TTC

Good Lord, I agree with Ford

Thursday, March 22nd, 2012

What is wrong with me, I agree with Rob Ford. Toronto needs subways.

Now before you go all crazy think about this. We should be building for 2050, not 2015. I know it seems like a long time from now but in reality it isn’t.  It is our grandchildren’s time and personally I hope to be alive to see it.

The goal to get subways isn’t to get cars off the road. (Rob was very wrong on that one) That is going to happen anyway as the cost of ownership and gasoline climb. The goal of subways is to move as many people as possible efficiently. Subways are more efficient than street-cars; but the inverse problem is true too. Without riders, they’re more wasteful.

People are against subways because they are so costly, especially when they don’t know where the money is coming from.  They know the current subways are not fully utilized, for example the Sheppard Subway. Sheppard wastes 7 million dollars a year. The issue isn’t the cost, it’s the lack of riders. If it was fully utilized then no one would be complaining. So, how do you increase ridership?

First, you change zoning. All along Sheppard avenue should be rezoned as high density housing. They are condos there now, around the Ikea, but when the subway was finished years before there was nothing. Development was finish and people can start moving in but it has been awhile. By changing the zoning, not only will there be more riders, but more tax revenue.  I own a condo and a house and pay similar taxes on both. The same plot of land under my condo condo generates taxes dollars from me, my neighbours and the hundred of other units in the building. The land under my house only generates taxes from me.

Developers should be encouraged to build 20,30 40 story buildings. That can lead to gentrification like in the Liberty village area, but that can be offset with bylaws stating the amount of green and commercial space required. People are going to have to start living closer to were they work and start use public transit. By rezoning to high density we will be building subways to where the people are, not building the subway and hoping people will come.

Rob Ford’s problem is his brother and others who give him advice.  You cannot bully people into doing what you want and now that the council has shown they can and will stand together you have to convince.  If Rob had shown that the subways could be paid for by tolls on the DVP and 401, a modest increase in property tax and a vehicle registration tax people might have gone for it.  If he had shown thought leadership and done his homework as opposed to yelling about how “they don’t want these damn streetcars.” He might have gotten his way.  Subways are more efficient, and in the long run the better choice it was just poorly articulated.

As it stands I will continue to ride my bike to work. I live close enough that the commute is easy. But if I couldn’t ride I would take the subway over any other transit option including owning a car.  While I rarely agree with the Mayor I think he with this one.  Toronto needs subways.  It’s just a shame he was unable to articulate it.

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Moving towards a better tomorrow?

Monday, February 6th, 2012

You know what I hate?  A lot of things, but one thing I really hate is when someone thinks I’m stupid and they can pull a fast one on me.  Like I will blindly accept whatever they say and just agree. Take this bull shit ad from the TTC.

In case you can’t read it,

Better transit runs on better funding.

  • Fares don’t cover the cost of every trip, so as ridership grows the TTC’s costs grow.
  • The TTC gets less financial help than any other major North American transit system – only $0.84 per customer from Toronto property taxpayers.
  • Montreal gets $1.28 per customer from city and provincial governments
  • Chicago gets $2.64 per customer from local state and federal governments
  • More help from provincial and federal governments will allow the TTC to meet Toronto’s growing transit needs.

First off as the ridership grows the costs may grow but not at the same rate.  A streetcar travelling along Queen street costs the same to operate whether there is one person on it or a hundred.  You still have to pay the driver, pay for gas, pay for rails. The only difference is that an increase in stopping and starting might be less fuel efficient.  But on a busy route like Queen, chances are the streetcar will stop at every stop anyway.

Secondly, the ad is comparing one level of funding (Toronto) against two (Ottawa) and three (Chicago) levels of funding which is misleading.  While the Harris government left Ontario reeling, and it’s still recovering, the TTC has been wholly supported by the people of Toronto.  Both in terms of fares and in terms of municipal taxes, that is the real issue here.

