Canadian Transit Needs Improvement

[Guest ProudConservative]

You will often hear about me saying, I wish Canada was like China... Canada has way to much gridlock, and we can barely get anything done.

Just compare this Subway map of Shanghai

vs Toronto

Why can't we have world-class transit like other nations? Why does it take years to fix roads, when it should only take months? Why does Canada allow greedy constrution firms to rip off the tax-payer?

Edited December 1, 2019 by ProudConservative

[Guest ProudConservative]

The Chinese can build things cheaper, and in a record amount of time. Why don't we fire our contractors, and get the Chinese to build stuff here. Here's a highway in Ethiopia, built by the Chinese.

Our own contractors have no clue how to fix the 401.

Edited December 1, 2019 by ProudConservative

[Cannucklehead]

Shanghai population = 26 million

Toronto population = 3 million

[Abies]

9 minutes ago, Cannucklehead said:

Shanghai population = 26 million

Toronto population = 3 million

I agree that having a transit system to the extent of Shanghai isn't currently realistic, but having a transit system that serves the current population and infrastructure to expand for the future is something provinces should be doing. 

[Guest ProudConservative]

5 minutes ago, Abies said:

I agree that having a transit system to the extent of Shanghai isn't currently realistic, but having a transit system that serves the current population and infrastructure to expand for the future is something provinces should be doing. 

Here's a picture of the Transit system in Barcelona, Spain. Toronto has a metro population of 5.9 million. Barcelona has a Metro population of 5.5 Million. Toronto is way behind.

Here's a picture of the subway system in London, England.

Edited December 1, 2019 by ProudConservative

[Abies]

Just now, ProudConservative said:

Here's a picture of the Transit system in Barcelona, Spain. Toronto has a metro population of 5.9 million. Barcelona has a Metro population of 5.5 Million. Toronto is way behind.

I stand corrected. 

[Guest ProudConservative]

Construction on Eglinton Avenue that's been going on for years.

You can read the article here.

https://www.blogto.com/city/2019/08/toronto-has-had-enough-construction-eglinton

[Guest ProudConservative]

I think there is a lot of corruption with Canadian construction firms, and nothing seems to get done. Snc Lavalin is one of those construction companies. Gridlock is costing our economy billions per year.

Edited December 1, 2019 by ProudConservative

[Cannucklehead]

Been the same way for a couple of years on hwy 7 because of the subway extension.  Apparently they are going to run it all the way to brampton.  

[Guest ProudConservative]

Forget subways. Why can't we build a Maglev from Markham to Brampton? I want my MAGLEV!!!!!!! This thing goes 600 kilometers per hour. We could reach Brampton in 5 minutes.

Edited December 1, 2019 by ProudConservative

[Cannucklehead]

I've heard talk about maglevs running from Toronto to London and montreal to the u.s. but they said it was to be in the distant future.  So maybe when we're oldies?  

[Guest ProudConservative]

6 minutes ago, Cannucklehead said:

I've heard talk about maglevs running from Toronto to London and montreal to the u.s. but they said it was to be in the distant future.  So maybe when we're oldies?  

It's because the construction firms will see it as an excuse to rip us off. If we actually got a fair deal, things like this could be built within a decade.

Edited December 1, 2019 by ProudConservative

[Cannucklehead]

1 minute ago, ProudConservative said:

It's because the construction will see it as an excuse to rip us off. If we actually got a fair deal, things like this could be built within a decade.

Honestly I dont see the need to run one from Toronto to London, or to the u.s.(unless they make one that goes from here to california while branching to florida or texas, or both)

If anything they should make one from montreal to Vancouver.  

[Rue]

12 hours ago, ProudConservative said:

You will often hear about me saying, I wish Canada was like China... Canada has way to much gridlock, and we can barely get anything done.

Just compare this Subway map of Shanghai

vs Toronto

Why can't we have world-class transit like other nations? Why does it take years to fix roads, when it should only take months? Why does Canada allow greedy constrution firms to rip off the tax-payer?

China out of necessity has more rail. Shanghai has the entire population of Canada. As railway systems go China is hampered by earthquake zones that limit where it can place its rail otherwise it would be far more extensive. If you want a  model, use Japan complete with its earthquake zones. Then again Japan and China jam people into their existing systems in conditions that would cause Canadians to die of shock and Japan has dedicated rails to bullet trains of course.

