1

Geography

1 April 2012

Public Transit

Public transit can be described in terms of public transport that is used to carry people

from one place to another place. However, the use of public transport leads to a number of

problems, the major of which are the following ones: car congestion or traffic congestion. Both

of these problems are very popular in Toronto.

The problem is that more and more people prefer using cars to public transit, because

they believe that it is more comfortable. A person does not have to spend time on getting to some

kind of transport; a person does not worry that he / she will not be on time in a particular place if

he or she has a car. More and more people in Toronto believe that it is more comfortable to use a

personal car rather than any other kind of transport because it has more conveniences than public

transport. As a result, there are so many cars on the roads of Toronto that they manage to lead to

the problem of car congestion.

The representatives of the Federal Government of the state believethat the Government

should take the following measures in order to solve the problem of car congestion:

To raise the taxes for road exploitation. In case the taxes for road exploitation are raised,

a lot of people will have to refuse of using cars, because it will take up a lot of money.

To raise the cost of road fines. As a matter of fact the price of a fine in Toronto is not

very high and the representatives of “motor-vehicle traffic” feel free on the road even in

case they break some rules, even at first sight insignificant.

To raise the price for petrol. The raise of price for petrol in other countries serves as a

great example to follow. This fact provides the possibility to drive a car only in case

2

emergent situations arise. As a result, a lot of people will have to refuse of driving a car

in everyday life, because it will take a lot of money. More than that, these people will

have to start using public transit, which in its turn will contribute to the solution of the

problem of car congestion.

To provide greater amount of public transport. Many Canadians claim that they must

have a personal car in order to be at a working place on time. They state that they cannot

rely on public transport, because it takes a lot of time to get to a working place and it is

not always convenient.

The last problem mentioned in the list above has been discussing for a long period of

time. Recently, there was a meeting, where the following decision was made:

The results of the special meeting are proof that TTCriders’ voices were heard. By a 24-

19 vote on motion placed by Councillor Glenn De Baermaeker, Council approved plan to

build a Light Rail Transit (LRT) line on Sheppard Avenue East (http://www.ttcriders.ca/).

However, there was a group of people who opposed these ideas and agitated other people

support their ideas. They believed that all people should use subway and there is no need to

create light rail transit. More than that, they used false information in order to influence people.

They said that subway is able to carry approximately 30.000 people per one hour, which is

practically impossible and it is able to carry more than 4.000 people during peak hours

(http://www.ttcriders.ca/). In addition, they stated that the population of Toronto does not

increase greatly (probably 10.000-13.000 and not more) and, as a result, there is no need to build

light rail transit as no population growth is likely to occur, which is completely misleading

information. The representatives of Scarborough experience great need to be provided with

3

public transit, because at present they are provided with buses only, which turn to be very

inconvenient and take a lot of time to get to the needed place on time.

The lack of public transportation leads to the usage of personal cars which produce a very

negative effect on the environment. First and foremost, cars contribute to the development of

global warming processes, because they produce high amounts of octanes, the compounds of

which form the great concentrations of CO2 and, as a result, they remain in the air and contribute

in such a way to the global warming development. Cars contribute to acid rains, which are very

dangerous as they can do much harm both to the environment and to people’s health.

High temperatures within such engines cause a reaction between the two major

components of air: oxygen and nitrogen. The resulting compounds known as nitrogen

oxides lead to nitric acid formation be reacting with hydroxyl radicals in the air

(www.emsb.qc.ca).

The negative emissions produced by cars lead to the problem known as animal extinction.

As a lot of animals live in the forests or on the earth and in the earth, they risk getting high

amounts of negative emissions and soon die. The amounts of pollutants produced in the

atmosphere are becoming worse and worse in Toronto. The air that people breathe becomes

contaminated. The earth itself is in very dangerous situation, because the trees and animals are

influenced by the negative effect of gas and petrol emissions of cars as well. The water we drink

becomes pollutant as well. More than that, it is a common thing that open sewage flows down

and does harm to animals and nature.

