The Toronto Star and Globe & Mail report that TTC Chief General Manager Gary Webster’s days may be numbered thanks to his failure to support the Sheppard Subway proposal. Not only might we lose Webster, but we might gain a Ford cohort, a politician with no real transit experience, as his replacement.
I will leave readers to peruse the full articles, but here is a key section in the Star:
The plan to get rid of Webster “is in play now,” said former TTC vice-chair Joe Mihevc.
“(The Fords) are so committed to Sheppard they are actively contemplating getting rid of the entire streetcar system in Toronto,” he said, adding that the cost of the new streetcars could be applied to the subway.
“If Doug Ford bullies his way through on this, it truly will be the victory of extreme authoritarian ideology over good public transit policy and good business management,” Mihevc said.
Elsewhere, we learn that TTC Chair Karen Stintz who, as recently as yesterday morning praised Mayor Ford’s support for TTC customer service initiatives, is actually frustrated with the speed of implementation of changes. The fact that there isn’t a penny for this program in the budget, and that the TTC faces a 10% cut in city funding for 2012, shows what the real level of commitment is in Toronto.
Meanwhile, the only project of any importance to the Brothers Ford is the Sheppard Subway whose “private sector” financing is a bubble of their imagination that burst months ago. Every penny that can be scrounged from other projects, plus tax revenue from developments miles away on Eglinton, would be used to finance Sheppard and minimize the level of private sector participation needed to top up the budget. This is financial trickery of the worst kind.
According to the Globe’s story, Stintz appears to be splitting from Ford’s all-or-nothing approach to the Sheppard line preferring instead to build to Victoria Park as a first step using money originally earmarked for the Sheppard LRT.
Queen’s Park struck a deal with the devil to preserve the Eglinton LRT as a subway while leaving Ford free to work his financial magic on Sheppard. The streetcar system appeared safe if only because replacing it would be a long-term, difficult proposal. However, the Liberals’ hold on power is tenuous, and a Ford-favouring Tory government would no doubt be happy to cancel the streetcar order (and probably the LRVs for Eglinton as well) with Bombardier, and the voters of Thunder Bay be damned.
In ten years, we would have a much reduced quality of transit service in the central city, we would choke streets with clouds of buses and limit the growth of major areas served by the present and proposed streetcar system. In return, Sheppard Avenue would have its subway, and what started as Lastman’s folly and a Liberal campaign promise by former Premier David Peterson would become a full-blown monument to the stupidity of transit planning and politics in Toronto.
Has any of Rob Ford’s transit scheme gone to Council for review? No. Council, especially its “mushy middle”, is too busy currying favour with the Mayor to rein in his actions, leaving the Fords to dictate policy on the transit file and so many others.
Steve Munro 
It is not only things from this report that are on the chopping blocks. Dumb and Dumber (the Brothers) over in city hall are “strongly” considering firing Gary Webster so they can get their way to build the Sheppard subway. It seems as though who ever opposes the Fords, will be fired at city hall….this is where the cost cutting is coming from the city.
The mayor says he serves the people but really he is serving his own greedy intentions.
O and he is STILL trying to get rid of the streetcar system according the Star whose article is an eye opener. It opens my eyes (even more than before) of how pompous, arrogant and foolish this mayor is. I am actually so outraged at the moment. The TTC is about to revert to the way it was in the early 90s and sadly there is very little we can do about it. His thick skull will never seem to understand that the streetcar system is here to stay as the cost of removing the whole thing exceeds any benefits. Sadly their is one man who will never understand this.
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Steve, like you I find this astonishing. The only silver lining is that, per the Globe, even some staunch Ford allies are pushing back against this lunacy — and on the record, even — a good sign.
The Globe also makes no mention of the streetcar thing, which makes me wonder if perhaps Mihevc is exaggerating (not that I would put a plan like that past the Brothers). Are you aware of similar rumblings re: the future of the streetcar system and order, or is this still speculation?
Also, I have to wonder how such a cancellation could possibly yield any significant amount of money to apply to Sheppard. Unless the streetcars and existing infrastructure were allowed to rot out and replaced with *nothing*, we would still be looking at an investment well into the hundreds of millions to buy buses, build a couple of new garages, and decommission and make safe the fixed elements of the system. Throw in a couple of hundred million as a cancellation fee, and you’re up toward a billion dollars, easily. Can’t these guys do addition?
