More details on new Metrolinx plan

Love him or hate him -- and in Toronto's political transit world Steve Munro probably evokes both reactions -- he frequently has information and details that mainstream journalists don't.

The consummate transit groupie, who prefers the term fan, Munro's blog today contains a few details that weren't in Friday's reports about the province's revised plan to build the Metrolinx Big 5 transit projects.

He doesn't offer a source for the following information:

The construction start dates will be adjusted:

• Sheppard and VIVA are already underway and will continue.
• Eglinton will not start until 2012 rather than the originally planned 2010
• Finch West will not start until 2013 rather than 2010
• The SRT will continue operating until after the Pan Am Games in 2015 at which point it will close for reconstruction.  Second-hand Mark I ICTS cars will be purchased from Vancouver to supplement the existing fleet in the interim.

Also rumoured is a Metrolinx announcement regarding purchase of cars for these lines from Bombardier.

Riders challenge TTC's good news message at Broadview

The TTC drew a crowd of press to Broadview station Thursday to marvel at its latest customer convenience, LED signs in streetcar shelters that let riders know when they can expect their next ride.

Recently renovated Broadview was selected for the event because the LED sign there is one of only two in the system powered by solar energy.

But, as seems to be the case these days, transit officials had to work to keep the message positive.

Riders waiting for their streetcars queued up to speak with the TTC bosses, including Mayor David Miller and TTC chair Adam Giambrone after the speeches.

Some wanted to know when electronic payment options would also be available on the TTC.

Another rider standing on the sidelines was incredulous that the TTC would be focusing on electronics while two new stairwells to the same streetcar platforms have been closed for months due to water collecting at the bottom of the stairs.

Ruth Skolnik, who approached TTC chair Adam Giambrone after the press conference, and provided the photo of the puddles near the staircase that appears here, believed the problem was water draining off the shelters at the top of the stairwell and collecting at the bottom. Months of writing to the TTC with complaints have elicited only a perfunctory form response but no relief from the crowding on the old remaining staircase up from the subway.

Like so many in the transit system, that stairwell includes an escalator that is frequently out of service, exacerbating the problem, said transit blogger Steve Munro, who uses Broadview daily and was on hand Thursday.

The TTC is working on the problem, said company spokesperson Brad Ross. But engineers are struggling to find the source of the flooding at the bottom of the stairwells where water is seeping in through the floor and walls. It's not an issue of drainage from the overhead transit shelters, he said.

Opening the staircases creates a safety risk to riders who could slip in the puddles accumulating on the floor tiles at the bottom, according to Ross.

The new stairwells, which were completed about two years ago, have been closed almost as long as they were open, according to one Broadview regular.

A sign behind the gates to the widest of the two platform stairwells suggested that it would be reopened in May. But some cynical rider used a pen to turn that into a "maybe".