While construction on Toronto’s highways and roads is as much a sign of summer as a smog alert or a crowded patio, the next 10 years will have some especially sucky conditions for Gardiner Expressway drivers. Work on the elevated portion of the highway will start this July, when the eastbound Bay Steet on-ramp and Jarvis Street off-ramp will be closed for up to six weeks, and lanes on Lake Shore Boulevard and Bay and Yonge streets will also be closed off. The city has a decade worth of construction projects in store for the seven-kilometre-long elevated section, which will cost about $10 million this summer and up to $15 million a year after that. City staff insist the rehabilitation project has nothing to do with the falling-concrete incidents of last week. To which we reply: if you say so. [Toronto Star]
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Toronto drivers take note: Google Maps monitors current traffic conditions
(Image: screenshot from Google Maps)
Google Maps finally rolled out its upgraded traffic features to Toronto earlier this spring, which means those cruising across the city in cars can see estimates of how long their journeys will take based on current traffic conditions. How does it work? Turns out all those drivers using Google Maps on their phones (with the GPS enabled) are automatically sending anonymous data back to Google showing how fast they’re moving. Compiling that data from thousands of users, the company gets an idea of live traffic conditions. When you search for directions, Google Maps will tell you how long it will likely take to get to your destination—and whether it would be faster to take the subway instead.
GO Transit will literally pay for being late, starting this fall
(Image: Danielle Scott)
The Ontario Liberals, cannily realizing that people hate tardiness and love money, are promising GO Transit commuters a money-back guarantee when trains are more than 15 minutes late. However, there’s a fair bit of fine print: commuters will get their fare back if breakdowns or maintenance issues are responsible for the delay, but not if extreme weather, police investigations, accidents or medical emergencies are to blame; and while Presto card holders should get the refund automatically, other commuters will probably have to apply for it online. The refund program should start sometime this fall, too late to benefit those passengers who spent an hour stuck on board last month. [Globe and Mail]
Concrete keeps falling off the Gardiner Expressway
The scene at the Gardiner Expressway yesterday (Image: Christopher Drost)
Driving downtown in rush hour is already nerve-racking, and now drivers have the added bonus of worrying about concrete falling off the Gardiner Expressway. On Monday, a 46-centimetre chunk of the 60-year-old highway dropped onto Lower Jarvis Street, and just after rush hour on Thursday morning, a second concrete nugget landed directly in front of a vehicle at Parkside Drive. No one was injured and the roadway hasn’t yet attained Montreal levels of decrepitude, but it’s still kind of scary—especially considering this is an ongoing problem. Still, John Bryson, manager of structures and expressways for the city, told the National Post the structure is sound and he’d “drive under the Gardiner in a convertible with the roof down.” Meanwhile, condo developers breathe a sigh of relief since the debris falling from the heavens has nothing to do with them for a change. [National Post]
Torontonians pay higher Bixi fees than…well, everyone
(Image: Jed De La Cruz)
Living in Toronto has been getting pricier and pricier, and the city’s rap for being expensive extends to its Bixi memberships. BlogTO ran the numbers on bike-sharing programs here and in other North American cities, and it turns out Toronto pays more than everyone—even the notoriously expensive New York City will have a cheaper program when it launches in a few months. (Annual subscriptions for both cost $95, but riders in the Big Smoke have to return their bikes within 30 minutes, while New Yorkers will get 45 minutes of gratis pedalling time.) According to the fancy colour-coded chart, Bostonians pay $85 a year, Montrealers $80.50, Chicagoans $75, and Houstonians a mere $50. See the chart [BlogTO] »
How did Bixi do in its first year in Toronto?
