[ssiguy2]

^ Thank god Bombardier doesn't make those or they would be on order next week.
TC resurrected.............I don't think so. If it ever does once again see the light of day I hope they will actually listen to the concerns people had over the system. Specifically I mean it's slow speed and having far too many station stops and the use of more under/overpasses where required at very busy left-hand turn roads.

 

[Amy Rose]

Unofficial Liberal victory announced, if this goes official, then ECLRT should be good to go

 

[sixrings]

I live maybe 5 houses in from Eglinton within 300 meters of Eglinton west station. I am watching this like a HAWK too.. I hope majority so we can get Transit CIty back on track..

 

[Rainforest]

Unofficial Liberal victory announced, if this goes official, then ECLRT should be good to go

ECLRT is an active project already. A Liberal victory likely protects ECLRT from cancellation risks.

I live maybe 5 houses in from Eglinton within 300 meters of Eglinton west station. I am watching this like a HAWK too.. I hope majority so we can get Transit CIty back on track..

McGuinty won't use his political capital to formally reinstate Transit City. Such level of the Provincial involvement into the City's matters is legally possible, but does not fit the traditional division of powers and would be pretty hard to explain to the general public (that does not see transit as the #1 issue anyway), or even to his own MPPs.

Rather, the today's elections outcome likely preserves the status quo. The ECLRT funding won't be transferred to Sheppard subway (Hudak could consider just that if he won), and Ford won't have ammunition to cancel the legacy-network streetcar contract.

 

[MetroMan]

With McGuinty's win, held up by the NDP and city councillors' newfound independence, it looks like the legacy streetcar order is safe and at least the Eglinton-Crosstown LRT guaranteed. It's finally going to get built.

Reverting to Transit City is not likely given how Metrolinx has already conceded to Rob Ford's unilateral decision to cancel the wider project. However, City Council will be voting on the issue as soon as it has financial implications (accepting/rejecting taking on financial penalties for breaking contracts) so it's possible that we may see yet another revision.

My preferred option would be a hybrid of the original Eglinton-Crosstown and the new one that becomes a Scarborough LRT. I'd like to see it above ground in the centre median East of Yonge where possible with funds saved from tunnelling forwarded to a Finch LRT as planned.

For Sheppard, I would like to see a subway, only because that's what we've begun building already. Make this an ongoing project in that case, 1 to 2 stations opening every 2 years, 50-50 with the province over a decade, the city portion being funded -- more realistically with lower costs, extended period -- by Ford's private deferred property taxes scheme.

 

[allabootmatt]

I don't have a strong preference between Transit City and the current Ford Gravybahn plan, except in the sense that the former might have actually been substantially built, while the latter probably never will. But mostly I just think it's time to execute. Let's get something built. If that's a mostly underground Eglinton, so be it.

And I agree with you, MetroMan. I never really saw the point of the Sheppard East LRT. Sheppard certainly shouldn't be the lodestar of GTA-wide transit planning, as Ford seems to want it to be, but inasmuch as there's already half a subway there completing it eventually seems sensible, just not at the expense of the many, many more deserving projects.

 

[sixrings]

I guess I always assumed after the Sheppard LRT was constructed that there would be a debate and eventually what would happen is that the current sunway would be converted to LRT to eliminate the transfer... I think the TRANSFER is what most people on sheppard HATED... There thought process must have been something like, I already have to transfer at Don mills! thats the worst part of my trip! now you are suggesting that it will be a permininent transfer!!!!! I think transit city would have been better off from the start saying that they were going to eliminate this transfer.

 

[gweed123]

This is good news for the Eglinton-Scarborough LRT. Here's what I think is going to happen in the next couple of years:

1) The original tunnel section is going to go ahead as planned. By the time the next election rolls around, work will be substantially underway, to the point where cancelling it would be the biggest waste of money this province has ever seen. Ain't gonna happen.

2) Metrolinx and the TTC (aka McGuinty/Wynne and Ford) are going to "renegotiate" (and by that I mean McGuinty telling Ford to stick it) what happens with the Eglinton East section. I would imagine they're going to come up with some sort of a hybrid plan. Either at-grade, but ducking underneath intersections, or some sort of elevated line. It won't be completely at-grade, but it won't be completely tunnelled either.

3) The streetcar order is going to go through as planned. No way that the Liberals are going to piss away the money invested in that contract just to appease Ford, who at this point is a borderline lame duck mayor.

