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Toronto-Age |OT3| Going Off the Rails on a Gravy Train

Divvy

Canadians burned my passport
Does anyone have any recommendations between Zipcar / Autoshare?
From my experience, zip car has been very good. Thier customer service is pretty good and the cars are fairly well kept. They also seem to have a lot more locations than auto share.
 

EvilMario

Will QA for food.
Does anyone have any recommendations between Zipcar / Autoshare?

I've only used Zipcar, but the service has been good to me. Right now we're on the no-yearly fee plan where we can basically only rent on weekdays. It's fine, because we only use it for a few appointments we need to drive to around the GTA a couple times per year. It's happy for moving furniture and stuff too, since they have fans.

I've considered Car2Go, the service that only rents Smart cars, since you can drop it off anywhere. Unlike Zipcar which must be returned to its original location. Too lazy and we don't use it enough to really consider the switch.

Would we still have been hit with this fee if Tory had backtracked and said screw it, LRT full steam ahead?

Subways! Even where the population density doesn't dictate it! Subways! Even though we can't fund it! Subways! Even when transit experts deride it! Subways! Subways! Subways!
 

Fuzzy

I would bang a hot farmer!
Ford put the city in a shitty situation because you're kind of screwed either way. The Scarborough Subway is now "the plan" as it's been approved and has substantial funding from every level of government. To go back to the LRT might save you the $750 million now, but then you have to get it approved at every level of government again, go through the funding negotiations (who knows if you'd still get $2 billion from the province/Ottawa or not), and I'm sure there would be cancellation fees associated with the subway.

tldr: Five years ago I agree that Scarborugh LRT> Scarborough Subway, but Tory's pretty much just saying "Fuck it, we're pretty much stuck with it so let's just build it"
It has zero funding right now other than the 0.5% property tax increase Ford instated. No agreement has been signed for the Scarborough subway and the Province can easily not fund it at all if they so choose.
 

Kuro Madoushi

Unconfirmed Member
SUBWAYS SUBWAYS SUBWAYS!
o-SUBWAY-SANDWICHES-facebook.jpg

How about TAKE POLITICS OUT OF PUBLIC TRANSIT!
 

Fuzzy

I would bang a hot farmer!
What's important is that the city, province and federal are all on the same page. The provincial and/or federal government could have easily refused to fund the LRT if Chow was elected and wanted to start from scratch.
I agree it's just that everything was in place for the LRT (which is the better option) and things can still easily fall through at the Federal (if the Liberals win this year they can back out and even if the PCs win they can back out with the way the budget will be affected because of oil prices) or Provincial (good luck trusting Wynne) levels.
 

Roto13

Member
My brother magically appeared in Toronto. I didn't know he was coming and I haven't seen him in six years. He just showed up at my husband's work. I was in Hamilton, visiting a friend. Great timing, bro. Clearly he didn't even tell our mom that he was coming, because she definitely would have called.

We're taking him out to lunch tomorrow. I'm going to see if there's any kind of food he wants to try here in this giant cosmopolitan city of ours.

I actually saw someone who looked just like him from behind on my way to the subway station yesterday, but I assumed it wasn't actually him. Maybe it was. :p
 
What is up with cheese pizza at Domino's tasting like shit if it's not with extra cheese? I ordered a pan pizza with extra cheese this week and it tasted 100% better than a normal cheese pizza. It's like they use a crappier cheese for customers who go for the cheapest pie.
 

Quadratic

Member
Pax South has been a great time. Smaller size than the others because there are less publishers and developers here. But, I do appreciate that it's less crazy than Prime and East.

Weather has been weird. Had one 80F day and the rest have been either rainy or 20-30F.
 

explodet

Member
I'm still kinda butthurt for missing Magfest this year.

Last year I got stuck in DC because of the snowstorms so we decided to take a break from it this year. And now it's not even cloudy outside!
 

Azuran

Banned
Oh lord, I decided to go to AC Games to play Pokemon even thought I have an assignment due tomorrow morning. My friend will probably kill me once she hears about it.

