Citizens, not secrets, killed LRT
Re How a secret TTC memo killed the LRT in Scarborough (Oct. 24) A secret note? I don’t think so. The Scarborough LRT has been killed by the voices of Scarborough citizens who have a vision of a world-class, seamless subway system for their residents to get to school and work. There are three key words here: voices, vision and seamless. First, the voices of Scarborough citizens have heretofore been ignored and dismissed by City Hall and the media at their peril. Secondly, a vision of a world-class subway system for Scarborough means planning for the future. And third, a seamless transportation system simply makes sense. Sandra Yard, Scarborough I’ve read Jennifer Pagliaro’s masterful pulling together of facts, sins of commission and sins of omission three times. It adds up to a manipulation of truth, fomenting dubious statements and disseminating duplicitous comparators solely for political purposes. Shame on Mayor John Tory, shame on TTC CEO Andy Byford, shame on TTC board chairperson Councillor Josh Colle, shame on Premier Kathleen Wynne and shame on all their minions, great and small, who contributed to this deceitful debacle.
Together with those councillors who defeated Councillor Josh Matlow’s efforts to put “people before politics,” you have done a terrible disservice to Toronto and its people. Bernard Katz, Toronto Anyone who thinks about it has to wonder why city council chose a one-stop subway over a cheaper, multi-stop LRT for Scarborough.
The obvious difference is that the subway will tend to make Scarborough into a bedroom community, but an LRT might support a downtown shopping and office centre.
The winners with a subway will be condo developers. The winners with an LRT would be the people of Scarborough and Toronto. Problem is, most politicians will lean to big money rather than to people, and the big money is the developers. Andy Turnbull, Toronto It seems a visibly frustrated Mayor John Tory would like to put the Scarborough subway vs. LRT discussions to rest.
If he thinks taxpayers are going to sit on the sidelines while he leads council down the path of wasting billions of dollars on his one-stop Scarborough subway folly, he is sadly mistaken.
He also has the gall to state that, in his lifetime, he expects to see his one-stop white elephant extended farther.
The more likely reality is that the city will face bankruptcy due to his wasteful spending, combined with his complete abdication of any leadership in raising the real revenues this city needs. Terry Kushnier, Scarborough
“A six-kilometrelong subway tunnel with no stops is nothing but tunnel vision, which is unlikely to reduce traffic congestion or secure any meaningful increase in transit ridership.” MURTAZA HAIDER RYERSON UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR
Although replacing the Scarborough Rapid Transit (SRT) line with a new LRT costs fewer dollars, it’s the wrong technology if major modal shifts to transit are a goal — which they should be.
The longer term is more important. Toronto will continue to grow, the cost of driving will continue to grow and the need for dramatic shifts to fight climate change is greater every year.
The longer-term solution is to build the subway. The $3.2 billion cost can be seen in a scenario of 30-year financing. The argument is that the beneficiaries of the subway will be people living in Scarborough and Toronto 20, 30 or more years from now, so they should help pay for it. John Stillich, Sustainable Urban Development Association, Toronto The revelation that misleading cost estimates of the Scarborough LRT might have influenced the outcome of the vote is troubling. However, as commuters, we should be more concerned about the transit alternative that will increase ridership and mitigate traffic congestion.
A six-kilometre-long subway tunnel with no stops is nothing but tunnel vision, which is unlikely to reduce traffic congestion or secure any meaningful increase in transit ridership.
The LRT option, with multiple stops, offers the potential to expand the transit network using express buses to struggling areas of Scarborough. The subway will almost exclusively improve the welfare of the well-off households who could afford living in the existing and planned condos surrounding the Scarborough Town Centre. Murtaza Haider, associate professor, Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University