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The good news: It's fast The bad news: It's fast
Merchants bemoan streetcar users who speed on through
Mar 17, 2007 04:30 AM
Jen Gerson
Staff Reporter
Toronto's Spadina light rail transit line affords a great, albeit brief, view of Chinatown.
In the 26 minutes it takes to travel between the Spadina and Union subway stations, commuters can glean a sense of this neighbourhood: They can see the tables of $5 shoes, the sellers of dubious DVDs and the fruit stands stuffed with sugarcane, oranges and chestnuts for less than a dollar a pound.
They breeze by, but don't stop in like they used to.
Those shopkeepers who have been around long enough to remember a time before the dedicated transit line are still too angry to talk about it.
The City of Toronto now has a plan to build similar streetcar-only lanes along the Finch and Eglinton Aves. corridors, north into Scarborough, linking Don Mills to the Bloor subway, and along the lakeshore.
To those who use the Spadina streetcar or drive the avenue, the consensus is clear: Light rail transit makes the neighbourhood easier to get through.
It wasn't always this way.
Before the dedicated streetcar lane was built in 1997, the cars that came here stuck – whether they wanted to or not. They were parked at 45-degree angles, jutting from corners.
The cars were jammed, the buses took forever and when the people came, they stayed.
"Everything is going this way," says Daniel Choi, pointing his index finger to the ground of his Art Supply shop at College St. and Spadina Ave. His shop has been on this corner for 27 years, he says.
"It's one of the oldest on the street now. Everybody has moved away."
The Spadina streetcar, he says, "killed the area."
It's been the common refrain in a fight – fought on Spadina and more recently on St. Clair Ave.– that has pitted shopkeepers against pedestrians, commuters and drivers.
When the Spadina streetcar lane was proposed in the mid-'90s, the community kicked up a fuss, claiming it could put up to 100 merchants out of business.
Dedicated streetcar lanes kill parking, reduce the room left on the streets for drivers, and make left turns confusing.
They're also efficient, cleaner-running than buses, hold up to 100 passengers, and offer a better view than the subway.
They're much cheaper than extending the subway, and don't hold up traffic at every city block as passengers get on and off. It was as easy an argument then as it is now.
The 3.7-kilometre Spadina line took 4 1/2 years to complete and cost $105 million.
With streetcars arriving every three minutes on average, the trip is described by commuters as convenient as well as pleasant.
"You've got to see what's going on outside," says William Sonier, while waiting for a streetcar at the Spadina station.
"You've got to see the hustle and bustle. If you don't, there's no point in living in the city. If you live in the city, you don't stay underground."
If the Spadina experience holds true, more Torontonians will soon get a view of the north and southernmost ends of Toronto – through a window travelling at an average of 14 km/h.
"It's a little confusing when you're trying to make left turns," says Irene Ash, who lives north of the line and drives down it regularly. "But other than that, and the parking down here, it's quick."
Yes, agrees Compton Clarke, a cab driver of 17 years, the dedicated lane on Spadina is a pain sometimes.
"But if we want to solve the city's traffic problems, we have to do this. We have to move people efficiently," he says.
"Nobody wants to say this, but in order to move people on public transit, first we have to frustrate drivers."
He adds: "Transit, in the end, will win out."
Merchants bemoan streetcar users who speed on through
Mar 17, 2007 04:30 AM
Jen Gerson
Staff Reporter
Toronto's Spadina light rail transit line affords a great, albeit brief, view of Chinatown.
In the 26 minutes it takes to travel between the Spadina and Union subway stations, commuters can glean a sense of this neighbourhood: They can see the tables of $5 shoes, the sellers of dubious DVDs and the fruit stands stuffed with sugarcane, oranges and chestnuts for less than a dollar a pound.
They breeze by, but don't stop in like they used to.
Those shopkeepers who have been around long enough to remember a time before the dedicated transit line are still too angry to talk about it.
The City of Toronto now has a plan to build similar streetcar-only lanes along the Finch and Eglinton Aves. corridors, north into Scarborough, linking Don Mills to the Bloor subway, and along the lakeshore.
To those who use the Spadina streetcar or drive the avenue, the consensus is clear: Light rail transit makes the neighbourhood easier to get through.
It wasn't always this way.
Before the dedicated streetcar lane was built in 1997, the cars that came here stuck – whether they wanted to or not. They were parked at 45-degree angles, jutting from corners.
The cars were jammed, the buses took forever and when the people came, they stayed.
"Everything is going this way," says Daniel Choi, pointing his index finger to the ground of his Art Supply shop at College St. and Spadina Ave. His shop has been on this corner for 27 years, he says.
"It's one of the oldest on the street now. Everybody has moved away."
The Spadina streetcar, he says, "killed the area."
It's been the common refrain in a fight – fought on Spadina and more recently on St. Clair Ave.– that has pitted shopkeepers against pedestrians, commuters and drivers.
When the Spadina streetcar lane was proposed in the mid-'90s, the community kicked up a fuss, claiming it could put up to 100 merchants out of business.
Dedicated streetcar lanes kill parking, reduce the room left on the streets for drivers, and make left turns confusing.
They're also efficient, cleaner-running than buses, hold up to 100 passengers, and offer a better view than the subway.
They're much cheaper than extending the subway, and don't hold up traffic at every city block as passengers get on and off. It was as easy an argument then as it is now.
The 3.7-kilometre Spadina line took 4 1/2 years to complete and cost $105 million.
With streetcars arriving every three minutes on average, the trip is described by commuters as convenient as well as pleasant.
"You've got to see what's going on outside," says William Sonier, while waiting for a streetcar at the Spadina station.
"You've got to see the hustle and bustle. If you don't, there's no point in living in the city. If you live in the city, you don't stay underground."
If the Spadina experience holds true, more Torontonians will soon get a view of the north and southernmost ends of Toronto – through a window travelling at an average of 14 km/h.
"It's a little confusing when you're trying to make left turns," says Irene Ash, who lives north of the line and drives down it regularly. "But other than that, and the parking down here, it's quick."
Yes, agrees Compton Clarke, a cab driver of 17 years, the dedicated lane on Spadina is a pain sometimes.
"But if we want to solve the city's traffic problems, we have to do this. We have to move people efficiently," he says.
"Nobody wants to say this, but in order to move people on public transit, first we have to frustrate drivers."
He adds: "Transit, in the end, will win out."