Are subways faster than LRT? Depends where you live. Only where stations overlap really.
I estimated the walking number. Transit speeds are from the Toronto Environmental Alliance, but I knocked down the LRT number because it was near the high end of ranges I’ve seen elsewhere. Still have the code if anyone disputes the numbers, but as you might expect, vehicle speeds don’t change things much. It’s distance from the station that really matters.
When the vote for a transit network went against Mayor Ford’s subway idea, he got himself a photographer and decided to brave the transit system himself. The news media used this to allow Ford to repeat his “people want subways” message, but to me the whole thing was a big reminder that this mayor is not very familiar with transit: From the fact that getting on the subway was apparently deemed worthy of media attention, to the 2 am bus across Eglinton that presumably gave no idea of whether an LRT at- or below-grade would be appropriate there at rush hour, to forgetting to get a transfer, it couldn’t have been clearer. There have also been statements about getting transit out of the way of cars (as though the primary contributor to traffic were buses or streetcars rather than, you know, other cars) and an incredibly biased “Honk 4 Subways” campaign (Hey people driving around: what are your thoughts on subways?!)1. And then it occurred to me that maybe Rob Ford’s problem is that he is trying to take his experience as a driver and use it to design transit. This will certainly have its failings, but it also may be why pro-LRT folks are not getting through to Ford or his base about where transit users are coming from. And it suggests a new way of presenting the data to these people that might help make things clearer. So I thought I would sum up some of my feelings about the advantages of LRT and problems with subways (with a little help from the Expert Advisory Panel (EAP) report here) using some questions and analogies about traffic. As with most analogies, these are likely imperfect, but hopefully will give some perspective.
I don’t generally get too involved in public debates about politics and I’m kind of leery about wading into this one, but here I go.
Compromise is great, but you must start by asking for what you really want or need, not starting halfway down the compromise line. People seem to think that starting by asking for less is a nice gesture, but really it confuses things because then no one knows what you really want and the debate you end up having is not over the things you really wanted/needed. And so I think that the current transit debate is ignoring something a lot of people want to say, but fear saying. I think they are afraid that because they are from downtown, what they really want to say will alienate Scarborough, but, if I’m correct, much of Scarborough might actually agree with them. Whatever their reasons, I am not a “usual-suspect” transit advocate and while I don’t live in Scarborough, I don’t live downtown either1. So I have the freedom to say this:
Scarborough needs a subway. But they don’t need the subway that Rob Ford is proposing.
You may have heard people saying that we shouldn’t extend the Sheppard line because ridership there is low or because it just goes to a bunch of malls on the East end. While this certainly needs to be taken into consideration (making sure we are not making the circular argument of “We won’t build more stops there because ridership is low. But part of the reason ridership is low is because the line is incomplete and has few stops.”), the real reason we should not extend the Sheppard line yet isn’t because of what’s at the East end, it’s because of what’s at the West end.
If you are at all familiar with the system, you probably think I’m crazy. The West end connects up with the Yonge line! You are correct and that is why I have dug my copy of CorelDraw out of its shoebox and mustered up all my Google-fu to bring you this helpful(?) masterpiece diagram:
Sources: 1. Capacity numbers come from Ford for Toronto (also discussing the DRL), which in turn took them from a comment on Steve Munro’s blog. They are for a 6-car subway and max capacity is assumed to be 30,000 people per hour. These agree with my anecdotal experience of rush hour, but if you have a source from a transit agency then let me know. 2. Shurman’s website; 3. Globe and Mail (surprisingly hard to find a mainstream source with an up-to-date map; most recent discussion has suggested an addition of 1-2 stops, to Victoria Park, is feasible); 4. Globe and Mail; 5. Toronto Life
A subway line along Sheppard is only half of a transit plan because it gets people from that area onto the existing subway network, but it doesn’t offer a reasonable solution for getting them downtown if that’s where they need to be because that line is full2. And unlike I traditionally do when I identify all that is wrong with the world and annoyingly point it out to everyone, I have gone to the trouble of proposing a solution this time:
audrey hepburn knitting
Have you checked your local library? Mine has old Vogue Knitting issues.
Would any one of you lovely fiberistas happen to have a copy of Vogue knitting, Spring/Summer 2009 that you would be willing to lend/barter with me?
I purchased it when it came out and started working on the Botanica Medallion and stashed my WIP. Unfortunately the magazine did not stay with my…
Finally finished my Rock Island Shawl! Really happy with it. For full blog post click on the picture.
Oh my goodness, can I fall in love with a video? (Because I think this just happened.)
(Source: hoturlgrey)
DAY 30: WHAT’S YOUR NAME ON RAVELRY? IF YOU DON’T HAVE A RAVELRY ACCOUNT, WHY?
This sounds like a snobby way to end the challenge. I do have a Ravelry account, but I’m keeping it separate from this for the moment.
DAY 29: DO YOU HAVE ANY TIPS, OR THINGS THAT YOU’VE LEARNED FROM KNITTING?
I could put so much cheesy advice here. Basically,
DAY 28: DO YOU DO ANY OTHER CRAFTS BESIDES KNITTING? WHAT ARE THEY, AND DID LEARNING TO KNIT COME BEFORE OR AFTER LEARNING THESE OTHER CRAFTS?
Mostly just knitting. I have ventured into other things occasionally (crochet, beading), but they turned out to be one-time-only endeavours. I would love to learn sewing, but a machine takes up a lot of space, so I wouldn’t want to buy one unless I was going to commit to it.
(Source: iwishtoconfess)
In Shock by Kat Bifield
