Updated Dec. 19 at midnight:

At the Dec. 18th TTC meeting, the reports linked below were discussed along with a technical report and appendix from Booz Allen.  Note that these links point to the National Post’s site where they are linked from this article.  As and when the TTC puts them on its own website, I will alter this link to point to the TTC’s copies.

Thanks to Mark Dowling for alerting me to the documents on the Post’s site.

From a friend who attended the meeting, I learned that organized labour made a strong showing arguing for Canadian content and, of course, for the contract to go to Bombardier in Thunder Bay.  Some members of the Commission echoed this position.  I can’t help thinking that they are overplaying their hands on this one.

First off, Bombardier is the only potential bidder with a Canadian rail car manufacturing facility, and this gives them a leg up on costs against any other contender.  Second, the TTC’s decision to opt for a 100% low-floor specification narrows the field of potential suppliers.  At this point, I would be extremely surprised to see more than two bids for this contract, and given the obvious inside track Bombardier has, why Siemens would waste their money bidding against them is a difficult question. 

This gives us the impression of an open proposal call, but there is clear evidence of a desired outcome, and we’re back at the Toronto Rocket subway car order mess all over again.  Light Rail has enough problems in Toronto, not to mention an uphill battle to secure funding from Queen’s Park and Ottawa, without the odour of a predetermined contract.  The last thing we need is for Ottawa to say “you didn’t run the bid properly” as an excuse to back away.

Booz Allen is a major consulting firm for Light Rail projects, among others, and has participated in many studies and designs for new and expanded systems.  The material in their report is drawn from  experience on other systems, and they are vendor-independent.

The information here is no surprise to anyone familiar with the component costs of rapid transit vehicles.  A very large proportion of the new LRVs will be sourced offshore because that’s where components are manufactured.  Half of the cost per car comes from components that are not manufactured in Canada, and this order of LRVs isn’t remotely close to the quantity that would justify anyone setting up a local plant.

Because any 100% low floor car will be based on a European design, the engineering and fabrication work will be done overseas since the expertise and facilities already exist. 

Best case, Booz Allen estimates that 25% of the value of the car order can be provided in Canada, and of this, a goodly chunk is not going to be the work of the folks at Thunder Bay.

If the TTC were to insist on a higher Canadian content, this would effectively lock out every bidder except Bombardier, and even then Toronto would pay a premium to have overseas manufacturing capability duplicated in Canada.  Indeed, if the Can-Con level is set too high, nobody will bid.

Whoever gets this order will be building light rail equipment for the Toronto area for decades.  As I have said before, I have no brief for any would-be supplier, but want only that Toronto gets an excellent car at a good price. 

This contract, plus the Transit City add-ons, will give us Toronto’s streetcar/LRV fleet well into this century.  This is our last chance, after all the years wasted on alternatives, to get LRT right, for it to be a credible form of transit in the GTA.  The last thing we need is a lemon, or “the Edsel of streetcars” as a former TTC Chief General Manager described the CLRVs.

The Request for Proposals will be issued in early 2008.  The next moves are up to the potential bidders and transit’s “funding partners” to prove how serious they are about the future of rail transit in Toronto.

Updated Dec. 18 at 12:30 pm:

The report to be discussed at the Dec. 18 meeting is now online along with its attachment (a 4.2-meg pdf). 

This includes:

• statistics about the existing system (fully built-out, the Transit City network will raise the proportion of TTC riding carried by some form of LRT/streetcar to a much higher level, over twice today’s streetcar riding) 
• the timelines for the evolution of the fleet from the current CLRV/ALRV mix to the new cars (some new lines such as Waterfront East and at least one Transit City line will open before the existing fleet is completely replaced)
• information on the planned scale of the Transit City network (note that the Waterfront East and Kingston Road projects still do not appear as part of the overall plan)
• a map showing areas of geometric difficulty such as steep grades and tight curves
• samples (including one rather elderly car) of vehicles worldwide

The original post follows below.

In what has to be one of the least advertised events surrounding the proposed new streetcar purchase, the TTC will hold a meeting for public input.  Here is the press release:

Dec 14, 2007 10:27 ET

TTC to Hold Special Meeting: Tuesday, December 18, 2007

TORONTO, ONTARIO–(Marketwire – Dec. 14, 2007) –

A special meeting of the Toronto Transit Commission will be held Tuesday, December 18, 2007 at 4 p.m.

The purpose of the meeting is to deal with the following matter:

1. Low Floor Light Rail Vehicles – Request for Proposal

The meeting will take place in Committee Room # 2, Toronto City Hall, 100 Queen Street West.

For more information, please contact

Toronto Transit Commission
Marilyn Bolton
Media Relations
(416) 393-3741

Note that this announcement hit the wires mid-way through Friday morning, and the meeting is not listed on the TTC’s website.  With a 4 pm start time, it is just early enough that anyone who wants to speak to the subject must make special work arrangements to do so.

According to an article in today’s National Post, TTC Chair Adam Giambrone says that “this deserves some public debate”.  The first thing about public debate is that you have to tell people it is happening, and then you have to hold the debate when they can attend. 

Why has this suddenly appeared?  Does the TTC want a figleaf to cover its criteria for new cars? 

There are two obvious issues:

• Should the proposal call specify that only 100% low floor designs are acceptable, or will alternatives be allowed?  Will versions that have mixed floor heights be judged differently from those that do not? Are we (or more accurately, our “funding partners”) prepared to pay a premium for a completely low floor?
• Should there be a Canadian content requirement, and if so, at what level?  Many components of Toronto transit vehicles are already sourced offshore.  Moreover, the leisurely production rollout makes it hard to understand why anyone would tool up a Canadian facility without significant subsidy incentives for much beyond basic assembly.

If we are going to debate alternatives, this must be done on an informed basis, but the TTC has not made any background material available for review in advance of the meeting.  I have no brief for any model or design, but find it odd that the TTC seeks public input in such an obscure way.