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Mayor John Tory's Toronto

I think so too. Tory may oversee the Smarttrack route as it's built as a RER but I hope that his priority moves to fast tracking the first segment of the DRL as his signature transit project. Other cities have been able to build subway much faster than Toronto has proposed. There's no reason other than bloated bureaucracy and politics that the segment from Pape to Union/King/Queen should take nearly two decades to build.
 
chow would have been a victory for nimbys. but for the love of god we have to make a dedicated street car line heading east west. its so simple yet so difficult in this city?!
 
John Tory just received an endorsement from Liberal MPP Brad Duguid who gave an indication that the Scarborough Subway is a done deal. So that's one fairly secure legacy of a John Tory Mayoralty. The Liberal Government overall seems to be enthusiastic to work with Tory so it's probably a good bet that they'll make changes to the original GO electrification plan to favour Tory's concept of a subway-like rail line that ferries people from the suburbs to downtown and back. I hope that it doesn't alter Metrolinx's priority of a DRL but I think it may at the very least delay it.

I think that it's safe to say that Tory's tenure as Mayor will be largely about transit and relieving congestion.
 
There is no doubt in my mind the Smart Track will kill all the DRL momentum built over the last few years.

The Smart Track is an easier sell politically. It reaches Etobicoke, York, Scarborough and Markham and doesn't just serve the interests of those greedy Downtown Torontonians who already have their subways *head smash*. Tory making the Smart Track go north of Steeles was a brilliant move. It can be now marketed as a GTA transit project, not a Toronto one. How likely would the Spadina Extension have been if it stopped at Steeles and didn't go into Vaughan? Not a chance, especially with Sorbara's hands all over it.
 
MetroMan said:
John Tory just received an endorsement from Liberal MPP Brad Duguid who gave an indication that the Scarborough Subway is a done deal. So that's one fairly secure legacy of a John Tory Mayoralty. The Liberal Government overall seems to be enthusiastic to work with Tory so it's probably a good bet that they'll make changes to the original GO electrification plan to favour Tory's concept of a subway-like rail line that ferries people from the suburbs to downtown and back. I hope that it doesn't alter Metrolinx's priority of a DRL but I think it may at the very least delay it.

I think that it's safe to say that Tory's tenure as Mayor will be largely about transit and relieving congestion.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it was quite a ringing endorsement and it does seem to support the idea that Tory would work well with the provincial government, which is important for building new transit lines.
http://globalnews.ca/news/1538469/mpp-brad-duguid-john-tory-talk-transit-in-scarborough/
 
mjl08 said:
There is no doubt in my mind the Smart Track will kill all the DRL momentum built over the last few years.

The Smart Track is an easier sell politically. It reaches Etobicoke, York, Scarborough and Markham and doesn't just serve the interests of those greedy Downtown Torontonians who already have their subways *head smash*. Tory making the Smart Track go north of Steeles was a brilliant move. It can be now marketed as a GTA transit project, not a Toronto one. How likely would the Spadina Extension have been if it stopped at Steeles and didn't go into Vaughan? Not a chance, especially with Sorbara's hands all over it.
Click to expand...

Good point, it seems more likely to get provincial/Metrolinx support & money when it's a "regional" transit line that crosses municipal borders.
 
MetroMan said:
John Tory just received an endorsement from Liberal MPP Brad Duguid who gave an indication that the Scarborough Subway is a done deal. So that's one fairly secure legacy of a John Tory Mayoralty. The Liberal Government overall seems to be enthusiastic to work with Tory so it's probably a good bet that they'll make changes to the original GO electrification plan to favour Tory's concept of a subway-like rail line that ferries people from the suburbs to downtown and back. I hope that it doesn't alter Metrolinx's priority of a DRL but I think it may at the very least delay it.

I think that it's safe to say that Tory's tenure as Mayor will be largely about transit and relieving congestion.
Click to expand...

I think given how early we are into the RER plans, there would be a huge amount of room to horsetrade between the different schemes. At the end of the day, what voters cared about - post-marketing - is tangible improvement and not where the location of the line/stops are necessarily.

