did you say something about Miller? ugh, how dare you markhamnite (and all you suburbanites who stole most of the transit money with your stupid GO transit) insult the Mayor of Canada, er i mean Toronto, David Miller.

ok sarcasm aside, holy shit 2.35 for a trip is NOTHING. stop complaining!!! i agree political tactics are getting annoying...especially when it doesn't seem to work, but com'on that's MAYOR of TORONTO for you. last time i check, i dont even know the name of Markham's mayor...do you even have a mayor? besides, government subsidies should have been a rights. after all if they're not going to privatize TTC (i guess it's coz no one wants to buy it), they should at least give it some politically correct funding for the "public" part of public transit.

is this considered comment span? anyway, i dont know much about transit, but i think like any public service you need to keep it competitive. the liberal government are SOFT!!! you need to poke it in the same sore spot repeatedly for about 1 year and 3 months before it will throw you a dime! com'on already. what is your problem? you don't believe in transit? you do? what is your platform? say it!!! UGHHHHHH

sorry. you now have the right to spam my blog.

oh and just another thought, the AMO is an ass too. really municipal politics have never been so interesting...

they just got their budget cut by $26 million. They were already 18 million OVER budget this year. The TTC has been in a deficit position for over 15 years, and doesn't receive very much funding anymore, especially considering the network has the second largest annual ridership in north america (second only to NYC), and thats in numbers, not percentages....and also TTC is the largest employer in the GTA... ooooo sensitive issue for Thomas much?

I agree that TTC should have adequate funding to maintain its current service but aside from that I believe that GO Transit is the better place for transit investment. Here are my reasons:

1. If GO manage to get enough money to start having bi-directional service (as opposed to only going downtown in the morning and coming back up at night), it'll see a much bigger increase in ridership than TTC.

2. Getting one person off the road with TTC means one less car in Toronto. Getting one person off the road with GO means one less car from like Georgetown all the way to Toronto.

3. TTC is a big and more established. The same amount of money will probably see more benefit in GO than TTC.

These are just my speculations of course. Also Markham does have a mayor and he has gotten together with other York Region mayors to start a rapid transit line in the suburbs. Finally, $2.35 may be nothing to you but it's something to me.

sorry if i offended you ME. i didn't realize there's such a sense of community here on mattism re: markham. to be honest i live just south of steeles, ahaa so i'm technically one of u. :)

ok i guess i wasn't being very PC reading my original post you'd think i'm against GO, but i'm entirely for it doing its rapid transit line. suburbs servicing definitely will require a lot more funding than inner city transit. but man, a lot of the promised funding to TTC are actually conditional. which means that they must be spent on whatever the gov't sees fit. if you ask me i think it's more a marketing scheme than anything for the liberals. compared to when the Tories were in, the money given were actually comparable if not less now...

That's the great thing about politics, you can argue on and on.

FARES:
I just want to say is that I'm sure that I am almost certain that the TTC will not be raising fares anytime soon-- this is simply some damn threat from the city to create yet another stir about not enough funding. Also, TTC has and continues to implement its Ridership Growth Strategy-- which has spent quite a lot of resources to make it happen. Raising fares totally contradicts its plans-- might as well cut back on these plans, if the city is in such a desperate situation, no?

GO Transit:
Yes, I do agree with ME's point #2 in that GO Transit funding support will have a profound effect on the operations of the TTC.

I'm unsure #1 though-- it seems fair to implement this endeavor, I'm sure there is a logical reason why GO does not have a bi-directional route. I personally think it has mainly to do with the connections at GO Trains-- the only connection between branches is Union Station. Perhaps a suburban ring around the 905 that connects all GO rail routes would make the bi-directional trip truly useful. Also, most suburban GO Train Stations lead to nowhere, and the suburban transit systems are not efficient enough to greatly support the trip from the GO Station to the place of work-- so back to square one with the car.

As for #3, I'm not sure about that either. Money should be spent on where it is needed most-- I really see the need for better co-ordination between GTA transit operators-- and hopefully the proposed GTTA will achieve that.
Although would have to say that personally GO is probably favoured w.r.t. TTC because it's provincially operated and will affect the vote-rich 905, as discussed.

