City's transit planners are slow to learn
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/753688--city-s-transit-planners-are-slow-to-learn
The attempted power play at Wednesday's TTC meeting was destined to fizzle – a grandstanding motion from Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong calling on the chief general manager and the chair to resign for fiscal mismanagement.
For one, Minnan-Wong's timing was less than perfect. The TTC brass spent considerable time patting themselves on the shoulders for achieving a transit ridership record in 2009 – just over 471 million rides. So, they must be doing something right, no?
As such, chair Adam Giambrone impatiently listened to the councillor's charges of "pathology of mismanagement" leading to tens of millions of dollars in project cost overruns on St. Clair and at Union Station. Then, Giambrone deftly sidelined it with a "thank you" and moved to other business.
If only the TTC's troubles were that easily set aside.
On the contrary, the once better way continues to give credibility to the complaints from its detractors, especially as it relates to St. Clair.
First, users report service is lamentable, now that the streetcars are back – between Yonge and Lansdowne. Commuters wait 20 minutes for a streetcar, only to have them come in bunches. This is precisely what the exclusive right-of-way, on an elevated concrete bed, was designed to avoid.
Second, an "independent review" of the line hit the commission this week. It says too many contractors, changing plans and no firm manager plagued the project and ballooned the price tag to $106 million from $65 million.
TTC spokesman Brad Ross says the service delays are part of growing pains. As well, a number of auto-streetcar collisions have snarled service. Drivers are still learning the signalling for U-turns and left turns across the transit corridor.
He didn't say, but the signage is less than clear. Spadina should have provided ample opportunities to get it right on St. Clair.
Another ill? Delivery trucks that parked on the tracks during the construction continue to do so. That's almost preposterous.
Lessons are being learned, yes. Councillor Joe Mihevc, perennial apologist for the project, Wednesday excused the "not-perfect St. Clair experience" by saying "We all know it was pioneering work."
Well, hardly. Spadina and the Harbourfront LRT preceded it.
The TTC promise to do better – on Sheppard, Eglinton, Finch, Jane, Don Mills and wherever else streetcars get shoehorned into streets where residents crave subways.
Still, it seems the transit planners are slow learners.
Minnan-Wong, for one, says taxpayers can't afford to pay for their "on-the-job training. We pay them to know, not to learn. Somebody has to be held accountable."
Mihevc has some reasons for the delays: Decision to bury the hydro wires? One year delay. Court challenge from citizens: 18 months. Walkerton report on water safety resulted in plan to replace century-old water lines: One year.
The TTC has now learned it's wise to convene all the interested parties before designing a transit project, he says. That's telephone, hydro, cable, water, transportation, business, residents.
You think?
One thing, next time those pesky St. Clair residents won't be around to gum up the process.
Helen Riley, once of the city's pedestrian committee, said Wednesday it was "outrageous" to blame residents for wanting good transit and a livable street.
"Make no mistake about it, no community wants trains running through its main street," she said.
Not like this, anyway.
