Proposed LRT Extension for Sheppard Avenue - Not Such a Bargain!

Hi All - The posts and information on this blog are still relevant, but; please visit my new blogs at www,TorontoTransitBlog.com and www.SmarterTracks.com for my latest plans and posts

Proposed LRT Extension for Sheppard Avenue Not Such a Bargain!

I sent the following message to numerous politians, planners, the media, a number of other parties, and other authorities having jurisdiction, on February 3, 2016; with the following comments and concerns - At the bottom of this page are the e-mail addesses the message was sent to - Please send your own comments and concerns to them - I don't think that transit should be rushed through the process until they are sure that they have it right, and are sure they have also planned for the long term - We don't need a $5 billion white elephant [think Mirabel - $500 million (the equivalent of over $2.2 billion today); gas plant scandal - over $1billion (and counting); mothballed coal-fired power generating stations that were planned, built, stuffed with crates full of completed equipment (including boilers and generators), and then locked up before they even opened, to rust and become obsolete at about $300 million a pop [we are still paying the cost of the debt service today (or at least we were paying it up until recently) even though the debt was paid down long ago]]; and then there is the Scarborough RT; built to showcase a now defunct UTDC (see below) only to be sold off to private interests while at the same time assuming the warranties and liablity for the Scarborough RT line, Vancouver's SkyTrain system, and the trouble-plagued Detroit People Mover; [Do you want to guess who the Ontario Government contracted with to do the warranty and maintenance work?] - I could go on - No wonder there is no money for transit; it's all been p'd away

This was the message:


Hi All,

See attached - Also;

GTA ACCESS BETWEEN EAST AND WEST AND THE PROPOSED LRT EXTENSION TO THE SHEPPARD AVENUE SUBWAY

This city is sick and needs a quadruple bypass – The Ontario Government stopped expressway construction in the early 70s and look where we are now - Cars have not gone away and they are not going away anytime soon - The existing transit system provides very few options for those travelling between the east and west areas of the city – The rapid options are the Bloor-Danforth subway, Go Train service through Union Station, or by car using the 401 – The latest transit plans for the city do address the issue reasonably well, but don’t go far enough

 – The reason that the existing Sheppard Avenue subway is underused is that it doesn't go to or from anywhere - An extension of the existing Sheppard subway [east to at least McCowan and Sheppard (together with the new Finch LRT and an LRT or subway connection between the Finch LRT and the Sheppard subway line), would:  create a real purpose for the existing Sheppard subway; tie everything together; minimize the number of different modes of transit and wasteful transfers between them; provide rapid public transit east to west for all of East York, North York, and Scarborough north of the 401; and would provide some relief to the Bloor-Danforth line - High capacity parking nodes at the east terminus of the Sheppard subway line at McCowan and Sheppard, and at the west terminus of the Finch LRT, would get people out of their cars, relieve traffic on the 401, and make the Sheppard Avenue subway line relevant - The high capacity parking node at McCowan and Sheppard could also service the Scarborough subway line if the Scarborough subway were to be extended up to Sheppard Avenue

 - The number of different modes of transit and transfers must be minimized – The Don Mills and Sheppard subway station should be connected by a subway to Scarborough Centre via McCowan and Sheppard, not an LRT – Even if we have to wait for it, it will be worth the wait – Agreed that the Scarborough subway, Crosstown East LRT, and SmartTrack need to be built first, but we should make up our minds and plan for it now – If you build it, they will come

 - It should also be noted that when presenting the comparison between the $1 billion cost of building a Sheppard LRT and the $3 billion cost of extending the existing Sheppard subway line to Scarborough Centre was made public, there was a hidden $1 billion cost of building a new transitional station to connect the existing Don Mills and Sheppard subway station to the new Sheppard LRT – This cost was never fully disclosed or properly take into consideration - The real cost of building a Sheppard LRT would have been $2 billion – Having said this, how many 100s of millions will it cost to build a transitional station to connect the new Sheppard LRT to the new Scarborough subway? – Not to mention the extra 18 minutes it would take to transfer from subway to LRT back to subway again - The subway is looking like a better deal every time you look at it

CROSSTOWN EAST LRT

The extension of the Crosstown East LRT along Eglinton and Morningside to Malvern is a huge benefit to Scarborough - The Crosstown East LRT could one day be run to Malvern and then double back (possibly through Centennial College and then) to Scarborough Centre or McCowan and Sheppard from there – Routing it through Centennial College would be a bit of a trick, but if it could be done, it could continue through Scarborough Centre and connect with SmartTrack at Progress Avenue or Ellesmere – Either way it would provide faster and more convenient service, get people out of their cars, and feed (provide increased ridership for) the new Scarborough and Sheppard subways and SmartTrack

FUTURE LOCAL RAPID TRANSIT FROM SCARBOROUGH CENTRE TOWARDS MARKHAM

Not asking for this now, let’s just plan for it – The subway station at McCowan and Sheppard should be oriented so that it can connect to some form of local rapid transit between Scarborough Centre and Markham in the future – No cost; just dotted lines on your little drawings for now

LET’S GET IT RIGHT!

