Fixing the public transit we already have first

Voters in the northern suburbs bordering Steeles Ave. are concerned not just that Toronto doesn’t have enough public transit but that the TTC should do a better job of running the system we do have.

That was a key message that emerged from interviews with 25 voters Sunday in Ward 24, Willowdale and Ward 39, Scarborough-Agincourt.

Jeannie Kwong is fed up with subway delays on the current system due to mechanical difficulties such as signal trouble. The result is that neither transit nor the private car offer speedy trips.

“Do you want to be stuck on transit or stuck in traffic in your car?” Kwong said, on a cigarette break outside Bayview Village Shopping Centre. “I feel one is as bad as the other.”

The key thing is to start, said one man outside Bridlewood Mall at Warden and Finch.

“Even if we built one kilometre a year, in 20 years we’d have 20 kilometres of subway,” said the man, who didn’t want to give his name.

Not everyone had a complaint. Graham Davies, a retired marketing professor who doesn’t drive, said he’s happy living in his condo on the south side of Sheppard across from the Bayview Village mall.

While transit and traffic dominated the thoughts of many voters, other concerns included lack of police presence in northern Scarborough and slow response to calls for police assistance there.

There was criticism of property taxes being too high and water rates rising too fast, at 9 per cent a year for the past several years.

And there were calls for more affordable housing, a need for advocacy for tougher rent control and more jobs.

On traffic congestion, some of the mayoral candidates have pledged to introduce smart traffic signals that would help unsnarl intersections.

However, those who identified tieups as a major headache were skeptical that the technology would make much of a difference.

One answer to traffic mayhem may to slow down on development, said Wali Ghafori, 28, a cab driver who lives near Birchmount and Finch.

“They’re building a lot of condos,” said Ghafori, a native of Afghanistan who’s lived in Toronto for 17 years. “There’s so much happening. It would be nice if they were more spread out.”