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link — Comments Off on Pretty well everyone thinks mayor’s subway plan is stupid
18
Feb 11

Pretty well everyone thinks mayor’s subway plan is stupid

I get to run over-the-top headlines like that because this is a blog. Real media has to be nicer, as evidenced by this Globe & Mail article by John Lorinc and Kelly Grant titled “What it will take to make subway plan a reality.”

They write:

Mr. Ford’s subway turns on attracting high-density development. Sheppard is a mix of malls, apartments and single-family homes. City officials would have to conduct studies and hold public meetings to solicit feedback on sharply increasing density and height limits.

Even if the new rules survive scrutiny by dozens of Scarborough neighbourhoods and win council approval, such sweeping zone changes will almost certainly be appealed to the Ontario Municipal Board.

via What it will take to make subway plan a reality – The Globe and Mail.

It’s astounding how many pieces have to fall into place to make this thing a reality.

Councillor John Filion’s comments are noteworthy as well, indicating that the presence of the existing Sheppard subway hasn’t improved the traffic situation in the area. Which makes sense, given that the subway isn’t really geared toward local service.

link — Comments Off on Subtext: Metrolinx refused to compromise with Mayor’s office
17
Feb 11

Subtext: Metrolinx refused to compromise with Mayor’s office

Mayor Ford couldn’t hide from the media today, doing a short press scrum in between meetings with his Executive. Calling himself “300 pounds of fun”, he played down his brother’s earlier call for a strong mayor system and laughed off the suggestion that his brother has been the public face of the office. This despite the fact that his brother has clearly been the public face of the mayor’s office for several weeks now.

Whatever. His comments on yesterday’s pseudo-announcement that the city would attempt to get the private sector to finance the Sheppard line are interesting. Here’s what he said, as reported by the Globe & Mail’s Anna Mehler Paperny:

“I said I was going to build subways. I am building subways. I said if the public money’s not available, the private sector’s going to. And that’s exactly what’s going on,” he said Thursday. “We haven’t got any detailed information right now. We’re just working with a number of people, a number of groups, and I will let you know as soon as a deal is struck.”

via Confident Rob Ford sheds little light on plans for privately funded subway – The Globe and Mail.

The subtext on all this gets clearer by the day. Metrolinx refused to budge, so the Mayor has to take his ball and go home. And by ‘home’ I of course mean the private sector. Where everything is awesome but also cheap.

Ford has a ton of weird confidence in this plan, concluding that the private sector will buy into this plan because of the election results:

“I campaigned on it, people knew we had to get the private sector involved and obviously you saw the poll results – I did very well. People know you can’t always depend on government to build subways, and that’s where the private sector’s going to come in.”

Apparently there is no better inspiration for a multi-billion dollar business deal than a mayor who captured 47% of the vote.

feature — Comments Off on TTC Chair Stintz hints reworked transit plan includes Sheppard Subway
23
Jan 11

TTC Chair Stintz hints reworked transit plan includes Sheppard Subway

Karen Stintz has taken to Twitter this Sunday, throwing around hashtags like candy and broadly hinting at what to expect when the Mayor reveals his reworked ‘Transportation City’ plan before the end of the month:

[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/TTCchair/status/29222655328522240″]

[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/TTCchair/status/29224611837116417″]

[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/TTCchair/status/29233060373336065″]

She also makes reference to Eglinton:

[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/TTCchair/status/29233998634950656″]

For the record, and ignoring all the platitudes that we’ll hear about connecting our city and completing what we started and blah blah blah, any extension of the Sheppard subway is a bad idea at this point. We will spend billions, wait a decade (or more) for it to open and ultimately end up with a line that carries fewer people that most of the downtown streetcar routes.

The new subway and its stations will add tens of millions to the TTC operating budget, necessitating either rapid and steep fare increases or — more likely — continued cuts to ‘low-performing’ surface routes. It doesn’t make sense, and the poor outcomes and negative press that will inevitably result from such a white whale of a project will have negative impacts on future transit expansion in our city.

UPDATE: Because this is going to be a popular topic in the coming week, here’s a link to the TTC’s own cost estimates on subway versus LRT projects. (Via, of course, Steve Munro.) The short of it is that to build the currently planned Eglinton LRT, extend the Sheppard Subway to Scarborough Town Centre and replace the Scarborough RT with a Bloor-Danforth subway extension we’ll need to spend 13.27 billion dollars. Current provincial funding commitments amount to 10.94 billion dollars. (I’m not taking into account any penalties or fees the city will have to pay after breaking/renegotiating contracts, but they’re likely to happen.)

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