MB Toronto
Morning Brew: Rob Ford wants to chat, what next for transit tax?, cut the speed limit for bikers and walkers, TTC looking at bendy busses, Jays win and Raptors lose
Rob Ford plans to call city councillors - including the ones he doesn't always see eye-to-eye with - into his office over the next few days for a series of brainstorming sessions, reports the Globe and Mail. The move could be an olive branch to the group of councillors - dubbed the mighty middle - who have voted against the mayor in recent key votes and helped steer the agenda away from Ford's own vision.
So we know drivers hate commuting in Toronto, but what are we going to do about it? After a weekend poll by the Toronto Star confirmed support for a transit tax to fund new infrastructure, John Lorinc at Spacing asks what needs to happen to get the wheels moving (pun intended). A list of transit projects the tax could fund is high on the list of priorities. The cause also needs a champion - but who will step up?
The Toronto Board of Health says cutting the speed limit to 30 kilometres per hour on residential streets and 40 everywhere else - among a host of other changes - would improve conditions for walkers and cyclists, reduce injuries in accidents and improve the overall health of the city, reports The Grid. Chances of this ending up as fodder in the "war on cars"? 100%. Would you support a reduced speed limit if it made it to city council?
A document posted on the TTC website suggests the Commission is looking into a fleet of 60-foot articulated busses (bendy busses to you and me) to serve some of its busiest routes. The tender sent to seven vehicle manufacturers, including Metrolinx, seems to be courting offers for several of the high-capacity machines. Let's hope this works out better than London's first fleet of flexible, super-capacity people movers. (via Reddit)
This week's Retrontario blast from the past takes us to the Toronto Islands in the 1970s, a time when a kid could reasonably expect to ride a horse, a giant plastic swan, a car on rails, a miniature train, a rowing boat, a pleasure cruiser, a swing set, a gondola and a ferry all in a single day. Those were the days...
IN OTHER NEWS:
- Blue Jays sweep away Royals [Globe and Mail]
- Raptors fall to Bucks 92-86 as Jennings nets 25 points [CTV]
- Michelle Yu apologizes for mysterious disappearance [National Post]
- 'Sweet' dog killed in violent spear attack in Richmond Hill [The Star]
- Ontario election averted after 'tax the rich' deal struck [CBC]
Photo: "Fedora Noir" by GregoryIV in the BlogTO Flickr pool.
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The only difference will be more money in the coffers of the police and province.
As for lowering the speed limits? Dumb idea that I hope never gets any traction at Council. City streets don't need to be made any slower than they already are, and dropping speed limits by 10 km/h is just going to frustrate drivers and encourage them to speed even more, thus making the streets less safe for cyclists and pedestrians.
If anything, I might suggest that speed limits on certain main arterial roads in the City are already too slow as it is.
Imagine, living on a budget and pushing for a permanent transit solution. That doesn't sound too bad to me
Wait, a kid can't do that now at Centreville? What has changed so much?
One reason for lowering the speed limit is that it dramatically improves collision survival rates for pedestrians:
at 30 km/h the survival rate is 95 per cent;
at 50 km/h the survival rate is 45 percent.
(www.drivetolive.ca/downloads/speed_fact_sheet_apr_09.doc)
Bad drivers and badly trained drivers don't magically become safer drivers when you raise the speed limit.
And other road users are the "scofflaws"?
I haven't read the report yet, but I'm sure the media focusing on this stupid traffic thing is just misdirection from budget cuts. Let's talk about this "host of other changes" that they suggest.
Some more detailed analysis here: http://spacingtoronto.ca/2012/04/24/getting-sensible-speed-limits/
He does have vision - its just that his vision is near-sighted.
What I'd like to know is why Metrolinx is bidding to supply bendy buses to the TTC - where are they getting those buses from?
Please tell me you're joking.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4XTwaGiINw
lemur: Metrolinx has contracts with manufacturers where it buys on behalf of 905 municipalities to a joint specification, so the municipalities benefit from economy of scale and Metrolinx just brokers the deal. TTC normally orders enough not to need to join with someone else but it's good that the option is there.
Artics should work reasonably well on routes like Finch West to bridge the gap to light rail, but one of the benefits of artics is multiple doors so all-door-boarding and proof of payment checks should be part of the deployment.
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/about/slowzones.shtml
This is the kind of proven, real-world stuff like bike lanes and off-vehicle transit boarding that Toronto should be importing right away rather than be afraid of. Get your head out of the sand already, Hogtownians.
I don't support lowering the speed limit though. People causing the accidents aren't going to follow the speed limit anyway, so instead you're just slow down traffic even more in the city and punishing the good drivers who know how to drive responsibly at higher speeds.
It's not just drivers you know, a lower speed limit won't stop stupid pedestrians or bicyclists. Walking/biking while on your cell/listening to music and not paying attention to the world around you as you jaywalk or go through a red is asking for trouble. As a serial jaywalker I know the golden rule of eye contact, and not being stupid enough to just expect cars to stop for you.
Also, Germans love rules.
http://transit.toronto.on.ca/bus/8505.shtml