[All] LRT issue: Reasons to support

[Louisette Lanteigne]

Hi folks

I was listening to CBC radio this morning and found out the reason Toronto grew to be Canada's largest city is principally because they had a wealth of aggregates to grow with. The eskers that formed in the area, especially Brampton helped build Pearson Airport and all the massive buildings we see in Toronto today.  The reality is, the Toronto supply has dried up, they've depleted the area of cheap aggregates. Now they're looking at exploiting Caledonia to feed Toronto's gravel need. 

Our aggregates are why the province has targeted us as the next big city in Southern Ontario. They've planned this mega city for well over 35 years now. With each subdivision, they're scraping off as much aggregate as possible to feed our gravel growth needs. Drive around, look at the huge mounds of gravel on each new site, even beside the Walmart on Ira Needles and along the West Side Lands. It's a hot commodity. 

I've been working my fool head off trying to mitigate the risks along with many others while this tidal wave of growth looms above us. I'm not so naiive to think I can actually stop the wave but I'm working like a nut to reduce the risks to human health and our water supply as much as possible. The LRT plays a key roll in reducing risks to the moraine and here's why:

-By investing in rail systems it 
offsets the need to extract gravel for roads and road maintenance over 
the long term. The LRT could literally offset 500 km of new roadways for
 our region and the associated road salt loadings by intensifying growth
 along Urban corridors. The Pembina report covers this topic very well. 
Urban intensification = cheaper 
infrastructure for new build and offsets sprawl. The more greenfield we can protect the better for the recharge areas. 



-Rails require less road salt to function which will better protect our well systems and tributaries over the long term.



-Less emissions = improved health and water quality, reduced health care costs for Regional taxpayers. 


-According to the City
 of Calgary's studies as noted in the latest Pembina Report found at


http://www.pembina.org/pub/2151, buses cost six times more
 
to operate as LRT because LRT has dedicated tracks, buses don't. Buses 
idol because they get stuck in traffic with the cars, and they are delayed 
by poor weather conditions and that makes them less 
reliable. You can get more trips by LRT than by bus over the same time period.

-Per Unit,  buses transport less folks than LRT systems. With LRT you can always ad more cars for passengers without adding additional engines but for each bus, there is an engine that demands more maintenance, more auto fuels, more tires, more repairs etc. The wear and tear for buses is far higher than the maintenance of a rail based vehicle. 

With aging 
population and high number of students, this system will get PLENTY of 
use. In the City of Waterloo, 35% of our population are students and with the aging baby boomers retiring and moving to the core, and the universities expanding, we're going to need reliable public transportation to get folks to and from. The less engines to do the job the better.

Lulu 



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