nfitz
Superstar
I know what you said, and I agree with it. I only included your post to give context for the following quote, to which I responded to.
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Metrolinx: Other Items (catch all)
- Thread starter TheTigerMaster
- Start date
Northern Light
Superstar
Phil Verster will be dragged out of whatever hole he's been hiding in Tomorrow for some kind of announcement in Mississauga.
I wouldn't expect too much, as the gov't is sending Associate Minister of Transportation Cho to take whatever credit there is to be had, rather than the Premier, the Minister, or Ms. Surma.
news.ontario.ca
I wouldn't expect too much, as the gov't is sending Associate Minister of Transportation Cho to take whatever credit there is to be had, rather than the Premier, the Minister, or Ms. Surma.
Ontario Newsroom
news.ontario.ca
SaugeenJunction
Senior Member
MPPs from Brampton East and Mississauga East Cooksville attending, Associate Minister Cho leading - could mean small announcement or Mulroney is on vacation. All government announcements are backed up from the blockout due to our Queen’s passing.Phil Verster will be dragged out of whatever hole he's been hiding in Tomorrow for some kind of announcement in Mississauga.
I wouldn't expect too much, as the gov't is sending Associate Minister of Transportation Cho to take whatever credit there is to be had, rather than the Premier, the Minister, or Ms. Surma.
Ontario Newsroom
Any guesses?
ShonTron
Moderator
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It’ll be just like the Mississauga Transitway, whose online stations are terrible to get to on foot, and not conducive for TOD.
robmausser
Senior Member
This is why im weary of the decisions or requests to want to make the 407 Transitway an LRT or Ontario Line, aka some kind of rail service.
The advantage of a busway is huge in lower density areas like around the 407, as the bus can leave the transitway and go directly to the destinations it needs to, and GO and local service can share the use of the busway. You eliminate the need for a transfer and the logistics of a huge bus feeder system at each station, or huge parking lots.
While buses aren't as sexy as a rail line, the flexibility of a road in a low density area is too much to ignore.
You can always design and build with the intention of upgrading to LRT/rail in the future when density shows up.
Bureaucromancer
Active Member
And the 407 Transitway EA very much did this.
There’s also the ability to build out very small pieces incrementally, like creating offline stations that feed back into the main highway.
I don’t HATE going rail for this, but this corridor absolutely has one of the best cases for a busway out there.
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mildlyamusingusername
New Member
nfitz
Superstar
Credit to the PCs, for figuring out the it's the Associate Minister who does the reannouncements.
SaugeenJunction
Senior Member
Happy we now know when and how to temper expectations.
LNahid2000
Senior Member
Not even an announcement of a study! But I did use my credit card on GO last week because my Presto card was empty and it was super convenient.
DSC
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Though this has been posted in its own thread, I repost here too as it SHOULD be a cautionary warning for all such projects!
"Today, Metrolinx President & CEO Phil Verster issued the following statement:
We had expected the Eglinton Crosstown LRT to be fully built, thoroughly tested, and in service this fall in accordance with our project agreement with Crosslinx Transit Solutions, the construction consortium responsible for building the project.
Unfortunately, while progress has been made, Crosslinx Transit Solutions have fallen behind schedule, are unable to finalize construction and testing, and therefore the system will not be operational on this timeline.
We know construction has been difficult for commuters, communities, and businesses along the Eglinton corridor. We are doing everything to hold Crosslinx Transit Solutions accountable and to redouble efforts to meet their commitments and complete the work quickly so we can welcome riders onto a complete, tested, and fully operational Eglinton Crosstown LRT as soon as possible."
It is also a sign of Metrolinx's attention to detail that the headline in their Release reads: Statement regardling the Eglinton Crosstown LRT
"Today, Metrolinx President & CEO Phil Verster issued the following statement:
We had expected the Eglinton Crosstown LRT to be fully built, thoroughly tested, and in service this fall in accordance with our project agreement with Crosslinx Transit Solutions, the construction consortium responsible for building the project.
Unfortunately, while progress has been made, Crosslinx Transit Solutions have fallen behind schedule, are unable to finalize construction and testing, and therefore the system will not be operational on this timeline.
We know construction has been difficult for commuters, communities, and businesses along the Eglinton corridor. We are doing everything to hold Crosslinx Transit Solutions accountable and to redouble efforts to meet their commitments and complete the work quickly so we can welcome riders onto a complete, tested, and fully operational Eglinton Crosstown LRT as soon as possible."
It is also a sign of Metrolinx's attention to detail that the headline in their Release reads: Statement regardling the Eglinton Crosstown LRT
crs1026
Superstar
I’m neither a lawyer or an accountant, but I continue to wonder what obligation ML has to disclose project status and known risks/impacts in its annual financial statements, and what obligation/duty its auditors have when they certify same publicly.
Verster’s announcement at this late date comes pretty close to a copyright violation of the Captain Obvious trademark. ML must have known there would be a delay when it closed its last fiscal year (not to mention the previous year…), so any known risks/liabilities should have been disclsed in its MD&A - and any financial impacts shown as liabilities on its balance sheet.