Steve: It’s the avoidance of the short term cost of fleet renewal and associated one time costs (the new carhouse and adaptation of the network for new cars) that generates money for the Sheppard project. This would be offset by replacement bus capital and operating expenses, but over a longer period. The lost opportunity value of capacity on streetcar lines to serve new development isn’t part of the calculation.
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I’m not quite clear when Mihevc adds that:
“adding that the cost of the new streetcars could be applied to the subway.”
Does he mean that the streetcar/LRV order would be cancelled in order to channel more money into the Sheppard Subway?
Steve: Yes, as well as capital for projects like the new Ashbridge maintenance and storage facility and the ongoing cost of track rebuilding. Against this, one would have to deduct the cost of new bus garages and vehicles, and the added operating cost of a bus-based network. The soft cost — of poorer service and the loss of the ability to upgrade capacity on important lines — doesn’t show up on the TTC’s books.
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Ford honestly doesn’t understand transit. A good leader is very skilled at delegating — and he should leave transit issues to those who understand best — and Ford is not doing this he is trying to keep his hand in the business — he is in over his head!
I read the Globe and Mail article on Ford’s suspected agenda of ousting Mr. Webster and I hope he fails at this. Also from the article I have learned a little about TTC Chair Karen Stintz. I am glad she is opposed to the Sheppard Subway extension to Scarborough Town Center. She is showing a little negotiating skill by suggesting just extending the Subway as far a Victoria Park — maybe this skill of give and take (negotiating) will appease Boss Ford and save the TTC some of its limited funds for other much needed projects!
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Thanks for the clarification on the cost issue. Is your sense that such scrapping of the streetcar network is indeed being seriously contemplated, or could Mihevc have been freelancing a bit? Obviously Lorinc spoke to him too, but didn’t mention that eye-popping notion.
Steve: Ford and his minions have been anti-streetcar since before the election, and it was only a matter of time before this idea surfaced. I think that Queen’s Park had told them to keep quiet on the issue because of the question of jobs at Thunder Bay, but with possible near-term changes in the political landscape, and the desperation of finding money to build Sheppard, the streetcar system is an obvious target. The perceived constituency of tree-hugging, downtown pinkos can be dismissed as wasting money that could be better spent on Sheppard.
Also, getting rid of the streetcars would make privatization of the major downtown routes much more palatable to potential operators.
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This seems to be just the latested in Ford’s attempt to run the city by fiat rather than working with council. Transit City was not officially cancelled but since Ford said “it’s dead” and thus things move ahead as if council had votes thus. The bike plan has similarly been replaced by the “mayor’s plan” (essentially a network of off-road multi-use trails) even as council has not officially rescinded the one adopted in 2001. I did see a clip on the news last night with the mayor stating “subways would be the backbone to the TTC”, though at the rate things are going it will be a pretty minimal backbone with little if any flesh.
My wife and I have been talking about moving to Kingston when we retire (12- 13 years from now, assuming usual retirement age of 65) – perhaps it might be wise to consider that move sooner than later.
Phil
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Sadly, the Ford’s are making it easier to leave Toronto. I love this city, and have turned down better job opportunities to stay. I have a feeling Ford’s city-destroying agenda is going to drive people out.
What can we do to stop this madness?
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I’m on record with being in favour of extending the subway to an east of 404 station purposefully designed as an LRT-subway (and -bus obviously) interchange rather than the single-platform termini previously proposed at Don Mills, given that the alignment was going to be in tunnel anyway. I don’t have much faith that Stintz has the political weight to make her plan the new reality. If the fear is that the TBMs will be idle after the Spadina Extension, then she should direct them to the DRL’s commencement at Eglinton and Don Mills – which would help her ward by preventing the Eglinton-Yonge station from being swamped.
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Can somebody tell me why it is a big deal to let Webster go? As far as I remember, he was never supposed to get the job, (I think historically the TTC always likes to go ‘outside’ rather than promote from within) and Webster was only a stand-in until a new GM could be found. They just ended up keeping him. So if this is the case, who really cares whether Webster stays or goes?
