So, you want to be Toronto’s traffic czar?聽
Well, most of us do. You only need to strike up a conversation in any public place to learn that this city is full of experts on traffic, all of whom have uncovered the one weird trick that would solve the problem: fewer bike lanes, more bike lanes, more advance left turn signals, banning right turns on red lights, adding signal priority for streetcars, eliminating streetcars, more highway lanes, fewer highway lanes, imposing tolls on the 401, lifting tolls on the 407.
I admit we self-appointed experts don’t always agree with each other, but we do share an absolute certainty that we know what we’re talking about.
Because the experience of traffic, and its attendant opportunities for reflection on the problem, pretty much defines the 海角社区官网condition. Other cities think traffic is their problem, but they merely experience traffic. 海角社区官网was born in traffic, moulded by it. Just ask any Torontonian, and they’ll tell you.
Which is why, on hearing that city council this week has ordered the appointment of a traffic czar, many of us would immediately consider applying for the job.聽
That itself may be something to consider before taking the job. Were you to accept this regal-sounding position as overlord of the roads, every one of your subjects driving on them would consider themselves more qualified for the job than you. And every one of them would remain convinced that nothing has gotten better, and nothing will ever get better.
Do you doubt this? Consider that, as Matt Elliott recently reported, early this year traffic had improved dramatically from last summer, due to fewer road closures. Did you hear less griping because of it? No. You probably heard people talking聽鈥 bragging, really 鈥 about how 海角社区官网has the worst traffic of any city in North America.聽
Yet it appears we don’t have the worst traffic in North America anymore. Not even the worst in Canada. The same Tom Tom Traffic Index that ranked 海角社区官网worst in North America and third-worst in the world in 2023, leading to all kinds of headlines here, came out with its updated 2024 survey. It . Apparently if we’re only talking about the level of congestion, rather than factoring in travel times, we’ve fallen to 185th worst in the world.
Moreover, the GTA metro area’s congestion ranks as less bad than the areas including Vancouver, Montreal, Winnipeg and Halifax. Perhaps you doubt the results and have questions about the methodology. But this is the same survey that gave us our podium placement in the Misery Olympics in the first place.
You may have noticed a remarkable lack of headlines about this when the new Tom Tom results were released in January. I myself discovered it only through . You, thinking of taking on the role of traffic czar, may take all this as evidence that you’d arrive in the job with the wind at your back, with some good news to share immediately. But consider instead that it might mean you’re presiding over a jurisdiction that is immune to good news on the topic.
Still, perhaps you fantasize about being able to solve your least favourite bottlenecks (like the one on Spadina approaching the Gardiner), or implementing ideas about fixing left turn lanes, or at least not shutting down the GO Train station at Exhibition on the same weekend that Lake Shore and Gardiner are both reduced to one lane and the Sceptres are playing and there’s a giant craft show on at the same time. So many quick wins are obvious to you, and granted the dictatorial powers the term “czar” implies 鈥
Mayor Olivia Chow said that creating the office was necessary in order to harmonize various gridlock-fighting policies the city has implemented in
Mayor Olivia Chow said that creating the office was necessary in order to harmonize various gridlock-fighting policies the city has implemented in
Except it’s not clear how powerful our new czar will be. As the Star’s reporting on the council decision says, the motion creating the position doesn’t put them in charge of an office or department, or allocate a staff or a budget, or even ”specify what additional powers whoever is appointed to the new position would wield.”
Which could be kind of a worst-case scenario for you if you take on the job, where you find yourself publicly identified as having all the responsibility for the problem, while also finding yourself without any of the authority you’d want to solve it. Becoming the personification of 海角社区官网traffic may not be all the ermine and jewels the title implies.
Thinking over the title more closely, we might take a moment to recall what happened to the last czar of Russia: .
If, after all that, the job still sounds enticing, then perhaps you really do have what it takes. We would all welcome any progress you could make. Even if the reasonable expectation is that any progress is bound to be, like all things related to 海角社区官网traffic, slooooow.
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