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#TOpoli

9 posts8 participants1 post today
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CodeRedTO

Toronto Star feature article on the history and potential of Toronto's streetcar network.

"Toronto grew up around its streetcars. Do they fit into its future? Does Toronto have the faith — and money — to restore a transportation network that’s been on the decline for decades?"

thestar.com/news/gta/toronto-g

Screenshot of linked Toronto Star article, showing the headline quoted in the post, and a photo of a streetcar which is derailed on a sunny winter day. The photo is taken from about 25m ahead of the streetcar, at ground level, so snow is blurry in the foreground and we can't see the streetcar's wheels or the rails.
By Andy TakagiTransportation Reporter The ding-ding of a streetcar means something different to every Torontonian. For Laurence Lui, it evokes memories of nighttime rides on the classic streetcars, during which the TTC worker watched the sparkling streets of the city go by. For Shoshanna Saxe, it’s a reminder of chugging along the smooth metal tracks that carried the civil engineering professor to school as a child. For Steve Munro, it’s the soundtrack of a transit enthusiast first learning the city’s winding streets. For others, the familiar sound brings irritation and outright anger, the noise punctuating interrupted commutes and interminable delays. To name only a few recent examples: a garbage truck derailing the commute of tens of thousands for most of a week after clipping streetcar wires at King and Spadina. Or, over the span of 10 hours, 23 cars blocking streetcars throughout the city as Toronto reeled from consecutive snowstorms. It could also be, some experts contend, the sound of a solution coming to whisk away Toronto’s paralyzing congestion — that is, if we put faith, and money, back into a city transportation system that has been on the decline for decades.
Article excerpt followed by two maps of the streetcar network. The 1929 map shows a huge network of red lines across Toronto, while the map of 2016-2025 is far more limited. The excerpt reads: “Fundamentally, as a city, we grew up around the streetcar,” said Lui, the TTC’s head of service planning and scheduling. “The streetcar could be shaping our future Queen Streets, Dundas Streets and College Streets, where people want to live, work and be part of the city.” A past performer While the streetcar has persisted, it hasn’t always thrived. Ridership for streetcars has yet to rebound to pre-pandemic levels and lags behind buses and the subway lines. Although still some of the city’s busiest routes, the dozens of streetcar lines that the city had at its peak in the 1920s have been whittled down to just 18. The network has taken a back seat to the needs of the subways and the shiny new Ontario Line, all while becoming a target of drivers who blame streetcars gumming up the roads and cyclists whose tires can get caught in the tracks.
“Streetcars carry more people, more consistently, faster, more evenly. It feels better,” Saxe said. “Getting rid of the streetcar is just talking about making the city smaller (and) worse.” Lui agreed, emphasizing the important role the streetcar continues to play as part of the city’s transit network. “If one streetcar is carrying close to 200 people when it’s full, imagine if that was four or five buses and what that would mean in terms of congestion levels,” Lui said. In the short term, the city’s transit solutions lie in the realm of buses and bike lanes, Saxe said — “things that we can do this decade to make (transit) better.” That longer-term future includes LRTs, which depending on who you ask, is essentially the same as a streetcar. (Others argue that LRTs have distinct features, like right-of-ways and more distance between stops.) On top of the long-awaited — and long-delayed — Eglinton Crosstown and Finch West LRTs, the city has plans for Eglinton East and Waterfront East LRT, both of which remain in the design stage without long-term funding. The problem, as with most services in the city, is money, Lui said. With the TTC’s existing streetcar fleet, he explained, the city could run five-minute service throughout Toronto — if it had the money to pay drivers. All the while, the streetcar is one of the TTC’s most profitable modes of transit.
#Toronto#TOPoli#TTC
Public
Cameron MacLeod

"Premier Doug Ford and his government have been given the go-ahead to rip up Toronto’s bike lanes as originally planned starting March 20, after a Superior Court judge denied a request for a temporary injunction.

Justice Stephen Firestone on Friday denied an application by cycling advocates for an injunction that would have halted the removal of bike lanes on Bloor Street, Yonge Street and University Avenue until" an April 16 Charter challenge.

thestar.com/news/gta/doug-ford

Screenshot of linked article, with photo of cyclist on a Toronto bike lane
Screenshot of linked article
Screenshot of linked article
#TOPoli#BikeTO#CycleTO
Public
Jérôme

Toronto's 'bubble zone' bylaw to block protests outside certain spaces to be delayed indefinitely

Woah woah, Monday morning good news? I'll take it. But it doesn't seem it's discarded, just more consultations are planned which will take time. Important to write to our councillors whenever/if it comes back

cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/tor

CBCToronto's 'bubble zone' bylaw to block protests outside certain spaces to be delayed indefinitely | CBC NewsToronto's plan to create "bubble zones" to block protests outside vulnerable institutions like faith-based schools and places of worship has been delayed indefinitely, CBC Toronto has learned.
#topoli
Public
May Likes Toronto

#topoli From @GraphicMatt:
"Serve Robotics, a California company spun off from Postmates and now claiming to have achieved “Level 4” autonomy with its fleet of delivery robots, has hired Global Public Affairs’ Vince Amodeo to lobby about “regulation for low-emissions sidewalk delivery robots” in Toronto."

toronto.cityhallwatcher.com/p/

A reminder that these robots are a menace for sidewalk accessibility. They take up space and expect people to move aside for them. Sidewalks aren't wide enough for them. Recall Tiny Mile just paid a team in South East Asia to control the robots. More outsourced labour & exploitation.

Also, these companies have been known to spy for cops in exchange for cops investigating robot vandalism. Is this the city we want to live in?

City Hall Watcher · Trash of the titansBy Matt Elliott
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