Confusing is the watchword for the Scarborough LRT. Metrolinx, the provincial organization with the mandate for regional transit has put in a plan called “Transit City”, and has allocated funding for a Light Rapid Transit, or LRT on Sheppard Avenue East. Environmental assessments, financial funding, purchase of rolling stock has been completed and construction work on the line has already started. In comes Rob Ford, the new Toronto mayor, who wants to put a subway on Sheppard instead. All the Transit City plans, decades in the making, are put on hold. Major Ford’s vision is to have the Sheppard line funded by the private sector, based on increased densities, namely condominium development, along the Sheppard line. Today I have no clarity on what will or should happen. There is a vacuum of information on the current plans for the Scarborough LRT.

On the pro side of the LRT is that existing densities on Sheppard East are just minimally sufficient for an LRT, but sorely low for justifying a subway line. I cannot see how any logical analysis can create the densities sufficient for a subway within 10 years. That being said, I am sure that when the Yonge subway was being built this issue was the same. But the Yonge subway was built and Toronto benefited from it with rapid expansion. Today the Yonge corridor and its subway are over capacity.

A Scarbrough subway built today will actually serve less people than an LRT. This is because the subway stops will be further apart and the subway turns south at Kennedy Road, cutting off the rest of Scarborough East. This subway route covers less than one third the LRT route. On top of this there are significantly less subway stops than LRT stops, so riders between Victoria Park and Kennedy would have to walk it to the closest subway stop. There are a lot of people who take transit east of Kennedy Road that would need to rely on a bus to get to Kennedy North (Kennedy/Sheppard) subway station. That being said, densities east of Kennedy are lower than densities between Victoria Park and Kennedy. On the plus side, when they get to the subway it would be faster to travel to the Yonge line.

Unfortunately for all Scarborough residents, no matter what solution is implemented, be it LRT or subway, residents who travel to the Yonge line will be met by an overcrowded Yonge Subway traveling south in the morning, and north in the evening. This bottleneck will still not be alleviated by either solution.

What I like about the subway solution is that it is visionary. It does away with the analysis paralysis and says, with no doubt in anyone’s mind, that Toronto East will not only thrive, but grow very quickly, and the subway will usher in this rapid growth. I believe this vision from Mayor Ford will prevail. This can only be beneficial for all of Toronto.

Subways would be faster, reducing travel time significantly. They are impervious to Canadian winters and snow. They are significantly more reliable than buses or LRTs. Cars and trucks cannot crash into them, slowing the morning commute. A subway extension from Don Mills station to Kennedy would greatly increase the now very underutilized “Stub”way from Yonge to Don Mills station, the stubway that goes nowhere. These are the obvious benefits.

Visionary also describes the way Rob Ford would partner with private companies to build and pay for the Scarborough subway. Toronto has never done public-private financing like this on a large basis. Sure you hear this verbiage in many cases, but few projects have succeeded. Private business partnering with the TTC would force the TTC and the City of Toronto into a much more financially progressive mindset that they lack today. This can only be a good thing. The TTC squanders valuable land opportunities that they own, forcing yearly increases at the fare boxes. Look no further than the progressive MRT in Hong Kong for an innovative transit operator that doubles as one of HK’s largest land developer. The TTC owns valuable land, so why are they not developing on it?

For those of us that live near Sheppard Avenue East a subway will mean years of inconvenience, a lack of subway stations and increased financial pressure on the TTC, but visionary this project is.

I support the Scarborough subway.

Addendum April 2 2011: Provincial funding backs the Eglington Crosstown Subway, leaving the Sheppard line to be fully funded by the City, to the tune of $4B. Where the City of Toronto will get their funding is unknown. Shining new transit reality is a dream lost

Scarborough LRT vs Subway station map, Toronto, Canada

I’ve been around computers a long time and have spent some time in the retail field, so I’m very familiar with touch screens and scanners. This new system simply did not work for me. The checkout counter consists of a touch screen, a scanner, and a matching grey pad, about 4mm thick, similar to an oversized mouse pad. Language choices include English, French and Chinese. You supposedly put up to 5 books on the pad at one time and the machine automatically scans them all. Or so the theory goes.

Unfortunately for me, my first time on the new system was less than stellar. Only one of my five magazines would scan. My little weed approached to see what the problem was, leaned up against the table near the mouse pad, and it scanned and checked out his book, after it had already checked out his book on his card. Apparently the last scan counts.

I found out that I had done a couple of things incorrectly. Firstly, I read and followed the onscreen instructions, which did not work. My eldest weed didn’t read anything, scanned her card and then used the hand held scanner, scanned all her books, disregarding the mouse pad. She first finished, and was mildly annoyed as to why the oldster was having so much difficulty. I received the pout, the rolling of the eyes, and the jaunty stance. The extra pressure helped set the tone of the situation. I did not flinch.

A nice helper girl came over, pulled out the hidden keyboard, and also could not check out my magazines. The senior librarian then came over and I had to go over to her workstation, where the four errant magazines were given yet another special high tech sticker. The stickers was synchronized to the magazine’s bar codes. This took much extra time. Eventually I was able to put all four magazines on the mouse pad and they all registered and I checked out. Or so the head librarian demonstrated to me. I did not personally touch my magazines during the scanning process.

It’s all simple, really. There are many bugs still left to work out.

I might on occasion miss the checkout girls, but I remind myself of the countless times when they messed up. It’s really a very simple process, if everything goes well. With the new system I think they will need to have a couple of those girls around full-time when the system screws up.

As I walked out the security system started beeping. I suppose it is to prevent people from stealing books, accidental or not, but no burly librarians stopped us. In fact, no librarians paid much attention to us. I can only wonder if the theft rate for the TPL will increase.

The book check in has similarly been “upgraded”. You simply push the books through a chute and it lands in a box on the other side. Gone are the days when I could wait and watch as the librarian checks in my family’s books. I do this because on a couple of occasions we have returned books the “upgraded” way, only to find out later than the books were for some reason not checked in and we were on the hook for a late fine. As I am an upstanding library citizen I do detest late fines, but when you really don’t have the book, I get steamed.

I really do love the Toronto Public Library System. For all it’s growing pains I’m sure they will work it out. Just not with me. Yet.

Note: A couple of days after returning all five magazines, on time, I was charged with a late fee for one outstanding magazine. I called them up. The magazine was found in their stacks, and the fine was removed. The returns process is far from accurate. I was told that I could go to the customer services counter and ask to return my books, and a receipt would be printed.

A couple of days later I returned some other books and did just that. The process used is they lay some books down on the RF pad, and the computer detects them. Unfortunately you have to be very careful in order to have all the books scan in correctly. There is also a limit on the number of books stacked. The RF reader may not scan all of them, leading to error. The librarian needs to be extra careful in order to scan all the books, as it is very easy to make a mistake and rely on computer technology. I would rather take the extra 20 seconds in order to do a quality job.

In the past all books needed to be individually scanned using the bar code reader. Each scan made an audible beeping sound, providing important feedback to the librarian that the item was scanned correctly. This crucial feedback is missing in the new scanning system. I would venture to say that the new scanning system is also slower than the old system it replaces. You need to wait for the new system to “find” the RF tag.