Lastly who gives a flying-fuck about Chicago.  We’re not American, and it’s not like their governments are shining beacons of good decisions, let’s focus on Canada.

Now, the TTC is considered one of the most costly transit systems in Canada. For the 2011 operating year, the TTC had a projected operating budget of $1,447 million dollars. Revenue from fares covered approximately 70% of the budget, whereas the remaining 30% originated from the city. (from Wikipedia)  If they wanted to get Torontonians riled up then what they need to do is quit pussy-footing around the issue and drive the point home:

Better transit runs on better funding.

  • Fares don’t cover the cost of every trip, Toronto property taxes account for 30% of the funding.  40% of TTC riders are not Toronto taxpayers.
  • Montreal transit gets 10% of it’s operating budget from the provincial government.
  • Ottawa receives 9% of it’s funding from the Ontario government.
  • Brampton, Durham, Oakville, St. Catherines, Thunder Bay, Wasaga Beach, Waterloo all receive millions of dollars for their transit, why not Toronto?
  • Contact Bob Chiarelli, the Minister of Transportation bchiarelli.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org

With an ad like that you would get people’s attention, and provide them with a source of action. Someone to contact to complain.  At the very least Toronto should have a fare system which includes zones so all riders pay their fair share regardless of whether or not it is through fares or taxes.

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TTC sells off naming rights cheaply

Thursday, July 7th, 2011

The CBC reported that the TTC has sold the advertising rights, including the naming rights for the subway stations to Pattison advertising for 324 million dollars for the next 12 years.

This reflects very poor judgement on the part of the TTC who have grossly undervalued the advertising properties of our transit system.  The TTC itself reports it’s ridership to be approaching 500 million per year.

With the $324 million being divided over the next 12 years that averages to only $27 million per year. This means Pattison advertising is only paying about $0.06 per rider/per year to bombard a captive audience with ads. Google can’t even beat that rate!

To put this into a little perspective; the operating budget for the TTC is 1.4 billion a year. Twenty seven million dollars is a drop in the bucket and means the advertising sales will contribute less than 2% of the over-all operating budget not including the expenses they incur.

The naming of stations by corporations not withstanding, this would suggest either very poor judgement or some form of corruption.

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The TCC’s subtle racism

Thursday, December 23rd, 2010

The TTC  is racist. Or at the very least elitist.  It’s a strong statement I know, but if you spend any amount of time riding the TTC you can see it.  For example I have a completely unscientific but convincing study going of subway maps on the trains.  I travel East-West Bloor/Danforth line. I used to right the Yonge/University line This line has some ancient cars on it.  If you look at the bench seats in this black and white archive photo, you will find the same seats on cars on the Bloor/Danforth line.  Orange vinyl seats that fell out of the 50′s and 60′s. You will not find these older cars on the Yonge/University line.

If you have an opportunity to ride both lines, make sure you look around in the cars themselves.  Look at the different advertisements, and note the number of TTC subway maps.  The number of maps is crucial.  On the Yonge/Universityline there will be at least 2 on every car, usually 4 one over each set of doors alternating sides.

The Danforth/Bloor line does not have the same number of maps, there is frequently only one per car which means if you need to check it, you may need to give up your seat and walk the length of the car to find it.  The advertisements are also different.  Now that probably has to do with the neighborhoods that the lines pass through but the Yonge/University line has higher end advertising.

