Morning Brew: Transit tolls and tax council bound, another distracted TTC driver, Doug Ford still wants subways, and lessons from Vancouver's info pillars
Discussions on road tolls and a new regional sales tax to fund new transit projects could be on the council agenda sooner rather than later if Councillor Josh Matlow has his way. Matlow, with the support of TTC Chair Karen Stintz, plans to table a motion at next month's meeting which would set up a dedicated working group to investigate the idea further. Which would you prefer - a sales tax or road toll? How about both and a Downtown Relief Line?
On Monday a video surfaced of a subway driver texting at the controls - now a photo of a streetcar operator reading the paper while driving the 510 Spadina route has been published by the Toronto Sun. Apparently increased scrutiny isn't enough to stop some drivers taking an impromptu break on duty. In other TTC news, the Commission's bus routes had a combined 8,000 delays in March. Yikes - time for more dedicated right of ways?
"War on the car, people want subways" - it must be a Doug Ford soundbite. The Councillor is still smarting from the decision to build several LRT lines in time for 2020 and vows to take action come election time in an interview with the CBC. Here we go again...
OK, forget road tolls and transit taxes for a second - would you be happy to pay a 23-cent GO fare hike to fund transit in northern Ontario? Didn't think so.
Toronto might be stuck with clunky, awkward info pillars that block sight lines and sidewalks, but that's not the case out Vancouver way. Rain City has its own set of pillars that are placed parallel to the curb or at a 45 degree angle instead of against the flow of pedestrian traffic like they are here. Spacing takes a look.
We tweeted about this the other day, but it's worth sharing here as well. Over at 500 pixels, blogTO contributor Tom Ryaboi explains how a single photo changed his life. Hint: the story is related to today's lead image.
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
"Twenty years ago, you might say cycling was in the realm of the granola-crunching, tree-hugging, sandal-wearing lefties. That's no longer the case anymore. It's mainstream."
Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong, speaking a cycling summit on King Street yesterday, remembers the days when you could ride your single-speed to work without being branded a hipster.
IN OTHER NEWS:
Photo: "i'll make myself famous-3" by jentse in the BlogTO Flickr pool.
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