(Image: Rahi Delvi)
Like proud parents, we can’t believe Bixi, the bike rental service and bona fide reason to love Toronto, is a year old already. Over the past year, Bixi has worked out some initial hiccups and extended its initial reach to Bathurst, the Distillery District, and along Sherbourne, just in time for the winter cycling season. (Toronto may not be the first Canadian city to have a bike rental network, but it is the first Canadian system available year-round—take that Montreal!). Maybe it was the unnaturally mild winter or the rising ranks of the city’s pinko cyclists, but stats show 23,000 trips were taken in winter, accounting for about 22% of the first year of usage. Altogether, BIXI met its goal of attracting 5,000 members and Torontonians took more than 556,000 trips around the downtown core. Sure we’d still like a larger service area, but that’s not bad for a city whose mayor has been accused of waging a war on bikes. [Newswire.ca]
Is Rob Ford waging a war on bikes?
(Image: veggiefrog)
It’s always fun when news agencies outside of Toronto pay attention to the city’s political scene, but this BBC clip about Toronto’s “war on bikes” just makes us sad. Setting the tone with some tense background music, the two-minute video features a series of Torontonians talking about how dangerous it is to get around on a bike in the city (which is certainly true) and placing all of the blame on Rob Ford for being “awful.” Since Ford refused repeated interview requests, the BBC did the next best thing: used old, grainy footage of him railing against cyclists and saying “it’s their own fault” if they get killed. And while the article accompanying the video gives a brief shout-out to council’s decision to upgrade and separate some existing bike lanes, it’s mostly a rebuke of the city’s cycling infrastructure, with Ford cast as the sole villain—even though the city’s pre-Ford track record on cycling was also spotty. We agree that the Ford administration, with its “war on the car” rhetoric, hasn’t been a cyclist’s best friend, but we’re not sure rallying beneath the “war on bikes” banner is the way to get Toronto’s inadequate infrastructure improved. It’s likely to create more hostility, not bike lanes. Watch the video [BBC News] »
QUOTED: Josh Matlow on Doug Ford’s fairy-tale approach to transit funding
(Image: Rob Boudon)
I know that some councillors slip into the divisive rhetoric with promises of building subways and delivering unicorns to every child. I know it’s controversial … but I’m just tired of a false debate of ‘let’s build things!’
—Councillor Josh Matlow, comparing the likelihood of building a subway without a transit expansion fund to that of gifting kids with creatures that don’t exist (amounting to a jab at Doug Ford, who strongly opposes levying new road tolls to pay for transit). Matlow, who’s backed by transit rogue TTC Chair Karen Stintz, wants to bring tolls and regional sales taxes to next month’s council agenda, with a view to creating a permanent fund to bankroll transit projects. This isn’t the first time the rookie councillor has floated the contentious idea, either—as the Globe and Mail points out, he failed to get council’s support for tolls on the Don Valley Parkway and the Gardiner last fall. However, Matlow believes this time will be different because “the appetite is much larger now to get real about funding.” That, or the city’s getting embarrassed for lagging behind notoriously gridlocked Los Angeles. [National Post]
Major service delays (and angry commuters) on west GO Train lines
(Image: Danielle Scott)
Thanks to a computer malfunction, passengers on the Lakeshore West, Kitchener and Milton GO Train lines are experiencing “major delays” (transpo-speak for “the trains aren’t moving”). While some trapped passengers have given in to the frustration, others have found entertaining ways to pass the time or are planning for a long wait. Check GO Transit’s website for service updates (or to prove to your boss it’s not your fault that your’re late for work).
