Jason Paris unleashed a firestorm in raising the now-decades old DRL theme for discussion here, and among other comments was the issue of subway alignment, as there are now several to evaluate for the DRL. So what influences alignment for new subways to be constructed?

Historically, while alignments would generally follow streets, as often as possible they tried to avoid going directly under the street, as service relocations and temporary decking for existing streetcar services, not to mention road replacement when the decking was removed, were huge hassles that came at great cost.  Expropriating properties was far cheaper, easier, and timely.  This was why the Yonge subway was not built beneath Yonge between Alexander (just north of College) and, I believe, Orchard View (just north of Eglinton), except for the part where it crosses to the other side of Yonge around Glen Elm (just north of St. Clair).  Apart from the portion between Church and Sherbourne bored directly beneath Bloor St., the Prince Edward Viaduct, and Sherbourne station, the Bloor-Danforth subway was kept entirely north of Bloor and Danforth proper (excluding the extension to Kipling).

However, attitudes of both property owners and those of and towards labourers changed, which in turn impacted what subway construction methods became acceptable.

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This week at the Westin Harbour Castle hotel, Toronto hosted the Transportation Association of Canada Annual Conference, Canada’s largest gathering of transportation professionals.  This year’s theme was Transportation – A Key to a Sustainable Future.  Sustainability was certainly a buzzword heard throughout the conference.  About half of the 150 papers that were presented were related to that theme.  Minister Jim Bradley stated that “sustainability strengthens Ontario’s economic advantage”, and Mayor David Miller that “sustainability is at the core of the city’s values”. Much knowledge was transfered and many ideas were shared.  I was there for a few of the sessions; here are a few of my highlights.

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(Click image above for hi-res version)

As some of you already know, I have had the honour of sitting on Metrolinx’s Regional Transportation Plan Advisory Committee – a group of community representatives committed to providing the Metrolinx board with advice on the direction of the plan and analysis of the comments received by the public. In addition, we are committed to ensuring that the regional transportation plan public consultation process reaches everyone who has something to say. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for keeping the discussion alive, and I encourage all to continue offering ideas to make this plan the best it can be. There is are plenty of ways to get your voices heard, including the online portal, formal open houses to come this fall, and, of course, Metronauts events and the blog. Keep your eyes and ears open, as we’re about to enter a very exciting phase of the process.

Before I talk about the subject of this post, please keep in mind the following:

As I write this post (on thursday night), the draft plan has not yet been approved by the Metrolinx board of directors. As we saw with the white papers, the board could decide to delay the release to make modifications. I will be sure to update this post to reflect the formal decision of the board on Friday September 26th.

So here we go:

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Photo by Duchamp

This post has been crossposted over on my blog.

Over at the Metronauts’ website, there has been vigorous debate over the merits of Toronto’s proposed Transit City plan. Is installing 120 kilometres of light rail transit lines across the city (essentially, streetcars on private right-of-way) worthwhile? Or would it be better to rustle up more cash and get subways into the ground? The debate has, in general, been healthy, though I do detect a little bit of animosity towards those who favour the cheaper LRT option, and even to those who successfully convinced the TTC, back in 1972, to abandon its policy of eliminating the streetcar altogether from the streets of Toronto.

A debate is good, although I’m not sure if it’s healthy to try and divide transit advocates as either “LRT fanatics” or “subway advocates.” Even the word “railfan” has been used to describe those who favour maintaining and improving streetcar service, with the insinuation that our vision is being blinkered by our train conductors’ caps. That’s not what I’m about. Yes, I consider myself to be a railfan, but I think in terms of this: a railfan makes me a fan of streetcars, AND LRT networks, AND subways. At their core, they are essentially the same thing.

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This morning I attended the Metrolinx media preview of the draft Regional Transportation Plan (“RTP”) and Investment Strategy at the Delta Chelsea in Toronto, where chair Rob MacIsaac presented and took questions. Here’s how Metrolinx framed the media event:

The Big Move: Transforming Transportation in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area

The headlines tomorrow will probably read something like “Metrolinx defers controversial revenue measures”. The most significant new information is that the Investment Strategy to fund Phases 1 ($750 million) and 2 ($17.5 billion) of the RTP through 2015 will be funded from existing commitments of Ontario provincial funding. Around 2013, the whole investment strategy for Phase 3 will be revisited, including consideration of the full gamut of revenue tools that were the source of some controversy during recent leaks. Rob MacIsaac explained that the people of the GTA and Hamilton need to see some real change on the ground before they will back any new ask for additional public investment.