Toronto is a city of neglect where politicians kept delaying extensions for fear of raising taxes and each election the politicians avoided the issue until now any extensions will cost a fortune and no one wants to increase the taxes for it.

The fact is an extensive rail system for the Kitchener to Oshawa to Barrie to Niagra regions is a must. For now politicians try avoid the obvious by trying to hobble together surface Go train with existing subways. You tell me why there are so few commuter trains on the surface. You tell me why they cut the Go Trains to Barrie and other places.mThat said surface trains in our weather system break down because of snow and ice so that is a further issue. What we also know is one rush  hour subway system is the equivalent of like 4 rush hours on the 401 in terms of cars. Instead of using rail to cut down on cars, we build more roads which only add to the problem with a city. Adding to the problem is the feds, provs and mun governments often conflict over rail systems due to partisan reasons.

Mass transit is a must for any large concentration of population. So elect me, I will shoot everyone who disagrees, take everyone out of jail and all the terrorists returning home and all people who want to immigrate and have them build the subway. I will use the same approach as Mao. Work or you die.

Edited December 1, 2019 by Rue

[Shady]

13 hours ago, ProudConservative said:

The Chinese can build things cheaper, and in a record amount of time. Why don't we fire our contractors, and get the Chinese to build stuff here. Here's a highway in Ethiopia, built by the Chinese.

Our own contractors have no clue how to fix the 401.

It takes less time in China because they don’t have the same regulatory burden, especially environmental regulations to comply with.  It costs less because they pay workers much much less.

[cannuck]

They actually DO have environmental regulations, and compared with the incredibly bloated wages of Canada, they do get paid less, but after joining the rest of the world in trade some 30 odd years ago, Chinese workers are earning a LOT more money, and increasing each and every year.  The big differences are that when the government of China plans something, they will devote whatever resources are necessary to carry it out, and quickly and the productivity of typical Chinese workers is immense - mostly driven the simple fact that they are far better off now than in the past, and with hard work, expect to better of again in the future.  In China, work is not a dirty word.

Our problem is more to do with wealth distribution and re-distribution, as we no longer do much to create any wealth.  We can't pay the bills because the growth we see in economic numbers are largely speculative gains - that only represent wealth being re-distributed.  Hogtown has gridlock of a lot of people rushing into downtown to do little or nothing productive.  When you are paying milions of people to drive in endless circles to create no wealth, and paying them enough to afford bloated million dollar housing prices, you have no money left over to fund Main Street (i.e. real business) and infrastructure.

Edited December 1, 2019 by cannuck

[Zeitgeist]

Well GO is converting its main lines to RER (electric instead of diesel), which will allow for faster and more frequent service, including two-way, all day service with some lines seeing trains every 15 minutes.  Stations are being added and existing rail lines are being incorporated within the TTC system as Smart Track (hopefully).   We will also see a major new subway line, the Ontario Line, be added in Toronto.  The Eglinton Crosstown is a new partly underground LRT/subway.   An LRT will be added along Finch, the Danforth line is being extended farther into Scarborough, and new LRTs are being or have been constructed in Mississauga, Hamilton, Ottawa, and Kitchener-Waterloo.  We will need more.  I also think we need high speed rail from Montreal to Ottawa to Toronto, with spurs to K-W and eventually London and Quebec City.  Below is the planned Go network with the old TTC planned network on it.   Below that map are the latest plans for the TTC network, which are approved.  

 

Edited December 1, 2019 by Zeitgeist

[Moonlight Graham]

14 hours ago, ProudConservative said:

You will often hear about me saying, I wish Canada was like China... Canada has way to much gridlock, and we can barely get anything done.

You mean Toronto has a gridlock problem, not Canada.  Toronto is not Canada.  Though many in Toronto believe otherwise.

Quote

Just compare this Subway map of Shanghai

Shanghai has a population of 24 million.  Apples to oranges.  Compare Toronto to chicago or london

[Michael Hardner]

2 hours ago, Moonlight Graham said:

.  Toronto is not Canada.  

Toronto is the cultural, economic and political centre of Canada as well as the most neglected and maligned by the ROC.

