I've been following this forum for over a decade now, and it's exactly this kind of rhetoric that does nothing but divide this city further between downtown (Metro), and the suburbs. Your "automobile gods" crap is getting so tiresome, and provides nothing constructive to this forum.
Btw, I do agree with you on building proper cycling infrastructure instead of wasting money on these half-assed implementations.
I loved not owning a car when I lived in Northern Europe - being able to depend on buses, trains, and my bike and board to get around. There wasn't this ridiculous war against cars there. Instead, people recognized the importance of providing adequate alternatives to driving, before pressuring people to minimize/give up using their cars. Living here in the suburbs, that isn't always an option though.
Don't get me wrong, I'd agree with charging drivers a "congestion charge" to drive into the core (like London), providing streetcars lines without ROWs dedicated lanes and eliminating on-street parking along those routes, and providing separated bike lanes whenever possible when a street is rebuilt, among many other things...
Quite frankly, I think you and I would agree on many things. However, I (and I'm sure many forum members) are deeply annoyed by your anti-car rhetoric. Try raising a family in the suburbs away from an arterial road without a car. Not all of us can afford to live in downtown Toronto.
Ps. Why should I trade in a 20-30 minute drive down the 404/DVP to Woodbine Beach with my family for what can easily turn into a 1-1.5 hour ordeal on the TTC (especially with the weekend Line 1 closures).
I'll let other members chime in now. I just needed to unburden what's been pissing me off for a very long time. I'm honestly surprised the mods haven't intervened yet with the amount of times you've repeatedly posted this junk.
Yes, Mr. Lis does like to use slightly o'er the top rhetoric from time to time; but your complaint about same isn't any less hyperbolic.
I don't know when you last lived in Europe, but I think you would find the anti-car measures quite striking in many cities, and unlike Mr. Lis, I'm talking action not discussion.
Copenhagen has all but banned cars from the core; Amsterdam is slashing the parking supply by an enormous amount.
Paris has removed a highway, and is adding bike and transit-only lanes here, there and everywhere.
If you liked driving in any of those cities, you would probably feel moderately put out by the changes.
Toronto has not only done nothing so drastic; Neither the City, nor Mr. Lis has proposed such either.
Yes, alternative infrastructure for transit and pedestrians and cyclists needs to be in place before one can expect a significant shift away from the car.
On the other hand, in order to do that, one is going to have to take travel lanes for cars away.
Most of suburbia is not and will not be getting subways.
What it may get is BRT or BRT-light; but that means dropping Don Mills from 6 lanes for cars to 4 with 2 exclusively for transit. Then doing the same on six-lane roads across the City like Lawrence, Ellesmere and Steeles.
Making cycling attractive will likewise require road diets on many streets.
Perhaps Mr. Lis could marginally dial back on his rhetorical flourish; but truth be told those proposals he brings to the fore are typically moderate, proven, workable, pragmatic and affordable.
That being the case, is it not fair to ask why we haven't seen more of these types of ideas being delivered here? There are three parties baring responsibility, councillors, City transportation staff and voters.
They may not be automobile gods, but they are, collectively, those who determine how are roads are designed and operated. Really there is no basis on which one could accept the way things are; which means somebody is doing something wrong.
Perhaps you'd prefer if Mr. Lis omitted his assumptions on motives; but if he does........isn't one only left wondering about competence?