Chris,

I heartily disagree that Torontonians should stop bitching about the TTC. Really, it's a pretty shitty system for a city this size and people are right to demand more from the service. C'mon, 2 subway lines serving the whole city. While London and NYC are not perfectly comparable, they do provide a good model of how an efficient system should be set up (insert idea to run suburban express trains here). We need to start looking/implementing at a better integrated regional transit network.

The TTC needs a champion who has the balls to make some real change to the system by adding more subway lines that serve places other than union station. Stephen Harper take note: this is the easiest way to increase your popularity in the city. Just accept that the capital cost to build the system is a sunk cost that must be incurred. Suck it up.

The bitching is justified. It just needs to be done in a more constructive manner to effect some real change and improve the urban infrastructure.

As a displaced torontonan living in Ottawa i have to say that the TTC is fabulous. What I wouldn't give to have a real public transit system istead of this feeble bus system we have here. Sure the TTC needs and deserves more funding, and expansion, but it is head and shoulders above anything else in this country outside of montreal.

I like the TTC, but then again, I live approxinately 53 paces from Wellesley station, so it it quite convenient for me.

As for streetcars, I agree with Richler, although Chris' point about cost per rider is important. The thing is, it's not the cost of streetcars that bothers me, it's their lack of flexibility. If one breaks down, or if there's some sort of MVA on the track, the entire route grinds to a halt. Heck, even if there is somebody making a left turn in front of one it can't go around. When they stop to pick up/drop-off passengers, they block two lanes of traffic. I'm not sure if that's the full litany.

So what's the upside of streetcars? Seriously, I want to know. Are they more environmentally friendly?

I lived in Toronto from 1985 till 2003 (when I moved just outside the city)

I didn't have a car till 97 so I was a TTC/bicycle commuter.

If you live downtown the TTC is a spectacular service. If you have to take buses or the streetcar its a friggin nightmare.

But even then near the end I loathed the service. It would take some kind of miracle for me to ever go back to using it again. And I am not sure miracle is the proper word.

In saying that people should stop bitching I'm not saying that people with brains should stop offering constructive solutions. But I have no time for these people who answer "What's the worst TTC route?" with "Ooh! Ooh! Mine! The one I ride every morning!" Or people who see no reason a New York-esque labyrinth of subway tunnels couldn't wind its way through a city of, what, a tenth Manhattan's population density? Or people who never ride the TTC but are convinced streetcars won't work based on a bad experience five years ago.

Believe me, I can solve all the TTC's problems in one post. Stay tuned...

Believe me, I can solve all the TTC's problems in one post. Stay tuned...

I'm all tingly with anticipation.

There are a few basic issues here:

1. The TTC and City Council have done almost no planning to accommodate additional transit growth, and treat additional funding requirements as a big surprise even though the Official Plan says that we are going down this path.

2. There is very serious overcrowding and ragged service on many routes at various times of the day. Sure it is always possible to find counterexamples, but the system is bad enough often enough that it is not an attractive way to travel for people who have an alternative.

3. London, New York and Paris have extensive subway networks to a great degree because these were built a long time ago when it was (a) cheaper and (b) nobody was able to complain about things like neighbourhood demolition, environmental reviews, etc etc and (c) in some cases lines were built to develop relatively new areas.

Toronto is completely different in every regard, and moreover has almost no corridors left where a subway is justifiable either from a cost or a service design point of view. We have a GTA that has a many-to-many travel requirement, and sinking every penny we have into one or two small subway extensions (Spadina and Sheppard, for example) over the next decade or so won't address the larger problem.

4. We need to stop trying to handle regional demand on the local system and make significant improvements in GO Transit. Crowding on the Yonge Subway arises at least partly from riders originating outside of the 416 who should get downtown on GO, if only it had better service. The cheapest way to get more subway capacity is to divert riders to another, existing, underutilized route.

5. The TTC carps on and on that they cannot provide better service as long as they are running in mixed traffic. Get used to it. Reserved bus and streetcar lanes on a widespread basis are highly unlikely if only because the service runs so infrequently people would always drift into the empty transit lane. The problem on the streetcar lines is that there is not enough service and what service there is is very badly managed.

6. There are no instant solutions because we have almost no spare vehicles with which to improve peak period service, and the city's budget watchdogs won't give the TTC more money to improve off-peak service (when over half of the riders use the system).

Enough for one post.

I ride the TTC about 1/2 the time, the rest of the time I drive to work. I live in the north west end of the city and work at University and Dundas. It takes me about 1 hour to get to work on the TTC and about 1.5 hours to get home again. It is very frustrating waiting for the bus and the subway, not to mention the overcrowding.

I have a small mobility problem and standing on the bus is really not an option for me and also I rely on the escalators, which are often out of order at the Lawrence Ave West subway. I see people with baby strollers who are forced to carry them up all the stairs because of the broken escelator. You would think they could keep them operating.

The TTC is not the better way, it is the cheaper way and that is the only reason I take it. If I could park my car for less and gas prices were down, I would never take the TTC. I will even put up with the terrible traffic downtown in order to avoid the TTC, but the cost is prohibitive. I am lucky that I do have the option to drive at least some of the time, but I really feel for those that do not have the option.

I don't mind the hike in fares, I think it is still very reasonable, but I do truely wish they could improve their service. More buses, better escalator and elevator service would go a long way to making it easier for those of us with mobility issues. In this I include people who transport their children back and forth to daycare or school and use strollers; also those who have to shop using the TTC because if they use a bundle buggy and the escelators are not working, they have as much difficulty climbing the stairs at subways as do those of us with bad legs or back, etc.

The streetcar lines are massively underused. Any improvements to the TTC should start there.

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