New TTC Chair and Board

[MetroMan]

TheStar profiles the contenders: Who will be the next TTC chair?

He (Councillor Josh Colle) also thinks the transit chair is sufficiently important to warrant a public election and the TTC should be a mix of public and private members.

I like this idea a lot. I'd even go further: The TTC chair should be completely separate from the Mayor and not sit on council. They shouldn't be an appointee. I'd like to see the chair directly elected by Torontonians based on a platform campaigned on and then run the TTC with enough autonomy from the Mayor to prevent the bribing parts of the city for votes like Scarborough was for Ford or subways given as gifts like Sheppard was for Lastman.

 

[W. K. Lis]

From the Globe and Mail, click on this link:

Mr. Ford is expected to announce as early as Monday that Doug Holyday will be deputy mayor, Frances Nunziata is his pick for council speaker, Mike Del Grande will be appointed budget chief and Karen Stintz will be the mayor’s choice to lead the Toronto Transit Commission, according to a city hall source.
...
A conservative who mulled her own bid for mayor, Ms. Stintz represents a mid-town ward that voted for George Smitherman.

While recommending her as TTC chair isn’t a radical move, it is evidence that Mr. Ford is willing to reach out to ideological allies who refused to endorse him. His other picks show his preference for proven loyalists.

 

[MetroMan]

So Stintz is the next TTC Chair. What will happen under her command? Transit City? Eglinton line go or no go? Sheppard LRT or Subway? Presto? DRL?

Discuss...

 

[GraphicMatt]

Stintz was a really terrible councillor in her early days, but she's matured a lot and shown willingness to listen and compromise.

Hard to say what will happen as a lot depends on Metrolinx, but I think it means the Eglinton LRT is safe. If she's smart, she'd angle for funding for the airport connection.

 

[MetroMan]

If nothing else gets built, an Eglinton LRT to the Airport in the West and a Sheppard subway to STC in the East would be a great compromise between Transit City and "the people want subways".

Stintz will have her Eglinton constituents to answer to regarding rapid transit so I think that line is safe. Ford doesn't want to be seen breaking promises regarding subways to Scarborough so we might just get the above scenario.

 

[SimonP]

TheStar profiles the contenders: Who will be the next TTC chair?
I like this idea a lot. I'd even go further: The TTC chair should be completely separate from the Mayor and not sit on council. They shouldn't be an appointee. I'd like to see the chair directly elected by Torontonians based on a platform campaigned on and then run the TTC with enough autonomy from the Mayor to prevent the bribing parts of the city for votes like Scarborough was for Ford or subways given as gifts like Sheppard was for Lastman.

Budget chief used to be sort of like this. The problem with their being elected independently, is that they and the mayor become rivals. You have a second powerful person, who is not at all beholden to the mayor like a deputy or vice mayor is. An independently elected TTC chair has their own power base, and will be the person most likely to challenge the mayor in the next election. This would not lead to a good working relationship.

 

[EnviroTO]

Hopefully the compromise for a subway in Scarborough is the SRT being replaced with a subway. The current and expected ridership of the SRT and its replacement is expected to be higher than Sheppard East of Don Mills. Sheppard East of Don Mills is expected to be have lower ridership than Eglinton.

 

[EnviroTO]

Budget chief used to be sort of like this. The problem with their being elected independently, is that they and the mayor become rivals. You have a second powerful person, who is not at all beholden to the mayor like a deputy or vice mayor is. An independently elected TTC chair has their own power base, and will be the person most likely to challenge the mayor in the next election. This would not lead to a good working relationship.

Do we need a TTC chair to get along with the mayor? If the TTC was in charge of their own portion of the municipal tax bill, much like schools used to be, there wouldn't need to be a great relationship with the mayor.

 

[rbt]

If nothing else gets built, an Eglinton LRT to the Airport in the West and a Sheppard subway to STC in the East would be a great compromise between Transit City and "the people want subways".

The most likely scenario McGuinty would be willing to listen to is the Smitherman proposal. I would assume he asked, unofficially, upstream before presenting it to the public.

Ford will get Sheppard West to Downsview and SRT replacement to be subway but he might have to find 33% to 50% of the capital out of the cities budget and probably not until his second term.

 

[EnviroTO]

^ That would be the most likely scenario in my mind. A plan that doesn't take any of the projects which already have funds being spent off the rails, which delivers an affordable extension to the Sheppard line, and delivers subway to the heart of Scarborough. It also makes sense from a network and ridership perspective since the Finch West LRT will initially end at the University Line, and York University provides a large O&D hub which can feed into the Sheppard Line at Downsview station. The ridership of the SRT and its replacement are the best opportunity to connect the final Toronto "Places to Grow" centre onto the subway system.

 

[Palma]

Hopefully the compromise for a subway in Scarborough is the SRT being replaced with a subway. The current and expected ridership of the SRT and its replacement is expected to be higher than Sheppard East of Don Mills. Sheppard East of Don Mills is expected to be have lower ridership than Eglinton.

I would say Eglinton subway and Scarborough subway and Sheppard LRT makes way more sense. Eglinton is central Toronto and rider ship would be way higher than northern Sheppard and the congestion along Eglinton is crazy. I have yet ever experienced congestion along Sheppard. I have taken Sheppard from Wilson heights over to Yonge and always smooth sailing. And this has been the case every time. Half of Sheppard from I think Bathurst almost close to Avenue Road is over a bridge with no possibility of any buildings there. No subway is needed there. The one that is along Sheppard now should be converted to an LRT.

 

[andrewpmk]

Sheppard is pretty congested around the Sheppard/404 interchange. You're right that congestion is much less of a problem anywhere else on Sheppard. Also congestion on Eglinton is crazy in the stretch between Laird and Keele (the road is only 4 lanes, it is the only continuous east-west road between Bloor/Danforth and York Mills/Wilson, the bottleneck at the south end of Allen Rd).

 

[Dan416]

I say we build both the Eglinton and Sheppard subways and then we can see which one proves to be busier. Since that's the only way to actually know.

 

[lead82]

I agree with what everyone is saying, but one minor change I'd make is keep the Sheppard East LRT as is but extend it south east to UTSC campus for better transit for Pan Am Games and for the thousands of students. Second, extend the Sheppard line west to connect the two branches and provide a means to have some of Sheppard's riders transfer to the Spadina line and a better connection to York U. Next, since we're building an LRT line, we shouldn't make it an orphan like the SRT. I suggest we build Eglinton as LRT with a longer portion underground from say Jane to Don Mills. That way, Eglinton is by most standards a true 'subway'. Yes the vehicles are not as wide as the other Toronto lines but it's still underground and wont be subject of congestion. I would extend the Eglinton line north east from Kennedy to Scarborough Centre and further north to Malvern. That would make the SELRT and ECLRT connect in Scarborough, giving that city two strong rapid transit lines.

Once those are built, then start building the DRL.

 

[Dan416]

If I were mayor, I would make the DRL Prio 1.