Tag Archives: ARL

Residents to get input into Kodak lands after all

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Metrolinx, according to the The Star, is backtracking and allowing residents some input into what will happen at the derelict Kodak lands, which are to be turned into a rail yard:

Metrolinx has agreed to open debate on the fate of the former Kodak manufacturing site just months before the provincial agency tenders a multibillion-dollar contract to build a storage facility for the Crosstown LRT there.

It’s a major turnaround for Metrolinx, which has previously resisted requests by community activists to intensify development on the 23-hectare brownfield at Eglinton Ave. W. and Black Creek Dr., and include multi-storey commercial buildings that could lead to local jobs.

 

GO back tracks

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GO Transit has heard you, people of Weston, and is backtracking on its plan to extend the hours of construction. In a statement issued today, they also announced plans to deal with residents’ complaints.

From now on, they say

  • Fewer trucks will be allowed on site, reducing dirt and dust
  • Better equipment will be used to wash the trucks
  • Generators will be less polluting
  • Lights will be pointed away from houses
  • Some houses will have their exteriors cleaned

20130417_Construction Action Plan FINAL

Albanese asks about electrification

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Laura Albanese asked the Minister of Transportation, Glen Murray, about the electrification timeline of the UP Express. She had several complimentary things to say about the line, and asked him for an “update” on it.

Murray said that the earliest we could expect the line to be electrified is 2017, and said that he is “very committed to working with her to realize that time frame, and as we develop the infrastructure… we will be trying to fully realize these  projects right on time”.

Your humble correspondent is not quite sure what to make of that. Is it a promise? Has he said that the line will be electrified starting in 2017? Or has he promised that the soonest it will be electrified is in 2017? One thing is certain: I am committed to the assurance that the honourable minister will continue to negatively realize the actualities of forthright expression.

Metrolinx jobs program not working

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GO Transit’s local employment initiative, which was supposed to help residents find jobs, is not living up to its promises. Only four people have been hired, and most of the few jobs now posted are nowhere near here.

The Georgetown South Employment Initiative was launched in October of last year. According to GO, the train lines being built in Weston “will support thousands of design and construction jobs” and their “contractors working on the GTS Project have committed… to consider qualified community members to fill any employment positions”.

But Westonians (and Torontonians) are not finding jobs—because most of the ones posted now are in Alberta. Three jobs are posted on GTS jobs site— but two are at the Calgary Airport.

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Nor has even a small fraction of those “thousands” of jobs materialized. According to Salza, a spokesperson for Metrolinx, “contractors have posted 10 positions ranging from traffic control flagging to administrative support… 10 individuals have received interviews. Of those four have been hired.”

In Metrolinx’s defense, they have a caveat that they “will not guarantee a specific number of jobs” but will only “identify any employment opportunities that may exist and make them accessible to qualified individuals.”

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Sepia-toned propaganda

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If you haven’t had your daily dose of fury, have a look at the video produced by Metrolinx, extolling the virtues of the U.P. Express (formerly the Air-Rail Link). It’s hot mess of Instgrammy film-making: gauzy sepia tones, shallow depths of field, slow-motion and even ukelele music, for god’s sake. All the old hoary case-pleading is brought out, too: world-class city, legacy, international reputation… you get the idea.

It’s also a bit of a lie, right? While the video is titled, “Community Interviews”, the interviewees are unanimously in favour of the trains. Nary a mention of diesel or division in the bunch.

 

The first commenter on YouTube caught a doozie:

“Take that ride into the city and see the skyline unfold before you”.

“I like to absorb a city when I’m coming into it….. you can see everything. To be able to look through the windows and be in touch with the energy that a city has.”

How good will the view be after much of the corridor is surrounded by 5m high noise barrier walls after full build-out?

 

I’d like to add my own:

“It represents Canada, in that you feel welcome when you get here, and then you want to come back.”

Except, of course, that we’ll roll you for $25 (way more than any other ‘world-class’ city) as soon as you get off the plane. Welcome to Canada! Another $25, s’îl vous plait, to let you leave!

 

Auditor General says airport trains will lose money

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The Auditor General of Ontario released a long report on Metrolinx today. The Presto fare cards have received most of the attention from the downtown press, but the report also had a few words about the Air Rail Link UP Express. It says, in short, that the UP Express is going to lose money: either Metrolinx can have the ridership it needs or the high fares it needs, but it will not have both.

Breaking even on the link “may prove to be a challenge for Metrolinx”, the report says. The math is quite simple: annual costs are expected to be about $55 million. Metrolinx thinks that 1.8 million people (about 10% of all Pearson fliers) will ride the Express if fares are $20. But $20 x 1.8 = $36 million—just enough to cover the lowest estimated costs, but very far indeed from covering estimates that include paying off the debt and paying for the GO track.

This is no surprise: The smart money (in the ‘Public-Private Partnership’)  jumped ship some time ago figuring that there was no way to turn a profit unless the province picked up the losses—at which the province, naturally, balked.

The Auditor says the break-even fare at Metrolinx’s ridership estimates is a steep $28. But it gets worse: Metrolinx’s ridership estimates are probably optimistic. Other North American links charge between $2 and $13 to get the same proportion of airport travellers as Metrolinx thinks it can get at $20. Those ridership estimates are downright implausible at $28. Surveys found that 75% of GTA residents said they wouldn’t take it if it cost even $22.50.

So Metrolinx is probably stuck: they have overestimated how many people will take the train and how much they are willing to pay. The Auditor says,

“Metrolinx should work with the Ministry of Transportation to clearly define the business model under which the Air Rail Link (ARL) should operate to ensure that the ARL will be a viable and sustainable operation.”

Your humble correspondent thinks that passage, translated from the tame, means something like “Metrolinx is about to lose a piss-whack of money unless they know something we don’t.” But your humble narrator is, as always, willing to be corrected.

The Auditor General included Metrolinx’s response:

Metrolinx advised us that it did take these factors into consideration but still concluded that its ridership projections at these premium fare levels would be achieved.

Metrolinx seemed to take at least some of the AG’s criticism to heart. They said in their reply that they

[agree] with the Auditor General on the importance of reliable ridership forecasts, and independent analysis has been obtained to create ridership projections.

… Metrolinx will continue to use best-in-class ridership information to guide our internal decision-making and to inform our business model, and we will continue working with the Ministry of Transportation to finalize the business model.