THUNDER BAY – Leader’s Ledger – Thunder Bay’s Bombardier plant has an almost symbiotic relationship with the Toronto Transit Commission. The streetcars and light rail cars made in Thunder Bay are rolling on the tracks of the TTC’s lines taking commuters to their destinations. Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is looking to make changes to Toronto’s Transit.
Here is the latest from Mayor Ford:
For almost 100 years, Toronto’s transit system has been based on a backbone of subways. It’s time to get back on track.
Transit riders want RAPID transit. Transit City was NEVER planned to be rapid. My plan is “do-able” and can deliver RAPID transit for Toronto in an affordable way.
On March 31, 2011, the City of Toronto, the Province and Metrolinx agreed to a 25 Km rapid-transit line that will run across the Eglinton corridor. The Eglinton-Scarborough Crosstown Line will run from Black Creek Drive to Kennedy station, largely underground except for the Don Valley – then elevated above ground from Kennedy station to Scarborough Town Centre along the existing Scarborough RT alignment.
Eglinton-Scarborough Crosstown planning is well underway and the anticipated date of completion is 2020. Moving the line off the surface allows for faster vehicle speeds and vastly reduced travel times for users – by as much as half of comparable surface route options.
Even the Pembina Institute, a left-of centre think tank, says Mayor Ford’s plan for a Sheppard subway would attract more riders, remove more vehicles from traffic and reduce more Green House Gas emissions than the Transit City Sheppard LRT plan. The current Metrolinx plan for the Eglinton-Scarborough Crosstown Line can do the same for Eglinton. More people will use it because it is faster than surface transit.
Please remember that Transit City was NEVER a rapid transit plan and offered rider travel times just marginally better than buses.
Example: TTC estimates an underground rapid transit line will take about half the travel time of surface transit between Laird Ave. to Kennedy Station:
o Underground Rapid Transit: 14 minutes
o Surface Rail: 24 Minutes
o Bus: 28 minutes
More people will use transit when it’s faster. It can only be faster if it’s not on the surface. For almost 100 years (from 1910 to March 2007,) Toronto based its transit planning around subways. We must get back to this thinking so residents can have the rapid transit system they need to reduce commuting times, fight congestion and protect the environment.
Mayor Rob Ford
City of Toronto