ML is not publicly traded, but most government agencies commit to some degree of parity in their financial disclosure practices. Would a publicly traded company have this much latitude to hide a projected missed target date on a multi billion dollar investment until the bitter end?
- Paul
Verster’s announcement at this late date comes pretty close to a copyright violation of the Captain Obvious trademark. ML must have known there would be a delay when it closed its last fiscal year (not to mention the previous year…), so any known risks/liabilities should have been disclsed in its MD&A - and any financial impacts shown as liabilities on its balance sheet.
ML is not publicly traded, but most government agencies commit to some degree of parity in their financial disclosure practices. Would a publicly traded company have this much latitude to hide a projected missed target date on a multi billion dollar investment until the bitter end?
- Paul
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Urban Sky
Senior Member
I'm neither a lawyer nor an accountant either and I unfortunately can't shed light on any of your speculation.
However, let's pretend we were talking about VIA Rail and it would face a situation where the opening of HFR was delayed (we are obviously in a parallel universe where HFR has been approved and funded and is to be built by a third party, but operated by VIA!). Would this substantially alter its capital and operating subsidy requirements? The question of capital subsidies obviously depends on the contract and with which proportion of construction risks it burdens the successful bidder. However, given that VIA's developments between 2014 and 2019 have already shown that when increasing its Corridor services, revenues increase much faster than its costs, we can expect that any delay in opening HFR would cause a significant increase in its operating deficit (i.e. after its massive fixed costs) compared to if HFR was already operational. Mind you, though, that VIA has a farebox-recovery ratio of 130% on the Corridor, whereas transit networks usually have a ratio well below 100%…
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Coolibop
Active Member
Has anyone had issues getting issues resolved though Metrolinx's contact centre surrounding open payment?
Since using their open pay, they double charged my account and they aren't really much help (I'm on the 4th interaction). I'm going to go through the credit card provider for charge back, but was wondering if others have had problems getting results.
Since using their open pay, they double charged my account and they aren't really much help (I'm on the 4th interaction). I'm going to go through the credit card provider for charge back, but was wondering if others have had problems getting results.
T3G
Senior Member
The Kafkaesque incompetence of every Metrolinx touches will never cease to amaze me.
This afternoon, I thought I'd head down to Kennedy station to do a spot of bus fanning along South Service Road. The spot I was stood at was here:
I had been standing here for not even 10 minutes when a construction worker comes along and asks what I'm doing. I tell him I'm taking pictures of buses, etc, and he tells me the area is closed for construction. I'm confused because I wasn't standing in the actual construction zone pictured on the right hand side of the sidewalk, and I tell him I see people walking down there, and he says that those people were ignoring the rules and the whole area was out of bounds and I didn't have the proper PPE, and that the closest I could stand to the area was the west side of the intersection with Transway Crescent.
To his credit, the worker was polite (not that I would've gotten into a confrontation even if he wasn't, though), but, still, WTF? No barricades across the sidewalk, no signage posted, nothing. And this isn't the first time I had a run in at a Metrolinx facility like this - last year I went to Union station to photo the Ontario Northland test train, and as it was fairly chilly I walked to the end of the platform into the sun to warm up a bit, when a construction worker told me the platform was out of bounds past the farthest east exit. What the hell are they smoking at Metrolinx? Anyone with the faintest bit of common sense would block an area they wanted to restrict access to off and post signage indicating that the area is closed, but apparently this concept has not yet been introduced to the geniuses downtown. Not that any of this makes sense, anyway - why are the buses allowed to speed through this so-called "construction site", then?
This afternoon, I thought I'd head down to Kennedy station to do a spot of bus fanning along South Service Road. The spot I was stood at was here:
I had been standing here for not even 10 minutes when a construction worker comes along and asks what I'm doing. I tell him I'm taking pictures of buses, etc, and he tells me the area is closed for construction. I'm confused because I wasn't standing in the actual construction zone pictured on the right hand side of the sidewalk, and I tell him I see people walking down there, and he says that those people were ignoring the rules and the whole area was out of bounds and I didn't have the proper PPE, and that the closest I could stand to the area was the west side of the intersection with Transway Crescent.
To his credit, the worker was polite (not that I would've gotten into a confrontation even if he wasn't, though), but, still, WTF? No barricades across the sidewalk, no signage posted, nothing. And this isn't the first time I had a run in at a Metrolinx facility like this - last year I went to Union station to photo the Ontario Northland test train, and as it was fairly chilly I walked to the end of the platform into the sun to warm up a bit, when a construction worker told me the platform was out of bounds past the farthest east exit. What the hell are they smoking at Metrolinx? Anyone with the faintest bit of common sense would block an area they wanted to restrict access to off and post signage indicating that the area is closed, but apparently this concept has not yet been introduced to the geniuses downtown. Not that any of this makes sense, anyway - why are the buses allowed to speed through this so-called "construction site", then?