News is what somebody somewhere wants to suppress; all the rest is advertising.
The St. John the Evangelist school opening will be delayed again. The new school, which was long overdue, was supposed to open in the fall of 2018; it will now open–hopefully–in time for students to return in September, 2019.
Dave Bennett, who is running for trustee, says the delay is due to a legal dispute between the TCDSB and Metrolinx over the culvert; “Without these finalized agreements, culvert construction to replace the ditch between the school and the Metrolinx tunnel lid is on hold”.
Anne T commented on the news that Uber and Metrolinx have come to an arrangement. She quite sensibly wonders why Metrolinx and the TTC haven’t entered into a similar arrangement.
What would make even MORE SENSE is to have a TTC bus stop right at the front doors of the UP Weston station where presently many passengers are either picked up or dropped off. I’m a frequent UP user who takes the Weston 89 bus to the station and have to walk through the parking lot. DEFINITELY a TTC bus stop makes more sense!
Why should UBER have their own taxi stand? Why the special privilege for just UBER and not other taxi companies? Is Metrolinx making money on this UBER/Metrolinx deal? And why should we sell the parking lot to private developers? It’s bad enough that we sold the 407 to Spain. When will we finally put an end to this insanity?
If Metrolinx is trying to encourage people to leave their cars at home, a convenient stop at the station entrance would be welcomed bu UP and GO riders. A very frosty person at Metrolinx’s phone reception said that it would be up to the TTC to get the ball rolling on this. I’ve left a message with the TTC at their suggestions page.
Readers who like this idea may wish to contact the TTC and Metrolinx to lend your support.
TTC suggestion page here
TTC phone line – 7:00 am – 10:00 pm: 416.393.3030
Metrolinx suggestion page here.
Metrolinx phone line: 416.874.5900
The latest video from Crosstown shows before and after views of the vehicle maintenance yard located on the old Kodak lands in Mount Dennis. The video begins with a shot of the site back in March 2017 and then moves forward to this October. The work is substantially complete; most of the tracks are down and a striking feature of the project is the green roofing of the complex. The green roof will save money on heating and cooling while reducing the buildings’ carbon footprints.
One can speculate whether or not such ‘frills’ could happen if the project had been approved under the current Ford regime.
For some strange reason, WestonWeb wasn’t invited to the recent press tour of the Eglinton Crosstown facilities. The tour was to show off the latest construction milestones of the mammoth project. The storage and maintenance facility being built on the old Kodak Lands will be ‘ready to receive trains’ in just six weeks. Don’t get your hopes up. There will be no passengers on the line until October 2021 at the earliest.
There are some good reports of the event, one of which can be read in Urban Toronto here.
Neither the new Conservative government nor Metrolinx will say how much it costs to run the UPX, according to The Star.
Metrolinx has long dissembled about the chronically mismanaged line. Now
a spokesperson for the agency [told The Star] it couldn’t release figures showing how much it costs to operate the UP Express, or how much each ride is subsidized by taxpayers, because “Metrolinx considers all of its rail operations — GO and UP — to be part of one network.”
As if.
Since Metrolinx won’t do the math, I will.
The line costs about $65 million a year to run. About 3.5 million people ride it annually, for an average cost per rider of about $18.50. The average fare is a bit of a mystery, but Metrolinx says that about 75% of the riders are going between the airport and downtown–with the remainder paying lower fares. I’ll assume, then, that the average fare per rider is about $9.25—the Presto fare (which is slightly lower than the infrequent traveller fare and higher than the commuter fare).
By happy coincidence, the per-rider subsidy is also about $9.25, for an annual total cost of $32.5 million.
Last week, City Council asked Metrolinx to make sure that there is enough space along the rail corridor to have “multi-use trails like the West Toronto Railpath” as Metrolinx works on its electrification plans.
Frances Nunziata told council that “residents and community groups of Ward 11 have long advocated for a bicycle path along the Kitchener Corridor”—and when she says “long”, she means it. She asked Metrolinx for a rail path back in 2010.
This new ask comes from the Pedestrian Safety and Cycling Committee, which met with Metrolinx. Metrolinx said, bless them, that they should know whether a bike path will fit sometime in 2022.
No, that’s not a typo.
Here’s a couple of new videos from Metrolinx regarding the Crosstown Line that will speed up public transit along Eglinton and connect to GO and the UP Express lines at Mount Dennis. The first shows some nice drone footage of the new maintenance buildings as well as the Kodak #9 building that will serve as the station entrance.
The second video shows a station mock-up that apparently is a full-size example of a typical station on the Crosstown Line. I asked Metrolinx’s community relations people about the station, if visits could be arranged, where it is and so on. I began my inquiries last Friday but as yet, have yet to get an answer. I had to send their CR people a link to the video as they hadn’t heard of the station’s existence.
Look for an update once details are provided.
Update, Monday June 25: I received an answer from Suniya Kukaswadia, Metrolinx’s Senior Advisor, Media Relations & Issues Management answering my questions:
1) Where is the replica?
The purpose of the mock up station is to test materials and building methods prior to the actual build of the stations. The mock up is located at the Crosslinx warehouse and staging facility at Caledonia and Lawrence.
2) Will you we be offering media tours of it?
Currently the mock up build is still a work in progress, and is not available for media visits. We would like to start media visits in the near future when the mock up is complete.
3) Will members of the public be able to see it?
We are not currently in a position to provide public access but hope to be in the coming months.