Paris transit plans eclipse Toronto
Read More: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/in-paris-a-different-vision-for-subways/article12901813/
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In an epic project dubbed “Pharaonic†for its scale, Paris is soon to start digging 200 kilometres of subway tunnels that will finally give the city’s sprawling suburbs proper transit. The work is being driven by the national government, on the premise that the economic vitality of the capital region is crucial to the country as a whole.
- Visions differ dramatically in Toronto and Paris. The French capital’s subway system will be more than six times as long as Toronto’s once both cities are finished their currently planned transit lines. But the French project offers food for thought to the Toronto area as it ponders its own plans.
- Although digging has not begun, the first line is to open by 2020, and all the new routes are scheduled to be operational a decade later. It’s an ambitious goal and the group is planning to borrow against future revenue streams to get the tunnel-boring machines into the ground as quickly as possible.
- The project will be funded through four main revenue sources, all applied in the Paris area only. They include an increase in the tax on office space, a levy on every resident in the region, a contribution from the state-owned public transit operator and a user fee paid by the company that will operate the new system. Together these will generate 800 to 900-million euros annually. This will be used to pay down the debt. “Within 30 years, we’re done,†said Mr. Missoffe, brushing his hands briskly together.
- In Ontario, where Metrolinx has proposed a sweeping transit plan for the Toronto area, remarkably similar numbers are being floated. The provincial agency says it will cost about $34-billion for its “next-wave†network of subways, light rail and bus rapid transit. But it remains to be seen the extent to which Metrolinx will borrow to speed up construction. John Howe, vice-president of investment strategy and project evaluation with Metrolinx, said they can’t make any such decisions until they know the extent and stability of annual funding.
- Although the city’s transit service is updating its subway signalling to allow computer control of the trains, there will continue to be an operator in the cab. And for the foreseeable future, trains will continue to have a second person on board to man the doors. Management would like to phase out that role, but the union has indicated it will oppose such a change on safety grounds. The subway system in Toronto is also tiny compared to Paris.
- In Toronto, Metrolinx is determined to build a network system that connects suburbs to each other. This is a break from older transit thinking, which is usually based on a radial system that funnels people into the downtown. In the same way, the new Paris plan links together residents in outlying areas, most of whom now drive. Residents of Clichy-sous-Bois, the suburb with high unemployment that spawned widespread rioting in 2005, will no longer have to go almost all the way into Paris before changing trains and returning to job options at the international airport, only a few kilometres from their homes.
- Andy Byford, the head of the TTC, has said he will go to Ottawa in person to advocate for funding, and Metrolinx CEO Bruce McCuaig, speaking after the agency’s board meeting this week, reiterated that the federal government needs to step up and pay 30 per cent of transit capital costs. One day earlier, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne called for federal transportation support, “not only to unlock gridlock, but to invest in jobs and economic prosperity in our time.â€
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