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micheal_can said:
Why are they not arriving by rail?
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Severe cutbacks...Doug Ford has decried that all steel wheeled transit will have to be converted to rubber on asphalt to fulfill his glorious dream of highways For the People! The rails are being melted down for the new Ferris Wheel for My Friends at Ontario Place.
 
steveintoronto said:
Severe cutbacks...Doug Ford has decried that all steel wheeled transit will have to be converted to rubber on asphalt to fulfill his glorious dream of highways For the People! The rails are being melted down for the new Ferris Wheel for My Friends at Ontario Place.
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Maybe we can get him to learn some French words and he can go to Montreal and build metros there.
 
steveintoronto said:
Severe cutbacks...Doug Ford has decried that all steel wheeled transit will have to be converted to rubber on asphalt to fulfill his glorious dream of highways For the People! The rails are being melted down for the new Ferris Wheel for My Friends at Ontario Place.
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Is this hyperbole really necessary or even adds to the discussion whatsoever?
 
Hopkins123 said:
Is this hyperbole really necessary or even adds to the discussion whatsoever?
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Ford needs a lot more than hyperbole thrown in his path, but I can’t think of a single thing that his government has done since taking office that has impeded Crosstown. It is full speed ahead. So that hyperbole doesn’t belong in this thread.

What will be interesting will be the position he takes on the upcoming issue at Bathurst/Eglinton. He is all for undeground transit. The price of building underground transit is surface disruption. The impact of not closing the intersection is a hit on cost and schedule. Where does he stand on all that? He has taken the position that subway construction is his bailiwick and not the Ciry’s. Metrolinx reports to the Province. He ought to be front and center on this.

My prediction is much like Wynne did with Davenport, he will be conspicuously absent from the community when it declares its opposition. Any local PC MPPs will be given license to dissent from Cabinet, for this one issue, so they can play to “the people”. But Douggie will be miles away. Can’t take the heat.

- Paul
 
crs1026 said:
but I can’t think of a single thing that his government has done since taking office that has impeded Crosstown. It is full speed ahead.
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That's because it's one of the largest contracts of its kind in Canada to one consortium that has already been tested by the threat of a Superior Court case and the settlement agreed not only 'solid', but overwhelmingly in the consortium's favour. Not the best reference, but good enough for this string:
Metrolinx reaches settlement with builders of Crosstown LRT | The Star

Don't worry though, Ford will find a way to make it difficult for the City to deal with the imminent problems. It's on his agenda. My initial comment was light -hearted banter. My comment here isn't. Brace yourselves, Ford won't be able to stop himself from making life difficult for any aspect of Toronto's self-betterment. But even Ford knows that he's facing too many legal situations that he's going to lose. Another court battle with Crosslinx will only set the province back further. "Nothing can be saved" will be Ford's epithet.

Addendum: Don't have time to delve on what the settlement actually cost, it was a huge sum, but here's the prelude to later revelations:
The agreement, which was first reported by the Globe and Mail, will see Metrolinx dip into a contingency fund to compensate Crosslinx for what the transit agency describes as “reasonable” claims.

In an interview, Metrolinx president and CEO Phil Verster would not reveal how much was in the fund, but said about half of it would be used. He argued that because the contingency fund was built into the original project budget, the LRT costs have not increased as a result of the settlement.
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link above.

That's pretty fanciful Phil...
 
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steveintoronto said:
That's pretty fanciful Phil...
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Verster has no reasonable politically viable option but to argue publicly that costs have not risen - but - there is always the risk that he and his organization get too used to this argument and start drinking it as Koolaid.

In my work experience, one major thing that has differentiated good project leaders from bad ones is how they handled contingency. Get in the habit of doling it out too soon, or too willingly, your project will get lax and it will start slipping through your fingers. #Prestocard As a result, the best project heads tend to be completely Stalinist in their management style....hold the contingency centrally and you don't want to ask for it very often, if at all.

Some contingency always gets spent - that's what it is there for, and stuff happens. Verster is probably truthful if he says that the project is still within its contingency. He will eventually get audited on that.

- Paul
 
^Much in agreement on almost all points.

Just to add a note of more objective clarity than headline news stories, this is worth posting:
September 10, 2018 by David Kennedy On-Site Construction Magazine

TORONTO—Metrolinx, Infrastructure Ontario and the Crosslinx Transit Solutions consortium building Toronto’s Eglinton Crosstown light rail project have resolved a dispute over the project’s timeline and budget.

The three parties involved in construction of the new $5.3 billion LRT agreed last week to a “revised production schedule and accountabilities” that will keep the project on schedule and within its original budget.

In a statement released Sept. 6, Metrolinx President and CEO Phil Verster said the agreement would not lead to any additional costs for Ontario taxpayers, though he did not release any details, citing commercial confidentiality.

According to the Globe and Mail, the agreement involves more money for Crosslinx to solve some unforeseen problems and possibly implement a 24-hour work schedule in certain underground sections of the project. It says the consortium, made up of ACS-Dragados, Aecon, EllisDon and SNC-Lavalin, will be paid through a project contingency fund.

The resolution shelves a Crosslinx suit filed in July seeking more money to complete the major 25-station project. Earlier, transit agency Metrolinx had responded by filing an application to have the claim stayed. The application was set to be heard in court Sept. 11, but with the revised agreement in place, will no longer be necessary.

Metrolinx said it will continue working with the Crosslinx team and Infrastructure Ontario to finish the P3 project, adding that the build team “has the ability to complete the construction and meet the in-service date.”

The multibillion-dollar light rail line—much of which is underground—is the largest transit project underway in the country. It is scheduled to open in September 2021, linking numerous subway stations, bus routes and GO Train lines.
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https://www.on-sitemag.com/financin...keeping-project-on-time-on-budget/1003960223/

I'll continue to dig to find more on the 'integrity' of that 'contingency fund'.
 
Snapped this photo today: an east-west excavation on the south side of the Eglinton overpass at the Stouffville Line. I think it may be the Kennedy LRT station box.
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Doug Ford:

Having streetcars downtown isn't a war on cars; adding a tax on advertising vehicles that directly use fossil fuels is.

Even a 1% tax on all internal combustion engine car commercials in Ontario would generate enough revenue to fund some large-scale public transit projects.

Oh, and Doug Ford needs to visit Bangkok one day.
 
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