TJ O'Pootertoot
Senior Member
It's cute how this has devolved into a Munro thread ![Smile :) :)](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
My take on the guy is that he is very smart and knowledgeable and this is always welcome. But the real point is that he is not tapped into some deep vein of objective knowledge about what our transit system should be. He has his own biases and, germane to this discussion, has always been very Toronto-centric (as opposed to regional) in his view, IMHO. He also tends to be a bit retrograde, rejecting some ideas because they're not the way they've always been done.
I'm generalizing and I wouldn't get into a point-by-point discussion with him on any topic but the real point here, is I think, that his opinions be they on SmartTrack or DRL RER, are not reflective of an absolute truth. They're better-informed opinions than most of us have, but they're still just the opinions of an "amateur."
(I don't mean "amateur" offensively. Heck, Olympians are still "amateur" athletes but the fact remains he hasn't worked in any professional capacity as a transit planner etc., as far as I know. On balance, we are still lucky to have him, but he's not infallible.)
My take on the guy is that he is very smart and knowledgeable and this is always welcome. But the real point is that he is not tapped into some deep vein of objective knowledge about what our transit system should be. He has his own biases and, germane to this discussion, has always been very Toronto-centric (as opposed to regional) in his view, IMHO. He also tends to be a bit retrograde, rejecting some ideas because they're not the way they've always been done.
I'm generalizing and I wouldn't get into a point-by-point discussion with him on any topic but the real point here, is I think, that his opinions be they on SmartTrack or DRL RER, are not reflective of an absolute truth. They're better-informed opinions than most of us have, but they're still just the opinions of an "amateur."
(I don't mean "amateur" offensively. Heck, Olympians are still "amateur" athletes but the fact remains he hasn't worked in any professional capacity as a transit planner etc., as far as I know. On balance, we are still lucky to have him, but he's not infallible.)