Toronto Revives Transit Plan, Despite Mayoral Disapproval

Freemark describes the plan, which is North America's "second-largest funded rail transit expansion plan by route miles (after Los Angeles)," and the convoluted public process that provided the central stage upon which the drama of current Mayor Rob Ford's waxing and waning influence played out.

"Canada's largest city may be experiencing the most intense public transportation-related psychodrama in North America. Five years after Mayor David Miller unveiled his Transit City proposal for a citywide network of light rail lines, two years after Ontario government agreed to fund half of them, and one year after a new mayor announced that "Transit City is Dead," the project finally appears to be moving forward. A unanimous vote by Toronto regional transportation officials today clears the way for C$8.4 billion in new transit investments between now and 2020."