ai???One of the consequences of making the wrong decision is that we build a subway where we donai??i??t need it and put an albatross around our neck.ai???
Posted by zweisystem on Wednesday, November 13, 2013 · Leave a Comment
The self destructing Rob Ford, Mayor of Toronto and his all subway dream may soon fade from history, except the fiscal fallout from subway construction will last decades.
Ford’s real quest, of course, was to clear Toronto’s roads of streetcars and/or proposed light rail and even bike lanes to create more road space for cars. In the Ford nation, cars are king.
Like SkyTrain being elevated, subways are built underground with no interface with street traffic. Two immediate problems arise:
- Subways are very costly, both to build and maintain and a subway means that the operating authority can only afford short sections of subways, compared to surface operating light rail.
- Subways are very poor in attracting new ridership, as station spacing is generally much further apart, a subway becomes less convenient to use and what has proven to attract people to public transit is convenience.
If a subway must be built, the general rule of thumb in Europe for the traffic flows necessary to justify the cost of construction, is around 15,000 persons per hour per direction. In North America, where the light rail Renaissance has yet to find its way, subway construction has become one of political prestige, with many cities investing in very expensive subway lines, where much simpler, cheaper and just as efficient LRT would suffice.
This ‘subway mania’Ai?? proposed by Toronto’s Rob Ford, may garner votes in the next election, sadly financial reality of building subways instead of cheaper LRT will not be evident until 30 or 40 years hence.
Rob Fordai??i??s billion-dollar boast not worth a dime
The mayorai??i??s empty boasts reveal a man deeply out of touch with the city he leads
By: Christopher Hume Urban Issues, Published on Mon Oct 28 2013
Rob Fordai??i??s grasp on reality is flimsy even at the best of times. That was once again made clear when His Worship boasted to good buddy Jerry Agar last week that he has single-handedly pulled Toronto back from ai???the cliffai??? since being elected mayor in 2010.
The chief magistrate may live in this city, but clearly he inhabits another planet.
Touting his ai???endless and endless amounts of achievements,ai??? the barely literate Ford blithely recited select parts of his record as if they were heroic actions of a man born to save Toronto from itself. Not quite.
In fact, Fordai??i??s term has been a disaster that will endure long after he has disappeared. His recklessness dealing with issues as diverse as public transit and taxes, bike lanes and vehicle registration fees, will hobble Toronto for decades to come.
This means nothing to Ford Nation. Fuelled by a misguided sense of self-interest and their fear and loathing of anyone who believes the city is worth fighting for, not against, the mayorai??i??s supporters cheer on his every imbecility.
Ford, hard-pressed to tell the difference between LRT and BVD, has turned the cityai??i??s highest office into a shambles.
In its zeal to have a few bucks cut off its property taxes and avoid an onerous $65 vehicle registration fee, Ford Nation has bequeathed to future generations the debt it doesnai??i??t think it should have to pay now. According to the mayor, Torontonians can have the subway they ai???deserveai??? and to hell with the billions it will cost to operate and maintain, let alone build. Unlike Metrolinxai??i??s original Scarborough LRT proposal, which was fully funded, the $3-billion subway extension will serve fewer people and leave Toronto holding the bag not if but when the scheme goes over budget. The city could face cost overruns of more than $900 million. And thatai??i??s just the start.
Letai??i??s not forget that even in the unlikely event that all goes well, the Scarborough subway is expected to provide about 50,000 rides a day ai??i?? thatai??i??s what the Yonge line carries in an hour. The real price per ride would be as much as $100.
Still the Scarborough subway counts as one of Fordai??i??s great victories. For the rest of Torontonians, however, now and in the years ahead, it is anything but.
The fact is that since 2008 most residential and commercial development in the GTA has occurred downtown. As transit guru Steve Munro points out, ai???Only 8.7 per cent of all residential and 3.5 per cent of non-residential (development) proposals are in . . . Etobicoke, North York, Scarborough and Yonge/Eglinton. Scarborough Centre has almost no development planned at all.ai???
Still, Ford would have us believe that ai???downtown already has enough subways.ai??? Such a statement reveals a shocking level of ignorance and/or an outright desire to wreak havoc on the old city of Toronto to fulfil his anti-urban populist agenda.
In its first report, entitled Hard Truths, the transit advisory panel convened by Premier Kathleen Wynne last month, talked about the need for a ai???mature debate.ai??? Under Ford, that need has grown more urgent than ever.
ai???Subways,ai??? the panel reminds us, ai???are not the only good form of transit. What matters is matching the right transit mode and technology to the proposed route to avoid wasting scarce capital, reducing funds for other projects, and creating burdensome debt.ai???
As panel chair Anne Golden points out, ai???One of the consequences of making the wrong decision is that we build a subway where we donai??i??t need it and put an albatross around our neck.ai???
Christopher Hume can be reached at chume@thestar.ca
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/10/28/rob_fords_billiondollar_boast_not_worth_a_dime.html
