LRT is not the same as street car lines on ST.Clair.... Subways should eventually be built on Sheppard, but for now, with the money we have, this Transit City plan is good for Eglinton and Finch.
Wash your mouth out with soap! ROAD TOLLS? The city was recently empowered with the right to charge a gas tax, so why not just use that method ( 2 cents/litre towards the Sheppard subway perhaps)?
LRT sound sexy, service more people and cost less short term. But the hidden costs are the enormous upkeep to the lines and equipment, nobody will state those costs. When it's underground, it's protected from the elements, is more efficient, and cheaper in the long run. You get all the ugliness underground. Equipment lasts a lot longer when it's protected from the elements. It's a huge investment but well worth it in the end.
People would just fill up in Markham. The advantage of a road toll is that it would apply to everyone who comes into Toronto. Unless the gas tax was provincewide I don't think it would really work. Parking tax would also do the trick for the same reason.
. i want a system thats closer to me and something i can use in my lifetime
Just paying for their roads would run up the cost of gas to drivers by something like two bucks. Then add the premium for getting the underground alternative built.
There was. Or are you suggesting a referendum, like the one where we voted against amalgamation f'rinstance? Do you really imagine the question would include the tax increases required to pay for subways? The way most folks saying, 'let there be subways' are talking, the question wouldn't even have the routes on it, let alone costs or how to come up with the money. After all, our Mayor couldn't figure that out, and that's his job. Never mind he had plenty of paid help. The plan that our elected representatives passed at least was costed and the money found.
Unfortunately, the only thing our portly leader hates more than LRT is taxes. He will never impose a toll, tax, user fee on anything. If he did, the populace would go nuts on him for cancelling the Vehicle Registration Tax when he was declaring that Toronto had a spending problem, not a revenue problem.
If it's a greater bang for the buck, and if most is underground (in Etobicoke or Mississauga, Eglinton was made purposely wide to accommodate, and that's why certain houses along a stretch are City owned-rentals to avoid expropriation delays), well then, that's all we will get.
This morning's Star tried to clarify the differences between streetcars, LRTs and subways but made things worse by introducing LRVs. Now you're asking about LRPs? No wonder discussion's confused; we've got too many crossing vehicles, never mind which route we might be asking about.
Yes, I am willing to pay for a good long term transit plan created not by know nothing politicians, but by those in the transportation industry. It would be a mega project and would be a huge asset to the city. Road tolls will generate money but will not solve the congestion problem unless you take a long term view and plan for 20 plus years into the future.