Not much to ask for decent infrastructure.

[Argus]

The world only lasts four years in Canada. It's as simple as that. If a politician is going to spend money he or she wants it to get them votes within that time period. If the payoff is beyond four years they don't care about it. They certainly don't like to spend money on anything that doesn't get them votes, like routine maintenance for roads, bridges and sewers. Subways (and highways) cost a fortune to build here because of high union wages, the high cost of environmental regulations and safety regulations, and the construction methods we use. China, as well as countries like Japan, will put a ton of people on a job to build or expand a highway, for example, and will go all-out until its done. Compare that to Canada where you can see a highway under construction for an endless period of time, drive along the side, and often see no one doing a damn thing even during work hours. Or if you do see someone, it's some guys working on one specific part. You'll never see a thousand people (or even five hundred) working at the same time to build a highway because we don't have the numbers of construction people available. So they take many years.

Bear in mind that the home of the PRIME MINISTER was abandoned four years ago for lack of routine maintenance. It will cost a few tens of millions to refurbish or demolish it and build a new one. Yet four years later it sits empty because the guy who has to make that decision is terrified that taxpayers will be angry at him for it. Mind you, this is the same assclown who grandly decided to send $600 million of our money abroad to help people in the third world have abortions. So <shrug> explain that if you can.

Edited December 1, 2019 by Argus

[Moonlight Graham]

2 hours ago, Michael Hardner said:

Toronto is the cultural, economic and political centre of Canada as well as the most neglected and maligned by the ROC.

It's the economic center.  It's certainly not the political center, that's why Parliament and virtually every government department is headquartered in Ottawa as well as every foreign embassy.  Typical Toronto arrogance, which is why Toronto is the most maligned, they think they're the center of the universe, as per the OP who thinks Toronto is Canada and Canada has a transit problem LOL!

As for the most neglected, that's an absolute joke, it's the exact opposite.  I'm sure everyone in Sault Ste. Marie, including surrounding native reserves, are sick of all the attention the ROC gives "the Sault"!

As for cultural center, i don't even know what that means.

Quote

Not much to ask for decent infrastructure.

Toronto has a population of 3 million, the GTA almost 7 million, which is like 1/5th of the whole country, and a lot of wealthy people there.  The tax base there is more than capable of funding its own city transit that the ROC won't use, and if they did they'd have to pay a fare.  Talk to Tory if you want more subway lines.

Edited December 1, 2019 by Moonlight Graham

[Michael Hardner]

27 minutes ago, Moonlight Graham said:

1. It's certainly not the political center, that's why Parliament and virtually every government department is headquartered in Ottawa as well as every foreign embassy.  T 

2. As for the most neglected, that's an absolute joke, it's the exact opposite.  I'm sure everyone in Sault Ste. Marie, including surrounding native reserves, are sick of all the attention the ROC gives "the Sault"!

3. As for cultural center, i don't even know what that means.

4. Toronto has a population of 3 million, the GTA almost 7 million, which is like 1/5th of the whole country, and a lot of wealthy people there.  The tax base there is more than capable of funding its own city transit that the ROC won't use, and if they did they'd have to pay a fare.  Talk to Tory if you want more subway lines.

1. I think it is.  Money, votes, and media are all here, but ok.

2. I would say The Sault gets more attention per capita than Toronto does.

3. Canadian culture is centred here, via TV, Radio, Music industry, literary industry... for the English language.

4. We have to pay taxes for the ROC.  

 

But we generally don't complain.

 

 

[cannuck]

8 hours ago, Michael Hardner said:

Toronto is the cultural, economic and political centre of Canada as well as the most neglected and maligned by the ROC.

Not much to ask for decent infrastructure.

Toronto is the cultural, economic and political center of Ontario, not Canada.  The rest of us see it accurately as the rectum of this dysfunctional mess.

[Michael Hardner]

4 minutes ago, cannuck said:

The rest of us see it accurately as the rectum of this dysfunctional mess.

Yes, we're familiar with the hate.  For the record, I have never heard a Torontonian honestly disparage another Canadian city.

[cannuck]

Just now, Michael Hardner said:

Yes, we're familiar with the hate.  For the record, I have never heard a Torontonian honestly disparage another Canadian city.

that's because those other cities are not Toronto