aderfp633
Inscrit le: 27 Sep 2011
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Localisation: England
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 Posté le: Ven Sep 27, 2013 10:13 am Sujet du message: How to win votes and ruin a transit system |
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{How to win votes and ruin a transit system}
With every passing week, transit planning in Toronto goes further off the rails.It now seems like every politician with a pack of magic markers is equipped with the tools required to be a transportation planner in this city, sketching new rapid transit lines on maps to suit their fancy.Keen to announce his latest proposal to get shovels in the ground on new transit projects, on Wednesday Ontario Transportation Minister Glen Murray stepped up to the microphone. He revealed that the province would be proceeding with the subway that Scarborough residents have longed for.The new line would follow the route of the existing Scarborough RT, but have just two stops beyond Kennedy as opposed to five currently.It would be funded entirely with $1.4 billion in provincial money.At this point,[url=http://woolrich-parkaoutlet.blogspot.com]woolrich arctic parka[/url], it is easy to explain why this proposal fails to meet the standards of good transit planning.Still to be determined is whether subways can technically handle the sharp curves on the existing Scarborough RT route, and what additional costs might be required to make this feasible. Putting such strong political backing behind a plan that has this level of uncertainty at the outset creates the real risk of rising costs, as more information becomes known.For users, fewer stops on a rapid transit line means that the system will not be easily accessible to as many people in Scarborough. For many users, any time saved by eliminating the RT-subway transfer at Kennedy Station may be more than made up by longer journey times to reach the stations.The inclusion of just two stops also limits the amount of development opportunities close to station areas along the route, which can generate revenue for government and drive future ridership. This subway line has the making of a white elephant, which will not only be a drain on capital budgets, but will also require substantial operating subsidies for years to come.It is undeniable that Scarborough residents require and deserve high-quality transit. But why are our political leaders pushing the most expensive, high-capacity technology?Why are so many municipal and provincial politicians falling over each other to be seen as the champion that delivers a Scarborough subway?Crass political opportunism to pander to a vote rich electoral area would be the most obvious explanation. Scarborough contains 24 per cent of the City of Toronto’s population and has 10 of 44 seats on city council. Securing the electoral support of this area can influence a mayoral election outcome, and provide a strong voting block of councillors at city hall.But this explanation alone does not hold. It could be argued that if voters in the rest of Toronto, let alone the rest of the province, come to see the Scarborough subway as a gold-plated political carrot being offered to attract votes, it could lead to a wider backlash against the project champions.Rather, what we are seeing is the Scarborough transit line being used as a symbolic wedge issue, that succinctly captures the current political fault lines in Toronto: downtown versus suburbs; elites versus “regular” citizens; expert versus common knowledge.The Scarborough subway provides a signal to suburban Torontonians that it is their turn to receive the same quality of infrastructure as downtown, even if this particular line is not being built in their own neighbourhood.It also appeals to the common wisdom that light rail is a fancy term for streetcars, which create rather than solve congestion.Yet Toronto can ill afford to build billion-dollar transit lines as political monuments. We are so far behind in providing rapid transit to all four corners of our city.Resources are too scarce to be wasted on projects that deliver big symbolic victories but minimal transit benefit.Matti Siemiatycki is associate professor of geography and planning at the University of Toronto.
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