299 bloor call control

After the release of bidders last week in the tender for new LRVs for the TTC, there’s been some speculation over why Siemens, arguably the world’s second largest provider of trams and LRVs, failed to submit a bid, leaving Bombardier as the only serious contender for the contract. Conspiracy theorists pondered if Siemens dropped out in exchange for Bombardier bowing out of other contracts in which they competed. Or that the TTC’s tender requirements were geared specifically to oust Siemens and favour Bombardier. Well, the most probable answer came today, as Siemens AG announced plans to cut 16,750 jobs globally.

It probably was not feasible for Siemens to invest heavily in a new plant in Canada in a time of corporate stress, which would probably be required due to CanCon requirements in the new LRVs. Bombardier was obviously in a superior position with established plants and supplier chains and competing with that was probably a battle Siemens knew it would lose, especially on the eve of massive job cuts.

The question comes now on whether or not Bombardier knew of this before submitting their bid, although they have denied having knowledge. However, it should be noted there was a story on June 28th regarding rumours of Siemens job cuts. So the possibility of Bombardier knowing of the dropped bid is there, but I guess we will have to wait until the bid documents are opened this fall to see if there was any effect on Bombardier’s pricing for this massive order.

The City of Toronto provided a press release today to announce the groundbreaking for the first phase of the Bloor Street Transformation on Wednesday. The project, initially the work of Brown + Storey Architects, is now being designed by architectsAlliance. Suffice to say, I am fairly disappointed of the outcome. aA is typically one of my favoured firms in the city for producing good results, but what they have proposed for this project is bland and boring - pretty much replicating the halls of Yorkdale.

Compare these three renderings:

FIRST PROPOSAL: Brown + Storey Architects, c. 2006

SECOND PROPOSAL: architectsAlliance c. 2007

FINAL PROPOSAL: architectsAlliance, July 2008

So pretty much we’ve gone from a somewhat playful “waves” concept in Brown + Storey’s proposal, to aA’s first attempt featuring wavy benches and planters, water features, and public art, to the current (and to be constructed) proposal featuring what pretty much amounts to a sidewalk reconstruction. If you have been to Bloor Street lately, you can vouch for how sorely the street needs a good sidewalk repair. And despite all the promises over the past three years, it appears a sidewalk repair is all we’re going to get for our “great shopping street”.

A couple more renders of the snooze fest after the jump.

Continue reading ‘Bloor Street Transformation = Sidewalk Repairs’

Who would you choose to win the 200+ Light Rail Vehicle contract?

or

After Siemens pulled out of the bidding, these are the two companies that have entered qualified bids for the TTC’s big LRV tender… I would be incredibly surprised if an upstart unknown won a contract when we’ve been burnt by using untested vehicles so many times. So again, Bombardier wins.

Related stories on the web today:
Globe: Tiny UK Firm Thinks Big (so their one prototype caught fire, eh?)
John Barber: When it comes to transit contracts, we’ve been around this track before
TheStar: U.K. Firm takes on Bombardier for TTC Deal

The Fraser Institute released a report yesterday entitled “Is Toronto in Decline?“, using census data to show that Toronto is losing its competitive edge in the business world and is headed for economic doom. Well, maybe it wasn’t that dire, but it is yet another attack on Toronto and Ontario as bad places for business (remember Jim’s tirades earlier this year?). When I first read this yesterday, I couldn’t help but laugh. Why? Read on.

First, this report was co-authored by Mike Harris. You may remember him (as much as it pains many of us to) as Ontario’s dear (Conservative) leader during the early 90s. He was the one who slashed funding to municipalities, canceled the Eglinton Subway, and downloaded provincial responsibilities to the cities. Oh, he’s the one who had the bright idea of the megacity as well. So for him to come along and berate Toronto is utterly abhorrent. He was the cause of many of Toronto’s ills, which the city is slowly inching its way out of today.

Secondly, the report was released by the Fraser Institute, the west-biased, conservative ‘think’ tank that routinely bashes any progressive policy and worse yet, progressive cities (see: “Unlivable Strategies: The Greater Vancouver Regional District and the Livable Region Strategic Plan“). How much credence should we be giving this type of organization?

The reports main findings are questionable as well, as quoted from their website:

• Torontonians are worried their city is losing its edge compared to other major Canadian business centers.
• The city of Toronto’s median income has sunk below the national average. In the 2001 census, median income in Toronto was 106 percent of the national average; in the 2006 census, it was below the national average at 96 percent.
• Management occupations in Toronto, which may be viewed as a proxy for the city’s health as a business centre, have been on the decline.
• The negative trend is visible not only in Toronto, but also across the province as a whole. Median income in Ontario grewby 10 percent over the period compared to 16 percent nationally. Moreover, Ontario saw a decline in the number of management occupations over the most recent census period.

First, Toronto has been losing its edge, but not nationally, but regionally. Cheap, abundant land and lower business tax rates in the 905 has led to the bleeding of jobs into the surrounding region. However, this is already slowly changing, as Toronto is shifting its tax rates from business onto residential, to maintain competitiveness. The 905, on the other hand, will have no choice as their development charge bonaza ends, to start increasing business taxes, as the residents there already have a significant burden. This will help balance the region, and in turn, attract more jobs into the central city. Note that this is completely separate from the fact that in today’s ‘creative class’ economy, more companies are choosing to locate within the central city to attract young professionals, who are more inclined to demand a downtown working environment.

