I boarded my plane Friday kicking myself after I had realized just how little sense my rant about the St. Clair Streetcar project actually made. So I'm going to take this as a perfect opportunity to clarify a few things while my brain (and liver) recover from the weekend.
St. Clair is a street in Toronto. It has one of the busiest streetcar routes in the city. I think it's the second busiest but don't quote me on that. Right now St. Clair has three lanes of traffic in each direction, with the center lanes also having streetcars running along them. These center lanes also act as left turn lanes. If you've ever wondered why you see no streetcars, and then three in a row – this is your answer. Streetcars bunch up because they get stuck behind cars that are waiting to turn left. Unlike buses, which can drive wherever they want to, streetcars gave up that ability for higher capacity, efficiency and a longer lifespan.
Streetcar right-of-ways (ROWs) allow for this to be dealt with by giving streetcars their own designated lanes and traffic priority at the lights. All traffic priority means is that they get to go first because they have separate transit signals. It speeds things up. Harbourfront, Queensway and Spadina already have this. Viva in York Region sort of has traffic priority (there are still a few bugs in it), and they're building ROWs for the unbuses.
What Save Our St. Clair (SOS) has done is proven that a small group of selfish, car-loving citizens can stop a development that will greatly benefit the city. Not that this is the first time a Not In My Backyard (NIMBY) group has ruined something we need. NIMBY groups have already stopped the development of affordable housing, landfills and power stations. I could talk about each of those, but this isn't about those things. This is about St. Clair, and how SOS claimed that a ROW would ruin their neighbourhood.
If you haven't been on St. Clair, I can compare it to Dundas once you get over the 403 and into Mississauga. Only there are stores up on the side of the street instead of in power centers; one big highway-like road. The last time I saw someone walking on Dundas was well over two months ago. It just doesn't happen. Streets like that aren't pedestrian friendly. A streetcar ROW could have changed that.
It would have allowed for better public transit. That is the first and best way to bring more people to and through a neighbourhood. One less lane of traffic would have slowed traffic down, making it safer for bicyclists and pedestrians. I never understood any of SOS's arguments, probably because they didn't make any sense. Better transit means more people. More people means better visibility. Better visibility means more business. So there's the "it will hurt our businesses" argument being thrown out the window. Yes, it sucks that the delivery trucks would no longer be able to double park on the street but I'm sure they'll get around that.
The thing that these NIMBY groups fail to realize when they make the claim that they were the little guy who won a huge battle against the city is that the city is generally working on their side. When you fight against someone trying to make it better for you, that person is just going to drop you off the side of the road like some trick that just didn’t put out.
*hug* your arguments are usually so good. and i agree with you, they need to stop their bitching.