News   Apr 25, 2024
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News   Apr 25, 2024
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News   Apr 25, 2024
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  1. SimonP

    Rooftopping

    Here is a link to details on the Hearn accident: http://urbexbarrie.blogspot.ca/2008/06/hearn-tragedy.html
  2. SimonP

    Toronto Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport | ?m | ?s | Ports Toronto | Arup

    Look like the same demographic you see on the ferry to the airport. Airport users are not lower income suburbanites either.
  3. SimonP

    Dundas east of Coxwell

    There were small train stations at places like Parkdale, and Broadview. These would have been the fastest ways downtown in 1894. I'm not sure if the trains would be used for daily commuters.
  4. SimonP

    Rob Ford's Toronto

    I've heard this talking point before, but it isn't true. If you look at the last ten polls released before the election, Ford was ahead in 9 of them, and in the final poll he was ahead by 15 points.
  5. SimonP

    Jack Layton 1950-2011 R.I.P.

    There's going to be an unofficial gathering outside city hall at 4:00 today.
  6. SimonP

    Rob Ford's Toronto

    One slight clarification. If you look at the numbers, it's not that public sector wages have been increasing over the last few decades. Rather private sector wages for the bottom 50% of earners have declined. Indexed for inflation a public sector admin assistant or warehouse worker is making...
  7. SimonP

    Supertall and near-Supertall Rumour/Speculation Thread

    Can a building like this make financial sense? I've always heard that nothing much over 60 stories is ever cost effective. Once you get higher than that, the extra costs of elevators and HVAC cost you more per floor than the income you'd get from the extra units.
  8. SimonP

    Pickering Airport (Transport Canada/GTAA, Proposed)

    I don't understand how Pearson can be at capacity on its current site. Consider these Google maps: Pearson Airport - 30 million travellers per year Atlanta International Airport - 90 million travellers per year Pearson seems about the same size, so why is its capacity so much lower...
  9. SimonP

    1233 Queen East | ?m | 8s

    What are our old cars going to be used for in Nigeria? There are no subway systems in the country, though Lagos is working on a light rail project.
  10. SimonP

    Toronto house styles

    Over the last couple of years I've been working to illustrate the Wikipedia articles on the various Toronto neighbourhoods. For each article I've tried to get a shot showing a cluster of "typical" houses for that part of the city. Together they form an interesting gallery of the diversity of...
  11. SimonP

    Canada's 'housing bubble' deemed close to bursting

    It is possible to transport it (see hydrogen pipeline transport ) it's just more expensive than oil, and requires the construction of a whole new infrastructure. There are certainly drawbacks to hydrogen, which is why no one uses it these days, but at a certain price point it does become cheaper...
  12. SimonP

    The West Is Approaching Peak Car Use

    I think it was Bruegmann's book Sprawl that mentions that commute length has been relatively fixed for thousands of years. If you look back at Roman cities the workers, who travelled on foot, also held to a one hour maximum commute time. While I agree that cities can, and do sprawl endlessly...
  13. SimonP

    Toronto Crosstown LRT | ?m | ?s | Metrolinx | Arcadis

    The other important thing with all of this is that capacity on the Yonge line is going to run out long before it will on Eglinton. The only real solution is a DRL that connects with the Eglinton Line at Don Mills. Such a connection would at the same time reduce the load on the busy Don Mills to...
  14. SimonP

    Toronto Crosstown LRT | ?m | ?s | Metrolinx | Arcadis

    No, 5,400 was the Eglinton number from the original Transit City estimates. Here's the data from Steve Munro: http://stevemunro.ca/?p=945
  15. SimonP

    Toronto Crosstown LRT | ?m | ?s | Metrolinx | Arcadis

    You're right, I just looked those up. 12,000 is much closer to subway numbers, and wouldn't have to increase that much to be at a capacity that requires a full subway. Of course, most of that increase comes from merging the RT with the Eglinton line, and the case for that merger is that an LRT...
  16. SimonP

    Toronto Crosstown LRT | ?m | ?s | Metrolinx | Arcadis

    Remember the peak ridership per hour is estimated to hit 5,400 by 2030, compared to about 40,000 on the Yonge line today. LRTs will be able to serve Eglinton well for many decades. Capacity is great, but building it where it's not needed is a waste.
  17. SimonP

    The West Is Approaching Peak Car Use

    I've heard of this issue before, but never this term. It is useful to have a quick way to refer to this phenomena, but is this term actually used? Some quick Googling finds it has never appeared much of anywhere online except in this article.
  18. SimonP

    David Gunn to consult on TTC budget cuts

    Gunn did face a very different TTC. In the 1990s the biggest problem was plummeting ridership. In the early 1990s ridership fell by about 20%. In such circumstances, focusing on state of good repair makes sense, you need to win riders back to the system. Since Gunn's day, ridership is up by...
  19. SimonP

    Toronto Crosstown LRT | ?m | ?s | Metrolinx | Arcadis

    The enormous advantage of LRT is that it can also be run on the surface. That's where the big savings are. If we want the Eglinton line to connect to the airport, the cheapest way is to run it along the street. If we build a full subway, we either need to change modes at Jane or overbuild to...
  20. SimonP

    David Gunn to consult on TTC budget cuts

    I certainly agree on some things, (standard gauge, craziness of the Sheppard scheme), but he comes across as a cranky old man. Some of his proposals, such as buying 200 articulated buses instead of new streetcars, make him seem very out of touch. His opinions seem to be a throwback to 30 years...

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