Originally Posted by patc
What gets to me: Ottawa, like many other North American cities, had a perfectly good light rail system until the late 50's/early 60's
which they tore out!. Then, in the 80's, they realised the "oops" and started taking public transit seriously, but went with buses. Now, 50 years after removing the last street car, we are spending big $$ building a light rail system. Hello, does no one think about the long term?
Also like many other cities, we (and the former municipalities now amalgamted into Ottawa) allowed massive sub-urban developments in the 80's and 90's. Again the clue arrived to late: we now have an "in-build or don't build" policiy, but we are stuck providing city services to all sorts of places outside the core.
Ditto in Hamilton. We had streetcars from 1874 to 1951. They were originally horsedrawn before converting to electricity. It was also in the fifties when all of our downtown streets converted to one-way traffic, which was basically the beginning of the end for the core.
Suburbia isn't showing any signs of slowing down here. City council pays no attention to their "master plans" for smart growth. Greenfield development still runs rampant. I cringe every time I pass the newest sprawl dvelopment and "power centre" shopping disaster. Our pub transit is going to have to service these areas, most likely without any additonal funding aside from a fare increase. No sign of a return to rail anywhere within the city, but hopefully they increase GO train service to Toronto.
There's a bit of hope on the horizon. Only a week ago two of the aforementioned one-way streets was converted back to two-way, much to the dismay of the drivers used to having freeways running through the city. Parts of the streets had been converted a few years ago, and nothing but good news has become of it. The previously run-down part of town is now blooming with businesses and art galleries.