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Transit City Plan

Which transit plan do you prefer?

  • Transit City

    Votes: 95 79.2%

  • Ford City

    Votes: 25 20.8%
  • Total voters
    120
There was over 20 of us canvassing the West End for the Eglinton LRT on Sat and very strong support for Transit City.

Out of the 300 flyers drop off or handed out, I spoke to 240 people. Out of this group 2 firm no support for TC, 3 fence sitters and the rest supported TC. I spoke to ppl up to 4 blocks below Eglinton and they all had cars.

There was not one person who supported Ford plans or what he has done so far and this included the 2 no supporters for TC.

The rest of the group was getting very similar responses.
 
drum118 said:
There was over 20 of us canvassing the West End for the Eglinton LRT on Sat and very strong support for Transit City.

Out of the 300 flyers drop off or handed out, I spoke to 240 people. Out of this group 2 firm no support for TC, 3 fence sitters and the rest supported TC. I spoke to ppl up to 4 blocks below Eglinton and they all had cars.

There was not one person who supported Ford plans or what he has done so far and this included the 2 no supporters for TC.

The rest of the group was getting very similar responses.
Click to expand...


We already know most people support the Eglinton LRT because of the underground portion that would be as fast as a subway. The real issue is what were the responses from the canvassing efforts in northeast Scarborough regarding the Scarborough-Malvern and Sheppard East LRTs. What are the majority of the people saying about TC out there?
 
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The thing to remember is that it's an either-or situation. We don't have money for both. Which one would have louder public support? Almost certainly Eglinton.
a) The population distribution puts more people being served by Eglinton than Sheppard.
b) The peri-downtown population at least understands the importance of transit, even if they don't use it, moreso than the mid-suburban types.
c) Sheppard's public support is likely to be split pretty well evenly, especially along geographical lines. Those west of Midland or so would almost certainly heavily favour the subway, while those east of it would be more evenly split - particularly if you highlight the SRT extension is part of the LRT package and the subway veers off Sheppard around Kennedy leaving eastern denizens with a long bus ride.

Politically, favouring Eglinton makes sense. Economically, it makes sense. The 3 year head start means it will be ready sooner, it makes sense that way too. The money should be spent on Eglinton - and I doubt Metrolinx's report will say anything other than that.

Once again, it comes down to, does NE Scarborough want a guaranteed LRT starting construction in a few months, or a maybe subway line that has lingered, unfunded, on the books already for over 20 years. That's the real question canvassers have to ask, not "LRT or Subway?"
 
lafard said:
Politically, favouring Eglinton makes sense. Economically, it makes sense. The 3 year head start means it will be ready sooner, it makes sense that way too. The money should be spent on Eglinton - and I doubt Metrolinx's report will say anything other than that.
Click to expand...

I agree. I would be shocked if the new Metrolinx plan doesn't include some form of rapid transit running via the tunnel on Eglinton. It would be very hard to come up with a solid planning rationale that values Sheppard ahead of Eglinton.
 
Someone has commissioned a poll by Leger Marketing regarding Transit City and the results aren't good for Mayor Ford: only 15% of those polled support cancelling Transit City projects in favour of subways. Just 26% believe that, following the election, Ford has a mandate to build subways. And, in the nicest stat, 89% believe that transit plans should not change after every election.

Press release is here: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/January2011/20/c3994.html. Full report is here: http://www.legermarketing.com/documents/SPCLM/111201ENG.pdf. Some more comments from me are here: http://fordfortoronto.mattelliott.ca/2011/01/20/no-mandate-for-fords-transit-plan/ (Shameless!)
 
^
That's the best news for TC that I've heard for a while. I wonder if Fords ego can accept such such a poll and is capable of making a U-turn--especially after pronouncing TC dead (I guess it would make it his 'Mission Accomplished' moment).
 
spaced said:
^
That's the best news for TC that I've heard for a while. I wonder if Fords ego can accept such such a poll and is capable of making a U-turn--especially after pronouncing TC dead (I guess it would make it his 'Mission Accomplished' moment).
Click to expand...

I hope he'll compromise and build most of Transit City but not the Sheppard East LRT.
 
GraphicMatt said:
I think at this point the city would be better off if no one ever brought up the idea of any kind of transit on Sheppard East again.
Click to expand...

 Lets leave Sheppard with nothing so the car can run wild and lets move the TC line to Finch since the western section is already on the drawing board.

At the same time, we close the existing subway since it looses $5-10 m a year and carries next to no one after 9 pm. 22,000 daily riders does not meet the threshold of a subway in the first place.
 
Someone has commissioned a poll by Leger Marketing regarding Transit City and the results aren't good for Mayor Ford: only 15% of those polled support cancelling Transit City projects in favour of subways.
Click to expand...

While I like the result, it's an online poll. The sample frame consists entirely of nerds like us!
 
It was a poll conducted via an online panel by a reputable Market Research and Polling firm. Most pollsters are conducting at least some of their research online now.

It's not like it was a publicly-facing poll on some website somewhere - there's no reason to doubt the methodology here.
 
The good part about this is that Ford will ignore it. The bad part is that Ford will ignore opinions when he's wrong as well.
 
The Poll Numbers

I think we need to clarify the poll numbers here. This is according to Toronto Star on the figures.

When asked to pick between Subways and Light Rail:
55% favor Subway
40% favor Light Rail

When asked between Subways only, Grade Separated Light Rail, and Transit City Light Rail:
~50% favor grade separated Light Rail
32% favor the original Transit City Light Rail
15% favor Subways only

So the findings from this poll show the majority of Torontonians don't necessarily care what vehicles (subway or light rail vehicles) are being used as long as it is grade separated rapid transit - that's not the vision that Transit City outlines.
 
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