Cynthia’s Thoughts on Public Transportation

Toronto is improving its public transportation.  When their Transit City (a series of light rail lines) plan was launched a couple of years ago, the planned map really upset me, as it was, for the most part, lines in the northern part of the city.  I couldn’t, for the life of me, understand why there was so much planning for the north and mid-town, but nothing downtown. 

Toronto has two and a half subway lines (a grand piano shaped, north-south line and one and a half lines going east-west).  Half, you say?  The “half” line is the Sheppard line, which only has five stops.  It was supposed to be much longer, but budget cuts prevented it to be “completed.”  And it probably never will.  These subway lines, especially the ones going north-south are extremely crowded during work hours that sometimes, people have to wait for several trains before they can squeeze themselves in one.  Twenty-five years ago, the planners wanted to add an additional north-south line (Downtown Relief Line) which would relieve people who travelled on the Yonge-University-Spadina line (existing north-south).  Had it worked out, the construction would have been completed and fully functional by now.  However, we are finding the Yonge-University-Spadina line getting more and more crowded by the day.  Only in the last few weeks has there even been any kind of talk of the POSSIBILITY of looking into building such a line.

Why is this, anyway?  If Toronto wants to be a “World Class City,” it must have good public transportation across the city, not just uptown and midtown.  We will not even be remotely close to being a “sophisticated city” with a vibrant downtown without decent transportation.  After all, no one would want to go downtown (for business or for fun) if the subways and busses continue to be impossibly crowded.   And with the “green movement” being so important, one would think that more money can be available for public transportation.  Also, what about all the people moving downtown and raising family downtown?  Many don’t have cars.  Many don’t want to own cars.  It’s as if they don’t care. It’s no wonder people are moving up to the suburbs and staying there.  It isn’t only about affordable housing and good schools.  I don’t really know why people in Toronto are satisfied with being mediocre.  

I’ve been to many cities all over the world, and most seem to have better systems than Toronto.  Some cities, such as New York and Hong Kong, don’t require passengers to purchase tokens for each ride or a fare card each month.  Instead, the fare is through debit.  This is something Toronto is “looking into.”  Looking into?  We should have done that years ago.  If we did, everything would be in place by now.  Why are we so behind on things like this?  By the time we actually have an integrated fare card, it would probably be an out-of-date technology.  And to think that the head of the TTC is a young 30-something.  I love my city, but I can’t stand our transportation system.