Secondly is the assertion that Toronto’s median income has dropped below the national average and has increased at a slower rate than cities like Edmonton, Calgary, and Saskatoon. This is true, but the argument that it means Toronto is on decline is absurd. Those three centres are among the fastest growing in the nation and have faced unprecedented growth and inflationary pressures. Home and rental costs are through the roof and labour shortages are becoming a chronic problem. So when the free market is working in this environment, of course wages and salaries are going to increase at a much higher rate than a relatively stable market like Toronto and the GGH. Finally, the GGH continues to take on the greatest proportion of the country’s immigrants, which command lower wages than the general population, causing the median to skew lower than elsewhere as well.

And that’s where the whole report loses its argument. And I wonder: wouldn’t lower costs and more available labour make Toronto more attractive to business? What about the 20 or so universities that line the 401 corridor that churn out thousands of qualified graduates every year might help too? And the fact that Toronto is one of the most diverse, attractive, and exciting cities in the nation? This report ignores all that and focuses solely on the numbers. Toronto is an attractive place to do business. It’s an attractive place to live. I love Edmonton, my hometown, but nothing short of absolute meltdown will make me leave Toronto.

thanks to wyliepoon off UrbanToronto for the improved photo

The TTC has pretty much had the same look subway map for the past several years, ever since they migrated from the disastrous station-name-in-line-colour days. The map was changed after the opening of the Sheppard Subway, since the purple line made station names really difficult to read on the map, and the text started to be in white, which is much more legible.

The form and the typeface on the map hasn’t really changed since, but they have posted a new map on average twice a year since then, as more stations have become accessible. It’s not like it was perfect, but it did its job, and was fairly easy to comprehend.

Last week on the subway, I saw that there was a new iteration of the map posted up on the trains… and I couldn’t help but squirm a bit. They have replaced a fairly legible Arial-like typeface (Joe Clark would say it’s Swis721 BT, I’m not absolutely sure in this case) with a somewhat less legible Bold-Condensed Arial-like typeface with what appears to be very inconsistent letter spacing.

The Old Map (Left) and the New Map (Right)

The worst part of it, though, is how they denote the location of the station under the name. On the old map (above, left), the location would be provided by the street number on Yonge (or Bloor, or Danforth) that the station’s cross street is at. That provided the most useful information, because, if you’re going to say, 1200 Yonge, you know to get off at Summerhill, since it’s at 1189 Yonge Street. This also complimented the TTC’s station naming convention, which is always based on the nearest cross street the station is on (with a few exceptions).

This new map removes this convenient feature. Instead of “1189″ under Summerhill, for example, it now says “10 Shaftsbury Ave”, which is the true station address, but where actually is that? The worst part is the redundancy that has resulted for the stations at Wellesley, College, Dundas, Queen, and King, as they all have address on their respective streets, see below.

There really wasn’t anything wrong with the old map (well, there may be)… and there seems to be a lot wrong with this one… will they change it back the next time around?

EDIT: This has been posted onto Spacing and commenters note that the addresses aren’t even right. St Andrew station is on King Street West but is shown to be on King Street East, and Castle Frank station is on Bloor Street East but shown to be on Bloor Street West. Oh dear.

Bigger view of map after the jump…

Continue reading ‘TTC’s New and Unimproved Subway Map’

If you haven’t already, check out the Liberal Green Shift plan, released today. It offers some real solutions to a very real problem. Try to ignore all the Conservative attacks… and ask them what their plan is.

In response to an article in The Star today regarding the looming financial crisis in Missisauga, I wrote on my facebook share of the article:

This is the result of utter stupidity of politicians who campaign on, or govern on, the notion of “no tax increases”. Now, 30 years later, Mississauga has no development charges left to exploit from sprawling subdivisions and is left with an incredibly unsustainable city, environmentally, functionally, and financially. People keep putting Hazel up on a pedestal as a ‘great mayor’… but would a great mayor have used these past 30 years to squander an opportunity to build a sustainable city? It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that the city administration in the past 30 years has been criminal, lying to its residents and letting them live in a fantasy world where tax increases are unnecessary. What annoys me most is how high and mighty Sauga placed itself in comparison to Toronto. And how fast the high and mighty have fallen. Enjoy your 10% property tax increases, suckers.

I’ll elaborate on this further when I have an opportunity.

This is one awesome proposal that is being put forward in Glasgow to generate solar energy for the city. A series of solar panels would be put into the River Clyde much like lily pads, tethered to the riverbed, much like lily pads. This is definitely a case where we can imitate nature’s processes to meet our own needs.

This got me thinking that these pads would be perfect as part of regeneration of the Don River at the West Don Lands or put into the unused shipping channels in the Port Lands. After all, local sustainable power generation is one of Waterfront Toronto’s key goals… as much as the Portlands Energy Centre is a slap in the face of that.

Coming up in next week’s TTC Commission Meeting will be the presentation of the final proposed finishes for the upcoming station refurbishments at Islington and Pape Stations. The reports are online now and can be seen at the following links:

• Islington Station
• Pape Station

Also of note, the Design Exchange has forwarded its report from the TTC Design Charrette from September of last year (attended by yours truly). There is a recommendation to adopt a standard station entrance marker (the one in use at Osgoode Station in front of the Four Seasons Centre) as well as a stylized TTC logo marker, similar to the original ones used upon the system’s opening in 1954.

LINK: Subway Entrance Identification (warning: 65mb download)

Continue reading ‘Station Finishes Finalized for Islington, Pape’