A Grand Plan

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Streetcars for Scarborough?

Moments ago on the CBC, I listened to Councillor and TTC Commissioner Glenn De Baeremaeker talking about where transit should be going in Scarborough.  Next week, the Scarborough caucus of Toronto Council will ask the TTC to adopt a plan to build a network of streetcar lines in Scarborough rather than simply replacing the RT line’s existing equipment.

Reading between the lines of De Baeremaeker’s comments, TTC staff are recommending the lowest-cost option — new RT cars — rather than conversion to LRT as the basis for a Scarborough network.

Clearly, Scarborough Councillors want a network that will improve service throughout the east end of Toronto.  This is a big change from their former position asking for a subway replacement for the RT.  The contrast with the situation on the Spadina extension through York University to Vaughan is quite amazing.

In today’s Star, we learn that Vaughan’s Mayor Di Biase is confident that Ottawa will fund the subway as well as bus-only lanes and LRT in York Region.  Just imagine how much more LRT we could build if we didn’t insist on tthat $2-billion subway extension.

The tide may finally be turning for LRT in Scarborough, and I hope that the TTC will embrace this proposal.  Let’s see how much an LRT network would cost, what sort of service it can provide and how soon we can build it.

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Suddenly Transit’s A Big Issue Again (3)

This is the third and final installment of a commentary on many articles that appeared in other media over the past months on transit subjects.  You can read part 1 here and part 2 here.

On July 23, the Star ran a long article by Paul Bedford, former Chief Planner of the City of Toronto, entitled We Want Change.  Bedford poured over hundreds of emails from Star readers and found that the electorate is far ahead of politicians in what they want and will accept to fix the problems of our city, including its transportation system.  One vital finding is that people don’t object to paying taxes provided that they actually see some return, some improvement in the services they use and depend on.  Politicians with a slavish devotion to lowering taxes, no matter what the cost, should take note. Continue reading →

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UK Tories, the BBC and Portland, Oregon

Mike Gordon sent me a link to a recent piece on BBC Newsnight called Where the car is not king.  It has a short print version and a 14-minute video extolling the virtues of transit and urban planning as practiced in Portland, Oregon.

The amazing part about this piece is the “reporter” — Sayeeda Warsi who is the vice-chair of the Conservative Party, those folks who will take over whenever Labour manages to lose an election in the UK.

One intriguing reference that isn’t fully explained deals with “public-private partnerships”.  Over here, the 3P approach usually means that the public pays for an asset, the private sector is subsidised to run it, and they may even get to keep it.  In Portland, the partnership works like this:  the public sector builds the transit infrastructure and expects the private sector to build development in a form that supports a transit-bike-pedestrian-skateboard lifestyle.  The public infrastructure creates the environment in which the private sector can build saleable developments.

The print version of the article is here and you can link from there to the video.  This was posted on August 15.

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Suddenly Transit’s A Big Issue Again (2)

[This post continues a thread started last week on the re-emergence of transit as a major political issue.  For part 1 of this item, click here.]

What To Do About Sprawl?

The Province of Ontario intends in its Places to Grow report that suburbs will develop in a form that can better sustain public transit and reduce our dependence on the automobile.  This idea is hardly new, and people have been talking about transit-oriented development for decades.  One major problem is that all that talk had no effect on what was actually built. Continue reading →

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Spadina Subway Financing

A report on the Policy and Finance Committee’s agenda for Tuesday, July 18 goes into the rather dry business of setting up a trustee for the Move Ontario Trust.  This creature will be used to hold the moneys contributed by various governments to the Spadina Subway project.

The current project cost estimate, all the way to Vaughan Corporate Centre Station, is $2.1-billion (2006).  To date, the Province has contributed $670-million, slightly less than one-third and with no provision for inflation, in the fund.  York Region’s share is yet to be determined, and everyone looks with hope on Ottawa for a matching contribution.  We shall see. Continue reading →

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Flights to Nowhere Revisited (Updated)

A staff response to the Commission’s queries about escalator reliability appears as item 35b in the agenda for the July 19th meeting.  You can read the report here.

The report proposes a system that will alert Collectors and the central escalator maintenance office at Ossington Station when a problem occurs.  The basic problem is that most units are not wired back to the Collector’s booth and the way station staff find out about stoppages is that someone complains.

I might be understanding about this situation at, say, King Station where the Melinda escalator, often stopped, is old and miles from the booth.  However, the guinea-pig station for this project is Bayview on the Sheppard line.  It’s so nice to learn that our $1-billion bought us some tolerably interesting architecture, but no system to alert staff when an escalator is stopped.

Assuming the trial at Bayview is successful, all escalators and elevators on the Sheppard line will be hooked up by the end of 2010, and the rest of the network will follow by 2012.  Then, finally, mechanics can be dispatched to the scene.

Maybe while they’re putting in all of the new communications gear for this project and station security upgrades, they can snap a photo of all those teenagers who are alleged to be stopping the escalators.  Run mug shots on the platform video screens.  Catch those villains!

Meanwhile, the report is silent on the simple question of why route supervisors at major stations like Kennedy or Finch don’t report escalator problems and, where possible, deal with them as a basic part of their job.

My original post on this subject follows below. Continue reading →

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Waterfront East and Scarborough RT Updates

The draft Terms of Reference for the Environmental Assessment of the eastern waterfront transit plans goes to the TTC for approval next Wednesday.

This draft is the product by much work in full public meetings as well as a community consultation group.  I must commend the team who worked on the draft for their openness to changes, expansion in scope and generally inclusive approach.  The stage of building a ToR can be extremely tedious, but it is vital to ensure that all of the alternatives are considered in the EA itself.  This is a refreshing change from the St. Clair project.

Assuming that the TTC approves the draft, it will go to the Ministry of the Environment for review over the next few months.  While that is underway, some preliminary work will continue collecting information needed for the study and also presenting some technical workshops so that the community can better understand the work behind transportation planning and design.

Meanwhile, the Scarborough RT study is not included on this week’s TTC agenda although it was originally planned for a June presentation.  I suspect that recent events at the TTC coupled with the relatively tighter timelines on the Waterfront studies have pushed the SRT report off into the summer.