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PCs Have Plan To Tackle GTA Transit

Posted By: Katie Franzios · 10/11/2012 11:06:00 AM

If you're frustrated about spending too much time in your car because of traffic, Ontario's Tories think they have a transit plan to get cars off the road.

Sick of seeing what he calls a circus when it comes to transit in the GTA, PC leader Tim Hudak has announced he wants the province to take control of most things.

In the party's latest white paper, Hudak reveals he thinks Metrolinx should not only have control of the GO train and Bus, but also TTC subways, LRTs and highways in the region. He says it will provide people with a seamless commute.

Hudak says the TTC would still run buses in the area and underlines revenue made from the subways won't be lost, noting Metrolinx would pump money into the city system.

He also says if financially possible, he would make sure all transit expansion in Toronto would be in the form of subways, not LRTs.

As for highways, Hudak says the Gardiner Expressway, Don Valley Parkway, the 427 and the Toronto portion of the 401 will also be taken care of by Metrolinx in order to provide a better corridor for cars and transit.

Hudak says the economy losses $6 billion each year because of traffic.

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  1. calvinhc posted on 10/11/2012 12:38 PM
    I thought conservatives were supposed to be known for careful consideration before spending public money. Then how does this square with Hudak stating he will "make sure all transit expansion in Toronto would be in the form of subways, not LRTs"?

    There are transit priorities, like the DRL, that must be subway. In most every other corridor that requires transit improvement, the best solution is not subway, but something other such as LRT or even heavy rail expansion (GO Train service).

    Proper solution for the proper location is conservative economics. Anything else is just pissing away taxpayers money.
    1. proton posted on 10/11/2012 01:04 PM
      @calvinhc pissing away taxpayers money would be the st. clair streetcar expansion as well as many things toronto city councillors waste money on.
      need to look forward 50 years and keep in mind population growth. even with subway expansion we'll still have traffic issues so imagine if it were surface like st. clair it'd be a nightmare.
      toronto in mess now partly because of complete lack of vision with subway that hadn't been expanded for over 30 years until recently. that's a huge waste.
    2. walter posted on 10/12/2012 10:14 PM
      @calvinhc I hope that by "subway", Hudak means grade-separated transit - which I think is what everyone means when they say subway. After all, even our subways are at-grade (i.e. Davisville) or elevated (i.e under Bloor viaduct).
      The correct solution for Eglinton (through Scarborough and Etobicoke) is elevated and not median or underground since it has all the benefits of true subway with costs half that of tunneling.
      The choice of technology is also open to debate and need not be true subway. Maybe newer generation SRT type vehicles (Sky Train) would be preferable since it has worked well in Vancouver and it would result in about a quarter the time (8 months vs. 3 years) to reconfigure the SRT to get it up and running again.
  2. Dragorade posted on 10/11/2012 03:33 PM
    Come on Timmy. You killed the Eglinton Subway in 1995 and even back-filled with more money -saying we don't need it and its a waste, when Mike Harris was in charge. Further you gave away the 407 to a conglomerate for 99 years with huge rights and all the cash going into their coffers not this deficit-stricken provinces.
  3. walter posted on 10/12/2012 10:00 PM
    Metrolinx (GO) has a fairly good history of operating rails in the GTA. Uploading the subways and other rapid transit (i.e. grade separated LRT) makes sense. Local TTC buses take passengers from local areas to the provincially operated rapid transit lines. The same way that local streets take cars to provincially operated freeways. Median LRT is a different situation since it is more forlocal service and it is difficult to differentiate between things like Sheppard LRT, Finch West LRT, St. Clair, Spadina and Harbourfront streetcars (LRT)?



    I do think that uploading the Gardiner and DVP to Metrolinx is not right - they have no experience running a highway. It should be uploaded to MTO instead. After all, local vehicle traffic, both cars and buses, have been successfully integrated with the Provincially run freeways for years so the same is possible with these Toronto freeways.
  4. Only Common Sense posted on 10/13/2012 12:23 PM
    "PC leader Tim Hudak has announced he wants the province to take control of most things." Gee, there's a surprise. It worked so well when Harris centralized thing (i.e. school boards, hospitals, etc.). It's obviously working at peak performance under the one-man Harper band. Do all Tories have such thick blinders on?
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