Oh well :p
 

jstripes

Banned
What's important is that the city, province and federal are all on the same page. The provincial and/or federal government could have easily refused to fund the LRT if Chow was elected and wanted to start from scratch.

The three levels of government are on the same page... for the moment. That can all change tomorrow if Harper, say, decides "Shit, our national budget is fucked, I'm not giving any money to stupid stinky Toronto for a subway extension."

With the LRT, contracts were signed, funding was in place, planning was complete, and it was ready to start.

But subways, folks.

Edit: Oh, and the federal government never had anything to do with the LRT. That was entirely the province. They only got involved with funding the subway because of federal by-elections in Scarborough.
 

Fuzzy

I would bang a hot farmer!
I'll never understand Imperial temperature. It doesn't make sense to me. Is 20 to 30 suppose to be warm? 80 extremely hot? I'm so confused right now. Oh god my head hurts.
It's not hard.

32°F = 0°C
50°F = 10°C
68°F = 20°C
86°F = 30°C

Every 2°F = 1.111...°C (or 18°F = 10°C) when moving along the scale. You can also use the exact equation (°C x 1.8 + 32 = °F) or the "close enough" equation (°C x 2 + 30 = °F).
 

EvilMario

Will QA for food.
Hey, they were using tickets back then. We really are living 70 years in the past. Well, except for those fares..

H1dOUr4.png


For reference, this was the first TTC bus route in operation.
 

jstripes

Banned
If you read my posts you'll know that I believe the LRT was a better idea at the time and that it was idiotic to cancel it. I just don't think it makes sense to scrap the subway and go back to the LRT again.

The real question is if we stick to the subway will it actually happen?

Judging by the past 30 years of transit history, all signs point to "no". Either it's gonna get killed in the delayed spring federal budget, or it's gonna get killed after the October federal election.

The LRT was the only real chance of improving transit in Scarborough, and the city blew it.
 
If you read my posts you'll know that I believe the LRT was a better idea at the time and that it was idiotic to cancel it. I just don't think it makes sense to scrap the subway and go back to the LRT again.
I wonder how many flip-flopping and cost reneging that we'll have to suffer before all politicians basically come to terms with what's past is past, and we'll never get anything done by just undoing the previous guy's work.
 

jstripes

Banned
It wouldn't have really improved it much anyway since it was just replacing the SRT.

First, the LRT would have gone all the way up to Sheppard, with a stop by Centennial College, and eventually to Malvern Town Centre.

Second, it would have had higher capacity, and more frequent service.

Third, the SRT sucks in winter conditions. It gets its power from the rail, which can get coated with ice or covered with snow. That's why it always has problems in the winter. (And why above ground sections of the subway have trouble in winter.) The LRT would get its power from overhead lines, which much more resilient.

So ya, the LRT would have improved transit tremendously.

But hey, why bother to learn the facts? None of the other voters did.

I wonder how many flip-flopping and cost reneging that we'll have to suffer before all politicians basically come to terms with what's past is past, and we'll never get anything done by just undoing the previous guy's work.

All these politicians want something with their name attached to it for their legacy. That's why.

Mel Lastman wanted a North York subway to be remembered by. David Miller wanted a more sensible plan. Ford wanted a suburban subway to be remembered by. Tory wants SmartTrack to be remembered by.
 

Willectro

Banned
My subway commute options: be 30+ minutes early or 10 minutes late (which isn't a good look). But hey, soon we get to pay more to fund Scarborough.
 

soultron

Banned
Hit a delay from someone getting hit on the tracks today. Coworker ahead of me told me he was at the front of the train that hit the person. Rattled.
 

Blackhead

Redarse
TIL that Timothy's is not the upscale hipster sister store of Tim's (like CB2 to Crate and Barrel) but is a totally separate chain. Also that GAF Horton thread has some scary stories
 

Kave_Man

come in my shame circle
So once again the terrible, smelly waters of Lake Ontario have saved us from getting fucked by snow?

Whether your teamwinter or not we all have to agree getting hit by meters of snow all at once is not good.
 
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