QUOTED: Denzil Minnan-Wong scolds Toronto’s chief medical officer for wanting to cut speed limits
(Image: Christopher Drost)
—Denzil Minnan-Wong, chair of the public works committee, getting testy over Dr. David McKeown’s call to cut the speed limit in Toronto in a report released yesterday. Apparently, the rate of car collisions with cyclists and pedestrians is about twice as high in Toronto as in Montreal and three times as high as Vancouver. McKeown advocates cutting the citywide speed limit from 50 km/h to 40 km/h, and the limit on residential streets from 40 km/h to 30 km/h, writing that “small increases in traffic speeds results in a disproportionately large increase in pedestrian fatalities.” Faster than you can say “war on cars,” Minnan-Wong got territorial about what he saw as outside “meddling” in his department—not all that surprising given his previous mistrust of the pedestrian scramble at Yonge and Dundas. Still, even without he suburban councillor’s reaction, we’d bet the proposal to slow Toronto traffic would be a tough sell. [Toronto Star]
Air Canada pilots call in sick, Air Canada passengers just sickened
(Image: BriYYZ)
Since this morning, Air Canada has been dealing with a pilot “sick-in,” which stands to be about as unpleasant as it sounds. Over 90 flights in or out of Pearson Airport have already been delayed or cancelled after many pilots, angry over the federal government’s intervention in contract negotiations and unable to strike, booked off sick. The pilots’ move, which the Air Canada Pilots Association says it does not sanction, is the latest flare-up of long-running labour tensions at the airline, which saw a wildcat strike back in March following a slow-clapping incident (no, seriously). Air Canada advises anyone flying to check their flight’s status before heading to the airport, and says that affected passengers will be able to reschedule without paying a penalty (though that may not make them feel better). Read the entire story [Toronto Star] »
Just days after the unlikely team of Mike Layton and Frances Nunziata called for more stops on the rail link to Pearson Airport, Metrolinx has already nixed the idea. The current plan for the line has stops in Weston and at Dundas West and Bloor—and that, Metrolinx says, is how it will stay, even though council yesterday voted 40-2 in favour of Nunziata and Layton’s motion to add eight more stops (the additional stops would be at Eglinton West, the Junction, Liberty Village, Carleton Village, Jane, Etobicoke North, Woodbine and Humber). A Metrolinx spokesperson said after the vote that adding more stations will increase travel time (well, duh), and claims that improved GO service along the line will better serve local communities. We’d add that we can’t imagine many commuters would be willing to pay anything close to the projected $15-to-$35 fare. Read the entire story [Toronto Star] »
Forming an unlikely alliance, councillors Mike Layton and Frances Nunziata are asking Metrolinx to add more stops to the line from Union Station to Pearson Airport, which begins construction this spring. The odd couple councillors and local residents want eight more stops on top of the two currently planned for the line, and they also want the trains to be electric, not diesel-powered. It looks like the provincial transit agency won’t consider those requests, though, because the project is on budget and on schedule, and environmental assessments only included the two planned stations, according to the National Post. Metrolinx is, however, open to Nunziata’s suggestion of linking the line to the Eglinton Crosstown LRT—which they’ll get on just as soon as it opens in 2020. Read the entire story [National Post] »
The battle over the Jarvis Street bike lanes begins again
(Image: Half my Dad's age)
Now that it’s clear—abundantly so—that Rob Ford can be beat, the Toronto Cyclists Union has decided to revive last summer’s fight to save the Jarvis Street bike lanes. The group is brandishing a letter from a law firm that says the bike lanes can’t be painted over and the centre vehicle lane put back in without an environmental assessment. Though the delaying tactics may work in the short term, it seems unlikely that the union would find the necessary council support to save the cycling path—even a fiscal conservative like Karen Stintz, who may have been swayed by the exorbitant cost of removal, has been unwavering in her view that the Jarvis lanes are unnecessary (and a danger to families). Read the entire story [Toronto Star] »
Air Canada workers stage short-lived wildcat strike and ruin at least one childhood
(Image: BriYYZ)
Having apparently decided Toronto’s librarians look pretty cool walking the picket lines, Air Canada workers launched a wildcat strike late last night, forcing at least 115 flights out of Pearson Airport to be cancelled or delayed. The workers were riled up over the suspension of three of their colleagues, who mockingly slow clapped when they spotted Labour Minister Lisa Raitt at Pearson last night (the nerve!). This morning, Air Canada obtained an injunction to send the workers back to the tarmac. However, judging from the insults (and sad stories of shattered childhood dreams) circulating on Twitter, delayed passengers will hold a grudge for a while longer. Read the entire story [National Post] »
