HardCircle.net

The Toronto Star had a feature in their Sunday edition involving various essays on the potential future for the city. An introduction by Mayor David Miller is followed by ideas about reaching out to more ethnic groups, how to tackle the hot-button gun issue, and legalizing all drugs.

The main spread features a collection of articles that try to solve the commuting problem that has been steadily getting worse in the GTA. Jennifer Wells writes about the idea of the Velo-City, a series of highways for biking (and perhaps roller-blading as well). Gabe Gonda references Andrew Alfred-Duggan’s Toronto Rapid Transit Guide of the TTC. This popular imagining of a subway map set in the future includes express lines in the downtown core, an Eglinton line that stretched from the airport to Guildwood, extending the Bloor line to Square One and the zoo, and a few new lines as well. This map was notably featured in uTOpia.

To top it all off, Rita Daly writes about the idea of a inter-connected mini cities built around train hubs, such as Oshawa, Peterborough and Barrie. The idea of building places of work directly into these destinations reduces the need for last-mile bus networks and allows urban transit providers to focus on dedicated regular service between major hubs, reducing the need for workers to commute from suburb to suburb.