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Morning Brew: Vaughan says sell the Gardiner, road wear kept quiet, PRESTO will continue despite costs, an angry sign, a new taxi app, and an Ikea monkey tattoo
For sale: one aged highway, many previous users, some light wear. Councillor Adam Vaughan says it's time Toronto sold off the Gardiner and implemented tolls to cover spiraling repair costs that could, if approved, reach half a billion dollars. According to the National Post, the idea "was not immediately shot down by the mayor's allies." Is this progress?
The road saw action last night when cops arrested a 22-year-old driver for traveling the wrong way on the elevated road near Islington Avenue. Impaired driving charges are pending.
Rob Ford's office may not have known much about the dangerous state of the Gardiner Expressway even though city staff and engineers were working in "emergency" mode. Documents seen by the Star raise concerns that staff were sending the wrong messages to the public about the safety of the road.
Despite a whopping implementation bill, PRESTO is here to stay. The contactless fare card has cost almost three times more than expected to implement in Toronto and Ottawa but Metrolinx CEO Bruce McCuaig says the card will continue to roll out on the TTC as expected. Will PRESTO come into its own when the Toronto Transit Commission comes online?
A "concerned private citizen" isn't too happy about upcoming cuts to fire services in the city. A sign encouraging drivers to call Rob Ford to complain about a reduction in service has appeared on the lawn of a Scarborough fire hall.
Another new taxi company is wading into potentially murky water related to the city's car dispatching laws. TAG says it doesn't need a taxi operator's license because it contacts the dispatcher and not the drivers. Uber, a similar company, ran into trouble with licensing and standards last week over its system of sending fares directly to each car. We reviewed the TAG app last week.
Toronto's most famous jacketed macaque may have been immortalized forever in ink on a local woman. Pictures on Reddit appear to show a design with the word "believe" underneath being prepared on a girl's side. What do you think - is it real?
IN BRIEF:
- Toronto elementary school teachers to stage walkout on Tuesday [National Post]
- Boy threatened while shopping at Eaton Centre, police say video [CBC]
- Downtown Toronto condo building set to include affordable rental units [The Star]
Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at @chrisbateman.
Photo: "Gardiner and Skyscrapers" by calebwildes from the blogTO Flickr pool.
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Also, I can't believe city staff wouldn't tell the Mayor's Office what the real deal with the Gardiner is. I don't like the guy, but this seems like something right up his alley that he would be proactive with, and it speaks to the, perhaps, lack of professionalism, or petty behaviour, of city staff. That's unacceptable.
I mean, they are all the same tech underneath - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIFARE#Places_that_use_MIFARE_technology
How did Metrolinx screw this up?
I wonder what else Adam Vaughan wants to privatize.
Sell the Gardiner.
Normally, i like to nationalize things rather than profitize/privatize things, but private firms do luxury items well. The 407 is an expensive beast but oh how well it runs. Construction is minimal and well planned. Its almost like the construction companies when they fix and expand the 407 is that they are actually trying to give customer service rather than just push cones around during rush hour until the engineer screams at them enough, likely making upwards of $25/hr on union 'hours' like in the City (i.e. work 2, charge 6). The 407 is fast, only attracts drivers with 'means' who cut you off properly, rather than break down, drive 80 in the left or have bits of crap fall of their vehicles. The 407 is a middle+ class road and the free flowing traffic shows it. A Gardiner in this way would be dreamlike. Of course the buyer would insist on double-decking it, making it 4 lanes from the 427 to the bottom and up the DVP, and re-implementing the Front St. extension. Geez. I would totally pay $20 to get from Park Lawn to Jarvis in 10 minutes at 8:30am. Do it. Do it., Do it. Hey and make them throw a few picturesque bridges or other pedestrian access routes through/under/over it (not dank, murky, overgrown sidewalks).
Oh and while we are wishing for truly beneficial but unlikely things, could we privatize the DVP/404 from 407 to Gardiner. If you want to boost productivity in the City (and i know many of you don't, dirty hippies), free-flow the highways. Yay for reasonable tolls.
The Gardiner is hardly a city road. It's used by the entire GTA who are making their way in and out of downtown.
I support privatizing many services but I've never been sold on privatizing roads. I'd be open to tolls as long as the money did not go into general revenues. If you're going to tax or toll me to use it I want the money to go directly to supporting the service I'm paying for.