Torontonians should realize that they have to find alternative methods that would replace

the usage of cars. The best way out is to build light rail transit which will solve a lot of problems.

First of all, the Government should realize this problem, because only the representatives of the

4

Government take serious measures that will be implemented practically by all citizens of

Toronto.

In order to solve the problem of gas and petrol emissions produced in the air, alternative

energy sources should be used. The most popular of them are the following ones: oil and

electricity. Both sources of energy have a lot of advantages and some disadvantages. The usage

of oil is considered to become a very good alternative in the future. A lot of scientists believe

that the usage of oil does not produce negative effects on the environment in great amounts. “The

environmental imperative, more than any other issues and imperatives, promises to exert the

greatest impact on global energy use” (Shojai, 1995, p. 27). However, if oil is used in an

inaccurate way, it may still do harm to the nature.

Electricity in comparison to oil cannot do harm in any case. Electricity is considered to be

one of the energy recourses that substitute petrol and gas in a very effective way. Scientists claim

that electricity does not do harm to the environment and, as a result, it decreases the possibility to

get some health problems. However, it still produces some radioactivity. There are some cars

that are to be tested in Germany. Unfortunately, there are still no such cars in Toronto. One more

disadvantage is that such cars are very expensive nowadays and people do not have the

possibility to buy them. I believe that only in a few years they will become more affordable and

only then there will be a need to speak about the substitution of cars that use petrol or gas by the

ones that use energy.

However, it seems that all these issues do not worry the citizens of Toronto. A lot of

people become pessimistic and do not believe that they can find a practical solution to the existed

problem. Many people simply give up, because they realize that a lot of people have looked for

the solutions, but no solution was ever practically implemented. “We had a whole series of

5

choices, we had debates about it, we had small groups discussions about the strengths and

weaknesses of the different campaigns, and we ended up adopting this as one of them” (Kinch,

2011, p. 1).

Public transportation has a great cultural impact. It is a well-known fact that Toronto is a

very beautiful city and there are a lot of places of interest and, as a result, a lot of tourists visit

Toronto every day. Public transportation can serve as a perfect means of observing the nature of

Toronto, public places, historical places, different monuments, parks, and so on and so forth. A

lot of people have positive emotions when having a kind of tour when using public

transportation. It contributes to the expansion of outlook. A good and well-experienced citizen of

Toronto can become a good guide during such a tour that will provide tourists with the history of

the city, with its customs and traditions, and so on and so forth. Even ordinary people can enjoy

pleasant moments observing the nature and different cultural and historical places when getting

to a working place or an educational establishment, or some other place.

More than that, if a tourist is in public transport, he / she can enrich his / her vocabulary

when communicating with a citizen of Toronto while getting to some place. There are a lot of

hospitable people in Toronto who would gladly share the information concerning their city,

which will bring only positive emotions both to the citizens of the city and its tourists. I believe

that public transport will contribute to the formation of national and cultural identity: when

people in public transport share the information about the city, tourists will identify them with

public transport while it will be the place where people can get the main concept of the City of

Toronto.

There can be special public transport for special occasions (weddings, birthdays,

anniversaries, and so on and so forth) that would be decorated and the representatives of these

6

occasions will take a tour round the city on public transport. This opportunity will provide people

with positive and instructive emotions and feelings; they will have the possibility to take

different photos which will always remind both about that day and about the City of Toronto.

Mayor Ford has provided a very unfair policy within the borders of the city. He

contributed to the great political divide in the City of Toronto, because he wanted to destroy the

subway system (which has always been an inherent part of Toronto) and replace it by light rail

transition.

When Mayor Ford tried to unilaterally cancel Transit City in order to bury the Eglinton-

Crosstown LRT for its entire length, he not only tried to waste billions of taxpayer dollars

unnecessarily creating a “subway” where there aren’t enough people to support it, he also

tried to make the lives of people in the Eglinton-Finch West and Sheppard areas

significantly worse (coderedto.com/whats-at-risk/).

