Toronto council abandoning the city's quality of life by resurrecting streetcars (called early trams in the 1900's)

It is reported that Toronto City Council have reversed their decision to place trams underground and not clogging the streets of Toronto. In addition, it is reported that the Council wish to limit certain publicly paid for roads to buses. Before you ask, or dismiss this message as a car junkie rant, you ought to be aware that I walk, bike and use the TTC every day to get to work.

The fiasco of placing streetcars above ground was to be done away following the termination of the Miller administration, but it is reported that the current Council appear to have revived this debacle on the basis of short term thinking and possibly political gain. If so, their actions do their elected office a disservice.

Let me first tell you that I have seen the devastation to a city’s quality of life that streetcars/trams and bus lanes bring. I lived through the horror of it in Manchester, England and if people think the St. Clair monstrosity was bad, they have no idea what is coming due to the councillors’ dereliction of duty, supposedly to make Toronto a wonderful place to live.

Manchester resurrected trams in the 1990’s for many of the same reasons that Toronto Council now seem to want to. They wanted to create gridlock to force people onto public transport and were short of the will to fund real forward thinking infrastructure. Like Toronto, Manchester also had limited funds due to huge labour costs of the city’s workforce, even as real services were cut (not the same peripheral entitlements that are being fought over by a small number of vocal beneficiaries in Toronto).

Manchester is a poorer city than Toronto, with significantly more amounts of street crime, which also meant taking public transport was often dangerous. Nevertheless, the driven council of Manchester pushed forward and were given a huge boost when the IRA blew up the city centre in 1996. They had a clean slate to make the city in their mind’s image. Therefore they removed road lanes for vehicles, putting in trams and bus lanes. It has been a total disaster for the whole quality of life in the city because movement has ground to a virtual halt. Street crime has always been high, but has increased due to slow moving pedestrians being exposed to the vagaries of a limited inefficient public transport system also caught up in the gridlock. Manchester has approximately 1 million people and yet this is what trams did to a smaller city.

Trams are a technology from the early 1900’s when private vehicular travel was a luxury and few roads were needed. Trams/streetcars create gridlock, are slow, old fashioned, and are limited to specific routes with no flexibility. Major cities rightfully moved away from them as soon as possible. Trams are for cities that cannot afford proper infrastructure, that have a political anti-car agenda and that have no substantial private vehicle ownership. Trams are not an option for a first world city looking to better life for its inhabitants in the medium to long term future. If density in Toronto is what is desired, then underground public transport is the only alternative for a first class city. Putting trams above ground and reducing roads by offering lanes to buses only, is a backward step for this city.

Part of the last municipal election in Toronto was about getting away from the idiocy of streetcars above ground, and to get away from the imposition of downtown councillor militant anti-car agendas on those living North of St. Clair. The apparent abandonment of the wishes of most non-radical citizens by dint of backroom shenanigans is a disgrace to the councillors’office. Due to hidden political manoeuvring to which we have no transparent visibility, it is almost certain that these idiot councillors will not reverse course and come back to sanity for the benefit of Toronto.

Nonetheless, I wanted to register my outrage at their contribution to the destruction of quality of life in this city. It could have been great, but if the reports are accurate, then Toronto will now degrade into a second class mediocre humdrum workaday city because of the councillors’ petty thinking for short term political gain.

The best place for trams is to be buried underground and that they should never see the light of day again.

Absolutely disgusted by Toronto council’s reported short sighted behaviour.