the future of public transportation in ontario
June 18th, 2007Premier Dalton McGuinty announced the MoveOntario 2020 plan last week. You can find the real details of this plan outlined by Steve Munro here. It’s an ambitious plan, but a great move for southwestern ontario. I still can’t believe the announcement, and really hope it happens.
This is a great move to reduce congestion on our highways, take a stab at pollution and help our cities grow. While it’ll take time to implement, and it will take time to get people out of the ‘car’ mindset, it’s a great start. If this happens, this is going to be a historic period in toronto’s transit history.
completely awesome.
June 20th, 2007 at 9:47 am
completely political.
This is an insane list of 52 ‘promises’ just waiting to be broken again by the Fib-erals.
There is no way he can deliver on these promises for $11B dollars (he claims its a $17B plan, but this is on the assumption the Feds will pony up the $$, which they have not committed to). Building a fixed link from Union Station to Pearson will eat up a huge chunk of the $11B, so where will McGuinty get the rest of the money from?
Oh and its a 50 year plan - so you and I can both hop on the new Waterfront subway line, when we are 80 years old - if it indeed happens! Don’t count on using any of these new projects in our lifetime!
June 20th, 2007 at 10:07 am
While I’m also a skeptic until I see it happen, the plan isn’t half bad.
Good point on the unknown federal contribution. Lets hope they pony up 1/3 of the bill.
I don’t think it includes a fixed link from Union to Pearson - I thought the LRT along Eglinton would stop at the airport. So we get an airport connection, and LRT along Eglinton. The Eg line then connects with Jane LRT on the west, Yonge in the middle, and Don Mills on the east. Sounds like a half decent idea, but there is speculation all over the place.. who knows what the final plans will be.
50 year plan? I hope not. I thought that was why they proposed LRT’s everywhere (including the waterfront) because it was cheaper and faster to build when compared to a subway (i.e. sheppard took forever). 50 years to build an LRT seems a bit much, when it only took 2 to do the same to St. Clair when they didn’t really have much of a budget for it.
Whether it’s a political tactic to get votes or not, it’s a welcome contribution to the transit strategy. If the feds don’t pony up the other 1/3, we can still use the remaining 2/3 to fund transit projects… it’s better than nothing.
June 20th, 2007 at 11:02 am
It took 10 yrs to build the ‘Sheppard Stub’ You are dreaming in cyberspace if you think the Govt will build all of these 52 projects in 13 years. The Liberals are just creeping out of major Provincial debt. This is an election ploy for votes.
And project #32 of the 52 projects is:Pearson Air-Rail link to Union Station:
http://www.premier.gov.on.ca/news/Product.asp?ProductID=1385
December 15th, 2007 at 10:34 am
very interesting, but I don’t agree with you
Idetrorce