too sweet to ignore. We should come up with a mechanism to depoliticize it.
The councillers in Scarborough are pushing for the subway extension to Town Centre (With a Lawrence East stop inbetween)... but that won't really help all those 13 bus routes that link there.
I've thought about it for a while... I love the RT, it's so flawed, and it brings me to the Bus station at Town, but either than that.... if they build that subway, I'm going to be ending up taking the subway to Town to the bus station.
Is there any posisble way, they can have something that is less costly, and more expandable (possibly Streetcar/LRT)? In the end, I still have to take a bus to my 'hood... and that subway extension isn't really a "Scarborough Subway" since it hardly even goes through much of Scarborough.
Impulsive thought, but they should have some sort of Scarbrough LRT (not ICTS) loop line, that would link to Scarbrough Centre, and serve Malvern, U of T, South Eastern Scarbrough, and Finch/Morningside. (And one possibly in North Western Scarborough)... or an Eglinton LRT line or something.
When the news story about the Subway to Vaughan made headlines a while back I was under the impression that it was something that was going to happen. But I also remember thinking "it's odd that the Conservatives are being so transit friendly". I guess maybe after all they won't be.
It was Flaherty's cabinet colleague Tony Clement who declared during a transit strike that Toronto was too dependent on public transit.
Comment by GMD
August 22, 2006 | 12:02 pm