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An Addendum on Transit
Aug. 15th, 2014 12:32 pmThe civic election has a number of distinct positions on transit -- in many cases they're the high-profile differences between candidates. Roughly:
Chow -- wants to return Scarborough Subway to LRT; supports DRL; has plank supporting improving bus capacity by 10%.
Soknacki -- wants to return Scarborough Subway to LRT; supports DRL; proposes discounts for early bird and off-peak riders; explicitly supports tax increases to fund transit including toll lanes.
Tory -- supports existing Scarborough subway proposal; formally supports DRL and Finch/Sheppard LRTs but not as "priorities"; priority is an RER-style expansion of local transit using electrification of railway lines.
[Ford -- bury Eglinton LRT and build subways on Finch and Sheppard with no funding; none of these are realistic planks]
In light of the position of the provincial government, which holds the purse strings, it may be worth while to sort these into two heaps: proposals within Toronto's capacity and those outside it.
Things the City can do:
-- Address capacity issues using bus alternatives or funding off-peak ridership -- these cost money, but are entirely TTC options and the money is within the scope of what the city could reasonably support out of tax increases. This includes actually moving on the McNicoll Garage (as of writing this has been deferred to next year by the Planning and Growth Management Committee (still dominated by the Ford/Stintz factions) although this decision may be reversed by full Council).
-- Apply congestion charges or tolls to roads it controls (may require provincial permission)
-- Possibly build a short East Bayfront LRT independent of provincial funding in conjunction with Waterfront Toronto's development plans.
On major projects -- DRL, Smart Track -- it can really only champion these at best, and provide a part of the funds required. SmartTrack is really an acceleration of parts of the provincial government's RER plan which is likely to go ahead regardless of whether Tory wins the election or not, and the DRL is also on their radar as part of the Next Wave component of the Big Move.
On projects to be changed, there's a different calculus.
The new Minister of Transportation is very firm on the position that for projects in the current phase, it's time to stop debating and start building. While there's a little bit of hedging around the Scarborough subway -- the LRT is still the official agreement, it frees up money, and in the event of a Chow victory the government might fall back to LRT -- I can't see them deciding to drop the Finch or Sheppard LRTs because they aren't a "priority" of a mayoral candidate. These lines are being built and run by Metrolinx and killing them, or burying the Eglinton LRT, are now outside the domain of the politically realistic either to promise or to worry about.
Chow -- wants to return Scarborough Subway to LRT; supports DRL; has plank supporting improving bus capacity by 10%.
Soknacki -- wants to return Scarborough Subway to LRT; supports DRL; proposes discounts for early bird and off-peak riders; explicitly supports tax increases to fund transit including toll lanes.
Tory -- supports existing Scarborough subway proposal; formally supports DRL and Finch/Sheppard LRTs but not as "priorities"; priority is an RER-style expansion of local transit using electrification of railway lines.
[Ford -- bury Eglinton LRT and build subways on Finch and Sheppard with no funding; none of these are realistic planks]
In light of the position of the provincial government, which holds the purse strings, it may be worth while to sort these into two heaps: proposals within Toronto's capacity and those outside it.
Things the City can do:
-- Address capacity issues using bus alternatives or funding off-peak ridership -- these cost money, but are entirely TTC options and the money is within the scope of what the city could reasonably support out of tax increases. This includes actually moving on the McNicoll Garage (as of writing this has been deferred to next year by the Planning and Growth Management Committee (still dominated by the Ford/Stintz factions) although this decision may be reversed by full Council).
-- Apply congestion charges or tolls to roads it controls (may require provincial permission)
-- Possibly build a short East Bayfront LRT independent of provincial funding in conjunction with Waterfront Toronto's development plans.
On major projects -- DRL, Smart Track -- it can really only champion these at best, and provide a part of the funds required. SmartTrack is really an acceleration of parts of the provincial government's RER plan which is likely to go ahead regardless of whether Tory wins the election or not, and the DRL is also on their radar as part of the Next Wave component of the Big Move.
On projects to be changed, there's a different calculus.
The new Minister of Transportation is very firm on the position that for projects in the current phase, it's time to stop debating and start building. While there's a little bit of hedging around the Scarborough subway -- the LRT is still the official agreement, it frees up money, and in the event of a Chow victory the government might fall back to LRT -- I can't see them deciding to drop the Finch or Sheppard LRTs because they aren't a "priority" of a mayoral candidate. These lines are being built and run by Metrolinx and killing them, or burying the Eglinton LRT, are now outside the domain of the politically realistic either to promise or to worry about.
