POSTED RESPONSE TO A COLUMN IN TORONTO'S GLOBE AND MAIL
Toronto has become a laughing stock with this whole long
transit fiasco.
A guaranteed project with funding from the province, a
project suitable to the real needs of Scarborough, is allowed to lapse.
Meanwhile, the Mayor and his followers, bellow about a
subway being what people want.
But there are no means of financing a subway.
And when you ask people: "Would you rather have a new
Chevy or a new Rolls?" without any reference to what it will cost them,
you are asking a pretty stupid question, but that is Mayor Ford's approach to
transit.
Costless wants are nothing but childish fantasy, not serious
political mandates.
Further, given the nature of the Scarborough route, a subway
this far out makes no economic sense.
Previously, Toronto built the Spadina Subway - in effect, a
subway to nowhere - and that line never reached the capacity required to
justify it.
At that time, the Yonge Subway was already at capacity.
Subways are the most expensive public transportation you can
build, and they make no sense in semi-suburban locations.
Years ago, we should have built a Queen Street subway, for
that is the kind of location that would warrant the huge cost.
Today, with costs having risen hugely, subways are so
terribly expensive to build that many cities in the world are going with
light-rail.
It does seem that Toronto's situation would be best served
by a good light-rail system combined with restrictions on private car access
downtown, at least during rush hours.
It is well to remember, too, that Toronto proper has a great
stock of extremely modest homes. They will not bear great increases in tax.
