TTC staff presented a Bus Fleet Plan at the May Commission meeting as part of a general overview of the fleet situation. This brings to the foreground important issues that are part of the TTC’s and the City’s budget planning process. Continue reading
New Subway Car Update
Those of you who follow other Toronto blogs will already have read much of the update on the new subway cars. You can read the spacing wire coverage here.
A few additional tidbits: Continue reading
Café Brussel, “The Grande Dame of the Danforth”, Closing May 27
I know that restaurant reviews are not what you normally expect to find here, but this is an exception. My “local” is closing after 20 years, and the least I can do is write about it. Continue reading
The Spadina Subway: The Elephant in the Room
Today, the CBC reported that Ontario’s Minister of Finance says that the Spadina Subway extension will go ahead whether the Feds contribute any money or not. This could be read partly as wishful thinking along the lines of “Harper will be gone before we actually have to pay for it”, but there’s another darker implication. Continue reading
Christoper Hume and Jeff Gray Write About Transit
The Sunday Star had an article by Christopher Hume called The Error of Our Subways.
While the rest of the world embraced the importance of transit, Toronto wasted time and money on momuments to egotistical politicians and technology boondoggles.
There are a few glitches in Hume’s article, but it’s good to see this whole debate getting an airing. If we are going to spend money on transit, let’s spend it in the right place.
Meanwhile, Jeff Gray writing in today’s Globe reports that the number crunchers at Queen’s Park have combed through recent Federal Budget papers, and have found not one penny to pay for the Spadina subway extension to York University.
How long will it take for someone at Queen’s Park to wake up to the fact that they could build a really great LRT network focussed on York U with the $1.3-billion represented by the provincial and municipal shares of the Spadina subway proposal?
The fact that York U and their supporters have wasted so much time and effort on a subway proposal shows how badly understood the real alternatives are. That’s the legacy of those wasted decades and the thinking that brought us the Sheppard subway.
I remember former mega-mayor Mel Lastman saying that “real cities don’t use streetcars”. Sorry Mel, but real cities built transit systems while Toronto argued where to put a few miles of track.
Can Dalton McGuinty and David Miller save us from this folly? Do we have to wait until both are safely re-elected before we start considering alternatives?
Reader Comments About the RT and Subways (Updated)
A batch of reader comments on the technology debates. Continue reading
Reader Comments About New Streetcars and Subway Cars
Another batch of mail from readers: Continue reading
Readers Comment About Service Quality
I’ve been rather busy this week with various cultural events including the hotdocs festival (more reviews to come), a Jane Jacobs memorial get together (repeated on CP24’s Hour Town on Sunday at 6:00 am and 1:05 am), the launch of spacing magazine’s latest all-transit issue, a spectacular performance of Bach’s B Minor Mass by Tafelmusik, and it’s still not over.
Having a few moments here, I’ll catch up on some of the comments that have accumulated for the week. Continue reading
hotdocs: 5 Days / Glenn Gould Hereafter
Screenings at hotdocs continue through the week. Here are two more reviews. Continue reading
Service Quality: What Tax Cuts Don’t Give Us
Tonight, I spent the later part of the evening at the Gladstone Hotel at spacing magazine’s latest issue launch, one devoted to transit issues. You can read all about it at www.spacing.ca.
Let me tell you about my trips to and from the Gladstone. I arrived at Queen and Spadina on a southbound 510 just in time to see not one, not two, but three 501 Queen cars leave westbound. Hmmm. Not a good sign. As things turned out, the next 501 (actually two of them) did not show up for 25 minutes, and the first car was going only to Roncesvalles. Fortunately for me, the Gladstone is not in Long Branch.
On the trip home, a bit after midnight, the eastbound 501 showed up reasonably promptly and the trip across Queen was uneventful. We pulled up to Broadview just behind a 504 King car, the one that should have taken me home. Did it wait for transfer passengers from the 501? No. At least the following 504, about 10 minutes later, was not short turned (this happens regularly late at night when I attempt this route home).
In a way, these are two isolated incidents. Eastbound service on Queen at Spadina during my long wait was quite regular. Service on the Dufferin bus seemed to be running smoothly any time I peeked out the door or window from the bar at the Gladstone [please note how this demonstrates my commitment to monitoring the TTC, and the places I will lurk to do so].
But the point is that in both directions, I encountered problems that should not be part of TTC service — a long wait and bunched service one way, and a missed connection thanks to an inconsiderate operator the other way. We can have the cheapest fares in the world, but if we don’t have reliable service, people will stay in their cars.
Steve Munro 