I hadn’t really followed what had happened after I heard that the City of Toronto called an emergency meeting to approve an additinoal 1/3 of funding for the new fleet of low-floor streetcars to be built by Bombardier.
On June 30, 2009, the TTC put out a press release on its website stating that Bombardier had officially been awarded the contract to build the 204 new street cars that would ultimately replace its 30-year-old aging fleet.
The Toronto Transit Commission and Bombardier Transportation Canada Inc. today officially signed a contract for the manufacture and purchase of 204 new low-floor streetcars. On June 26, TTC Chief General Manager Gary Webster presented a notice of award letter to Bombardier to ensure the bid price deadline of June 27 was met.
…Toronto City Council approved full-funding, allowing the TTC to place a streetcar order with Bombardier worth $1.2 billion. The delivery plan for the 204 new streetcars calls for a prototype vehicle to be delivered to the TTC in 2011. Passenger service will begin in 2012. All 204 cars will be delivered by 2018.
To read the rest of the press release on the TTC website, please click on the link below.
TTC and Bombardier sign contract to build 204 new streetcars
The city had to scramble for additional funding for the project when it was discovered that its proposal did not meet the economic stimulus funding criteria. John Baird had fighting words for Toronto, but Toronto really didn’t have time to fight back since the proposal deadline was drawing near.
An article on BlogTO refers to this little misstep on Mayor David Miller’s Part as a ‘debacle’. Blame for not acquiring sufficient funding because the streetcar project does not meet the outlined criteria for economic stimulus funding.
Out of 2,700 other pending infrastructure projects, this was the only one that did not gain approval. In a two page rejection letter to the mayor, Infrastructure Minister John Baird wrote, “The project that your officials tried to submit clearly did not meet the criteria”. I have a feeling the package may have been prepared in haste or carelessly. If the criteria is laid out, why wasn’t it met?
Days later, the Kitchener/Waterloo area got their $790 million LRT system approved almost effortlessly. When this happened I raised an eyebrow. Former Waterloo City Councillor John Shortreed didn’t see the justification due to their low population, and I didn’t either. Afterward, Miller sent the minister a print of two streetcars (of different generations) passing each other as an attempt to “repair the relationship”. All these events have led me to believe that something with the proposal was amiss.
There’s no denying that the new European styled streetcars are eye-appealing and efficient, but I feel that there are more urgent projects to complete, such as the new LRT lines, or repairing the subway. Almost two weeks later, this catastrophe over funding is still fresh in my mind and that of transit users. Between almost fumbling the contract and the garbage strike, the mayor is skating on thin ice.
To read the rest of the article, please click on the link below.
A Look Back at Toronto’s Streetcar Debacle
Many commentors seem to disagree with the author stating that the funding did not come through because the Tories “have it out” for the city of Toronto.
Whichever side of the debate you are on, it’s clear that the additional 1/3 of funding that the city put up will have to come from somewhere. And it looks like many of the projects that the TTC was looking to get done (i.e. station modernization, etc.), will have to take a backseat.
The TTC is clearly showing its age, and it really has to pick and choose which, of its aging parts it wants to replace. And given that streetcars carry a myriad of passengers each day to where they need to go, replacing the streetcars makes sense.
While the city of Toronto continues to expand and ridership of the TTC continues to grow, many will be eagerly awaiting the arrival of this “messiah”-esque streetcars.
I came across an interesting commentary from the Globe & Mail website courtesy of Spacing Toronto’s Blog.
In the commentary piece, Albert Koehl, wrties that the province of Ontario should step in to help ensure that proper bicycle infrastructure gets put into place for the municipalities, particularly Toronto, which has experience a patchwork of bike lanes being put in.
More bike lanes have been installed as of late, but there’s still not clear and easy way for cyclists to join these lanes.
Even a focused effort over the past few years to paint more bike lanes has achieved limited success. The problem is that the fight for bike lanes still happens virtually on a block-by-block basis, while the issues being addressed are communal, even global. The answer is for the province to step in to adjust the rules.
Ontario planning law already puts a healthy emphasis on cycling, walking and transit. Both the Toronto region’s growth plan and the Provincial Policy Statement, which is currently under review, require cities to consider the safety of cyclists. The growth plan directs cities to ensure that bicycle and pedestrian networks are integrated into transportation planning “to provide safe, comfortable travel for pedestrians and bicyclists.”
Unfortunately, the law has just enough ambiguity to allow a “business as usual” approach. By imposing minimum standards on cities – such as the requirement to install bike lanes on roads with specified cycling levels or when road redevelopments take place – the province will move the municipal debate about bike lanes from “if” to “how.”
A change at the provincial level wouldn’t just help beleaguered cyclists but also benefit stressed city politicians.
To read the rest of the article, please click on the link below.
