Toronto Spadina Subway Extension Emergency Exits | ?m | 1s | TTC | IBI Group

You're forgetting about the spring Ontario budget. From link.

The OSG will make average college or university tuition free for students with financial need from families with incomes of $50,000 or less, and will make tuition more affordable for middle-class families.

Under the new OSG:
  • Students from families with incomes under $50,000 will have no provincial student debt.
  • More than 50 per cent of students from families with incomes of $83,000 or less will receive non-repayable grants that will exceed average college or university tuition.
  • All students will be the same or better off as under the Ontario Tuition Grant.
Ninety per cent of dependent college students and 70 per cent of dependent university students from families with incomes under $50,000 will receive grants greater than their average cost of tuition.

In addition, the Province will:

  • Increase access to interest-free and low-cost loans for middle- and upper-income families.
  • Expand financial support for mature and married students.
  • Raise the Ontario weekly assistance maximum levels for individuals and married and sole-support parents.
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So it is possible for some students to get free education and save for a new home. If, and it's a big if, they can budget.
 
Steve X said:
Downsview Station is the only station the TTC have that's built nicely, under a budget and in a timely manner.
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Proof?

I seem to recall that the station's opening was delayed by 6 months from when it was originally projected, although that memory could certainly be clouded by time.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.
 
smallspy said:
Proof?
I seem to recall that the station's opening was delayed by 6 months from when it was originally projected, although that memory could certainly be clouded by time.
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I think you're both right. "Delayed by 6 months" also counts as "in a timely manner," if you're TTC project management.
 
TJ O'Pootertoot said:
I think you're both right. "Delayed by 6 months" also counts as "in a timely manner," if you're TTC project management.
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If I tell the boss 12 months, then they book it for 6 months, and it's finished in 11 months then I still call it early.

Timely, to me, means it was achieved in a time-frame which was normal (or better) for that type of work regardless of what the official schedule was.

Ditto for cost. It's possible to both completely miss the budget and still be cheaper than expected. Sometimes budgets/schedules are advertised for reasons other than presenting realistic expectations as sometimes realistic expectations kills projects.
 
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These stations are designed to do exactly what they're supposed to do: become centres of civic life in areas of the city that currently (and desperately) lack buildings and public spaces that provide a strong sense of place. Of course, as an alternative, we could always build Mammoliti's giant flag pole.
 
Silence&Motion said:
These stations are designed to do exactly what they're supposed to do: become centres of civic life in areas of the city that currently (and desperately) lack buildings and public spaces that provide a strong sense of place. Of course, as an alternative, we could always build Mammoliti's giant flag pole.
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That sounds fine in the abstract but I'd suggest that stations typically never develop into centres of civic life due to their nature.

The pressure to build 'impressive' structures in this case has led to sprawling pavilions and bus stations that have no relationship to the nearby context and street. In the abstract they look impressive but in practice they'll feel overbuilt, vacant and disconnected from their surroundings.

Architecture is all we can see in renderings but cities and civic spaces are about the relationship of uses in an area. These giant super-stations prevent the development of enjoyable civic spaces through their scale and anti-urban designs. More compact and modest stations would better integrate into functional civic spaces.

Despite the wailing about the TTC's station design, I enjoy a great many of the TTC's stations. The original Yonge stations are a bit cramped, but that's a sign of their success more than anything.

There's also the reality that extravagant designs are less likely to be maintained properly in the long-run (eg. Yorkdale's art feature).
 
diminutive said:
That sounds fine in the abstract but I'd suggest that stations typically never develop into centres of civic life due to their nature.

The pressure to build 'impressive' structures in this case has led to sprawling pavilions and bus stations that have no relationship to the nearby context and street. In the abstract they look impressive but in practice they'll feel overbuilt, vacant and disconnected from their surroundings.

Architecture is all we can see in renderings but cities and civic spaces are about the relationship of uses in an area. These giant super-stations prevent the development of enjoyable civic spaces through their scale and anti-urban designs. More compact and modest stations would better integrate into functional civic spaces.

Despite the wailing about the TTC's station design, I enjoy a great many of the TTC's stations. The original Yonge stations are a bit cramped, but that's a sign of their success more than anything.

There's also the reality that extravagant designs are less likely to be maintained properly in the long-run (eg. Yorkdale's art feature).
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I take your point, but there is no context to relate to at this point. These stations are surrounded by strip malls and parking lots. The neighbourhoods feel "vacant and disconnected" with or without these stations. I think the idea is that eventually the stations will be surrounded by mixed-use mid- and high-rise buildings that will be oriented toward the people coming and going from the stations. The stations are all designed with public spaces that could act as central nodes in the neighbourhoods - assuming they generate the kind of growth that the government is hoping for.
 
Most of the very profitable and busy underground metro stations around the world are not really visible from the outside because they
have been successfully incorporated into the surrounding developments. Developers PAY the city to have a station included in their projects so for those cities, the cost of a station is covered
I have a very difficult time trying to picture in 20-30 years the 407 station being a "bustling" civic hub; it seems like itll mostly be a large terminal for transit. So for that station, it was inappropriate for the
city to waste that much money and time on the mausoleum thats coming up now....
 
edmundoconnor said:
5% of a $200k condo is $10,000. That's well within the realm of possibility. Add mom and/or dad as a cosigner to make the debt servicing ratios work, and bingo, auto-approval from any major bank. Plus, the money doesn't even need to be gifted.
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How do you find a $200K condo? lol
 
BMO said:
How do you find a $200K condo? lol
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MLS? I see about 100 listed between $150k and $200k in the GTA. Bachelor and small 1-bedrooms in older buildings outside of downtown though some are still on the subway line (Massey Square near Vic Park station).

There's even a number of listings below $75k but those are kinda scary; plenty of buildings with massive maintenance fees and crumbling infrastructure (equivalent to the tear-down house).
 
cplchanb said:
Most of the very profitable and busy underground metro stations around the world are not really visible from the outside because they
have been successfully incorporated into the surrounding developments. Developers PAY the city to have a station included in their projects so for those cities, the cost of a station is covered
I have a very difficult time trying to picture in 20-30 years the 407 station being a "bustling" civic hub; it seems like itll mostly be a large terminal for transit. So for that station, it was inappropriate for the
city to waste that much money and time on the mausoleum thats coming up now....
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Tell that to the owners of Crossways at the Dundas West Subway Station and Bloor GO Station. They have refused to allow a connection between the subway station, GO/UPX and the small mall in the high-rise building for decades now.
 
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