Toronto Star: Evidence is clear — we need better transit

.....(snip).....

The first came when the TTC announced that on Sept. 15 it had set a record, with 1.71 million rides that day.

The second story, which appeared the same day, reported that more highrise buildings are under construction in Toronto — 132 projects between 12 and 40 storeys tall — than any other city in North America. The next on the list, Mexico City, has 88 such structures in the works.

If anyone wants to know where Canada’s largest city is headed, there was the answer. Toronto will become what it already is — a city of towers and transit — only more so. Therein lies the future.

This isn’t because of public policy or the intelligence of decision-makers. They’re usually in the way. Indeed, these are trends that fly in the face of everything Mayor Rob Ford stands for, and which go against the grain of every NIMBY association in the city. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1067164--hume-evidence-is-clear-we-need-better-transit?bn=1

He can't. He was informed of that. They don't belong to the city; they were installed by the province, and here they stay...unless, of course, Ford can find the money to pay the province for them.

Ford is an insular, unpleasant man of the neo-con stripe. He promised things that, if delivered, would change Toronto into a place that is really hard to live in. He is now taking his budget cuts to the police and fire departments. That's not going to be popular.

I spent the first 10 years in this town gawping at street corners, looking for the subway entrances. I mean, a town of nearly a million, they should have them, right?

Wrong. There's a bus system that shuts down at 7 PM and doesn't run on Sunday. We did get high speed rail running between southern exurbs and Santa Fe, but they're trying to shut that down on weekends. The only good thing about the local transit system is that the buses have all gone to running on hydrogen, so they don't leave traffic behind them choking in a black diesel fog.

The main thing I miss about Boston is the transit system.