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Toronto Crosstown LRT | ?m | ?s | Metrolinx | Arcadis

Vester's leaving means we are months away from its opening... or there are new problems and little idea around an opening date.

I'd also say if this isn't open by the spring, there will be no spring election.

Ford could argue that Vester was Wynne's hand-picked appointee, and that the procurement and financing was mostly under the Liberals' watch.
 
Tbf Well allowance doesn't necessarily mean that he used it. It's just available to him if he needed it. That being said if he doesn't have a car but still claimed that allowance as part of his income, that would be fraud
If all other executives get a free 12k to use on their car, Verster should be able to get access to it despite not even having a car. Its only fair really.

The real news here is the fact that Verster is like the only transit CEO on this continent who doesn't drive, which is frankly a breath of fresh air next to folks like Leary.
 
I'd be really surprised if the timing of this opening has any factor in the calculus of the election call. It has more to do with how they are polling today. And possibly the status of the OPP investigation.

It would be nice if Lindsay used the period of his honeymoon to drop all the bad news, so it's out in the open and not on his head. Line 5, Line 2 extension TBM ... and the current Line 6 and 10 tentative schedule. Plus whatever is going on with OnCorridor.
Completely agree.
1st off, most of the PC voters live outside of Toronto.
And even for people who live in the GTA or Toronto, unless you live on Eglinton or follow the development of Transit projects, you really don't care about this project... it won't have a significant impact on any elections
 
The latest speculation from the Star's Edward Keenan:

Opinion | Is Phil Verster leaving Metrolinx good news — or a sign something bad is coming down the track?​


For the benefit of those who can't access the page, the key points are:

"And then there’s another thought that might temper the celebration some are tempted to feel. It’s the same one I raised a few months ago when those directly in charge of the Crosstown left their jobs in a shakeup intended to break the construction logjam.

Verster is reportedly leaving to take another job. Is that something he would likely do right now if he were on the verge of having good news to announce? There have been growing hints that maybe, finally, the Eglinton Crosstown and/or the Finch West LRT might be ready to open sooner rather than later. But if it were a matter of a few months, wouldn’t Verster try to stick around to make the announcement, cut the ribbon and go out on a high note?

I mean, is it possible he is leaving to avoid having to stand up in front of the cameras again and deliver even worse news? After 14 years of Crosstown construction futility capped by two full years of “we don’t have any idea when it will be done, and we aren’t even willing to propose a target date,” it’s hard to even imagine what worse news would be.

Whatever news, it will be announced by Infrastructure Ontario CEO Michael Lindsay, who is taking over as interim Metrolinx CEO. He’ll be the third Metrolinx boss in the Eglinton Crosstown era, since construction on that line started. We can only pray he will be the last."
 
If all other executives get a free 12k to use on their car, Verster should be able to get access to it despite not even having a car. Its only fair really.

The real news here is the fact that Verster is like the only transit CEO on this continent who doesn't drive, which is frankly a breath of fresh air next to folks like Leary.

I 100% agree with you. There is a conversation to be has about whether CEOs get far too much in compensation (I feel they almost always do), but whatever way one cuts it, or how they feel about Verster, the fact is that any car owning CEO that got the 12k allowance would then be left with an extra 12k of their own personal money that they wouldn't have to spend on their car and could use it for whatever they want. It's as though that expense doesn't exist. Why should someone who doesn't own a car not be entitled to that same amount of money? Why penalize someone for not clogging our roads? As far as I am concerned this is a non story.

Having a car specific allowance was a stupid idea to begin with. Just pay the guy whatever and then he can use whatever portion of that money on a car, or not.
 
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The more I see what is happening in the GTA and especially in the central area the more I see the (eventual) opening of Eglinton as a major milestone in our history similar to the opening of the Yonge Line or the Gardiner. I look forward to reading Micallef’s and Bozikovik’s thoughts on that day!
 
Apparently, Phil is seeiking a role overseas per Steve Munro's latest on today's board meeting:

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@Northern Light do you think that Verster's exit has an impact on the timeline you were quoted? tyia

No, I don't.

***

Do watch for dropping shoes, for better and worse..... but on this one (fingers crossed)..... I think we can see the horizon.
 
Of the urban rail systems in NA I tried to think of those that are grids rather than just hub and spoke and I got NY, Montreal, LA (kind of) and now Toronto. Did I miss any? I don’t think a lot of people are ready for the amount of change the opening of this line and its interchanges is going to have!
 
Of the urban rail systems in NA I tried to think of those that are grids rather than just hub and spoke and I got NY, Montreal, LA (kind of) and now Toronto. Did I miss any? I don’t think a lot of people are ready for the amount of change the opening of this line and its interchanges is going to have!
LA Metro when considering their expansion plans will probably be one of the best examples of a Grid Network in NA. Aside from that, I'm not 100% sold on calling NYC a grid network. Its a weird hybrid where every route except for the Nassau St and Crosstown Lines all end up in Midtown Manhattan.
 

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