Metrolinx CEO admits that Line 6 cannot handle the Toronto winter

mandrill said:

Scarborough residents say they're being left out of transit improvements in the city


Depsite plans to open a busway in the borough, Scarborough residents say they’re being left behind as major transit lines open across Toronto.

Rhoda Potter, president of the Agincourt Village Community Association, has lived in Scarborough for more than 50 years and says her community is waiting to see a subway line come to fruition.


“Many people in Scarborough cannot afford a car. They need to take public transit and it takes them hours to get anywhere,” she said.

Potter says she's been attending Metrolinx meetings and talking with MPs to advocate for her community

Scarborough has been without a subway line since the Scarborough RT shut down in 2022 after a train derailment. In the meantime, the city put in designated bus lanes and Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow recently announced that a busway will open on the old RT route in September.

But Potter said the busway does not solve Scarborough's "desert of of higher order public transit."

The city is planning the Eglinton East light-rail transit project that would, per its website, serve eastern Scarborough from Kennedy Station to Malvern Town Centre. But community members in Scarborough haven’t heard about a timeline for the project.


More focus on getting downtown, not around Scarborough: resident
Krissan Veerasingam is the board co-chair for TTCriders, a volunteer advocacy group of transit riders. He grew up in Scarborough.

“It feels like everywhere else, transit is being invested in and projects are being completed,” he said. “Whereas in Scarborough, we've actually gone backwards in terms of the transit infrastructure we had.”

The long-delayed Finch West LRT opened on Dec. 7. And the Eglinton Crosstown, even further delayed, recently completed its last day of testing. Ontario Premier Doug Ford has said it could open in 2026 or "very soon after."

Potter says better transit options are needed to speed up travel within Scarborough and east-end Toronto. But, she says, most interim solutions and in-the-works developments, like bus rapid transit and the Scarborough Subway Extension, are geared towards transporting people to the city’s core.


“We need to be able to get around here as well. We don't all want to go to Union,” she said.

The 'transit poverty' gap
Veerasingam says the interim bus lanes implemented by the city are a “Band-Aid solution,” and that a transit line like the Eglinton East LRT would require financial backing from the province and the federal government.

“When we don't prioritize these projects that serve the most underserved people in our community, the effect is felt wider than just this transit project,” said Veerasingam.

The lack of public transit excludes community members from opportunities that could support socio-economic advancement, says Steven Farber, a professor of transportation geography at the University of Toronto Scarborough campus.

“That makes it much harder for those folks to just go out and conduct their normal daily life activities, whether it's getting to school, taking care of kids, visiting family, getting to work, medical appointments,” he said.


Farber calls this phenomenon “transportation poverty" gap.

“The longer we wait to start correcting this situation, the worse things are going to get for everyone,” he said.

The Eglinton East LRT is especially important for Scarborough, Farber says, because it would serve as a connection between communities deep within the borough.

Potter says a transit line in Scarborough would also increase employment and economic opportunities.

“We are becoming inundated with condo development and housing, where everybody has to go somewhere else to go to work,” said Potter. “If you put in the public transit system, we know that businesses are attracted to that.”

City council has approved an early stage "10 per cent functional design" plan for the Eglinton East LRT, which was submitted to the province, according to a statement from city spokesperson Laura McQuillan.

She says the city will work on a "30 per cent design" expanding on the initial plan in 2026.

As for funding, city spokesperson Saira Virani, "commitments from our provincial and federal partners will be confirmed as the project progresses."

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Frankfooter said:

DoFo and his crackhead brother cancelled transit city, that was the best and most complete plan to date.
Now he's trying to build parts of it but through Metrolinx, which is just a depository for tory insiders.

Look how much of the plan DoFo is building after Rob cancelled it.

Transit City - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

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roddermac said:

Mickey Mouse transit plan for a major city.

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mandrill said:

Scarborough residents say they're being left out of transit improvements in the city


Depsite plans to open a busway in the borough, Scarborough residents say they’re being left behind as major transit lines open across Toronto.

Rhoda Potter, president of the Agincourt Village Community Association, has lived in Scarborough for more than 50 years and says her community is waiting to see a subway line come to fruition.


“Many people in Scarborough cannot afford a car. They need to take public transit and it takes them hours to get anywhere,” she said.

Potter says she's been attending Metrolinx meetings and talking with MPs to advocate for her community

Scarborough has been without a subway line since the Scarborough RT shut down in 2022 after a train derailment. In the meantime, the city put in designated bus lanes and Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow recently announced that a busway will open on the old RT route in September.

But Potter said the busway does not solve Scarborough's "desert of of higher order public transit."

The city is planning the Eglinton East light-rail transit project that would, per its website, serve eastern Scarborough from Kennedy Station to Malvern Town Centre. But community members in Scarborough haven’t heard about a timeline for the project.