Speaking of neighbourhoods… Here are some real estate average house prices from Toronto Life broken down into the Yonge/University lines and the Bloor/Danforth line

Yonge/University

  • Newtonbrook East-Newtonbrook West – $410,268
  • Willowdale East – 379,798
  • Lansing-Westgate – $459,001
  • Willowdale East – $379,798
  • St. Andrew- Winfields – $1,094,057
  • Lawrence Park North – $749,936
  • Lawrence Parth South – $1,021,634
  • Yonge-Eglington – $799,152
  • Yorkville – $813,533
  • Bay Street Corridor – $367,374
  • University – $585,159
  • Annex – $793,471
  • Casa Loma – $1,160,773

Average price in the list: $693,381

Bloor/Danforth

  • North Jamestown – $330,441
  • Church-Yonge Corridor – $353,574
  • Cabbagetown – South Jamestown – $408,810
  • North Riverdale – $639,598 Danforth Village – $457,336
  • Blake-Jones – $428,966
  • Greenwood- Coxwell – $377,064
  • Woodbine Corridor – $427,250
  • East end Danforth – $431,534
  • University – $585,159
  • Little Italy – $550,060
  • Dufferin Grove – $456,019

Average Price in the list: $453,818

This isn’t a scientific study, nor is this list complete, nor does it include the racial make ups but if you wanted you could look into Toronto’s neighborhood profiles and break down the ethnicities in each.  I can tell you that the Bloor line goes through a Muslim neighborhood with lots of immigrants (Danforth village) , a Greek neighborhood,  aCaribbean neighborhood, and a Korean neighbourhood.  The Yonge/University line goes through Korean/Persian at Finch, then Caucasian all the way until downtown.

The reason for writing all of this is the TTC is getting new subway cars, and low and behold they are putting them on the Yonge/University line, here the rich white people live. Surprise, surprise. One would think they would be looking to get rid of the oldest cars and replace them with new ones but this is apparently not the case which leads me to wonder, is the TTC racist on purpose or is this just a gross oversight?

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When social media goes astray

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

Recently in the Toronto news there has been a fair amount of traffic around the issue of social media and the TTC.  The media has managed to make a mountain of a molehill and managed to distract the union and it’s head Bob Kinnear from the issue at hand.  That however isn’t what interests me.   What I find fascinating is the use of social media and social networking tools in this debate.

It started with this photo:

This photo ended up in all the papers and  resulted in the operator making an apology and explaining that he was on a new medication.  A perfectly reasonable excuse in my opinion except for the fact that he didn’t contact his union.

If I had trouble staying awake at work I would immediately go and talk to my boss, explain the situation and go home.  If I did need a nap I would take it in a lounge or employee area where I was out of the way and certainly out of the public eye.

The interesting thing about this picture however is how it made the rounds and media explosion ensued.  First media was talking about Twitter and Twitpic and  all the different ways people can share images.

Next this video appeared on the internet of a driver taking a coffee break in the middle of his route. Apparently this poor guy is now suspended pending an investigation.

The description reads: “TTC driver taking a coffee break in the middle of the shift while leaving the bus with passengers behind – The driver did it every week night in a period of 2 weeks (total of 10 times)!”

The head of the Union’s response is,

“We have heard from many operators who now fear taking a few minutes for a needed washroom break because they don’t want to be subjected to ridicule or embarrassment,” Mr. Kinnear added. “I invite any journalist here today to go online and take a few minutes to research the health effects of chronic urinary retention. Let me give you a head start on the most common problems: urinary tract infections, kidney infections, kidney failure, bladder cancer and prostate problems.”

Are you kidding me?  You’re actually going to defend this by talking about urinary tract infections?? That’s probably not the best way to handle this.  A more appropriate response would have been:

“We try to ensure our drivers have ample time to use the facilities at the end points of their streetcar runs, but clearly it is not enough. We want to ensure our drivers and employees are comfortable as well as our customers as a result we have asked drivers to make an announcement when they need to stop for any length of time.  We will do our utmost to ensure streetcars stay on schedule.”

