Has Tory cut your traffic? Give us your two cents
Now that John Tory has been mayor for nearly a year, it’s time to test his election claim that traffic would improve once he got to drive the bus.
Acentral theme in Tory’s 2014 mayoral campaign was reducing gridlock by cracking down on parking scofflaws, along with other measures to get traffic moving.
It’s hard to quantify, but we drive around the city every day, and it seems to us that traffic is no worse than a year ago. But it sure as hell doesn’t appear to be any better.
During the campaign, Tory often said reducing gridlock and traffic jams was a top priority for him and that after he was elected, it wouldn’t be long before traffic started moving real smooth-like.
And right after the election, he told reporters at Toronto’s Traffic Management Centre that “when it comes to traffic, there’s a new sheriff in town. We can’t go on this way. I won’t put up with it.”
When it comes to showy public relations initiatives, Sheriff Tory has kept his word. Several high-profile illegal parking blitzes on downtown streets, including one this week, have been well publicized.
On Monday morning, the Sheriff personally rode herd over a ticket-and-tow operation in the downtown core, like U.S. Gen. George Marshall in the Second World War (or Napoleon), while tailed by reporters.
About100 vehicles were towed during the morning and afternoon rush hours on Monday, while 672 parking tickets were issued. Tory described it as “very successful.”
Maybe it was, but Toronto’s traffic woes are far more complicated than drivers who block a lane to run into Starbucks for coffee or delivery drivers dropping off a parcel.
It is our observation that there’s still a significant disconnect between the Sheriff’s wishes and the myriad other problems that slow down traffic and cause gridlock.
Here’s an example: Patrick Mark emailed to say he drives downtown on Bayview Ave. during the morning rush and encounters a frustrating bottleneck at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, where traffic turning left blocks the inside lane.
It was always bad, but a traffic island was recently built in the middle of the street, which “greatly shortens the left turn lane into the south entrance (of the hospital) at Blythwood Rd.,” and has lengthened the backup, he said.
“Why did they build a huge island occupying the whole centre left turn lane?” he asked, noting that Bayview is a key route into the downtown core.
No matter what Tory says, there are still far too many ill-considered things getting in the way of traffic, an indication it’s not quite the priority the Sheriff would have us believe.
We want readers to tell us if they think traffic is better or worse since Tory was elected. And if it’s better, let us know if you think it’s because of him, or some other reason.
We’ll report on what you tell us, and we will also ask the Sheriff to tell us exactly what he’s done so far, and how it has improved the situation.
It should be an interesting conversation, if he’ll come to the phone. What’s broken in your neighbourhood? Wherever you are in Greater Toronto, we want to know. To contact us, go to thestar.com/yourtoronto/the_fixer, call us at 416-869-4823 or email jlakey@thestar.ca. To read our blog, go to thestar.com/news/the_fixer. Report problems and follow us on Twitter @TOStarFixer.