Steve Munro
@SwanBoatSteve
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A long-standing transit activist/commentator since 1972. Blogs at since 2006. Winner of the 2005 Jane Jacobs Prize.
Toronto
Joined February 2012
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Last Seen Profiles
Will someone at the TTC Board explain why we paid CEO Rick Leary $585K salary+benefits in 2023 up from $496K in 2022, an 18% increase.
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The Rosedale bus glints in the setting sun on the Glen Road bridge.
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Dear
@metromorning
: those who don't like the space streetcars take up on roads should imagine two to three times as many buses in their place to handle all the passengers. If there is any problem with the streetcars, it is that we don't have enough of them.
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When
@iamdavidmiller
became mayor, he had to use much of his first term gaining credibility that he as a "lefty" wouldn't wreck the place. Well, we've seen what the right did and there is no excuse for Olivia to dawdle on her program. If the right doesn't like it, tough.
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There is a regular pattern in funding announcements: billions for capital construction, pennies for operations. Doesn't matter if it's transit or health care or education.
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Dear
@TIFF_NET
@cameron_tiff
I recently renewed my TIFF membership and donation. I know it's not huge by the standards of megasponsors you go after, but if your taste extends to whitewashing the destruction of Ontario Place, it will be the last donation you get from me.
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I just had a robocall from John Tory pitching a vote for his pet candidate. I wish I could have shouted into the phone what a complete effing waste of time his mayoralty and transit legacy have been.
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1. Every so often, something so jaw-droppingly astounding crosses my path that I sit and have a conversation with the screen in front of me. The words are incendiary and it's amazing the screen is still here.
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Any mayoral candidate who supports the travesty at Ontario Place, including the scheme to relocate the Science Centre, deserves nothing but contempt. They are part of the old guard, the Tory-Ford crew who would destroy the city in the name of progress aka handouts for their pals.
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With corruption being the word of the day, can we talk about Ontario Place, the Science Centre, the massive upzoning in the name of transit oriented development? All of this was tainted by distrust before but now we know just what DoFo's priorities are.
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Early today, looking out the window offered very little of a view as downtown Toronto was fogged in. Almost all of the nearby landmarks were invisible. As the sun rose and the fog lifted, the city re-emerged.
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Riding the King car. Between Sumach and Riverdale, we were passed by two asshole motorists who drove past oblivious to riders trying to board or leave. But hey we also had fare inspection so at least we know everyone paid. TO is spending enforcement $ in the wrong place.
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Remember how often Rob Ford threw the word corruption around at city Hall? His brother has outdone the worst of city Hall scandals spectacularly.
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Brava brava to
@cbcJillDempsey
for her interview of Kinga Surma who proved she knows little more about Ontario place than what she sees driving by in her car. Can we please have Jill as the permanent new
@metromorning
host?
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It pains me to write this, but this post by Mayor Chow is simply not true. Either her spin doctors cannot read a budget, or she has been bamboozled by TTC's misleading use of "restoring" service. (1)
From the better way to the *best* way.
This budget will restore 97% of pandemic-era TTC service cuts and get the city back on track.
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While attention is concentrated on the Greenbelt and MZOs, it's time someone dug into Metrolinx, Infrastructure Ontario and "Transit Oriented Development". Who benefits from the massive construction around rapid transit stations?
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I have decided that
@TTChelps
needs a dedicated fleet of tow trucks that will be merciless in extracting parked cars foul of streetcar tracks. It's long overdue that the TTC should be able to do this on their own. Effing motorists be damned.
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There is blood on the hands of all who work to delay, impede and fail to enforce road safety. Yes this was a drunk driver, but many, many more who ignore the rules cannot be excused by hand wringing over this event. Mayor. Council. Police. Do your jobs!
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I have been watching the TTC Audit Committee meeting video about fare evasion, and it is blindingly obvious that some members of the TTC board have never ridden a bus in their life and have no idea of the dynamics of passenger movement on vehicles. They surely won't be missed.
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Fall trees with the Rosedale Bus at the Glen Road bridge.
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Sunset was quite spectacular today. It's hard to give a sense of what the entire west sky looked like, and I was torn between wide shots and closeups.
