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Originally Posted by daiheadjai
Honestly, I think your anti-Ford bias (while arguably justified) is blinding you to some of those dumb decisions taken by Toronto city council (led by Miller).
Bike lanes in an already-congested downtown core makes things worse.
Especially given how lousy the TTC is - for me, it's not a viable choice - I'd much rather drive to work (which I do), rather than support a poorly-planned, overpriced, perennially-unprofitable abomination like the TTC.
Not to mention that "not having space to build new roads" is no excuse;there are other methods to fix the gridlock (i.e. use of one-way arteries, synchronizing traffic light algorithms, etc.).
Public transit can be made into a viable alternative to driving your own car - make it clean, expansive, affordable/reasonably-priced, reliable and on-time, and people will voluntarily choose to stop driving (paying/looking for parking, being stuck in traffic, etc. don't make sense when you have a truly viable alternative). However, TTC is none of those.
Not to mention some people NEED to drive in to work because of where they live - During Millertime, council seemed content to punish those people for the sake of currying favour with their downtown core, rich, WASP* constituents.
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So instead of fixing the TTC to make transit more attractive, the solution is to marginally improve traffic congestion for drivers? It's short sighted nonsense like this that has gotten Toronto into the situation it's in. Fixing transit and traffic isn't an overnight solution, but they have to take the right steps to make it work.
Full disclosure, I drive to midtown for work every day as well because it's quicker and cheaper than the TTC alternative (drive to finch station, pay for parking, pay for subway), but I used to live in midtown and there needs to be something to improve things for cyclists downtown. They NEED to fix transit, it's the only viable long term solution. People need to get into and out of the city, and since the transit system is laughable they're forced to drive.
Quote:
Originally Posted by daiheadjai
*Generally, Ford (at least before these scandals) was viewed much more positively by minorities and immigrants, who appreciate his refusal to blow taxpayer dough on silly pet projects. I find the most virulent anti-Ford bias comes from people "not from visible minority backgrounds" (to use the PC verbiage)
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It's a bit ironic that so much of his support is from minorities and immigrants and yet he's such a racist at times. I'm sure the chinese population loved his comments about how they work.
I'd like to see how any of his supporters would feel if they were on a bus and kicked off so the bust could be diverted to pick up his football team when it was raining
He might not spend cash quite the same, but he definitely uses city resources to his benefit. Like using city landscapers and road works to fix up his neighborhood before some big party his family was throwing.