Personally I am not a fan of Sheppard Subway, but then I do not think we can afford to build anything right now. No mayor in a long time has had the guts to tackle our massive debt problem, They all just kept spending and shuffling things around to kind of make it work. If you or I ran our own house like that we would be out on the street in no time!
The sky will not fall if we don’t build until we can afford it. Cutting some underused bus routes will not cause the system to cave in.
Steve: There is a difference between a CGM retiring at the end of a reasonable run in the job, and being fired because he does not agree that the mayor’s transportation plan, one that still has not been endorsed by Council, is in the transit system’s best interest. The TTC has serious problems funding both its operations and its capital budgets, and diverting funds to pay for pet projects will guarantee the system’s decline.
If Webster is forced out for sticking to his professional beliefs, recruiting an experienced, competent replacement will be much harder. A yes-man who responds to the Mayor’s every whim would probably be easy to find, but that’s not a transit manager.
The funding issue is not a matter of “some underused bus routes”, but of handling demand that already exceeds the capacity on the street. Also, “underused” is in the eye of the beholder. Some parts of the city and times of the day will never generate standing room only loads. That doesn’t mean people living and working on these routes don’t deserve transit service. Many services provided by public agencies have varying levels of demand, some of which flow directly from factors such as population density. Think, for example, of the cost of providing roads, sewers, water and garbage pickup to low density developments.
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I truly fear for the city that I love. I see the next three and a half years as a total “slash and burn” by the Fordites. They will decimate this city. As I look ahead to my own retirement in 12 years, my wife and I are seriously looking at leaving Toronto because we both fear what is about to happen. Even if the Fordites fail to be re-elected in 2014, the damage will be done and most likely will not be able to be reversed (ie. the 407 deal that the Harrisites left in their wake). I envision that any deal to privitize / contract out services will be so much in favour of the contracter that the city will be hobbled for years if not decades.
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Thanks for posting on this Steve. I think to everyone concerned here, and in reply to Justin, here are my two cents:
Contact your councillors, MPP candidates, and sitting MPPS. Let them know what would get your vote, and your money to help during the next campaign. But more importantly, speak to your families, friends, neighbours, colleagues, and get them to do the same. I personally think that one of the big reasons Ford Nation took the prize was that Smitherman/Pantalone didn’t do quite enough outreach into the suburbs and priority neighbourhood and expected to coast in. Well, not so much Pantalone. It is fascinating and not all that unsurprising when one compares the Three Cities reports maps against the famous map of the voting breakdown for Ford. This divide has to be bridged in a meaningful way with an eye towards October 27, 2014, unless Ford Nation decides elections, too, are wasteful spending.
Also, get involved, learn, and reach out – urban toronto forums, cyclists union, spacing, mez dispenser, people plan toronto, department of unusual certainties, all fired up in the big smoke, etc. etc. That said, more outcry from the perceived ‘downtown’ might not accomplish that much more, so the outcry really has to come from across the city. Hence, really needing to reach out and communicate in order to get your families, friends, neighbours, colleagues, etc, thinking about what is going on.
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“Ford honestly doesn’t understand transit.” Correction: Ford doesn’t give a damn about transit. It’s for poor people. Toronto is well and truly on it’s way to be an American-class city. Glad I left when I did.
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A back of the napkin estimate would suggest roughly $340M plus carhouses and substations to rip up the streetcar track network (vehicles excluded). I don’t see such big money being wasted like that given the powers that be would rather spend that money on a couple kilometres of new subway.
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What worries me the most about the possible elimination of the streetcar network to fund Ford’s hole in the ground is that with all of this talk about the city being broke and the very high probability of Bombardier putting the thumbscrews to the city over cancelling the streetcar contract, would there be any money to buy enough buses to replace the streetcars (even on a 1-to-1 basis) to avoid pillaging the existing bus network?
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Every time someone tells me that the subway is the ‘backbone’ for public transport, I like to remind them that the backbone evolved because there was a nervous system in place first.
As important as the backbone is, it would be just be a pointless structure without the Central Nervous System that runs through it. And as important as the CNS is, it would be totally useless without the nerve bundles and peripheral nerves.
