Why Can't the City of Toronto Figure Out their Transit Plans?

For weeks now we have seen and ongoing feud brewing between Toronto Mayor Rob Ford and the Chair of the TTC, Ms Karen Stintz, over the fate of the Eglinton Light Rail Transit (LRT for short) and how it will be constructed over the next decade. The biggest issue has been the contention by Ms Stintz that it would be a better idea to use the LRT above ground as opposed to Mayor Ford's contention that it's best to build subways, both along Eglinton and Sheppard.

This whole debate, and the fact that there are so many small minded people in Toronto City Council that oppose the Mayor's plans, show exactly why the City of Toronto will NEVER be a world class city. World class cities such as London, New York, Paris, San Fransisco, (Hell, even Lisbon) have large, interconnected subway lines that intersect vital areas of the city as well as the airport. They transport vast numbers of tourists and commuters on a daily basis, all around their cities to and from the airport, arenas, ball parks, soccer stadiums, museums, cathedrals, other historical landmarks and on and on, helping to lower pollution and emission levels while keeping these cities thriving and moving at a high speed pace.

The fact we have people on the current city council that actually think it's better to continue to congest traffic on our already crowded streets, by still contemplating the idea of dedicating above ground lanes on Eglinton Ave all the way to Laird Street tells me that we really don't have any forward thinking people on this council. It may be the more expensive option right now, but in the long run, if we really want to stake a claim that Toronto is a WORLD CLASS CITY, then we need to get out of this small town, small minded, short sighted thinking and start investing in a transit plan that will REALLY help to alleviate the traffic issues that we currently have in the city. Subways ARE THE ANSWER!

I would even go so far as to suggest that we need to build even more subways than what Mayor Ford is suggesting. He wants to bury the LRT on Eglinton to Laird. Great idea. He wants to expand the Sheppard Subway line east. Another good idea but he should also look at connecting it all the way west to the Airport and beyond. Here's my idea; Why not create a subway line that would run almost directly underneath the 401, connecting to the Sheppard line but also running all the way to a subway hub that would go both north an south along the 403/410 interlinks to attach themselves to both Mississauga and Brampton?

By running this line along the 403 to Square 1 and along the 410 up to either Bramalea City Center or Shoppers World (or even to both), you would then have a main portal that would greatly reduce the number of people from Mississauga and Brampton that would need to drive to the airport. They would have a connection all along Peel Region which would aid both cities in reducing traffic along the 403/410 for people who live in one city and work in the other. The fact that this connection would then allow them to reach the airport and then even head to down town Toronto would only further reduce the number of vehicles on the roads as it is, further reducing traffic as well as pollution caused by all the car emissions being emitted on a daily basis.

The sheer number of jobs that these projects would create would fuel a new economic boom for this area that would stop the massive amount of skilled workers that are leaving Ontario for Saskatchewan and Alberta, where both of those provinces are in such great financial shape that there are some media members that are looking into the possibility that both Western provinces may have to help "support" Ontario in the not so distant future.

The simultaneous creation of 4 subway lines (Eglinton to Laird, Sheppard extension both ways, Brampton and Mississauga) would take well over a decade to complete but it would then make this region world class in my estimation, and it would show that we have people in Government who have the foresight to see that we need to do something to combat not only the volume of vehicles on the roads but also the pollution that they emit.

Unfortunately, we have Premier Dalton (who refuses to step in and do anything about the stalemate at Toronto City Hall because he disagrees with the tactics of Mayor Ford or he just is clueless about what to do) and Ms Stintz who clearly is in over her head at the TTC and has a clear agenda just to disagree with subways in general.

We have short sighted people in positions of power in this province and in the Toronto City Council who would prefer to try to bog down government process and worry more about their own political future then the future of a city that could be among the best in the world.....if they would just plan for the future and not worry so much about their own.