Of course, that would require streetcars to have a schedule but I digress.  This stopping issue wouldn’t be a problem except it has happened many times and now with cellphone cameras and Youtube anyone can be a reporter:

The problem with reporting however is that there is a bias, and no journalistic ethics need be applied.  This kind of guerrilla journalism isn’t about reporting on events or distributing information it is about pushing an agenda. Every photographer makes a choice when he or she chooses to point the camera.  And that isn’t to say this media blitz is all one-sided either.  All the streetcars have cameras in them now.  The CBC has a video posted of a driver needing to fight a passenger off of the bus.  And the TTC employees have posted their own Youtube videos:

Personally I applaud the TTC putting cameras on the streetcars.  It not only ensures the safety of the drivers but the passengers as well.  And no one deserves to get assaulted while at work no matter how late they are! While I support the TTC I suggest the footage should be kept off of the internet.

A Facebook group called “Toronto Transit Operators against public harassment” which describes itself as “a group where Operator’s can give suggestions on how to fight back to the recent photo and video harassment from passengers just looking to make trouble for us.” cropped up not long after these videos appeared.

At one point they were reportedly advocating a work to rule policy to combat what Union boss Kinnear described as, “ an entitlement to film our operators in the performance of their duties”.  That Facebook group started out public but quickly became private after the public lashed back on the site.

What is interesting is there is another Facebook group for “Employees of the TTC” and it is open to the public.  And the public is beginning to lash back again.  This is a social media disaster for the union and the TTC.  First off you have to have a strategy and a clearly defined purpose when deciding to engage in social media.  The last thing you need is a mouthy employee to write something rash which further damages your already battered reputation.  You also don’t want to add fuel to the fire of the malcontents

The Union, if it had any brains at all would ask it’s members to kindly stop attacking the public, because right or wrong, if you argue with a troll it only gets stronger!

That isn’t to say there hasn’t been adult and measured discussions but if the Union, or the TTC decide they want to hash it out in the social media space they had better get a game plan together.  The public has been in this space for years and they had best catch up before they try to go troll hunting.

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TTC streetcars

Sunday, May 3rd, 2009

So I crashed by bike yesterday. Normally that is no big deal, but I did it while riding along Queen St. East attempting to turn left. Now if this has ever happened to you, you know there is little time to react. One minute you’re spinning along and the next you’re eye level with an ant. The crash broke the mirror on the bike, and scraped up my knee and elbow. The worst however is that it jammed up my shoulder, which has torn rotator cuffs to begin with and now I have trouble lifting my left arm. And all of this because of the the damn tracks.  And I got lucky, apart from the homeless guy who berated me for crashing my bike no one else was around.  No cars around me.

Now I know I am not the first cyclist to bail on these things; I have seen others do it as well. But what I can’t figure out is why we keep the street cars in the first place. Ever seen this:

TTC streetcars backed up

One steetcar has trouble and blocks the three behind it

Of course you have. Probably while waiting for one.

The main problem with streetcars is that they are tied to the tracks. It makes it impossible for them to pull over and out of the way for emergency vehicles.  I have lost count the number of times I have seen ambulances slowed by drivers attempting to get out of the way but having streetcars impede them.  They can’t leapfrog each other which means that during rush hour the first one gets packed with people while the others remain relatively empty and it slows down the entire system since the one with all the people as to stop at every stop.  And when there is construction they need to turn wherever there are tracks to get around it.

The tracks require a huge amount of maintenance, since the metal expands in the Summer and shrinks in the Winter causing stress in the pavement. AND the tracks are a hazard to cyclists.

Now the TTC has awarded Bombarier the streetcar contract reportedly valued at between 1.25 Billion and 3 Billion.

Bombardier design for new streetcars

Bombardier design for new streetcars

Now I understand Toronto has a people moving problem, most major cities do, so why don’t we focus on alternatives, dedicated bike lanes that are separated from the car traffic.  They do it in China.

Barrier separates cars from bikes

Barrier separates cars from bikes

I am not going to let one little accident stop me from riding.  If I did I would have stopped riding a long time ago.  What I will try to do is be more vigilant and press the City of Toronto for safer streets for cyclists. With the depression/recession cycling should be an easy sell.

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