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Here's a small proposal: Metrolinx should release the full list of deficiencies including the date on which each one was discovered. How long has this info been kept from us?
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No. Not less congestion and better service. These buses will replace old equipment, and more service depends on more opex subsidy which the feds refuse to pay. I am tired of BS claims about what eBuses will achieve.
Exciting news! Today, we marked a major step in enhancing the TTC—part of our $700 million investment with the City of Toronto for 340 fully electric busses that will reduce emissions and support local jobs. This means less congestion, lower costs, and better service.
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1K
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The University leg of Line 1 has been down since start of service today thanks to track problems. When is somebody at TTC going to show up in front of mikes, cameras, social media to explain what is going on? There has been no press release. Nothing but occasional X posts. (1)
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The derailment at King and Church today was initially described as "an operational problem". We have too many delays with vague reasons and this means that the potential severity is downplayed. Time for some transparency from TTC.
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@Penalosa_G
You do understand that the two sides were less than 1% apart don't you? Is that worth a strike the province was clearly prepared to let run. Funny how a so-called progressive shows his real priority.
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This is a collection of fools that brought Toronto to near ruin. We are well rid of them. This is the best that the former Tory alliance can muster?
Inbox: A group of conservative ex-councillors are calling on Toronto council to "vote down" Toronto's proposed 2024 budget and it's 9.5% tax increase
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Steve visits the new yellow bridge over the future Don River on New Cheery Street. Everyone else here is taking selfies so why not me too!
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I hope that the community of housing advocates is thrilled at how their issue has been utterly perverted to produce an undemocratic, naked grab for power and profits by the development industry and friends of the Tories. (1)
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Is it my imagination, or is DoFo reverting to his dog-in-the-manger style we so detested in years past? What is pushing him that way? Bad internal polling? Worry that a snap election might not go his way? Corruption investigations getting too close for comfort?
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For all those people who voted to get rid of the "corrupt" Liberals at Queen's Park, I hope you're happy with the collection of incompetent fools who are lining their friends' pockets with public giveaways while screwing up health care and safety for everyone.
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@17frosted
@williamlegate
There is an Android App Store requirement that apps have a blocking feature.
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Facinating that we can close major roads during peak periods to suit a sporting event, but let someone propose transit priority anywhere and it's a "war on the car".
TRAFFIC: Roads near Bay and Front streets have been blocked off to help manage the crowd of people exiting Scotiabank Arena after the Toronto Maple Leafs' game.
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In memoriam Ed Broadbent: On the hustings by streetcar in 1979.
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@JohnLorinc
@KingaSurmaMPP
@OntarioPlace
@ONPlace4All
Can we talk about Infrastructure Ontario and "transit oriented developments", not to mention Caroline Mulroney and her veil of secrecy around Metrolinx while we're at it?
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The utter bankruptcy of "conservative" thought is on full display in the hopeless mayoral campaigns of Bradford and Saunders. I hope to see them crushed in the election, but there are a lot of voters out there who think the same, simplistic way.
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In the Star,
@shawnmicallef
writes about how the appalling streetcar service on King and Queen create the argument for a subway line. I certainly cannot disagree with his evaluation of the service.
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In the Star,
@GraphicMatt
calls for a TTC board that will address the decline in service quality. As a city, Toronto has to ask why John Tory's handpicked TTC board has so little experience as advocates for transit.
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Long suffering 501 Queen riders will endure shuttle buses downtown for about 20 months because, wait for it, utility relocations on Adelaide and York are more complex than originally expected. Riders get screwed over again by bad planning. Another KQQR in the making. (1/2)
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The ceremony for
@oliviachow
's declaration of office as Mayor was a joyous, inspiring and moving event. After 12 years, I can feel that City Hall really is welcoming again, that progressive voices will be heard and respected. The sun shines brighter today.
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With Ontario being in such financial dire straits that they cannot afford a few hundred million for new universities, how they will pay for a mega network of subways baffles the mind.
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The TTC has issued an RFP for new subway trains. It is over 1200 pages long, and, dear readers, I have digested the high points, at least from a rider's point of view.
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It's fun watching councillors who were part of the Tory regime that set up the Gardiner project twist in the wind trying to pin blame for problems on the Chow regime.