From the information mentioned above it becomes clear that Mayor Ford did not think

about the destiny of the city, but rather about personal welfare. More than that, he wanted to take

a great sum of money from the city budget on personal needs saying that he wants to spend them

on that kind of work that had previously been done. He wanted to gain public authority by

making them believe that he invests money in a prosperous business, though he did not predict

that his unfair actions will become evident. Finally, there was only one area that was clearly

defined as such that would be provided with rail transition – Scarborough. However, the price for

it was considered to be very high. As a result, the political situation became very tense; the

majority of people opposed his ideas very aggressively and openly.

Mayor Ford wanted to make a city a tunneled one and believed that no other way of

public transport had to be built. However, a lot of people considered his ideas to be wrong,

7

whilehis ideas aimedat blocking the possibility to build other types of transportation. It is easier

to build light rail transit than expand the directions of subway. In addition, it will take much time

to build subway and much money and people will have to wait for a long period of time until

they are opened. A number of stations will have to be built, which takes up a lot of expenses as

well and as, a result, people will have to pay much money for using those “tunnels”. That is why

all the ideas of Mayor Ford were rejected by the majority of people.

A number of socio-economic differences appeared around GTA in the context of public

transit. The public transit is considered to provide ease of access. A lot of stations will be built so

that people do not spend time on getting to the public transport and, as a result, people will have

the possibility to get to the desired place quickly. There were a lot of meetings, the

representatives of which were opposing the ideas concerning the public transit. More than that,

the representatives of those meetings provided false statistics in order to disorientate people.

They propagated the ideas of subway conveniences and stated that it is time-consuming and

money-consuming to build light rail transit. It is worth mentioning that the majority of

representatives of middle-class and poor people did not support the ideas of the opponents (the

majority of whom were rich people), because they realized that the building of light rail public

transit will take up a lot of place that is used for cars for the time being. However, the majority of

average people realized that they should propagate the building of light rail transit, because it has

a lot of advantages: it is very convenient, you see where you move, it is a way out for people

who have claustrophobia and cannot use subway because they are afraid of closed buildings, and

so on and so forth.

More than that, a good solution of payment for public transit was provided as well, which

provided the approval of the majority of citizens of Toronto. “Rosenfeld’s pamphlet offered a

8

plethora of solutions, including replacing fares with government subsidies which would be paid

for through a progressive tax system” (Kinch, 2011, p. 1).This fact made public transit become

more and more popular among a lot of people and contributed greatly to the formation and

development of easy and convenient access to this kind of transit. Unfortunately, there is still no

consensus between the representatives of different socio-economic groups.

The potential economic advantages of public transit are great. People will pay taxes that

will be invested in the state budget and, as a result, the representatives of the Government will

have the possibility to improve and develop public transit and other spheres of life as well.

However, there is an assumption that public transit in Toronto can be privatized in the future. A

lot of representatives of different countries who have faced already this problem claim that the

privatization of public transit will lead to a number of disadvantages, one of the most popular of

which is the raise of taxes for using public transit. The representatives of different countries did

their best to inform Torontonians about this fact before the elections, so that they had a clear

vision of the possible future.

The consequences have ranged from disappointing to disastrous for commuters and

taxpayers. We felt it was really important for Torontonians to know the facts about

privatization before they vote (http://publictransitcoalition.ca/).

The citizens of different countries who are not indifferent towards the destiny of the City

of Toronto suggest that Torontonians take all possible measures to prevent the substitution of

public transit by the privatized public transit.

In order to get as many possible economic advantages of a more robust public transit, the

citizens of Toronto, as well as the representatives of the Government should meet the following

criteria:

9

Fulfill all the requirements of the Transit City Light Rail Planin the shortest possible time

(maximum till 2020);

Regularly check up and control the fares;

Establish the organizations that would be responsible for the money invested in operating

processes;

Constantly improve the service of public transit, and so on and so forth.

Toronto has traditionally been known as a transit city and subway (heavy rail transit) was

considered to be the prevailing transport in the city. However, with the development of the city, a

lot of people suggested that light rail transit was built as well. City Manager was the first person

who was responsible for taking serious decisions concerning the implementation of this plan,

because his task was to cooperate with different funds and organizations that contributed to the

implementation of the plan. “City manager to develop a comprehensive public consultation

process that provides residents and businesses an opportunity to participate and inform the

development of a sustainable transit plan, including funding options, for the City of Toronto”

(http://www.ttcriders.ca/ ).

