The day after an apparently generous (or perhaps terribly profligate) $880 million federal gift to Toronto for “transit” comes word that the TTC needs $34 million to repair old streetcars because of the failure of Bombardier to deliver useable new vehicles. It is this type of seemingly incompetent spending that makes reasonable taxpayers blanch. The City shows no indication of divorcing itself from its costly streetcar mentality. It isn’t clear that bureaucrats even understand the wastefulness of the current streetcar strategy. And to be fair, it costs a lot to run transit and there may be ways that the City will see a reasonable return. Perhaps new resistance will form to the senseless Scarborough subway — an underground to nowhere with no stops. Here’s the view through rose-coloured glasses.
