Perfectly ... until someone throws in a "dedicated lane" argument. Then it becomes a "glorified streetcar"
Soknacki blasts Ford over bad math
- Thread starter mentalfloss
- Start date
The answer is whatever you want to manipulate it into - seeing as how you avoid sensible discussion
Hey, I'm doing my best with what you are providing me. Post like this don't really lend themselves to "sensible discussion".
I have seen the Harbourfront LRT and the Spadina LRT lines. They are glorified streetcars. They stop at the same lights as regular traffic. I sincerely doubt any of the proposals are for completely dedicated land with underpasses or overpasses like the Scarborough RT. So they are nothing more than glorified streetcars.
As a resident of Scarborough I am forced to use the bus (I choose not to drive which would be a much nicer ride in). The busses are packed because there is heavy population without a decent transit system. Actually, most of Toronto is without a decent transit system. Compare it to New York or Boston and you can see how little of Toronto is serviced by a useable subway. I am not sure why this is. I can only assume that the TTC planner were short sighted morons -- probably complaining about a couple of million dollars or something -- because they did not properly design the system to handle the city's core population no less the suburbs.
And yes, I would not object to paying more in taxes if the money went to infrastructure. Too much of the money in past regimes like the Miller years was wasted on stupid crap like environmental offices in London, England, and other sh-it like that. Meanwhile my wife and I joke everytime we hit a pothole we are hitting a David Miller since no money ever went to road repair -- at least in the suburbs. That has improved under Ford.
And yes, you wonder why people in the suburbs want to vote for Ford. Its because he does actually acknowledge that the City of Toronto is not some core bunch of downtown hippies but does actually include ALL of what used to be Metro Toronto.
Those are actually streetcars. They can only go so fast because stop lights are very close together downtown, and the old vehicles don't help either.
The LRT lines being put in on Sheppard and Eglinton will move much faster because the distance between lights is far greater.
These areas definitely need more than just buses, but the density is nowhere close to making a subway fiscally responsible, even projecting out decades into the future. The LRT lines can move almost three times as many people as the current bus service, and much faster. You know more than anyone else how bad traffic can be during rush hour on these lines. The LRT plan takes the vehicle out of traffic and gives you much more space than the cramped buses.
As for why we didn't build more in the past, it is due to the same political gridlock that we see today. Bob Rae actually started building another line along Eglinton back in the 90's but Harris came in with his "common sense" and filled the hole back in.
If we are going to ask everyone in Toronto to pay more, it has to be a comprehensive plan for that addresses a larger area of Toronto. It really doesn't seem fair to raise everyone's taxes by 1.6% in perpetuity to fund a project that only benefits a a relatively small portion of the city.
Ford gets voters by trying to drive a wedge between downtown and the burbs. It clearly worked on you. You have to be able to see that basing infrastructure spending on spite is not the most efficient way to do things though.
I'm not surprised you vote based on the name.
The tie they wear, how hot their mom is and yes, how Chuck Norris the name. You betcha.
Its still has to stop at lights. And they probably will put an LRT stop every 50 feet.
A steetcar/LRT is no better than a bus. Also, by taking away lanes of the road, an LRT will make driving in the suburbs hell.
Plenty of my tax money goes to crap I don't want. It's only fair some of yours goes to crap you don't want.
There is a wedge between downtown and the burbs. Ford did not create it. It got very pronounced during the Miller years as he sucked our taxes to make the downtown nice and pretty while completely ignoring us. At the very least, Ford is good for pissing the downtown as-sholes off.
Leftys calling someone else fiscally irresponsible is always funny. Subways may have higher up front costs but long term they are a superior system.
The lights happen to also be where the stops are, so it isn't that big of a difference. Stops are all at least half a kilometer apart.
Just stating things doesn't make it true. As it stands, buses don't have their own dedicated lane, they cannot move as fast as LRTs, and they cannot carry as many people. Those are all very substantial differences.
Another things that shows your ignorance on this issue is that you think you will be losing driving lanes. You wont. The road is being widened so you will still have the same number of driving lanes, with the added benefit of not having all those buses blocking the curb lane.
Again, how can you not understand that spite is not valid reasoning for a multi-billion dollar infrastructure plan?
You guys seem so sure that Miller didn't care about the burbs, but do you realize that his signature project was trying to improve transit in the burbs? As much as anyone else, he recognized that these areas were drastically under-served. He managed to get a plan fully funded and get shovels in the ground, and you could have been enjoying the benefits today.
He said do you want a glorified steetcar? We said no. He said have a glorified steetcar. Yes, he listened to the burbs.
Well, certain people tried to characterize it that way to drive a wedge for political gain. As you have made clear, you never even found out what the LRT plan entailed in reality. Look where it has gotten you. You might have 3 more subway stops in 10-15 years if nothing changes before then.
Spending a lot of money up front is kinda the lefty thing to do.
That's why Walter supports his leftist overlord.