Results tagged “transitcity”

Dreaming up ways to improve the TTC is a popular pastime in Toronto. And while most of us just daydream about additional stations and routes, Dieter Janssen, a professor of architecture at the University of Toronto, is turning ideas into possible blueprints for the future. Janssen hopes that his fantasy map (above), which he developed while doing research for the urban infrastructure and design class that he teaches, will invite debate over the future of Toronto's transit system. "It’s painfully obvious that infrastructure, at least in the GTA, has to be much more developed than anything that they’re proposing," Janssen told Torontoist. "The TTC needs to properly address its future…people actually rely on the system and that needs to be properly respected."

As predicted by Spacing—and now confirmed by the National Post—the federal government is set to pump around $1 billion into the Sheppard light-rail transit line, described as the most "shovel-ready" of the TTC's Transit City LRT routes (the Star reports that construction is now expected to begin this fall). Today's announcement, made by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Premier Dalton McGuinty at the Transit Commission's Hillcrest Complex, follows last month's commitment by the provincial government of $9 billion for Transit City and other Toronto-area public transit initiatives. Still no word on funding for the city's coveted Bombardier Flexity streetcars, however—a fact sure to keep Mayor David Miller and TTC Chair Adam Giambrone grumbling, though they'll likely tone their complaints down a notch, at least for today.

Public transit across the GTA got a big boost today from the provincial government, with Premier Dalton McGuinty giving the go-ahead to four major projects worth a combined $9 billion. Included is the $4.6 billion Eglinton LRT line, a key part of the TTC's Transit City plan. The thirty-kilometre line could be up and running by 2016, assuming construction begins as planned next year. Also receiving funding is the $1.2 billion Finch LRT line, running from Humber College on Highway 427 to Don Mills subway station. Rounding out the pack are $1.6 billion for improving and extending the Scarborough rapid-transit line and $1.4 billion for York Region's Viva bus system. All of the projects must still go through the environmental assessment process.

The Toronto of 2020 will be a different, but recognizable place. Between now and 2020, immigration will have made the world’s most multicultural city even more diverse, new building projects will have altered the city’s landscape, and Transit City will have broken down many of the city’s spatial barriers.

View Torontoist's 2015 Toronto map (2.5 MB .PDF)

While we're on the subject of TTC maps (as we often are), we might as well include the most wildly ambitious one of all. Reader Ryan Felix sent us his subway map, which he describes as a "fantasy map of the TTC" in 2050. Felix says it was "created in hope to influence people to become pro-transit, and to give a vision that Toronto can have a world-class transit system."

When the TTC started mapping out its new future under Adam Giambrone, this probably wasn't what it had in mind.

Photo by Jason Thompson Photography.

Can a transit system foster love for a city? Torontonians may scoff, but Londoners will nod. The underground—better known as the Tube—is often cited as a reason why so many Londoners take pride in their city.

Howard Moscoe proposes a licensing fee or tax on temporary downtown parking lots with the revenue directed towards building more commuter parking lots at public transit hubs. Moscoe argues that this would induce more people to take transit and encourage temporary lots to be redeveloped more quickly.