A few weeks ago I wrote about efforts by Line Six to crowdfund a pilot Liberty Village express bus to Union Station. This week the project is up and running, having raised their target of $2,500. For a $25 donation, passengers were guaranteed a seat, free coffee and wi-fi on their commute, a lot more than the overcrowded King streetcar can offer them.
Line Six has other routes under consideration, like Junction to Union, Yonge and Eglington to Union, The Beach to Union, and Humber Bay to Union. The first three to receive 500 votes will get a route.
The TTC hasn’t weighed in on the pilot in any detail yet, probably since traffic and transit have been top issues in this year’s election–even Canadian Automobile Association members rank transit as a top election issue. Of 3,411 CAA members asked to name top election issues, 71% said road improvements, 55% said reducing congestion and 44% said transit improvements. If this sample is representative of CAA South Central Ontario’s 1.9 million members, it’s significant enough to make local politicians sit up and take notice of alternatives like Line Six that aim to relieve overcrowded transit systems.