Let’s get it right the first time – Kathleen Wynne should appreciate the consequences of getting it wrong and the costs of making changes later

Sorry; I realize I’m not being very diplomatic and may have bent a few noses out of joint, but that’s why I’m not a politician – Also not an urban planner; the politics involved would make me sick

P.S. - See my attachments

Regards, Phil P.



Atttachment One:

Attachment Two:

And below are the e-mail addresses the message and attachments were sent to:

from:		PhilP <xxxxxxxxxxx@gmail.com>
to:		"“ombuds@toronto.ca”" <ombuds@toronto.ca>
cc:		Kelli Korducki <kellikorducki@torontoist.com>, Tess Kalinowski <tkalinowski@thestar.ca>, info@sheppardsubway.com, Toronto Transit Commission <media@ttc.ca>, maureen@madamsonassociates.com, andrea.crockford@metrolinx.com, jpagliaro <jpagliaro@thestar.ca>, tom@ctv.ca, oppi@absolutevents.com, agalbra@toronto.ca, info@j-source.ca, hholden@toronto.ca, james.alcock@rogers.com, haynedj@toronto.ca, "“kwynne.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org”" <kwynne.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org>, "“councillor_karygiannis@toronto.ca”" <councillor_karygiannis@toronto.ca>, jerry.chadwick@tdsb.on.ca, oped@thestar.ca, lettertoed@thestar.ca, Newsroom@globeandmail.com, Toronto Sun <torsun.citydesk@sunmedia.ca>, Wendy Metcalfe <wendy.metcalfe@sunmedia.ca>, premier@ontario.ca, jnanos@toronto.ca, ekeenan@thestar.ca, councillor_thompson@toronto.ca, councillor_lee@toronto.ca, councillor_ainslie@toronto.ca, Ron Moeser <councillor_moeser@toronto.ca>, councillor_berardinetti@toronto.ca, councillor_crawford@toronto.ca, Norm Kelly <councillor_kelly@toronto.ca>, CP Twenty Four <now@cp24.com>, David Nickle <dnickle@insidetoronto.com>, Toula K <jim@karygiannis.net>, Councillor DeBaeremaeker <councillor_debaeremaeker@toronto.ca>, sdelduca.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org, minister.mto@ontario.ca, councillor_colle@toronto.ca, CEO@metrolinx.com, city@thestar.ca, miller@ecf.utoronto.ca, miller@civ.utoronto.ca, "michael.talbot" <michael.talbot@rci.rogers.com>, news <news@nowtoronto.com>, rjames@thestar.ca, John Tory <mayor_tory@toronto.ca>, Mike Logan <scarboroughsubwayextension@toronto.ca>, citybuilding@ryerson.ca, chume@thestar.ca, minister.mah@ontario.ca, justin.trudeau@parl.gc.ca, councillor_fletcher@toronto.ca, sserran@toronto.ca
date:		Wed, Feb 3, 2016 at 1:25 AM
subject:		Proposed LRT Extension for Sheppard Avenue Not Such a Bargain!
mailed-by:		gmail.com

PLEASE NOTE:  A couple of the e-mail addresses are defunct, and I have since forwarded to a few others, but this is the gist of it - I also plan to edit and add some of these comments and concerns elsewhere within this blog (if CSIS doesn't have me shot first) - Also; this is just one of numerous other transit related messages I have sent to various parties over the last few years, including many of those listed above - I have had a few dozen "Thank you for your email to the CEO of xyz - It will be reviewed and assigned to the appropriate business unit for consideration"; but, except for maybe one or two; I have never really had a direct response - Maybe this will get their attention

P.S. - The numbers I was throwing around in the first paragraph are reasonably accurate - Most can be found online - The rest are from personal knowledge and experience - If I'm off a bit, let's put the onus on them to prove it

And finally - I am fully aware that my IP address can be traced and blog shut down within minutes; if not seconds - It's not like I'm exposing secret agents in the middle east


Enjoy!!



UTDC

Wikipedia - The Urban Transportation Development Corporation Ltd. (UTDC) was a Crown corporation owned by the Government of Ontario, Canada.  It was created in the 1970s as a way to enter what was then expected to be a burgeoning market in advanced light rail mass transit systems.^[1] UTDC built a respected team of engineers and project managers. It developed significant expertise in linear propulsion, steerable trucks and driverless system controls which were integrated into a transit system known as the Intermediate Capacity Transit System (ICTS). It was designed to provide service at rider levels between a traditional subway on the upper end and buses and streetcars on the lower, filling a niche aimed at suburbs that were otherwise expensive to service.

Link

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_Transportation_Development_Corporation

See also on this blog:

"LRT vs SHEPPARD AVENUE SUBWAY EXTENSION"

"$3 BILLION OR $3 BILLION?"

"The Scarborough Transit Planning Update - January 21, 2016 - Comments and Concerns"


Notes
 
FYI; the links posted here should all still be good, but; I will be abandoning this blog and will only be updating this blog from time to time - Visit my new blog at www.torontotransitblog.com for information, ideas, comments, and concerns regarding traffic and transit in the GTA

P.S - I am working on a map that will illustrate all or most of my key proposals and ideas, so; STAY TUNED to www.torontotransitblog.com - My proposals and maps should be ready by the end of February 2016


Hi All - The posts and information on this blog are still relevant, but; please visit my new blogs at www,TorontoTransitBlog.com and www.SmarterTracks.com for my latest plans and posts