DONALD COUSENS & MAYORS:
The Mayor of Markham is Don Cousens.
Tiff will now know Don Cousens.
Tiff will now know Don Cousens.
Tiff will now know Don Cousens.
Surely Don Cousens not as powerful as big-shot Mr. Miller. C'mon who can compete in the media with a mayor of 2.4 M? We're a small town: 230,000. I think it's great that Miller is getting his coverage to encourage stronger communities-- just quit the political tactics. It's tough to not see his name in the GTA section these days, which is great-- definitely much more than good old Mel.

PS: Mel Lastman is not a bad mayor. After listening to my 474 prof, he had done many great things for the City, too-- it will make a great blog entry for another time :P

Well, it seems like all the amalgamated mayors have been the centre of attention in the media: Chicarelli in Ottawa, and Di Ianni in Hamilton (Well, maybe not Hamilton).

TTC:
By no means am I a TTC hater-- because I am not. I hope not to offend both Tiff and Tom about it. TTC definitely is a jewel to the city-- and something to be proud of. However, both Liberal governments has promised long-term sustained funding for transit operators through gas tax allocations-- something the Ontario PCs never accomplished-- we are indeed making progress for better transit. Sustained funding calls for more predictibility and better planning for future growth and expansion.
(Wow, I sound like a Liberal sponsor-- so long to my non-partisan comment)

AMO:
Yes, the AMO are asses. They moved their annual conference to Ottawa just because Toronto pulled their support. I totally support the City's decision to pull out-- Toronto is big enough to withstand its own negotiations.

THE SUBURBS:
Power to the suburbs! Whether we like it our not, our suburbs are here to stay. We cannot choke our suburbs, as what some planners seem to suggest in discussions. Especially those "urban enthusiasts." Why not support more sustainable suburbs by investing in transit? More concentrated nodal development perhaps?
Mmmm Places to Grow-- I love you. GO PIR!!!!

COMMENTS:
Keep the comments coming, I love hearing from all of you :) Mmm, politics and transit talk. My best pasttime

yeah this is fun. i have to comment on the suburbs...

i love suburbs...i live in the north fringes of the city, and i'm almost a suburbanite with my frequent trips to Hwy 7. (only for dim sums!) but with all the transit plans and intensification project, aren't we just trying to convert our suburbs into urbanized centres, hopefully self sufficient enough to become just another city? in the end, we're not so much against suburban growth, we're trying to contain it...i m sure at one time Toronto was very much like a town with suburban traits...eventually it just grew into a city.

as for the liberals, after working for the Honourable Leona Dombrowski i must say that the general consensus is that we're extremely lucky to have a liberal gov't in power. never before can people actually recognize thier ministers b/c the previous ministers (from the Tories) have never bothered to check into their offices...kudos to dombrowski and her wicked staff (though they can be weird and anal at times...)

matt, did u know i worked with bob hunter's son? i had no idea the whole time that he was related to bob hunter (founder of greenpeace). the minister's policy advisors, lois corbett used to work for TEA (toronto environmental alliance) and Nicola Crawhall (ex AMO liason person...) Catherine Rosenbrugh the EA is a lawyer ! definitely much more diverse than the Tories staff...

Tiff:
Did I just hear you complement the Liberals? C'mon, join my side! It's time to strip you of your orange colour, and paint you RED! Off to Home Depot we go!

MOE definitely benefitted with the Liberals in power.. and of course there wouldn't have been PIR.

But it hink the economic development services have restrucutured... I believe MEDT and its sister ministry Ministry of Enterprise, Opportunity, and Innovation (or something) under the Tories, merged after the change in power.

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Where is there Dim Sum on Highway Seven? Like Times Square-- Times Dynasty?.. or that resataurant in the "jaaap" mall where Paparazzi used to be, with all the shootings? (Near CIBC)?

That's the one two I can think of.

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MMM... MOE, I wanna be a MOE member now! They need my diverse skills, they do, they do!
They need my O.Reg. 170 knowledge! Lol.