A Grand Plan

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Density and Subway Construction

Two recent press items caught my eye:

  • In today’s Globe & Mail, we have an article about residents of Sheppard Avenue who are astounded to find that high density, high rise development is coming to their neighbourhoods.  This development is a direct consequence of the Sheppard Subway line and, indeed, that line’s existence was cited by the Ontario Municipal Board as a reason that the developments should be approved.  Click here.
  • In Thursday’s Metro, Ed Drass reports rather astounding, if sensible, statements attributed to Rick Ducharme, Chief General Manager of the TTC.  Ducharme feels that if the Spadina extension is going to be like Sheppard, without significant, high density development, then it should not be built.  Click here.

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The 100th New Tramway

The title here is taken from an article in the April 2006 issue of Tramways and Urban Transit which is published by the Light Rail Transit Association in the UK.

Their website, which contains a wealth of information about LRT systems, can be found here and is well worth a visit.

The significance of this article is twofold:

  • The first city on the list is Edmonton, Alberta which started the worldwide LRT renaissance in 1978.  The fact that Toronto managed to save its streetcar system in 1972 contributed to this because at least one major city decided that maybe streetcars were not such a bad thing after all.
  • Yesterday, of course, we learned of plans for more subway construction, a few busways and precious little else.  Certainly there was nothing remotely on the scale of A Grand Plan elsewhere on this site.

Sometime this year will mark the 100th addition to the list of “modern” LRT systems since Edmonton’s opened 27 years ago. 

Edmonton, Calgary and many other cities built Light Rail Transit while Toronto sat in the backwater.  We’re supposed to be a “world class city” but we seem content to follow the mistakes of the past 30 years.  

Mayor David Miller needs to stop saying “me too” to every subway pet project and start championing real alternatives that will improve transit now.  On CBC’s Metro Morning today, he said that the priorities were “state of good repair, ridership growth and subways”.  It’s time to start delivering on the whole package.

[The link to the LRTA from this page has been fixed.]

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Subway Art: Watercolours by Sigmund Augustus Serafin

Many years ago, the TTC was cleaning house at 1900 Yonge and a lot of old stuff was heading to the garbage can.  The combined efforts of various fans saved some material that would otherwise have been lost thanks to Ted Wickson, now retired from the TTC, who alerted people to what was happening.

I took custody of eight watercolours of proposed station designs for the University and Bloor-Danforth subway lines painted in 1957 and 1958 by Serafin.  Recently, for the Bloor subway’s 40th birthday, I brought them out of storage and was amazed at their excellent condition.

James Bow’s site at Transit Toronto has many galleries, and it seemed a more appropriate location to display the paintings than here.  If you want to see them, follow this link to Transit Toronto.