TORONTO – A group of activists have recently started an organization, attempting to help create and build upon current dialogue regarding transit in Toronto.
The group, CodeRedTO, promotes itself as a, “a call for rational, affordable, and achievable rapid transit strategy for Toronto.” Borrowing its title from CodeBlueTO – a rallying cry against Doug Ford’s comments on a potential Ferris wheel in the Port Lands – the group is hoping to revitalize discussion around Mayor Ford’s cuts to Transit City.
We spoke to the Co-Founder of CodeRedTO, Cameron MacLeod, to find out more about the group and how it plans to create dialogue surrounding the controversial issue of transit in Toronto.
Why CodeRedTO?
Three reasons: 1, to mimic the CodeBlueTO group’s success in fighting for more rational development decisions for the Port Lands. 2, to express the urgency in this decision – time is short, and we need better transit choices for Toronto soon. 3, to make it clear that this is not a push to simply go back to Transit City, a name which sadly became quite politicized and would be rejected out of hand by many, regardless of the details.
Is there something about the current administration that motivates your group to activism?
Rather than focusing on the Mayor, our focus is decisions that are being made for emotional reasons instead of based on reason and evidence. While the Mayor (and just about everybody!) loves subways — CodeRedTO does too! — the issue is cost and appropriateness. It’s not necessary to bury all of the Eglinton line to get great improvements in speed and traffic flow, and the cost is billions of dollars extra for a measurable decrease in service options elsewhere. For example, instead of a convenient and speedy new LRT line on Finch, those residents are now getting cuts to their bus service instead – and they are the residents with the least transit options!
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What are you hoping to accomplish with CodeRedTO?
The overall goal is to create an opportunity for council to come together in near-consensus, as with the waterfront, to approve a smarter use of existing funds to create better transit choice for the city. We’re not experts, and neither is the Mayor — instead, we should take advantage of what we already know about building transit, and what other cities have learned: subways aren’t the only answer, just like buses and LRTs and streetcars aren’t the only answer. To each area its own appropriate resources for more efficient people movement.
What has CodeRedTO accomplished so far?
Our first step was to post proposed mission statement principles to our website at coderedTO.com, and ask people to indicate their agreement level and comments for each. We received over 400 survey responses in just 4 days, and over 15,000 words of comments. It’s a self-selecting survey of course, but in those responses only 3 people said “just go back to Transit City” and only 1 said “give up”. That tells us there’s a big appetite for something better.
We also held a planning meeting last night to expand our team, with over 20 attending. Soon we will announce a public meeting in Scarborough to bring in even more concerned residents and commuters, and to increase the pressure on council to be aware and to make smart choices when the upcoming votes happen.
Finally, we have already begun discussing the issue with some councillors to gauge their concerns around transit and to help with information when needed.
What would you personally like to see done with transit in Toronto?
Personally (not an opinion of CodeRedTO): I would like to see better integration between regional rail and local transit, recognizing how many people use both at different times. I’d also like Toronto to learn how different technologies (subway, LRT, BRT, streetcar, bus) each have pros and cons, and the proper use of each can bring great benefits. Our reliance on subways-or-nothing is stunting our growth and ability to function efficiently, and costing the city huge amounts in congestion, cancellation costs, and time.
In the shorter term, I (and CodeRedTO) would like to see council approve a transit plan that doesn’t waste billions burying tracks that we have LOTS of room on the surface for without taking car lanes at all, and doesn’t waste $65 million (probably more) on cancellation costs for work that’s already been completed and would be wasted. Those cancellation costs are over $20 per resident of the city tossed out, which council could easily pick up again.
In your opinion, what is the importance of discussing transit on Twitter?
Twitter is a popular place to discuss just about any issue these days – it combines access to many voices with near-real-time responses and opinions. It’s not perfect though – the limit of 140 characters means you can end up expressing emotion without any room left for the facts! This is problematic when you’re trying to educate about transit options. For example. the Mayor likes to say that future LRT ideas are the same as streetcars, but they are actually dramatically different – much more like the Lakeshore West right-of-way than on-street streetcars, with very different vehicles and stops too – but that’s tough to say in a tweet.
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