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Why I voted for Olivia:
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Metrolinx plans to fell the trees at Osgoode Hall and City Council be damned. How long has our "powerful" mayor known this would happen. The lies and misdirection are getting thick on the ground.
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With all the fawning coverage of Mulroney as a "great" PM, and the polls showing we are in for a PP landslide, I hope to live long enough to see the Tories reduced to 2 seats again -- the one Mulroney legacy I salute.
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This won't come as much of a surprise, but I will say it on the record: I voted for
@jen_keesmaat
and hope that others will support her. Toronto does not need four more years of a mayor whose "accomplishment" was to perpetuate Rob Ford's policies.
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At the Duplex Ave end of Eglinton station there are four fare enforcement officers to catch walk ins and issue fare evasion tickets. How much would it have cost to simply install a Presto machine here?
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A little bird tells me the decision has already been made that the SRT will never reopen. Get on with formal closure and demolition so the bus roadway can be built as quickly as possible.
Line 3 SRT closure update: Our investigation of this serious incident is ongoing.
Shuttle buses are running approximately every 3 minutes. From McCowan Station, board all buses on the street at McCowan Rd. and Triton Rd.
See details here:
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Reduced speed zones for track repairs are making a big dent in the quality of subway service: The question everyone should ask is why this is suddenly a problem. (1)
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Anyone who thinks any rapid transit will actually be built while that ass DoFo and his trained seals are at QP is in for a big surprise.
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I hate to say this but the idea of BRT is to move buses past stopped cars, not the other way around.
Toronto Star Editorial on bus-only lanes is excellent.
“...plans to convert existing traffic lanes, rather than tearing up roads and adding new lanes.” Inexpensive, efficient and keeps cars moving past stopped buses. Sometimes we overlook the simplest solutions.
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One by one, senior people at TTC are leaving: resigned for a job elsewhere, waiting for their pension to work, or just pushed out the door. When is the board going to recognize the problem they have at the top and the damage he is causing? (1)
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8. What we are seeing here is operating staff who prefer to drive on more or less their own schedules and management who do absolutely nothing to change this.
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Watching the traffic at King and University. A mess as usual. No traffic warden. Utter failure by City Transportation.
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How long will it take before any member of the Ford government will be unable to go anywhere in public without being jeered and treated as the utter pariahs they are so quickly becoming? What will it take to wipe those smiles off of their fat and happy faces?
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Want to memorialize Rob Ford? How about an addiction treatment centre? Something about the battles and demons many fight, not all win.
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With all the BS out of Queen's Park these days has anyone noticed that there was no announcement by the end of the month about an opening date for the Crosstown line 5?
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People ask me why I don't apply to sit on the TTC board. For the last twelve years have seen it under the Ford/Tory thumb where independent thought was not welcome. From the outside I am free to sing from my own songbook and don't have to worry about insider confidentiality. (1)
Do you want to provide strategic oversight to help guide public transit across Toronto? Bring your skills and experience in accounting, or auditing and risk management to the table and apply by February 9 to the TTC Board at:
#tocouncil
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Hmmm:
@jen_keesmaat
,
@joe_cressy
,
@m_layton
,
@gordperks
,
@kristynwongtam
,
@joemihevc
,
@SarahEDoucette
vs Tory, Holyday, Shiner, Di Ciano, Mammoliti, Crisanti, Pallacio, Ford (and a ghostly Kouvalis). I know who I trust to run my city.
This is interesting...because neither
@jen_keesmaat
nor I are members of the NDP or any other party.
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Toronto had electric buses for decades until they fell victim to a cabal of TTC management, MTO technology boffins and a "green" natural gas bus industry. Sept 5/76. Davenport at New St. Lake Shore Blvd at Jarvis.
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Dear
@cameron_tiff
@JohnTory
: Now is the time to start planning for a King Street that will remain open for transit during TIFF. Lose the street fair. Figure out crowd control for the theatres without blocking transit access.
#kingstreetpilot
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It's amusing (in an ironic way) that every subway megaproject is "justified" by decades of imputed monetized savings in travel times. Meanwhile, the time lost thanks to service cuts and erratic service never appears on a balance sheet.
