Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Metrolinx CEO Bruce McCuaig in Denial about Eglinton Crosstown LRT...




“Ladies and gentlemen, the war on the car stops today . . . Transit City is over,” Ford told reporters Wednesday. “We will not build any more rail tracks down the middle of our streets.” “The war on the car is over and, all new subway expansion is going underground,” Ford said. (SOURCE:
‘War on the car is over’: Ford moves transit underground
)

Oh Bruce, when will you understand that Rob Ford's vision for Transportation City means 0 km of above-ground transit lines? Remember, “Streets, are for cars, trucks and buses.” Rob Ford famously said when declaring Transit City dead (SOURCE: Hume: Ford to Transit City: Drop dead).

The Toronto Star released a story today discussing how Metrolinx CEO Bruce McCuaig delusionally believes that the proposed Eglinton Crosstown LRT does fall within Rob Ford's vision of completely underground transit for Toronto, because 11 km of the proposed 33 km Eglinton line (or 33%) is underground, leaving 66% above-ground to cause havoc on one of Toronto's busiest roads and key crosstown routes for cars.

The truth is that having LRTs above-ground on Eglinton would be disastrous for traffic in Toronto, and would be the worst thing to happen to the car in Toronto since the implementation of the Personal Vehicle Tax. Not to mention, imagine a St. Clair Right-of-way disaster and a Roncesvalles fiasco multiplied by 100 and spread across the entire city! This is your precious above-ground Eglinton Crosstown LRT.

And I can't wait until Rob Ford absolutely destroys McCuaig's proposal! :)

Here's the story from the Toronto Star:

Ford-Transit City hybrid plan in the works
Despite fears that Mayor Rob Ford’s focus on getting more subway into Scarborough will kill light-rail-based Transit City, signs point to a hybrid plan with at least the Eglinton Crosstown LRT surviving, and Toronto paying a premium on the provincially funded expansion to get more of it underground and otherwise away from road traffic.

TTC and Metrolinx staff are communicating “daily,” said Metrolinx chief executive Bruce McCuaig, while the agencies’ leaders, and senior officials from Ford’s office, are to meet again before the end of next week, following a “very constructive” Dec. 17 session.

McCuaig made it clear the province remains committed to the Eglinton Crosstown line, a cornerstone of Ontario’s first-phase, $8.15 billion Transit City plan that also includes Finch and Sheppard LRT lines and revitalization of the aging Scarborough RT.

The Crosstown “reaches across the entire city; it connects to the regional systems, the various GO lines, it ultimately connects into Pearson airport and into the Mississauga transitway,” McCuaig said.

“We have certainly communicated to the City of Toronto that Eglinton is the most important regional project in the ‘big four’ (lines) and that we are very committed to it. I think it would be fair to say the city acknowledges the importance of the project.”

Eleven kilometres of the line are to be underground, he added, so “it actually reflects the mayors’ interest as well in terms of getting transit off of roads and underground.”

If McCuaig seriously believes that his "hybrid" Eglinton Crosstown "actually reflects the mayors’ interest as well in terms of getting transit off of roads and underground.", then he truly must be in a fantasy land of unicorns and rainbows... Probably the same one that his buddy Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and Toronto-traitor Transportation Minister Kathleen Wynne are in...

I am hesitant to go after Councillor Karen Stintz for not completely dismissing it outright right-off-the-bat, I hope she hasn't dropped the ball on this one, her first real task as the Rob Ford-appointed Chair of the TTC.

--jackandcokewithalime

PS: Just to be clear, I'm not opposed to an Eglinton Crosstown Transit line, it would just have to be completely underground and should be subways.


(Image:
Screenshot taken from http://www.toronto.ca/involved/projects/eglinton_crosstown_lrt/pdf/map.pdf on City of Toronto - Eglinton Crosstown Light Rail Transit (LRT) Website
)

3 comments:

CheeMiss said...

OMG, the Metrolinx IDIOTS are going to turn Eglinton Ave., into the same damn nightmare that they made out of St. Clair Ave.

Imagine, your driving south towards Eglinton from a side street. You will no longer be allowed to continue south across Eglinton. You will be forced to turn Right Only and look for a damn U-turn lane, way out of your way, forcing you to double back so that you can continue going south.

OMG......what a nightmare! Even Mississauga's Mayor is not allowing LRT with a dedicated lane. She is opting for buses. Why in the name of God are we, here in Toronto, being FORCED to accept this horrendous Transit City war on cars still???

I thought Rob Ford was against this type of St. Clair nightmare! Instead he is going to be encouraged/brainwashed to accept this???

I guarantee you that these Metrolinx planners drive cars and DO NOT even live in Toronto. They commute from the burbs, so they don't care how they BUTCHER our city, bcos they won't be inconvenienced by it at all. Only the people that live here will suffer. God how I am loathing living in this city now. I totally and completely HATE these
anti-car hypocrites. Each and every one of them should be forced to give up their cars and forced to use their creations and then they would see what a nightmare it truly is.

Let their wives drag their mega grocery shopping on their LRT's and see how they like it.

Sorry about the rant. I had made the mistake of driving on St. Clair Ave. last week and could not make a left turn onto Oakwood Ave. I had to go way out of my way and double back via a U-turn lane.
These people should be shot! No left turns on side streets ever again. Talk about creating more traffic and pollution. Not to mention that they better pray that there is no need of a fire truck or ambulance. IDIOTS, THE LOT OF THEM!

And it looks absolutely horrible to boot.

Anonymous said...

"Even Mississauga's Mayor is not allowing LRT with a dedicated lane. She is opting for buses."

Wrong. She would like to see Hurontario narrowed from 6 lanes to 4 lanes to make way for LRT. Living Arts Drive would be reduced from 4 to 2 lanes to accommodate the LRT. She wants to have as much dedicated lanes as possible along the path of the LRT.

Rob Ford, meanwhile, loves everything underground. I like DRL and Eglinton to be full-fledged subways, because Bloor and Yonge trains are crazy-full. The rest for me is fine.

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