TTC - Take the Car

Can two headlines go in opposite directions yet arrive at the same destination?

• Service going down - http://www.cp24.com/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110110/110110_ttc_proposed_changes/20110110/?hub=CP24Home

• Fares going up - http://www.cp24.com/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110110/110110_budget?hub=CP24Home

Yet, magically, mystically, destination remains the same - Torontonians get shafted.

Just this weekend, I took my son and his friend to the indoor skateboard facility at Downsview Park. We crossed town on public transit, culminating in the Downsview Park 101 bus dropping us off inside the Park.

It was the coldest day of the year. I said to my son, "Had I known it would be this cold, I might have put the trip off till next week." To which he said "I had so much fun, daddy, that it was worth the trip."

Now, I read from the list of service reductions that that very 101 bus might be scrapped on weekends during the winter months. Do you get the joke?

An indoor skateboard facility is of primary value during the winter months. During the summer months, the outdoor skateboard park that is but a stone's throw from our driveway is as good as any of the other outdoor facilities dotting the GTA.

Did you hear that New York City is building a new subway line? The Second Avenue Subway, after decades of false starts, is scheduled to be open in 2015. They've already got 24 lines, yet they ("finally") recognize the need to add a 25th.

While, here in Toronto, we can't bite the bullet and build, in earnest, a 3rd subway line (emphasis on "sub" as in "underground", to provide some shelter from the cold during our cold winters).