More focus on getting downtown, not around Scarborough: resident
Krissan Veerasingam is the board co-chair for TTCriders, a volunteer advocacy group of transit riders. He grew up in Scarborough.

“It feels like everywhere else, transit is being invested in and projects are being completed,” he said. “Whereas in Scarborough, we've actually gone backwards in terms of the transit infrastructure we had.”

The long-delayed Finch West LRT opened on Dec. 7. And the Eglinton Crosstown, even further delayed, recently completed its last day of testing. Ontario Premier Doug Ford has said it could open in 2026 or "very soon after."

Potter says better transit options are needed to speed up travel within Scarborough and east-end Toronto. But, she says, most interim solutions and in-the-works developments, like bus rapid transit and the Scarborough Subway Extension, are geared towards transporting people to the city’s core.


“We need to be able to get around here as well. We don't all want to go to Union,” she said.

The 'transit poverty' gap
Veerasingam says the interim bus lanes implemented by the city are a “Band-Aid solution,” and that a transit line like the Eglinton East LRT would require financial backing from the province and the federal government.

“When we don't prioritize these projects that serve the most underserved people in our community, the effect is felt wider than just this transit project,” said Veerasingam.

The lack of public transit excludes community members from opportunities that could support socio-economic advancement, says Steven Farber, a professor of transportation geography at the University of Toronto Scarborough campus.

“That makes it much harder for those folks to just go out and conduct their normal daily life activities, whether it's getting to school, taking care of kids, visiting family, getting to work, medical appointments,” he said.


Farber calls this phenomenon “transportation poverty" gap.

“The longer we wait to start correcting this situation, the worse things are going to get for everyone,” he said.

The Eglinton East LRT is especially important for Scarborough, Farber says, because it would serve as a connection between communities deep within the borough.

Potter says a transit line in Scarborough would also increase employment and economic opportunities.

“We are becoming inundated with condo development and housing, where everybody has to go somewhere else to go to work,” said Potter. “If you put in the public transit system, we know that businesses are attracted to that.”

City council has approved an early stage "10 per cent functional design" plan for the Eglinton East LRT, which was submitted to the province, according to a statement from city spokesperson Laura McQuillan.

She says the city will work on a "30 per cent design" expanding on the initial plan in 2026.

As for funding, city spokesperson Saira Virani, "commitments from our provincial and federal partners will be confirmed as the project progresses."

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mandrill said:

Can't blame everything on DoFo. Dooffo has been in power for 7 years. Before that, you had the Liberals.

Transit and planning has been fucked up in this city since the 1960's. And City Hall has been at least as much to blame as Queens Park.

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mandrill said:

Why is it an issue for you if I update the title of the thread?

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mandrill said:

Anby, I don't care if this thread gets 100 views or 10,000. TBH, I didn't really care if the big thread got 100 views or 1M+. (Although it's fun that the thread became so popular).

I change the name of the thread to keep the name accurate when I add new items to the thread, instead of making several different threads.

Here's a word of advice. Try and have a real conversation instead of just picking at people. You'll get a lot more respect that way.

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Frankfooter said:

Its still better than what DoFo and the crackhead put in place.

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mandrill said:

Can't blame everything on DoFo. Dooffo has been in power for 7 years. Before that, you had the Liberals.

Transit and planning has been fucked up in this city since the 1960's. And City Hall has been at least as much to blame as Queens Park.

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mandrill said:

I change the name of the thread to keep the name accurate when I add new items to the thread, instead of making several different threads.

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roddermac said:

Finally Toronto is getting their downtown relief line. Thirty years way overdue. Extending line 2 to Scarborough is smarter than any LRT plan and badly needed to replace the outdated RT. No room on the south side of Jane Street for and LRT and the rich nimbys in the area were gonna put a stop to it anyways. Eglington should've been a subway to begin with. Bus lanes are for the burbs not the big city.

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Frankfooter said:

A sucker is born every minute.
The team that almost brought you the Eglington LRT is now in charge of the downtown relief line.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1963204954513883233

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roddermac said:

Now explain why other transit projects never got built or why the Sheppard Line was delayed and way over budget. Any twitter links to that. Why hasn't Line 2 been extended westbound to a larger population instead Line 1 got extended northbound to a less populated region.

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Frankfooter said:

Success politicians have cancelled their predecessor's plans for a long time.
But the Miller plan was the best the city had seen in 50 years, a plan for the full city that offered the right transit for population density.
DoFo and the crackhead wanted a subway for Scarborough despite the lack of density and riders.
Now they are building some lines that Miller had already planned and had financed.

DoFo and the crackhead killed Transit city and gave us a hodgepodge, pet projects but not a fully thought out plan for the city.
Tory's Fastrack and DoFo's Ontario line are perfect examples.

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