Off__Topic---BUT__Pertinent
Jim Holland
Tuesday, March 26, 2002 9:28 PM
Good Morning!
Bill Robb of Toronto shares this extremely bleak article from a local
newspaper. Please note these 3-paragraphs:::::::
"Streetcars cost $3 million to $5 million apiece; repairing and
maintaining the tracks costs $30 million a year."
"Buses cost $450,000 each, are much less expensive to repair, and run on
roadways maintained at city expense."
"'You have to ask, at some point, is it cheaper to run buses than
streetcars and that, I know, is a dynamite question,' Webster said."
While Toronto is strictly streetcar in streets which slows efficiency,
I-F such a stellar system abandons, it will make easy fodder for others to
follow suit.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Budget crunch puts beloved but costly fleet at risk
Toronto Star, Tue, 26 Mar 2002
Joseph Hall
Transportation Reporter
Toronto's "sacred" streetcar fleet could start rolling off into history by
the end of next year unless significant new funding is poured into the
city's transit system, TTC officials say.
The rumble and clang of the system's Red Rockets, so much a part of the
city's history, psyche and appeal, could be silenced to ward off crippling
maintenance and operating shortfalls, senior staff and city politicians
warn.
"Taking the streetcar off of Toronto's streets would be like taking the
maple leaf off the Canadian flag," acknowledges TTC chair Brian Ashton.
"But the financial picture we face, both in our capital and operational
costs, could potentially slay the streetcar, which is sacred in this city."
The city's 248-car fleet needs a $180 million overhaul over the next
several years, Ashton said, and a potential $50 million TTC operating
shortfall in 2003 will put added pressure on the system to cut back on the
expensive vehicles.
"Either one of these things (the operational or capital costs) has the
real potential to knock the streetcars off the rails," Ashton said.
"And we can't just keep raising fares. The pressure on the fare system by
the end of 2003 will be so intense that we will have to start looking at
cutbacks ... and buses are cheaper to run than streetcars."
While every effort to save the environmentally friendly and historically
important streetcars will be made, system operations manager Gary Webster
said that some or all may have to be replaced by buses.
Streetcars cost $3 million to $5 million apiece; repairing and maintaining
the tracks costs $30 million a year.
Buses cost $450,000 each, are much less expensive to repair, and run on
roadways maintained at city expense.
"You have to ask, at some point, is it cheaper to run buses than
streetcars and that, I know, is a dynamite question," Webster said.
Before abandoning streetcars, Ashton said, the TTC would cancel a slew of
underperforming bus routes and decrease the frequency of buses and trains.
But these measures could not make up for projected shortfalls alone, he
said.
The TTC's streetcar fleet is the largest in North America, but the only
one that operates in mixed traffic, making the vehicles far less efficient
than in cities where they have their own right-of-way.
Webster said giving streetcars priority passage by forcing cars to stay
out of streetcar lanes, for example could help trim operating costs.
Talk of replacing streetcars is no idle threat to help win a smoother
passage for the vehicles, Ashton says. "This is a plain-and-simple
dollars issue."
It's ironic that the TTC is thinking of abandoning Toronto's streetcars at
a time when more than two dozen North American cities are starting to
reclaim the lines they gave up in the 1950s and `60s.
A spokesperson for Mayor Mel Lastman said yesterday that streetcars were
in no more danger than the rest of the transit system and that the city
will continue to work with senior governments to get funding.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
James B. Holland
Holland Electric Railway Operation.......
___"O"--Scale St.-Petersburg Trams Company Trolleycars and...
______"O"--Scale Parts mailto:[email protected]
______Pennsylvania Trolley Museum http://www.pa-trolley.org/
___Pittsburgh Railways Company (PRCo), 1930 -- 1950
N.M.R.A. Life member #2190; http://www.nmra.org
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
FREE COLLEGE MONEY
CLICK HERE to search
600,000 scholarships!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/iZp8OC/4m7CAA/ySSFAA/DiTxlB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
Bill Robb of Toronto shares this extremely bleak article from a local
newspaper. Please note these 3-paragraphs:::::::
"Streetcars cost $3 million to $5 million apiece; repairing and
maintaining the tracks costs $30 million a year."
