The campaign leading up to the municipal elections in Toronto in the fall is focusing more and more around how we get around in the city. By that I mean primarily public transit, roads and bikes. I think this has been driven out of a lot of general unhappiness about public transit service, the St. Clair transit right-of-way fiasco and controversial proposals for bike lanes on main arteries.  I welcome this debate, which we need to expand beyond name calling between drivers and bicyclists.

In my mind the debate has been over-simplified. I’ve even had comments implying that I’m against public transit because I did not support the unfortunate St. Clair Ave. right-of-way disaster. Because I support public transit expansion doesn’t mean I should support every project proposed. The good thing about Mayor Miller’s administration is that it has developed a vision for improving transit in the city. The bad thing is that the same vision led to some serious problems and ignored a very unfortunate slide in service.

We need to have a sustainable plan in place to:

• Improve existing transit service
• Expand public transit to meet the expansion and density growth of the city
• Integrate transit between Toronto and the suburbs
• Provide good transit service to the airport
• Strategically consider how to create an improved network of bike lanes without creating traffic chaos
• Enhance our streets and sidewalks to be great places to walk
• Provide good basic maintenance to our existing transit infrastructure
• Figure out how to pay for the whole business in a way we can all agree to (how can one be surprised at the reluctance of the provincial government to fund the current plan, after watching the problems on St. Clair go on and on and on and on).
• Carry out construction strategically to keep traffic moving and businesses active.

I think the solutions have to be complex and situational. The idea of laying dedicated light rail lines in a pattern across the city and damn the consequences is naive.  Sometimes small problems need small solutions…and sometimes small solutions can solve big problems too. There may be situations where light rail (our new fancy name for street cars) is the best way to go. In other areas, buses or electric buses might be best, and let me say that I support subway expansion (I’d like to see one subway station built each year). We also need approaches that are a whole lot more sensitive to the communities affected by the plans and the businesses that operate in areas slated for construction.

Some of these discussions are emerging as the mayoralty candidates are laying out their positions, including some plans for paying for the whole business. Let’s let the candidates fight it out and clarify their ideas and see what emerges. I’m not sure I’ve seen solutions yet I’m fully happy with but at least the candidates are having the discussion and thinking about this business.

The other good thing is that there is going to be room for some new blood on council this time around. I’ve said before that if most of the existing council retired or lost the election, I wouldn’t be too sad, and I continue to advocate new blood on council. Let’s support some fresh ideas and approaches.