pepperMonkey
Registered User
The TTC is a joke. The subway covers about 10% of Toronto (within about a 15 minute walk from the subway stops) and the streetcars are the worst ideas ever (they're putting in a new one on a major east-west street midtown). The city and the province have been really lax on infrastructure in the city and have only now put money towards fixing it in future budgets.
You are right, subways are a much better idea compared to streetcars...that is until reality sets in...
Frankly speaking, no money to put in a proper subway system into Toronto. Then again, considering they have (as of 2009) 20+ ticket booth operators (i.e. those guys who yell and scream at you when you don't understand their grunts when you are buying a ticket or asking for directions) who earn over $100K a year...let alone all the other $100K+ earners like the drivers...well, guess we know where the money goes...Heck, Madrid built 150km subway system in about the same length of time as the TTC did 5.5km Sheppard line (at about a third of the costs per km). And Rob Ford was thinking of adding ~32km of subway lines for only 9 billion?? What? Is he on drugs (oh wait...)? Did things get cheaper to build since almost a decade ago? (the answer is no of course). It took the Sheppard line of 5.5km a decade to build, just imagine the chaos that Rob Fords plan would have cause...and the sad result is that even if by some miracle, they were able to build it within the wishful budget...we are still left with a public transit map that doesn't cover nearly enough of Toronto. In comparison Montreal's public transit is a god send...
The reality is, the costs to build subways is extremely ridiculous, let alone operate in todays crazy prices and takes too bloody long...if the government could somehow rain in the crazy expenses then there is a chance but as it stands, if you want decent coverage, not so ridiculous spending in a more timely manner (there is no such thing as timely in Toronto), then streetcars and LRT's are (albeit, not ideal) a fact of life.
BTW, is it just me or does the Highway repavement projects (401, 410, 427, DVP etc. etc.) take more and more time to do? Wasn't it used to be a summer hassle? I don't recall it being a full year hassle...(or at least 3 seasons). Section of the 401 by Yorkdale mall has been unpaved for like seemingly half a year..(though it's probably just my imagination...).