A sad night for streetcar commuters in Toronto

Rob Ford unveils transit plan: remove streetcars, get cyclists off roads, expand subway only in burbs

"Removing streetcars from downtown “arterial roads,” like Queen and King streets, presumably streetcars suffer some heavy abuse in the Ford plan, which calls them slow and congestion-causing. Instead, Ford proposes replacing streetcars with buses, which are apparently nimble and svelte (never mind that buses might actually be slower [PDF]). The motivating philosophy behind the plan is pretty clear when you read it: words like “congestion” and “gridlock” make a heavy appearance, while “sustainable” is nowhere to be found. If a reader thought the Ford campaign’s idea of transit policy was “get everything out of the way of cars,” well done."

Full background here