As to DRL - let's put it this way - the need for some sort of a new downtown subway line isn't going to go away just because you siphon off some riders with RER - there is untapped ridership.

AoD
 
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mjl08 said:
There is no doubt in my mind the Smart Track will kill all the DRL momentum built over the last few years.

The Smart Track is an easier sell politically. It reaches Etobicoke, York, Scarborough and Markham and doesn't just serve the interests of those greedy Downtown Torontonians who already have their subways *head smash*. Tory making the Smart Track go north of Steeles was a brilliant move. It can be now marketed as a GTA transit project, not a Toronto one. How likely would the Spadina Extension have been if it stopped at Steeles and didn't go into Vaughan? Not a chance, especially with Sorbara's hands all over it.
Click to expand...

There's one nagging detail that won't let the DRL die: Bloor/Yonge station overcrowding. Millions of commuters can see it and can feel it in their daily lives and it won't go away with SmartTrack. Experts appear unanimous in saying that only a new eastern leg of a subway intercepting that traffic earlier in the Bloor line will relieve congestion at Yonge/Bloor. Unless SmartTrack becomes a real subway with 5 minute or better frequency and fare integration, then it will not solve this problem and the DRL will still need to be built and people are going to increasingly feel the overwhelming congestion building at Yonge/Bloor over this decade.

I wonder how Tory is going to deal with that. He's a reasonable person who, unlike Ford, can be convinced by arguments from experts. I have hope that he'll either work to modify SmartTrack into a hybrid RER + DRL proposal or shift back to his Yonge Relief Line plan and let the Province deal with GO Electrification on their own.
 
MetroMan said:
There's one nagging detail that won't let the DRL die: Bloor/Yonge station overcrowding. Millions of commuters can see it and can feel it in their daily lives and it won't go away with SmartTrack. Experts appear unanimous in saying that only a new eastern leg of a subway intercepting that traffic earlier in the Bloor line will relieve congestion at Yonge/Bloor. Unless SmartTrack becomes a real subway with 5 minute or better frequency and fare integration, then it will not solve this problem and the DRL will still need to be built and people are going to increasingly feel the overwhelming congestion building at Yonge/Bloor over this decade.

I wonder how Tory is going to deal with that. He's a reasonable person who, unlike Ford, can be convinced by arguments from experts. I have hope that he'll either work to modify SmartTrack into a hybrid RER + DRL proposal or shift back to his Yonge Relief Line plan and let the Province deal with GO Electrification on their own.
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Re: fare integration, it's definitely part of the SmartTrack plan to have it be part of the TTC system like a TTC subway. It costs TTC fares & free transfers to the rest of the system.

• The SmartTrack line will have the same fares as regular TTC rides.

• The SmartTrack line will have integrated faring with TTC. No new fares will be needed at
interchange points with the TTC network of busses and rapid transit.
Click to expand...
Source:
http://www.johntory.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/OneToronto_Backgrounder_Three_Smart_Track_Line.pdf

In terms of frequencies, I would assume it should be approaching subway levels of frequency if it's being called a "surface subway".

Having said that, I agree that a DRL is still needed, but the idea of having GO give two corridors to the TTC to operate as part of the TTC system is an intriguing one, I think.
 
After 4 years of non-stop bullshit from the Ford's, reading this subject heading gives me tears of joy. If only it will become reality. Tory definitely seems to be gaining momentum, but I hope he doesn't peak too early. That being said, with less than 8 weeks to go, he's got a big lead in the polls that only seems to be increasing. I can't see Ford getting a significant late campaign surge (too many rational people utterly hate him), and Chow has run a campaign so uninspiring and lacklustre that I think it'll be really difficult for her to catch up at this point. Unfortunately, Socknacki, despite being the best candidate, just can't connect with enough people, and I think he'll quit soon and his support will move to Tory. He's right in the sweet spot from pretty much any direction you can think of.
 
Seems fairly inert to me at the municipal level. Hopefully the province moves it to the top of their agenda over the next year.
 
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