[getsmart-l] Politics driving transit plans, expert says - See Metreolinx below

[John O'Gorman]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080129.wtransit29/BNStory/National/
Politics driving transit plans, expert says
JEFF GRAY From Tuesday's Globe and Mail January 29, 2008 at 4:44 AM EST

Multibillion-dollar plans for public-transit projects in the Toronto area are being driven more by political considerations than actual needs, a respected transportation expert says. 

In a report to be released today, veteran transportation consultant Richard Soberman also suggests some new projects, including converting the Sheppard subway into a light-rail line and expanding it above ground.

Dr. Soberman, a former chairman of civil engineering at the University of Toronto, writes in the report, which was commissioned by a construction-industry lobby group, that recent plans from both the province and the City of Toronto for new subways and light-rail lines "are examples of top-down planning where elected officials dictate what their professional advisers will implement, a reversal of the usual approach."

Premier Dalton McGuinty pledged at least $11.5-billion (or up to $17.5-billion if the federal government participates) for a list of 52 projects - called MoveOntario 2020 - in a campaign-style event at a Mississauga bus garage last June, before the fall election.

Dr. Soberman writes that the list "appears to have been hurriedly assembled with little assessment of need or cost effectiveness" and is "essentially an amalgam of politically driven wish lists."

He warns that the plan's promised new GO Transit lines, meant to cross the city from Weston Road to Agincourt, may be more expensive and more difficult to build than expected, because of the huge volume of Canadian Pacific Railway freight traffic using the existing tracks.

Jim Bradley, Ontario's Transportation Minister, said he disagreed that the province's plans were driven largely by politics. He said the projects were developed by municipal planners, who know best what their communities' needs are. 

"A lot of thought has gone into them," Mr. Bradley said in an interview yesterday.

Dr. Soberman's report also asks why Mayor David Miller's $6-billion Transit City plan to spread 120 kilometres of dedicated light-rail lanes across Toronto's suburbs precludes discussion of using buses instead. And he warns that on several of the proposed routes, taking lanes away from cars to make way for light-rail tracks may be difficult or unpopular, or unnecessary because of low population density.

His report suggests changing the current plan for a light-rail line to connect to the Sheppard subway from the east. 

Instead, Dr. Soberman says, the Toronto Transit Commission should retrofit the existing subway tunnel to handle light-rail cars - which could easily handle the underperforming line's 44,000 riders a day - and expand the line from eastern Scarborough all the way to Downsview subway station, so passengers would not have to change vehicles along the east-west route.

TTC chairman Adam Giambrone - who threatened to mothball Sheppard during last year's budget crunch - said yesterday that converting it into a light-rail line was not on the TTC's radar. He also said that the new Transit City lines had all been vetted by TTC planners.

The report was commissioned by the Residential and Civil Construction Alliance of Ontario, a coalition of management and labour groups that lobbies for infrastructure investment. It is to be submitted to Metrolinx, the regional body now drawing up a GTA transportation master plan.

http://spacing.ca/wire/?p=2543

December 3rd, 2007 The GTTA is Now Metrolinx
Posted by Sean Marshall 
Metrolinx - Linking People to Places . on Y VA

The Greater Toronto Transportation Authority (or GTTA) has come up with a new marketing name and a new website. The new name is Metrolinx. The name and website are scheduled to be launched tomorrow, December 4, but the site is already live. The news release for tomorrow’s launch says that the GTTA will also release a “a discussion paper on transportation trends and outlooks” as well as public consultations on regional transit planning.

http://www.metrolinx.com/NonTabPages/1/default.aspx
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