Andrae was there, and he’ll be doing a more thoughtful post on the contents of these draft plans for Friday.

This post is about me watching the watchers. How does Media think about and inform the majority of the public who will never attend a public meeting or download a PDF? Most citizens will never dive into planning documents with gusto.  I think the questions that were asked provide some clues to how the media will frame this next period of conversation around Metrolinx plans.

My reflections and analysis after the jump… (more…)

The long awaited day is almost here with the release of the Draft Metrolinx Regional Transportation Plan and Investment Strategy. The plan will be previewed to the media on Tuesday before being presented to the Board at its meeting on September 26th. The press release for the RTP media preview event is available here.

UPDATE (Sept. 23, 10:45am): The Draft Regional Transportation Plan is now available online here

UPDATE (Sept. 23, 12:00pm): The RTP Draft Investment Strategy is also online here

Without going into specific projects, what do you hope to see in the draft plan?

Someone once told me that the most sustainable trip is the trip not taken. While the way this world works doesn’t permit us to live our lives from home, the statement does raise a good point. If we can reduce the number of trips be take, then we free up capacity on the transportation network for others to use. To see if this can be done, we have to look towards transportation demand management (TDM) – policies designed to reduce the demand placed on the transportation system by eliminating as many trips as possible through shifting the when, how and ifs of the daily commute. Essentially, it is the second and last of the three points in the title of this post.

Of all the TDM policies proposed, carpooling is probably the most familiar to the public. It costs next to nothing to implement and the economic benefits are clear – four people in a car heading to the same destination uses fewer resources and takes up less space on the road. During the second world war, carpooling was promoted as a way to help the war effort. Of course, the context of the propaganda poster has no bearing on today’s society (single drivers are not evil people – most are quite pleasant), but the message is clear. Carpooling is not a hippie idea for hippies – it’s the civic duty of every Canadian in the war on climate change. Unfortunatly, it’s not as simple as that anymore. In an age where everyone lived in one suburb and worked around the same place it was very easy to pick up 3 neighbours and drive to office or to the plant. The growth of the 905 has resulted in many possible places to live, making it difficult to find coworkers living close enough to make carpooling feasible. (more…)

The iPhone has this weird photo bug that appears once in awhile, where it renders your images in this strange but artistic cubist fashion. I was taking a quick picture at Yorkdale subway station when I got this surprise.

Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion at Exhibition GO Station Thursday Morning (source: Liberal Party of Canada via Flickr)

The Federal Election campaign is now 10 days in and today, the Liberals announced details of their policy in regards to public transit and infrastructure. Taking the GO Train from Burlington to Exhibition GO Station today, Dion and several other prominent Toronto-area Liberals gathered to make the announcement. Details of the three-point plan are available here, and summarised below:

• Any future Federal budget surpluses beyond $3-billion will be dedicated to infrastructure, in particular, green initiatives
• A new Crown-controlled, majority owned “Infrastructure Bank” will be establish to leverage the Federal Government’s borrowing power at low interest rates. This money will then be available to municipalities to fund their infrastructure needs, including for public transit. Through this bank, Canadians can also purchase “Green Bonds”, similar to Canada Savings Bonds, with tax-free returns on investment
• A 10-year, $70-billion infrastructure plan, including $8-billion dedicated to a National Transit Strategy for expansion and “greening” of Canada’s transit systems

The announcement also states that a Liberal government would be a “willing partner” in projects such as high-speed rail, which is subject to a study by the Ontario and Québec provincial governments that was announced in January.

Commentary after the jump…

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“There are 14 TTC bus routes operating directly between York Region and subway stations in the City of Toronto, giving riders a convenient way to connect without changing buses.” I sometimes take one of these routes—the 107 Keele North. When the TTC goes outside of Toronto’s city limits, they are operating under contract to the local service (in this case, YRT), and therefore must collect the local fare.  Therefore, if I intend to cross Steeles Avenue by bus, even for just a few blocks, I must fork over two full fares. But I ask the question: Is there a better way?

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The library is a place I have visited frequently throughout my life.  Except from experiencing the subtle vibrations at the OISE building which sits on top of the St. George subway station in Toronto, I have never really associated transit riding with getting an education.  I recently came across some information which explains that in Mexico City, transit riders can borrow books underground.  An archived story from 2004 by Morgan Lee explains that there was a two year plan to loan or give out 7 million books at transit stations.  It sounds like a great combination of the functions of the public library and public transportation systems.