I also like to say that focusing on the “backbone” and ignoring the importance (and the health) of all of our nerves would be a pretty ‘boneheaded’ thing to do.
Regards, Moaz
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Phil says:
Five of my friends have either already moved or will be moving out of Toronto by the end of the summer. Similarly, I have been seriously contemplating moving out of the city for a number of reasons. Ford’s follies just continue to add more reasons to the list.
The daily ridership on the streetcar network is 286,000 trips/day compared to 48,000 trips/day for the Sheppard stubway. The latter figure only includes weekdays. The Sheppard stubway is deserted on weekends. Basically Ford is proposing taking service away from 286,000 riders so 48,000 inner-suburban riders get a handful of new subway stations to a shopping mall.
As someone who lives in the inner-suburbs I say no thanks. It makes no sense to rob 286,000 people of their ride so people in Scarborough can save 10 minutes on their commute.
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Wouldn’t there be a sizeable penalty for cancelling the contract for the new streetcars? Bombardier has, I believe, progressed to the stage where they have created a prototype streetcar. I’m sure they’d want to be reimbursed for the engineering and design work completed so far. I would expect the contract with Bombardier to have a clause stipulating penalties for cancelling the contract. And mightn’t Bombardier be in a position to sue the city for lost revenues?
Steve: I understand that the prototype is well along, and there would certainly be cancellation costs. However, I think it’s fair to say that there would be lots of money left over.
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I certainly hope that the people who have expressed their dismay and frustration over developments here have taken the time to write to their local councillor, their local MPP and to the mayor’s office itself. It’s a small thing, but it’s the necessary first step to get change started. And if enough people did this, and encouraged their friends and family to do the same, the movement would become impossible, or foolhardy, to ignore.
It’s frustrating and it’s slow and sometimes it seems pointless, but it is how democracy works. And you’d be surprised at how well this works over the long term.
I’m still seeing parallels between Rob Ford’s tenure and that of Larry O’Brien, elected as Ottawa’s mayor in 2006. O’Brien was handily defeated in the 2010 election, and basically knew that his relationship with council was kaput by year two. With Ford, we’re only in year one. We’re still early in this pattern, but the pattern seems to be progressing on schedule.
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Could this be the frères Fords’ solution to gridlock? Drive people out of the city to….umm….let the remainder drive freely?
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A couple weeks ago Sue-Ann Levy said Karen Stintz and Gary Webster should be fired for their failure to deliver on TTC customer service improvements. And of course, Levy never mentioned that the mayor has not given the TTC any cash to make these improvements, and has actually sought a 10% cut. I assume this angle was pitched to her from the mayor’s office.
So, is the Mayor trying to punish Stintz and Webster for their insistence on “reality” (with respect to the Sheppard extension) by blaming them for customer service failures that are due to the mayor’s own lack of support?
And during the election, didn’t candidate Ford say that experienced professionals, not politicians, should be on the commission? How then could he replace Gary Webster, an engineer with decades of transportation experience, with Case Ootes, a politician with decades of experience being a politician?
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Wow…and I predicted it would be November until we started hearing musings of ditching the streetcars.
It is time for the mushy middle to stand up. Frankly, nobody really listens to the left on council when they complain anymore (not their fault that there is no middle ground found publicly). There is already talk of a major push back on the library front. I wonder what the middle councillors would say if told streetcar tracks in their neighbourhoods would be replaced by huge swaths of buses.
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I don’t agree with much of what Ford has done… whether it be in Transit or other areas. That said, I think that Webster’s tenure as GM has been less than stellar. I’m surprised he continued to have that job under Miller and that he has lasted as long as he has under Ford.
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James Bow said:
Just to add to this, don’t use email or type up a letter on your computer. Actually write a letter by hand to your local councillor, your local MPP and to the mayor’s office. Hand written letters are still the most effective means of getting the attention of your elected officials.
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Can I ask how the mayor can just appoint a new CEO of TTC? Does that not have to go through the hiring process or at least city council vote? We don’t have a strong mayor system, so how is he getting away with this stuff.