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@BradMBradford
You sat on the TTC while Rick Leary drove out a lot of senior management and poisoned the environment. You did nothing. How much did the TTC pay out in buy outs hidden under non-disclosure agreements? How much organizational knowledge has been lost?
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You are aware, I hope, that many of the "new" express routes are simply rebranding of existing service. Of course, with SmartTrack you would have some experience on that sort of thing.
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Looking out from my perch over the viaduct, I cannot help mentioning that the arrogant folks at Metrolinx wanted to build a GO maintenance facility here. It is under water. Meanwhile it is amazingly quiet with no DVP traffic!
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After expecting to see Rick Leary's dismissal from the TTC today, we find he is still in place. This is a very bad decision, and the TTC Board has missed a chance for organizational renewal.
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@theBicyKyle
@oclsc
The plan is missing the part where the bathroom is divided from everything else by an expressway and cannot be reached except by driving.
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@jen_keesmaat
I am really fed up with the term "overhoused" that often is used to imply that people with more space than they are alleged to need are somehow "bad", to the point one expects the housing police to arrive and evict them any day now.
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Listening to the "minister" of infrastructure blather on with talking points and utter lies about the Ontario Place deal I cannot help wondering how such a brainless fool is in government. Oh wait. She's a Ford Tory. A very low bar.
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@Penalosa_G
I am sure you would be happy to have your job outsourced to someone cheaper so we could get more useless advice at lower cost.
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Doug Ford is a waste of taxpayer money.
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@donpeat
You have completely missed my point: why does the Mayor come out with a message about drunk driving when there are flagrant issues with dangerous driving by people who are completely sober, and so little effort to rein in the carnage they cause.
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The sunset started out as a pale pink, but then turned spectacular!
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If the TTC runs the ferries, get ready to be short turned in the middle of the harbour. Another ferry will be along any minute now to continue your journey.
The TTC wants power over parking, bike shares and even Toronto's ferries
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Hello
@Metrolinx
Will whoever does your graphics please learn how to spell Toronto street names? Parliment? Berkley? Younge? Jame? When details like this are wrong, what else has been rushed out the door?
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@JohnTory
This from a man willing to spend $3.6 billion to build a transit "network" of one subway station.
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And if we are all very good and find the money for it, there will be streetcars here one day. A guy can dream, can't he?
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(2) If Andy Byford were still here, he would have been all over the morning news and would be giving running updates from the scene. Where is Rick Leary? For that matter where is chair
@CllrJamaalMyers
?
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Now out in the open what has been obvious for ages: Metrolinx is an agency serving the Premier's ego, not the public.
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I have a proposal for a major transportation improvement fund: allow motorists on the DVP to pay a voluntary toll to pay for rebuilding the Gardiner East. If they want it badly enough, let them crowdsource it. Willing to bet it will fall down before DMW contributes a penny.
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A fabulous set of photos of our newest streetcar! Congrats to Jeremy for catching this!
Spotted Toronto streetcar 4605 being delivered by CPKC to TTC Hillcrest yard earlier today, through the Fall colours of the Don Valley.
#takethettc
#CPKC
#streetcar
#specialdelivery
#ttc
#transit
#railway
#railroad
#tdot
#the6ix
#toronto
#canada
#hopkindesign
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With all the talk of streetcar cameras to catch motorists driving by open doors, tonight I was nearly run down at King and Simcoe by two asshole cyclists as I got off the King car. The kind of people who give cycling a bad name, but this happens too often.
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This could have been the SRT's replacement. KW built their entire line while pols in Toronto spent their time and money chasing votes and dividing communities in Toronto.
Today was the day I have been dreaming of for years: I finally got my first glimpse of one of our
@BombardierRail
#FLEXITY
Freedom (504) LRV’s zipping along the Test Track! Go
@rideIONrt
!
#wrLRT
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If Queen's Park is getting into the habit of disavowing contracts, maybe they could take back Highway 407 without compensation. That would tell the world just how "open for business" Ontario really is.
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If pedestrians carried baseball bats and started smashing in windows, headlights, mirrors, roofs, the cops would be all over them.
Video captures moment Audi SUV driver nearly hits residents on Toronto sidewalk
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