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Smitherman's Transit plan

SimonP

SimonP

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Simitherman released his transit plan today. Here is what he's proposed to have built by 2020:

Transit City:
*Eglinton LRT from Royal York to Kennedy, underground from Royal York to Don Mills
*Finch West LRT with an extension south along Highway 27
*Sheppard East LRT to the zoo
*Waterfront East LRT to Portlands

New Subways:
*Sheppard West to University line
*Bloor-Danforth extended west to Sherway
*Scarborough RT replaced by subway

Funding:
*No road tolls
*Reduced vehicle registration tax
*Public Private Partnerships
*Free rides for seniors at off peak hours

Planned items that would be kaput:
*Yonge subway extension
*Don Mills LRT
*Jane LRT
*Malvern LRT
*No indication of Blue 22 or any link to the airport


Map of the plan
 
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Wow - I always considered Smitherman a bit of an idiot. But this cements it.

Tha man has proposed extending the Bloor subway to Sherway Gardens.

TTC studied this in 2001, and estimated that the peak hour ridership was only 700 people.

700 people.

I'm shocked ... absolutely shocked.
 
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I've pretty much decided that I'm for Pantalone, but overall this plan isn't bad. It's much more concrete than Ford's or Rossi's. The good news is Smitherman would not throw out the Transit City lines that are already planned and set to go.

While new subway lines are a good idea, I wouldn't call either Sheppard West or Sherway top priorities. There is nothing for the core other than a new LRT to the Portlands.

The biggest problem is how he will pay for it all. Other than vague references to Public Private Partnerships there is no indication where the money will come from. The plan calls for increased costs through free rides to seniors and decreased revenue from cutting the vehicle registration tax.
 
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at least eglinton will be underground to royal york.

and the sheppard line will be extended west to the spadina line which will provide a link that spans from vaughan to scarborough.
 
Good to see that politicians still consider themselves to be experts at things they know nothing about.

Why would Eglinton end abruptly at Royal York?
 
nfitz said:
Wow - I always considered Smitherman a bit of an idiot. But this cements it.

Tha man has proposed extending the Bloor subway to Sherway Gardens.

TTC studied this in 2001, and estimated that the peak hour ridership was only 700 people.

700 people.

I'm shocked ... absolutely shocked.
Click to expand...

This stood out for me too. What'is the political benefit to promising a subway to Mississauga when running for mayor of Toronto? Is Smitherman still stuck in the 905 centred mentality of the provincial Liberals?
 
SimonP: Here is the link from his campaign site:

http://www.georgesmitherman.com/issues/116-georges-plan-to-get-toronto-moving.html

Smitherman plans to extend the tunnel only to Weston Rd.

Is it me, or is Smitherman purposely trying to kill any chance of subway expansion in the city? Who in their right minds would pursue an extension to an auto-oriented commercial and industrial wasteland And the Sheppard to Downsview? Good lord! Extend the Yonge line to Steeles first! I can live with the SRT being converted to subway. I assume the ROW can accommodate the wider trains somehow.

Not extending Finch West to Humber College? *face palm*

At least Smitherman understands the need for LRT in a transit network, unlike the other candidates, but subway portion of the plans need to be seriously re-considered. The subway to Sherway is idiotic beyond belief, as well as the Sheppard extension westward. That money could be used to on the DRL.
 
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I, too, am disappointed at the lack of a DRL. I can understand the Sheppard extension to Downsview - otherwise, it'll be a subway to nowhere (also saves people coming from Don Mills and Sheppard a second transfer if they're going to school at York).
 
kettal said:
Good to see that politicians still consider themselves to be experts at things they know nothing about.

Why would Eglinton end abruptly at Royal York?
Click to expand...

could it be because it's ford territory? was there opposition to the LRT in the richview corridor?

he should take the funding from the extension to sherway and use it to take eglinton the the airport.
 
I'll admit I'm looking for reasons to support Smitherman, mainly because I like his style.

The plan's a politically calibrated mix of the sensible and silly -- it's obvious he's attempting to synthesize a position that satisfies TransitCity and subway devotees alike.

Canceling the Yonge subway extension, extending Sheppard west and converting SRT make a lot of sense to me. The seniors' freebie is just dumb -- I suppose it's a sop to the one demographic who might still find his sexual preference "scary".
 
As a Saugan who previously insulted Smitherman as "McGuilty's sex slave", this is a real shocker for me to see the unexpected.
Smitherman's transit strategy for his campaign is not as nutjob as I anticipated when compared to Rob Ford. Even though I didn't believe the B/D extension close to Sauga, I actually support subway extension of any kind. Overall, this is more concrete in planning than most candidates' wishy-washy campaigns.

SimonP said:
This stood out for me too. What'is the political benefit to promising a subway to Mississauga when running for mayor of Toronto? Is Smitherman still stuck in the 905 centred mentality of the provincial Liberals?
Click to expand...

Sauga is another stronghold of Ontario Liberals. Liberal figures? Peter Fonseca, Albina Guarineri, Nando Iannicca and so many more... All eleven wards and seven ridings are filled by liberals with army of fanbase.
If he's able to convince bringing funds for Hurontario/Dundas RTs with no strings attached (still suspicious), I'd give him a props. If no transit proposal were offered in supporting MT and rest of 905, I won't be surprised to see 905ers switching from Grits to Tories.

I am still anticipating on how he would fix his image after the E-health scandal.
 
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I'm confused, is the ECLRT gonna stop at Weston or at Royal York? the map in Smitherman's website shows a tunnel until Royal York but the text says until Weston. Subway extension to Sherway........Is he out of his mind???
 
SimonP said:
This stood out for me too. What'is the political benefit to promising a subway to Mississauga when running for mayor of Toronto? Is Smitherman still stuck in the 905 centred mentality of the provincial Liberals?
Click to expand...

One would suppose he still has strong ties to the liberal party and anticipates them wanting to do some more cross-boundary stuff like the Spadina Extension?
 
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