"Buses cost $450,000 each, are much less expensive to repair, and run on
roadways maintained at city expense."
"'You have to ask, at some point, is it cheaper to run buses than
streetcars and that, I know, is a dynamite question,' Webster said."
While Toronto is strictly streetcar in streets which slows efficiency,
I-F such a stellar system abandons, it will make easy fodder for others to
follow suit.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Budget crunch puts beloved but costly fleet at risk
Toronto Star, Tue, 26 Mar 2002
Joseph Hall
Transportation Reporter
Toronto's "sacred" streetcar fleet could start rolling off into history by
the end of next year unless significant new funding is poured into the
city's transit system, TTC officials say.
The rumble and clang of the system's Red Rockets, so much a part of the
city's history, psyche and appeal, could be silenced to ward off crippling
maintenance and operating shortfalls, senior staff and city politicians
warn.
"Taking the streetcar off of Toronto's streets would be like taking the
maple leaf off the Canadian flag," acknowledges TTC chair Brian Ashton.
"But the financial picture we face, both in our capital and operational
costs, could potentially slay the streetcar, which is sacred in this city."
The city's 248-car fleet needs a $180 million overhaul over the next
several years, Ashton said, and a potential $50 million TTC operating
shortfall in 2003 will put added pressure on the system to cut back on the
expensive vehicles.
"Either one of these things (the operational or capital costs) has the
real potential to knock the streetcars off the rails," Ashton said.
"And we can't just keep raising fares. The pressure on the fare system by
the end of 2003 will be so intense that we will have to start looking at
cutbacks ... and buses are cheaper to run than streetcars."
While every effort to save the environmentally friendly and historically
important streetcars will be made, system operations manager Gary Webster
said that some or all may have to be replaced by buses.
Streetcars cost $3 million to $5 million apiece; repairing and maintaining
the tracks costs $30 million a year.
Buses cost $450,000 each, are much less expensive to repair, and run on
roadways maintained at city expense.
"You have to ask, at some point, is it cheaper to run buses than
streetcars and that, I know, is a dynamite question," Webster said.
Before abandoning streetcars, Ashton said, the TTC would cancel a slew of
underperforming bus routes and decrease the frequency of buses and trains.
But these measures could not make up for projected shortfalls alone, he
said.
The TTC's streetcar fleet is the largest in North America, but the only
one that operates in mixed traffic, making the vehicles far less efficient
than in cities where they have their own right-of-way.
Webster said giving streetcars priority passage by forcing cars to stay
out of streetcar lanes, for example could help trim operating costs.
Talk of replacing streetcars is no idle threat to help win a smoother
passage for the vehicles, Ashton says. "This is a plain-and-simple
dollars issue."
It's ironic that the TTC is thinking of abandoning Toronto's streetcars at
a time when more than two dozen North American cities are starting to
reclaim the lines they gave up in the 1950s and `60s.
A spokesperson for Mayor Mel Lastman said yesterday that streetcars were
in no more danger than the rest of the transit system and that the city
will continue to work with senior governments to get funding.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
James B. Holland
Holland Electric Railway Operation.......
___"O"--Scale St.-Petersburg Trams Company Trolleycars and...
______"O"--Scale Parts mailto:[email protected]
______Pennsylvania Trolley Museum http://www.pa-trolley.org/
___Pittsburgh Railways Company (PRCo), 1930 -- 1950
N.M.R.A. Life member #2190; http://www.nmra.org
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
FREE COLLEGE MONEY
CLICK HERE to search
600,000 scholarships!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/iZp8OC/4m7CAA/ySSFAA/DiTxlB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/