Steve: The TTC is an “independent” agency, but the nine-member board contains 8 Ford loyalists. They make policy and could engineer the removal (or more likely a buy-out) of the Chief General Manager’s contract. The Chair is selected by the Commissioners from among themselves. Again, if Ford is able to whip the vote of “his” people, he could arrange for a new chair. The appointment of TTC members is done by Council, but when all of the Committee and Board appointments were going through in December, Ford had a working majority of Councillors including many newbies who didn’t want to rock the boat for fear of being thrown overboard.
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When I read the Star story I was appalled at the idea of the removal of the streetcar network is even being considered..by anyone. Sooo sad and short sighted. Can you imagine the beaches with out the rockets cruising by….its sickening to think about.
Anyone know of a way to rid the city of an elected mayor? At the same time I’ll take a new Councillor too … MMMcMahon seems to be doing %$#@-all in the clamshell.
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If Bombardier have aspirations of supplying other Canadian cities with the Thunder Bay facility, then they may not be satisfied with promises of more subway cars – the massive Toronto order would have allowed them to reduce unit costs and thereby lure Kitchener, Ottawa, Winnipeg and other similar projects. 100 cars for Eglinton is a lot less than the 400-500 projected for TC, CLRV replacement and the Don Lands lines.
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It sounds to me like it’s time to bring back the old Streetcars For Toronto from the ashes. They beat back efforts to rid Toronto of streetcars before and a resurgent group could conceivably do it again, especially with the things I’ve been reading here about some Councillors turning against him.
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Is not Ford getting rid of Webster the same as Moscoe getting rid of Gunn?????
Gunn did not do as he was told and he got turfed!
@ronny-give McMahon a chance-we in the beach were never when that wacko Bussin got turfed. I have lived in the beach for over 27 years and yes, I think the streetcars were wonderful 20 years ago, I would like to see them gone from the beach. The quaint days of sleepy trams trundling through are over!
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@Ronny:
Councillor McMahon tried hard to get a smarter, cheaper, and more sustainable approach to the new carhouse issue. I know how hard she tried because I was part of the team she put together to dig into the issue (although I joined late in the game). She had to let the issue slide after March, as the political levers had pretty much been exhausted by then, but she pushed the envelope and came quite close to getting a reprieve (vote was 20 to 24 – and would have likely been 21 to 24 if Councillor Palacio wasn’t out of the chamber). Unfortunately, being at the very start of her first term and so not really her fault, she wasn’t prepared for the shenanigans of TTC staff. But she did try. You’ve got a tough Councillor in The Beach.
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Steve, upon further thought I forgot the guy in the middle – Ducharme.
Moscoe got rid of Gunn for among other things not ‘towing the line’
Moscoe & Miller got rid of Ducharme for among other things not ‘towing the line’
and now Ford wants to get rid of Webster for among other things not ‘towing the line’
What is the difference here? Why the outrage against Ford when he is attempting to do the same thing Miller & Moscoe did????
Steve: That’s an overly simplistic view of events. Moscoe and Gunn clashed on, among other things, accessibility issues. Gunn felt that in times of budget constraint, spending on accessibility was not an appropriate prioritization within the limits of the capital budget. Moscoe also routinely clashed with budget chief Tom Jakobek, and received no backup from Moscoe or other commissioners.
Ducharme’s ran aground on labour issues and the problems of high-handed management at a time when a labour-friendly government was in power.
Webster’s position on Sheppard is clear — the investment is not justified — and that’s the sort of thing a hard-core business conservative like both of the Ford’s should listen to. Instead they are just as committed to their pipedream and legacy as the Mayors who went before them.
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“Is not Ford getting rid of Webster the same as Moscoe getting rid of Gunn?????
Gunn did not do as he was told and he got turfed!”
Yes, and in my opinion, both moves are/could be wrong.
A couple of caveats:
So far, all we’re dealing with are rumours. Until we hear from the mayor’s office itself, we don’t really know what is going on. And frankly, if something were going on, I think we’d either have heard about it by now, or will be hearing about it within the next day or two. I cannot picture Doug Ford keeping his mouth shut on this one.
It’s also possible that they may have talked about ousting Webster, but in the end might not do it now. The Fords may be ideologically dogmatic, but I think they know when to take the path of least resistance. Webster’s contract ends in 2012, am I correct? Just wait him out.
