Metrolinx, the regional transportation planning agency for the Greater Toronto Area, has revealed a draft Regional Transportation Plan for transportation in the Greater Toronto Area and beyond. Subways! Streetcar lines! Freight! Roads! Trains! Bikeways! Fifty billion dollars’ worth over 25 years!
Knowing Torontonians, we will talk this thing to death and then never implement half of it, as funding gets kicked around by successive governments. But I hope we get moving on this. We need to improve things. If the census statistics I saw last week were accurate, we added a million people since 2000! (No wonder the subway always seems crowded.)
“Are the streetcars handicapped-accessible? How can I board at King and Yonge?”
“Can the 407 tolls rise higher? For the environment? And free for cyclists?” “No, they should be lowered, you tree-hugger. Eat your granola and shaddap!”
“Why doesn’t Stouffville have all-day GO train service? Oakville has it. Is Oakville better than Stouffville? Why don’t Stouffvillians count?”
“The plan’s nice, but will I still be able to get my daily double-double decaf latte (with just a hint of cinnamon) at Eglinton station?”
Meh. It’s pretty pie-in-the-sky visionary stuff… but I’m not peeing my pants in excitement until they finally start laying down track for a fixed rail link to the airport.
It’s pretty depressing to think that they’ve been promising to give us train/subway/tram/flying yellow submarine connection to the airport for half my lifetime already, and the closest they’ve come yet is a freakin’ half-assed project plan. Actually, can you call it a project plan if it doesn’t even include a timetable?
