As the city's controversial mayor snickers at proposals for new funding sources for transit, Toronto is missing out on another opportunity to build a big-city mass transit system, says Marcus Gee. How much will it cost the city in the long run?
"Toronto opened its last major subway line in 1966 when the Beatles were still together," notes Gee. "Civic leaders have been talking for decades about the dreamed-of Downtown Relief Line. Relief never comes. It is our biggest civic failure and it could be our downfall."
"Toronto is evolving from city to metropolis. It just passed Chicago in population to become the fourth biggest city in North America. Metrolinx head Bruce McCuaig notes that the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area is adding more than 100,000 people a year. Unless we can find a way to move people around efficiently, we will strangle on our own growth."
"Fortunately, we now have a real chance to move forward. Metrolinx, the provincial transit agency, has drawn up a comprehensive 25-year plan, The Big Move, to build out the transit system. It is about to present a plan on how to pay for it."
FULL STORY: Toronto faces spectre of another missed chance to rebuild transit
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