4) Road tolls can finally enter the discussion. With the next election likely being at least 3 years away, possibly the full 4, this would be a good time to implement road tolls. Although I'm also somewhat partial to delaying road tolls until the first round of infrastructure improvements (GO electrification, Eglinton LRT, Hurontario LRT, etc) are up and running, that way people at least have a viable alternative.

5) Unfortunately, the Sheppard LRT may be a go again. Either that, or the federal funding may be renegotiated to be shifted to Finch West. In which case, the combination of federal funding and the reduced cost of the Eglinton East section may be able to fund the FWLRT.

Just my two cents.

 

[nfitz]

I think transit city would have been better off from the start saying that they were going to eliminate this transfer.

I don't see how this transfer is a big deal. You just walk off your train, and then onto the next one. You don't even have any stairs.

While not perfect, it seems a far site better than the current transfer. It seems to take forever to get from the platform at Don Mills, up to the buses. And it's not like a subway extension will be built anytime soon. Even if it is, many of the Sheppard users are going east of Kennedy and would have to transfer then.

Surely the Sheppard to Yonge extension is far more of an inconvenience.

 

[sixrings]

I don't see how this transfer is a big deal. You just walk off your train, and then onto the next one. You don't even have any stairs.

While not perfect, it seems a far site better than the current transfer. It seems to take forever to get from the platform at Don Mills, up to the buses. And it's not like a subway extension will be built anytime soon. Even if it is, many of the Sheppard users are going east of Kennedy and would have to transfer then.

Surely the Sheppard to Yonge extension is far more of an inconvenience.

I think because we are educated about the transfer we realize being on the same platform it would be fairly easy. However it would still be a transfer.. More importantly most people arent educated on the top and probably assumed that the transfer involved more stairs.... SOME PEOPLE DIDNT EVEN KNOW WHAT TC WAS UNTIL IT WAS CANCELLED!!! thats how uneducated alot of people are.

 

[Anth]

Transit City has to be one of the most short-sighted and ideologically-motivated transit plans ever conceived, but I do agree that one has to be 'educated' to be convinced otherwise. A lot of common sense has to be pushed out of one's head to embrace it.

 

[Riverdale Rink Rat]

Transit City has to be one of the most short-sighted and ideologically-motivated transit plans ever conceived, but I do agree that one has to be 'educated' to be convinced otherwise. A lot of common sense has to be pushed out of one's head to embrace it.

OK, troll. Explain why an LRT on Eglinton was short-sighted and ideologically-motivated, but an underground, much more expensive LRT on Eglinton and a magical subway extension on Sheppard is a well-planned-out exercise in transit planning.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Well there is an element of ideology in the original TC scheme - i.e. justification through the pretext of linking poor neighbourhoods. That said, EC and other lines have merit, and taken as a whole it can't be more ideological and less about good planning than promising a subway line of low priority in order to get elected.

AoD

 

[js97]

OK, troll. Explain why an LRT on Eglinton was short-sighted and ideologically-motivated, but an underground, much more expensive LRT on Eglinton and a magical subway extension on Sheppard is a well-planned-out exercise in transit planning.

Have you evenr had to travel from scarborough to downtown?
Have you ever had to travel 'long distances' on a streetcar/lrt?
Have you ever taken the Bloor subway from Yonge to Kennedy/warden/or even victoria park? - now imagine taking a street car to go those distances?

This argument that there isn't enough 'ridership' is such falacy that's been created by special interest groups backed by ideologically politics.

Bloor and yonge did not have the 'ridership' when it was built in the 50's, imagine having a queen/king like street car along those lines? this city would be gridlocked and constrained like no other (and we are already the longest commute in the city)

If you look at the traffic patterns of drivers, majority come out from the suburbs, if you give them an alternative, FAST mode of transport to their car, they will take it. In order to sustain the growth this city is expecting in the next 10/15 years, this city will need subways.

Infrastructure is built for the future, if you wait until there is enough 'ridership', you'll get the same and expensive mess that is the queen/king street cars (A DRL should have been built 10 years ago)


Transit city is more of a social enginnering experiment to create local neighbourhoods and communities. That's great and i'm all for it, but if you look at the traffic patterns and the locations of jobs, most of it is centralized in the core. This means that the majority of commuters must travel to the core, during work hours (obvious in our traffic patters between 7-9 and 4-7) and Transit city is not nearly a sufficient solution for these commuters (case study queen/king street cars, most have abandoned them for bikes instead)

 

[mpd618]

Have you ever taken the Bloor subway from Yonge to Kennedy/warden/or even victoria park? - now imagine taking a street car to go those distances?

Oh hey, the streetcar = LRT trope. Nice.