City
Morning Brew: TTC Riders' Strike, Smitherman and Tory Square Off, Road Tolls Suggested, Bed Bug Infestations
Photo: "Fly a kite" by Lizzie's Libation, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.
What's happening in the GTA (and sometimes beyond):
2010 mayoral hopefuls George Smitherman and John Tory squared off face-to-face on CFRB Newstalk 1010 last night, in what was being touted as the first opportunity for battle lines to be drawn. Smitherman wasn't impressed that Tory allowed the media into the studio, and declined a follow-up interview, but they did manage to chat briefly about healthy eating habits.
Toronto is losing its economic edge, and road tolls may be a way to help reverse the trend. A study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development says billion of dollars are being lost in the GTA because 71% of us rely on cars and are tied up in traffic rather than being productive. In-car offices could probably also help solve the problem but would surely introduce new ones.
Bed bugs are back, and a big problem in the city. Infestation by these little critters can be a real pain, especially on the psyche. It's best to get a pro to come in to solve the problem, but not everyone can afford the service or to replace pricey household items.
Back in October it was the Bathurst & Dundas area, and now other areas including the Annex and Yonge & St. Clair are being cited. Ground floor dwellers, all single women, have reported being awakened at night to find a stranger lurking over their beds and in one case, the intruder has made sexual touching his motive. Lock those windows and doors.
Police have stepped up the investigation and are conducting a massive door-to-door search for clues in the ongoing case of missing teen Mariam Makhniashvili. Her backpack was found last month, and library computers were scoured for clues, but her whereabouts still remain a mystery.
And with a looming fare hike and token purchase limits being imposed, frustrated Torontonians are making an attempt to be heard by making this Friday TTC-free. A TTC Rider Strike is being planned and people are being urged to "for one day, find a better way." But the truth is, people need to get to work and to play, and I'm not all that convinced that it'll be easy to get enough people on board to have much of an effect.
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But if people wanted to do something productive they might try showing up at a TTC meeting.
Speaking of eating habits, "CFRB" has entered the deadpool.
Try asking a TTC ticket-taker in the booth how many tokens you get with a $20 bill. Or ask a Queen streetcar driver the name of the stop before Gladstone. You'll get snark. Guaranteed. Three dollars to get glowered at by an entitled, unhelpful employee who really DOES sit on his ass all day.
Try taking a subway ride in a wheelchair or with a stroller. Count the elevators. (Hint: you'll only need the fingers on one hand.) Try pushing a stroller onto a bus that lowers, only to find that the driver is averse to pushing the "lower" button. Try asking a bus driver to help you mount your bike on the front racks.
Or how aobut this: race me from my house at Bay + Wellesley to my office at Queen + Spadina. You take the TTC. i'll walk. Dollars to donuts, i'll win.
i'll pay a premium price for a premium service. The TTC is not a premium service. And a transit system shouldn't charge a premium ANYWAY - it's an absolutely crucial service that needs to be effective for poor and wealthy alike. The lifeblood of the city. But it feels like Toronto's had a transfusion, and all our blood's been replaced with tart, badly-mixed Tang.
- Ryan
If you want to refute it you can comment.
If you want to look stupid by making baseless assertions.. well, I guess you're good at that already.
i started just over 2 years ago
not panning to go back to a car ever, especially with the rental services available
the TTC is a last resort
Thank you.
I don't live or work near a subway station, so in order to buy tokens I first have to get on the bus, then exit the paid fare zone and risk having the collector deny me entrance again without repaying(it has happened to me in the past). I then have to do this every other day for the rest of the month. I also take the risk that the collector still has tokens and doesn't cut me off after seeing me every other day buying the maximum number of tokens.
OR I could spend more money then I need to getting a weekly pass for the next three weeks.
On a related note, I didn't see anything about increases with weekly pass prices.
It would be pretty hilarious if metropass users took part in this strike, since the TTC has their money anyway, it would actually benefit the TTC if they stayed home.
So Toronto loves to broadcast that we are the most diverse city in the universe, and all we get is lame ass white guy insiders running for mayor? Step up Toronto!
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Stupid/useless comment of the day. Congrats.
We've been quite ironically punned, and all the better that it was probably unintentional. ;) Nice one Jerrold.
Nice one.. i really hope that this guy will miss his bus when he is late to work. Heartless-old-furt-TTC-employee. Route 6, 8:44 (arrived 5 min early)
BUT I WONT BE HAPPY ABOUT IT ;)
And the guy who drives the bathurst streetcar that I take on Wednesdays around 5.30 is SUPER jolly.
Other than that...
The bus kneels for riders who have trouble walking. A newborn baby has trouble walking - that's why she's in a stroller. The bus should kneel.
2 or 3 times a week: Bay and Queens Quay. Northbound streetcar half full. Mr. Dooshbag driver doesn't even stop in the f'ing station - drives straight through. Oh, we all say to ourselves. I guess there's another one right behind Mr Dooshbag. But no, no there is not. Mr Dooshbag is just being a dooshbag.
London is allowed to have road tolls...well because it actually has a subway system that actually WORKS and people don't have to pay out of their asses for.
Seriously, is Toronto trying to get businesses and people to move outside of Toronto? The more expensive it becomes to operate within Toronto, the less people will be there, and there will be less money flowing into the gov't.
Have they got their heads on their shoulders? NO, wait, they're up their ASSES. Morons.
Paris and London both happen to have great public transportation alternatives. Has anyone ever been to New York City and tried driving in from New Jersey to Manhattan during rush hour? NYC's traffic is madness, and the toll required to enter the city causes crazy congestion. NYC has also has fantastic public transportation alternatives though, unlike Toronto.
I live in the northern suburbs and work downtown. It takes me nearly three times as long to get to work taking the TTC. I tried it out the first week and decided I'd rather pay for parking immediately after the week.
Road tolls AND expensive public transportation that doesn't get me where I need to go?
I better start hoping businesses will move out of downtown Toronto so I can avoid the city altogether. Who's with me?
Search the page for "Station Collector",and "Operator".
The complete list is available here: http://www.fin.gov.on.ca/en/publications/salarydisclosure/2009/