If I recall correctly, Gunn wasn’t fired, he quit. Actually, the events surrounding his departure could well have been a “you can’t fire me, because I quit!” Certainly there were strong personal and political disagreements between the two and it got so in the way of Gunn’s job that he had no choice but to quit. A similar thing happened with Rick Ducharme who believed that the commissions’ political actions undercut him during the trying times of the TTC’s strike.
In both cases, I think the outcomes were tragic, and a black eye on the politicians who control the system. And I would also argue that if the Fords move to oust Webster because they don’t like his professional opinion that funding the Sheppard subway is a mistake (especially if they intend to kill the streetcar network in order to provide that funding), it would be an act of arrogant political bullying due to dogmatic boneheadedness that would dwarf the previous two incidents. Remember, Gunn and Ducharme quit. They weren’t necessarily fired.
Certainly, Pete, I hope you’re not arguing that the fact that Gunn and Ducharme were pushed somehow justifies the pushing out of Webster. Are you?
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@James
No James I am not. I am merely saying that this sort of thing happens and has happened all the time so why is it a big deal now! Prime Ministers, Mayors etc all bring in their own people whether we like it or not. It is my recollection that Webster was a fill-in until they could hire someone permanent and he just ended up staying. Personally I do not like Webster in this position but that’s beside the point. While it seems coincidental, I don’t really think we know enough facts to say that the Ford’s do not like Webster’s only for his stance on the Sheppard Subway. All we have are dubious sources, both Mihevc and newspapers. I don’t think we can trust either viewpoint. In times like these, everyone blathers to the newspapers who in turn will generally print anything they hear that has the air of sensational. I think we need more facts before we call for the end of the world. (BTW we will probably never know but I recall that both the other gentlemen quit before they were fired. The writing was certainly on the wall.)
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I really found Karen Stintz’s comment about the Sheppard extension to Victoria Park quite interesting. Either she’s testing the waters for a reduced Ford plan, coming up with something that’s actually a very fair, responsible compromise, or she’s going to be thrown under the #85 bus along with Webster for not drinking the Kool-Aid.
Here’s why it’s not such a bad idea: Ford shows he made progress with Sheppard by showing he junked the LRT and got more subway, while quietly backing down from that private partnership pipe dream. From a transit system perspective, the subway finally gets under the 404 and serves the Consumers Road employment area, and there’s pretty good potential for redevelopment, even if it finally means the end of Johnny’s Hamburgers. It’s a great terminus station and makes the route more useful. Beyond Vic Park, there’s no need for a subway, trams or buses (either just plain vanilla buses, or with supplementary “BRT-lite” buses to Malvern and STC)
It also brings the subway to the edge of Scarborough. With a Ford friend as the federal finance minister, it would not be a stretch for the federal money for Sheppard East TC to be reallocated here. The Fords are distracted and appeased enough to forget about junking the newly modernized legacy streetcar network.
But that makes too much sense. I don’t think the Fords know the meaning of the term realpolitik.
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Though I think (from what little I know) that Gary Webster is a pretty good CGM, it is surely the job of ‘civil servants” to implement the policies set by their ‘masters’ – the politicians. In this case Mr Webster seems to be in danger of being removed because he is arguing with PROPOSED policies and offering his professional opinion. Is that not why we have (supposedly) unbiased civil servants? Once a new transit policy is set by the TTC and Council (not just the Mayors Ford) then Mr Webster should either implement it as best he can or resign. Until then his expert advice should be sought, gratefully accepted and carefully listened to.
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I do believe that the Mayor is still trying to push his weight around at City Hall. With a provincial election coming up, it would be better for him to be highlighting areas that the city needs provincial funding for – i.e. “If you want better transit service, elect someone to Queen’s Park that will help fund transit” rather than trying to blame civil servants which Webster essentially is.
At the same time, ever since the Sheppard Line was “opened” I have be on the pro side of completing the line. The current line goes nowhere (literally) and at least completing the line will porvide two destinations points (Yonge, and the Scarborough City Centre.) Also, let’s not forget the number of highrise buildings that have cropped up since the Sheppard Line opened. This would continue along the line if it were completed.