A lot of people tend to believe that light rail should not be implemented, because the city

is tunneled enough and, as a result, the building of light rail transit will prevent a lot of people

from using subway. More than that, a lot of people believe that subway manages to carry out a

lot of people during a day; people always get on time on any place they like and light rail transit

will serve as an alternative of the subway, but not as the solution of the problem. However, it is

worth mentioning that a lot of people live far from subway and it takes them a lot of time to get

to a place they like, while there are a great many of stations of the light rail transit that are

situated not far from people’s houses. So, light rail transit saves a lot of time; it is effective and

10

efficient when carrying out passengers; it is faster than subway which allows people to plan a

time table in a more flexible way. Light rail transit does not produce any pollutants in the air; it

does not make much noise in comparison to subway. Light rail transit does not require as much

power as subway. In addition, light rail transit does not require much place, while subway

occupies a comparatively great territory. Light rail transit is more adaptable for the possible

needs in the future: if there are a lot of powerful batteries in the future, the use of which can

substitute electricity, it will be easier to implement them in light rail transit, rather than in

subway.

In 2007, there was a proposal to start working on the extension of the subway “Sheppard

East”, but the idea of extension was replaced by the idea to build light rail transit. Sheppard Line

has a distance from Don Mills Station to Meadowvale. Unfortunately, according to this direction,

there is no line that would connect North York Centre with Scarborough City Centre.

In 2009, there was a new proposal to work on the expansion in the westward direction, but this

idea was rejected as the Government stated that this kind of expansion required a great sum of

money which the Government could not afford at that time. However, Toronto Transit

Commission takes a number of measures in order to expand the subway directions of the

Sheppard Line. In addition, the expansion of the subway directions from Yonge to Spadine Line

is also planned to be implemented in the nearest time.

Despite the fact that the majority of Torontonians are eager to be provided with light rail

transit, the usage of subway is still of great popularity. According to the results of the statistics,

more than 1 million of people use subway during a week, which means that a great percentage of

the population of Toronto still uses subway as a main means of transportation. There is still a

great percentage of people who prefer using personal cars to heavy rail transit, which does much

11

harm to people’s health, environment and contributes to the disappearance and extinction of

animals. Torontonians believe that the building of light rail transit is likely to decrease the

problem of traffic congestion, while the majority of drivers will prefer using light rail transit

which is a more affordable and convenient means of transportation.

To conclude, I must admit that both subway and light rail transit have a lot of advantages

and disadvantages. Torontonians together with the Government of the city should take serious

measures in order to decrease the level of disadvantages of these means of transport and meet the

criteria that would satisfy the needs, desires, and requirements of the citizens of Toronto in the

best possible way

12

Works Cited

An Anti-LRT Group is Meeting at Scarborough City Centre on Monday. Available at

http://www.ttcriders.ca/anti-lrt-group-meeting-monday/.

Cars: Their Impact on the Environment. Available at

www.emsb.qc.ca/laurenhill/science/cars.html.

Council Approves the Sheppard East LRT. Available at < http://www.ttcriders.ca/ >.

Kinch, Megan. Free and Accessible Transit Campaign Builds its Base. 2011. Available at

http://toronto.mediacoop.ca/story/free-and-accessible-public-transit-campaign-builds-its-

base/6584.

Press Release: New Campaign Warns Torontonians to Avoid Mistakes Other Cities Made

Privatizing Public Transit: KeepTTCPublic.ca.Available at

http://publictransitcoalition.ca/.

Sheppard Transit Advisory Panel Report is out – LRT is the Preferred Rapid Transit Mode.

Available at < http://www.ttcriders.ca/ >.

Shojai, Siamack. The New Global Oil Market: Understanding Energy Issues in the World

Economy. 1995. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.

What’s At Risk?Available at <coderedto.com/whats-at-risk/>.