Transit ‘rethink’ panned
Re A ‘rethink’ for Scarborough’s subway plans, June 21 Has the “Rob Ford Virus” of subways, subways, subways infected John Tory and members of city council? Will we be going the route of the “white elephant” Sheppard subway or the more sensible LRT plan backed by the city’s chief planner Jennifer Keesmaat, which would apparently serve tens of thousands more people at approximately the same cost?
We shouldn’t be wasting money on a one-stop subway that would once again relegate Scarborough residents to “secondclass” as bus users. Let’s hope that saner heads prevail. Warren Dalton, Scarborough Only the people of Scarborough can now save Toronto from its worst spending and transit decision ever. It’s obvious that spending $2.9 billion on a one-stop subway with limited ridership is (to put it kindly) misguided. It’s equally obvious that the inevitable cost overruns to come will drive the final price tag much higher.
Worst of all, this massive spending will do so little to actually improve transit for residents across Scarborough, where massive upgrades and investments are needed. City and provincial officials need to hear this message from Scarborough residents. Nothing else will now sway them back to reality.
Good people of Scarborough, let your voices be heard. Contact government officials, organize community groups, hold rallies to get your message across. Let’s make big transit investments in Scarborough that will actually serve Scarborough residents well. That rules out the proposed subway. Myer Siemiatycki, North York A Tesla Model 3 electric car is projected to cost about $40,000. The subway is projected to carry about 4,500 riders. John Tory can give each rider a Tesla, costing about $200 million. He could also buy another 1,000 as spares for casual riders. Total cost would be less than $300 million — about 10 per cent of the current projected subway cost. Since virtually every transit expansion project has come in late and over budget, the savings will likely be even greater. Michael Yaffe, Toronto If I understand correctly, the province agreed to fully fund a seven-stop LRT so that better transportation would be available to Scarborough/downtown travellers with a capacity of some 15,000 passengers.
During the Ford administration, Toronto council fixated on the word “subway” as if it were a miracle about to transform public transportation and this fixation was adopted by Mayor Tory. The numbers suggest that instead of the province-paid seven-stop LRT serving some 15,000 passengers, Tory has declared that it somehow is a better deal to have a “subway” with one stop, serving only some 7,300 passengers and costing Toronto taxpayers an inflated $2.9 billion.
The numbers dictate that Tory needs to face facts and stop pushing for the one-stop subway that will not provide needed transportation while costing taxpayers $2.9 billion (and counting). He must realize that initial promises of “subways” are word games that cost billions that taxpayers cannot afford; to serve paltry numbers of people when a more efficient and lower cost LRT stares him in the face.
There is no shame in admitting your initial idea was wrong. T.A. Bryk, Toronto
“Let’s make big transit investments in Scarborough that will actually serve Scarborough residents well. That rules out the proposed subway.” MYER SIEMIATYCKI NORTH YORK
Let’s rethink the rethink of the original plan. Didn’t the Big Move propose all of these solutions a decade ago? There seem to be many ridership estimates, but does the TTC know where people really need to go?
Not just the way they currently get there, given the existing public transit and road systems. I’ve seen TTC data that show ‘on’ and ‘off’ traffic at each subway/SRT station, but I don’t see how it really captures where people need to go after the subway. How does the TTC measure bus transfer direction and destination, other than observation?
I’d be interested to see people plot their home, and typical daily destination on a digital map. Would patterns emerge that offer clear-cut solutions for mass transit? Surely there’s an app for that. Norm Girndt, Toronto I implore the mayor to do the right thing. Shelve the subway extension and move ahead now with an LRT network for Scarborough. Moya Beall, Toronto There seems to be an obsession with an expanded network of high-priced LRTs for Scarborough. Lots of stops at high cost. Let me put forward a better alternative: buses. A combination of VBBs (very big buses) travelling in dedicated lanes for high volume routes and regular buses everywhere else.
This could be delivered very fast and at a fraction of the cost of LRTs. It would also be more flexible and lower the cost of maintenance, by not needing garages close to the network. Who will be the first councillor to propose this? Lars Nordgren, Scarborough The fact that people voted for a threestop subway and all they’re going to get is one stop should have been enough to stop this project, never mind the billiondollar extra cost. End it now, Mr. Tory. Let’s go back to that paid-for LRT. Ellen Bates, Scarborough Oh city councillors, give your head a shake and look at the obvious. Grant a few thousand dollars to give the city of Toronto an iconic permanent fixture that has generated millions of social media hits or buy a few thousand votes and build a one-stop subway (sounds kind of funny when you say it out loud) at a cost of $2.9 billion (and counting) to service 7,300 riders? Oh my. J.R. Brown, Toronto Enough already about the mismanagement of transit planning and building. The simple solution is to take the transit file out the hands of Toronto councillors and let the people who are hired for their expertise do the job.
TTC chief Andy Byford is a transit expert. Hire another expert to assist him and give him a staff to work with, and get on with it. As well, that group should be off limits to all Toronto politicians. Allan McPherson, Newmarket There is only one taxpayer but three levels of governments. I am sure that most Toronto taxpayers are not behind council’s decision to continue spending money on the Scarborough subway extension. I am also sure many people in Scarborough feel the same way. It’s not as though there isn’t a viable alternative. The decision was pure politics.
If either the provincial government or the federal government decided to not give another cent to Toronto for transit until this project is cancelled they would gain tremendous credibility and be in position to get more seats and win back some of the skepticism so prevalent among voters. Harry Coupland, Rexdale Re Increased cost should kill this project, June 20 Another excellent column by Edward Keenan on Toronto’s subway fiasco. I agree with him 100 per cent, except for the cost of $3 billion. From experience on previous projects, I could see that the cost will increase again before a shovel is even put in the ground. Then once it gets underway (if ever), there would be all those extras for unforeseen circumstances. I would guess $5 billion would be closer to the truth. Robert Herscovitch, Toronto Maybe we should get Ed Keenan to run for municipal office. At least we would have someone who could put forth a rational and economically feasible proposal to get our transit system moving in a timely manner.
The continual flip-flopping and highly politicized manoeuvring that Mayor Tory and the once highly touted Jennifer Keesmaat are forcing us to absorb appears to reflect their lack of understanding of the issues and their inability (or reluctance) to actually make a decision and move forward with it.
Tory, Keesmaat and the rest of council need to understand that the people of Toronto are not going to put up with this bologna much longer. Steve Craine, Toronto After his election, Mayor Tory promised to base his decisions on evidence, not public opinion polls. Good. More accurate cost estimates for his favoured one-stop Scarborough subway have just increased by $1 billion to $3 billion. Where is our low-tax-obsessed mayor going to find the money?
He continues to reject the previously approved surface LRT with seven stops fully funded by the province at half the cost of the subway. Stig Harvor, Toronto Gee, this subway folly cost has risen a near-billion dollars even before they start digging. Wow. Keep It Simply Surface (KISS) should be a guide to us. And why not have those who vote in favour of billion-dollar-plus projects put all their net worth into it, too? Hamish Wilson, Toronto Early in his campaign, John Tory talked about due diligence. Maybe he should do some of that diligence before trying to sell one of his transit plans. P.A. Reid, Toronto To paraphrase Mark Twain, “In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made the Toronto City Council.” Herb Alexander, Thornhill