At the same time, the downtown core cannot be forgotten, and the Sheppard line extenstion should be part of an overall expansion of TTC operation – which includes the rest of Transit City, and a Downtown Relief Line.
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Perhaps it is time for the Province to take a bold step and have Metrolinx build the Sheppard Subway and buy back the existing “stubway”. Throw open the question of operation of the line to a contractor. Could be the TTC, could be GO, could be Bombardier, VIVA etc. A little competition would be good for the TTC. At the same time this would free up City funds for new streetcars, car barn etc.
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Steve, Just a thought. When the Minto Towers were being built on Yonge south of Eglinton they were originally shooting for the moon (can’t remember the exact height they were asking for) and settled for substantially shorter, but it was as you can still see a couple of extremely tall buildings. Rumours abounded that they were shooting for the moon and hoping in reality that they would get what they got.
Well, what if the Ford gang is aiming for the moon to make us happy when they cannot do everything they want. But, they will still do enough to keep their fanatics happy. I know it’s a longshot.
By the way, how many of our (fortunately not mine, but it will affect me) previous mayors had a spin doctor to help them with the agenda?
Steve: The problem with “aiming for the moon” is that the followers have to believe you, and tailor their voting patterns on all issues as if they were actually going to get there. We can’t have a discussion about budgets, for example, if the aim isn’t simply to produce balance, but to overshoot to permit ongoing tax freezes or cuts, and if the assumption is that most things the city does are not essential to “taxpayers”.
Everybody has a spin doctor. One big difference with Ford is that he cannot conduct an interview in which he says nothing but one or two superficial lines whether they are true or not.
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Sean Marshall says:
The 85 Sheppard East runs every 4 minutes during rush hour and is usually packed. Off peak hours, the route is quite busy as well. With current headways, the buses don’t really provide the capacity needed. An LRT running in the middle of Sheppard East would provide such capacity.
Given the ridership on Sheppard, buses at a minimum are needed east of Victoria Park but at a headway of 2 to 3 minutes. However, the 190 also shares Sheppard with the 85 and runs every 7 minutes or so. On top of that the 169, 167, 224 and 24 use Sheppard in between Don Mills and Victoria Park. Running more buses on the 85 would then increase traffic congestion. I think that is one of the reasons why the Transit City plan suggested LRT for Sheppard East. You can increase capacity and remove buses from the road.
I do agree that extending the Sheppard stubway to Victoria Park makes sense.
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Ah, yes. A mayoral family from Etobicoke claims that they understand the needs of a road that doesn’t even go into their ward! Is it any wonder that the GM won’t take his request seriously? Even if you replace him with one of his cronies, the 4 billion dollars to build the Sheppard subway extension will not appear by 2015 (Ford’s announced date for completion of the extension), barring a major announcement from the Federal government.
Steve: The billions would come by pillaging the TTC’s budget for every “non-essential” item.
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I don’t think the Fords are the problem, I think the TTC isn’t being run properly and likely never has, because politics get in the way. Think of it this way, the Corporation of The City of Toronto, is like any other corporation, city council is the board of directors with the mayor as chairman. Now the TTC is a division or subsidiary of the city, it’s board should be completely separate. Realistically the city should appoint the TTC board and the only person on both should be the TTC chair. The city and TTC would then draw up a contract, that contract would be for a certain level of service, for a certain amount of money. For example ALL addresses in the city are within 250m of service between 6AM and 11PM with a maximum headway of 20 minutes. How the TTC provides that level of service, should be entirely up to the TTC, not the city. As long as the TTC is abiding by it’s contract, then there really is no reason for the mayor to interfere. If the TTC can’t provide that level of service for that money plus whatever else the TTC can raise, then the TTC would be in breech of contract and the city could fire the TTC and hire someone who can do it.
Steve: What you miss is that it is impossible for that “separate” entity, the TTC, to function without piles of money for operations and capital repairs/expansion. Many of the problems of service levels on the TTC come directly from cutbacks/limitations imposed on it by the City. Also, if “TTC One” failed to do the job, it’s not like there’s a “TTC Two” just sitting there able to take over the contract.
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