Simpler transit solution available now

My letter is promoted by prompted by MP Alan Tonks' Winter 2010 Report to York South-Weston residents. Tonks is concerned about the GO rail and proposed air rail link, amongst other issues.

Tonks encouraged us to communicate, and thus the reason for writing because this affects everyone living and working in the region.

We all have something in common. We value breathing, preferably clean air, or as clean as we can get it. Simply, it would be best to head toward electrification of the line and save, or at least not waste, any more of our hard-earned income.

We already truly know that it's hard to breathe air filled with diesel fumes, no matter how state-of-the-art the engine. No one values that exhaust in their lungs, and you don't need to be a medical scientist to figure that out. It's bound to smell less than sweet with 400 trips a day along that corridor. So let's just get on with it and do this correctly from the start, and not waste any more time and money with these costly studies.

I should note my thoughts, like all else that's been said about this air rail link issue over the years, are rhetorical.

However, with the GO Transit system in place for many years now, it begs the question as to why we just didn't improve on the Georgetown corridor's transit schedule and make it available to anyone who would ride it, seven days a week, just like the Lake Shore line? It seems relatively simple.

An upgraded GO schedule would assist visitors and residents alike who would value this transit option any day of the week, and with a little fine tuning, it could start almost immediately, from Union Station to the airport, that is if we truly desired such a transit system now. Well, at least a transit system that would get you to an airport shuttle service operating from the Malton stop.

It's unfortunate, however, that a shuttle will still be necessary to actually get you into Pearson international - one stop after the proposed Woodbine Slots and Entertainment stop in all these transit discussions and plans.

It's too bad that simple's not good enough.

Peter Tokar