It’s an interesting idea to have the province step in to ensure that cycling infrastructure in municipalities is in place where it makes sense to have it.
While some would argue that a bike lane isn’t the be-all-end-all of cyclist safety, one can say that it’s a step in the right direction towards ensuring cyclist safety. Enforcement of traffic laws for both cyclists and motorists would help, but it’s probably best that we move in baby steps.
Vacations can be pretty pricey, particularly if you decide to go anywhere outside of Canada. With airfare, hotel, and other expenses, it really adds up.
Many people are instead, opting to take a “staycation”, since the purse strings are just a little tighter these days.
One website, looks to get people using their bikes and public transit in order to see parts unseen.
“The municipal bike paths lead to Lake Ontario and the waterfront,” he said. “Not enough people know that if you cross through there, you reach up with the Waterfront Trail and the Trans-Canada Trail. From there, you can go east to Durham and beyond and west to Burlington and Hamilton along the water.”
Most routes average 15 km, although longer ones reach 60 km.
The site, part of a two-month campaign, works in conjunction with GO Transit, the TTC and Coach Canada.
To read the rest of the article on the Toronto Sun website, please click on the link below.
I had blogged about bikes+transit.com in a post entitled Bikes + Transit = fun on a bun, because Donald Wiedman had emailed me directly about the launch press conference. It’s great to see individuals like Wiedman taking steps to show people that they really can have fun in their own backyards.
Be sure to check out the website if you would like to learn more about bikes+transit.
The spread of diseases from animals to humans is becoming a more serious issue. A study discussed on Tree Hugger has found a correlation between the spread of diseases from humans to animals and the biodieversity of the [mammal] population.
The study discussed in the blog post was conducted by Portland State University and examined the spread of Hantavirus, also known as Sin Nobre Virus.
The researchers made the connection between increased mammal diversity and lower infection rates among deer mice after conducting field work in Portland’s parks for the past four years. In place where mammal diversity was lowest infection levels increased dramatically.
This work reinforces work done at a site in Panama, and reported on back in May, that found that rates of hantavirus tripled at the number of rodent species dropped.
To read the rest of the Tree Hugger article, please click on the link below.
It’s a fascinating study and while we tend not to think of biodiversity when we live in cities, it’s definitely something we need to take into consideration. If not for the health of the planet than for our own health.
It seems that the Toronto Star has exposed the seedy underbelly of the green bin program.
Now at the start of week 3 of the garbage strike, people are now learning information about the green bin program, which was Mayor Miller’s effort to divert waste and have Toronto become less dependent on shipping garbage to a landfill
According to one article on TheStar.com, Moira Welsh uncovered that a lot of the waste meant for the green bin was diverted to gravel pits.
The Star found that, over the past two years, thousands of tons of organics in various stages of the composting process have been dumped into a gravel pit, tossed into landfills or stockpiled on city property. What’s more, some of the material residents are told to place in green bins – plastic bags and diapers – has wound up in the belly of a Michigan incinerator, despite Mayor David Miller’s vow Toronto will never burn garbage.
City residents deserve better, say compost experts. At least $15 million of taxpayers’ money goes to truck and treat the organic waste.
“Toronto homeowners put a lot of time and energy into separating their kitchen organics,” says Jim Graham, chair of the Ontario Waste Management Association.
To read the rest of the article on TheStar.com, please click on the link below.
The pure organics program in the Durham and Peel regions get good marks for not allowing waste such as diapers and plastic bags to contaminate the stream of waste, like they do in Toronto.
Because of this expose by the Toronto Star, it seems that the provincial government is going to be stepping in to check in on these claims and make stricter regulations that will see municipalities look hard at the entire waste diversion process instead of just looking at it in a piecemeal fashion.
“We have to fix these problems,” Environment Minister John Gerretsen said.
“I want to change the regulations out there and I want greater oversight from the beginning to the end of the process,” he added, in an interview that followed the Star’s revelations over the weekend about Toronto’s organics program.
The probe discovered that thousands of tonnes of green bin materials ended up in gravel pits and landfill or – in the case of plastic bags and diapers – was burned.
As well, tests conducted by the newspaper revealed extremely high salt content in the compost that was produced, making it a killer for plants.
Gerretsen said he now realizes the provincial regulations governing organic programs are out of date and standard rules are needed for all communities. The Star stories compared Toronto’s organics program, which allows contamination by plastics and diapers, with that in Durham Region, whose pure organics program is considered a “shining star” of composting.
To read the rest of the article on TheStar.com, please click on the link below.
Province steps in to fix green bin mess
With no signs of the garbage strike ending anytime soon, this certainly is a black eye for the mayor in terms of promoting waste diversion. Things are piling up in the streets and in parks and other public areas, and this sort of news does not bode well for a city that’s usually known for being so clean.
