new streetcars for toronto

$355 million from City of Toronto

$416 million from Province of Ontario (416? HA!)

$438 million from Federal Government

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$1.2 billion Total Cost

From the article

According to Bombardier, manufacturing the streetcars would create more than 5,000 direct jobs and 10,300 indirect jobs in Ontario.

Prototype streetcars will be delivered in 2011 and new cars will be in service by 2012. The cars replace Toronto's aging fleet and will be more energy efficient, larger and more comfortable.

The new streetcars are larger and more comfortable - they can carry up to 50 per cent more transit riders than the older streetcars.

On May 15, 2009, the McGuinty government announced funding for the Sheppard East Light Rail Transit (LRT) project, which will generate about 9,500 jobs.

The McGuinty government also recently announced $8.6 billion in funding for regional transit projects, including the Finch West LRT, Scarborough RT upgrade and extension, Eglinton Crosstown LRT, York Viva BRT, and planning for rapid transit in Hamilton.

Now we just need the newly rejected Federal funding and it's a done deal.

[Infrastructure Minister John Baird] continued to insist that the city's pitch to replace 204 aging streetcars does not qualify for his government's $4-billion federal Infrastructure Stimulus Fund.

“It's a fantastic project,” he said of the streetcar initiative. “It's just not eligible for this program. And [that's] not just a technicality.”

He said the federal stimulus funds are intended for projects that create local jobs over the next two years. By contrast, jobs for the streetcar project would be mostly in a Bombardier assembly plant in Thunder Bay, not in Toronto.

[Baird] offered the city a way it could indirectly tap the stimulus fund: Move up construction projects that can be completed in two years and use the savings to pay the federal share of the $1.2-billion streetcar contract.

[T]he deal with Bombardier Inc. of Montreal is set to expire June 27 if all the funding isn't in place.

That date is also key because, without a deal on streetcars, the city cannot exercise an option to purchase up to 400 light-rail vehicles for “Transit City,” the mayor's ambitious plan to install new streetcar lines across Toronto's inner suburbs over the next decade.

greening toronto

Lots of interesting green roof coverage for Toronto lately.

First - a proposal to turn the Gardiner Expressway into an overhead park.

[The proposed "Green Ribbon"] calls for the addition of a new level about 8 metres above the highway's elevated section from Dufferin St. to the Don Valley Parkway. Columns would be added to the side to anchor a new level, which would become a linear park stretching for 7 kilometres. The estimated costs range from $500 million to $600 million.

It's bold and visionary and I'd love to see this idea explored in more detail and connected to the Don River and waterfront rejuvenation.

Next, the Toronto Green Roof Bylaw

New Green Roof Bylaw Passed By Council

On May 26, 2009 Toronto became the first City in North America to adopt a bylaw to require and govern the construction of green roofs on new development.

The bylaw will apply to all new building permit applications made after January 31, 2010 (residential, commercial and institutional) and January 31, 2011 for all new industrial development.

The new bylaw will be required on all new development above 2,000m² of Gross Floor Area and have a graduated coverage requirement ranging from 20-60%.

There's also the EcoRoof Incentive Program

Toronto’s Eco-Roof Incentive Program is now available for green and cool roofs on Toronto’s commercial, industrial and institutional buildings. There will be funding rounds in the spring and fall 2009. The application deadline is May 1, 2009 for spring funding and the decision is to be made on May 15. Visit the LiveGreen Toronto website for more program details.

I'm ready! Let's do this thing.