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Well, there's a bit of a difference between places like Liberty Village and places like Jane and Langstaff (which is on the way to Major Mac). While it wasn't obvious that these places would become the hot places they were, the seeds were sort of in place: a place like Liberty Village has old...

Well, we did that in certain places, and it's had zero effect. The intersection of Ellesmere and Midland looks pretty much the same as it did 30 years ago when we built not one, but two rapid transit stations within walking distance of it - industrial and suburban. Neighbourhoods come and go...

200 years ago Corktown was a poor neighbourhood, and it only ceased being a poor neighbourhood in the last 10 years. Cities certainly change, but they don't change dramatically. Jane street as far north as Rutherford is composed exclusively of 1 storey warehouses and industrial plants...

Yes, and it's important to underscore that many of Porter's destinations are ones that Air Canada couldn't really care less about. Sault Ste. Marie, Timmins, Thunder Bay and even Quebec City are good examples of those. Air Canada basically "let them have it". But AC is absolutely not going to...

Of all the places where a subway could be extended based on where current subway lines end, an extension of the Spadina subway further into Vaughan would be - by far - the worst possible choice. There is nothing to indicate that this land will ever support the ridership needed for a subway for...

Who is paying for this runway extension? Does any of the bill wind its way back to Porter? Also, does Porter really expect that flying to destinations like Vancouver and LAX are worth going into substantial debt and fundamentally changing a tried and true business model? I mean, Porter does...

I think this is a terrific move (no pun intended). It gives Yonge street some heritage "continuity", since it will sit across the street from the recently-scrubbed Dineen building, and next to the other heritage building on Temperance. Who cares if the building isn't in its original spot, and...

OK, in a previous post I said that the old method of expropriate, demolish and cut and cover was economically unrealistic today when homes cost $1,000,000, not $10,000. I still think this is true. However, in rare circumstances, it pays off to pay market price - or even above market price - to...

+1 B-D is a very bad example to follow, because it was built at a time so far removed from our present era, that comparisons are ludicrous. 50 years ago, planners simply expropriated historic homes by the thousands, bulldozed them, carved a trench into the landscape and built a cut and...

The buses in that part of Toronto remind me of service in a midwestern city in the US: non-grid, non-frequent services that seem to chase away ridership with their bad design. For example, you can't use a bus north-south through the entirety of Leaside in Bayview without transferring from the...

That's a whole different kettle of fish. Mount Pleasant to Yonge is 600 meters, Mount Pleasant to Bayview is even further, and not only does the Mount Pleasant and Eglinton area have a high density of population, jobs, and high school students, but it also intersects with a north-south bus line.

OK, I checked, and cold starts don't account for most tailpipe emissions, but certainly account for a disproportionate share of emissions. Specifically, 25% of VOC, 19% of NOX and 26% of CO comes from the engine starting and the first few minutes of driving. That pollution is, of course...

I wouldn't abandon any existing stations, but if we were building these stations from scratch I wouldn't build any of them except Leslie because of its connection to a bus line along an arterial road. Then again, I wouldn't have built the Sheppard line as a subway at all.

I wonder what percentage of GO trips involve single occupancy car driving? Even many GO bus riders who transfer onto GO trains are likely to have driven from their home to some rural park and ride at the beginning of their journey. From an environmental standpoint, GO does almost nothing...

Well, the punishment for the rest of us is that a station at Oakwood (and Chaplin, etc.) will only attract a few thousand walk on passengers but will cost tens of millions to build. It will also increase travel times for the vast majority of EC users. I'm not against the line, I'm against what...

I'm still excited by Toronto's boom, but not because of the skyscrapers. I'm excited because of the transformation of the city's more low slung areas with excellent modernist midrises - Freedville, King East, the West Don Lands, Leslieville, etc. I also think we'll get our landmarks with this...

Rob Ford is such a repulsive person, that I don't care how low he sinks. I wouldn't feel an ounce of emotion if his next "job" involves dumpster diving in excrement-soaked clothes.

I kind of agree with you. It's sort of ironic that Toronto, a city that is growing like bonkers, has built hundreds of highrises in its downtown core, yet a building from 1975 remains the tallest building in the city/country. It's also somewhat disappointing that I am secretly happy that FCP...

Well, this graph confirms what I already knew. For the amount we are spending, we could have revolutionized the way we get around in the region. Instead, I feel that we are getting piecemeal improvements, coupled with a lot of waste (A UPX corridor that doesn't even get us AD2W GO service; a...

Well, the good citizens of Oakwood and Eglinton demanded a station, so they're going to get the ensuing mess that results when you build a station box. Of course, had they just figured out that walking 400 meters to Eglinton West station isn't the end of the world, saves tens of millions of...