OH, so you are concerned for both people and money?? Why didn't you say so. There's a simple solution. Bus rapid transit. Cheaper than LRT. It's not looked into... so naturally that people and cost is not the main deal behind the thoughts going into this.
While BRT may have it's advantages, it certainly isn't a magic solution to the problems TC is trying to address (not saying that LRT is a magic solution either, just that anyone putting forward the belief that any one thing is perfect just has not seriously looked at the situation).
BRT certainly would not be conducive on Eglinton, for example, through the central 12km of the line (and subway isn't a rational economic solution outside that central segment).
Eglinton is not a metro. It's an underground tram. Metro implies high capacity heavy rail.
And I stated Eglinton is a metro where? In the underground portion, running multi-car trains with ATC, it will have near-subway capacity.
Both those guys are handicapped incompetent idiots. If in about 25 years they managed to only build the sheppard stub line, then indeed they are incompetent idiots.
I'm just not following this train of thought (aside from the fact that there are more than two municipal and provincial politicians). You demand openness and accountability from those who make the decisions, so presumably that means you don't want a private corporation or a backroom meeting of political appointees (like, say, Metrolinx). Elected politicians are accountable to the electorate on a regular basis.
But now you complain that politicians are incompetent idiots, presumably meaning you'd rather things were planned by other, non-accountable experts (who are only 'experts' if their plans happen to be what you think they should be).
You are trying to wiggle your way out of this issue. There is no bias towards the cars, but towards the human being.
Say what? My bias most certainly towards the human being as they are the ones being counted in the capacity of a road to transport them. The more human beings that can be moved along a given road within a given time, the better, both for those specific human beings and for the rest of society. With that bias, I would tend to give greater preference to 100 people in streetcars than 20 people in cars. Some view those in cars are more equal than others, but that isn't something I'd agree with.
If you care so much about money build some BRT. On the other hand, there is no reason why you should not extend the subway as planned.
That is a pretty disjointed conclusion as it is not a black or white, BRT or subway option. Subways quite simply cost many times more than surface LRT. If one believes that there will not be subway level demand on a route in the foreseeable future, then it makes more sense to build several kms of surface LRT than one km of subway.
While LRT can cost more than BRT, it also can have a greater capacity (while also requiring few operators - important for costs given the percentage of the TTC operating budget that goes to salaries).
But yes, I understand some people would rather have that much more limited subway.
I'll tell you what, the guys who benefit the most from tramsit city are the car and highway lobbies. They would be in big shit if there was to be a big expansion of metro lines. Instead with the expansion of sub-par tram lines people are going to be more likely to stay in their own personal vehicles than switch. The number of people switching will be less.
So it's a cost-benefit analysis then. If, for example, building a given line (say Eglinton) as LRT encourages 3000 more people to use it rather than existing buses, but building it as subway (for several billion dollars more) encourages 6000 more people to use it rather than existing buses, it is an economical decision? (This is starting from the assumption that the bus system on Eglinton, at least through the central portion, is at capacity and can not handle any increase in demand, necessitating something being done.)
Exactly, they are using it to go to the downtown... that's the exact problem, that the uses of the line are impaired/limited.
So the problem is the people using the Sheppard subway as part of their trip downtown? Are you suggesting they should instead be directed to travel somewhere else? What if they want to get to their job downtown?
DRL costs a whole lot more, if I'm not mistaken.
Absolutely DRL will cost billions. It's got to go through tight spaces with a lot of existing infrastructure. But until you come up with a way to convince all those people using Sheppard en route to downtown or all those other people streaming in to Finch en route to downtown not to actually go downtown, then you need to address the very real issue that the Yonge line simply can not handle any more riders during peak periods.
This is not a matter of 'it would be better if we could take the subway all the way to STC', but 'we NEED to relieve the Yonge line'.
Oh don't worry, when the next mayor cancels tramsit city, there will hopefully be another plan. They will give funding. Don't worry.
Sure, I'll put my faith in someone who has little to no record of working with others to magically convince the province that despite their recent assertion to specifically allocate their money to TC, they should instead cancel that funding and put it towards some to-be-determined and planned subway addressing a small segment of the city. Nothing at all to worry about.
No man, the cancelation of Tramsit City is key. Only that way can they understand to not fuck around with such a b.s. plan that was made without any citizen participation.
I believe someone else has pointed out how your claim of no citizen participation is flawed, if not outright false. Just because they didn't set up a discussion forum in your living room doesn't mean it didn't occur.
End the authoritarian planning methods! Protest, rebel, do whatever it takes, just oppose TC! Everyone should! It's our duty towards not just ourselves but towards the city and our future offspring!
I thought you previously said some portions of TC did make sense to you? It's difficult to follow just what your position is in this case.
