Albert Guo

Albert Guo

Posts by Tags

infrastructure

how deep does the rabbit hole go? (about 40 meters, actually)

16 minute read

Published:

Why is it so expensive to build transit in Toronto? The current cost of the Ontario line is estimated to be almost $30 billion, or nearly 2 billion dollars per kilometre. 1 In 2009, the capital cost of the Canada line was $2.1 billion. Not per kilometre, but for the entire 19km line with 16 stations and a dedicated operations and maintenance facility. 2 Even accounting for inflation and 30 years of operations and maintenance costs, the total cost of the Canada line would be something around $6-10 billion. The difference in price just doesn’t make sense. In four years, Vancouver built a 19km metro line with 16 stations for the same amount of money it takes Toronto to build 3km of subway. Why is that?

  1. Global News on Ontario Line original price: https://globalnews.ca/news/10585617/ontario-line-original-price-metrolinx/ ↩

  2. Vancouver Sun on Canada Line numbers: https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/by-the-numbers-canada-line-turns-10 ↩

politics

how deep does the rabbit hole go? (about 40 meters, actually)

16 minute read

Published:

Why is it so expensive to build transit in Toronto? The current cost of the Ontario line is estimated to be almost $30 billion, or nearly 2 billion dollars per kilometre. 1 In 2009, the capital cost of the Canada line was $2.1 billion. Not per kilometre, but for the entire 19km line with 16 stations and a dedicated operations and maintenance facility. 2 Even accounting for inflation and 30 years of operations and maintenance costs, the total cost of the Canada line would be something around $6-10 billion. The difference in price just doesn’t make sense. In four years, Vancouver built a 19km metro line with 16 stations for the same amount of money it takes Toronto to build 3km of subway. Why is that?

  1. Global News on Ontario Line original price: https://globalnews.ca/news/10585617/ontario-line-original-price-metrolinx/ ↩

  2. Vancouver Sun on Canada Line numbers: https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/by-the-numbers-canada-line-turns-10 ↩

skytrain

the canada line is brilliant, actually

18 minute read

Published:

Every transit enthusiast in Vancouver seems to think that the Canada Line is an underbuilt, over capacity, and poorly designed transit line. 1 Unfortunately, I simply cannot agree with this sentiment. The Canada Line is a brilliantly designed, perfectly sized transit line that has built-in latent capacity sufficient for sustained growth beyond 2050. Creating an “overbuilt” Canada Line would not only have been politically and financially impossible but would have been fiscally irresponsible. The claim that the Canada line is “underbuilt” relies on incorrect assumptions about the actual design capacity of the Canada line, ignores the political climate of the time—which would have made an “overbuilt” line impossible—and ignores the most powerful argument for reducing present-day capital expenditure: the actual cost of a retrofit in present value terms.

  1. Daily Hive on Canada Line capacity concerns: https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/canada-line-skytrain ↩

toronto

how deep does the rabbit hole go? (about 40 meters, actually)

16 minute read

Published:

Why is it so expensive to build transit in Toronto? The current cost of the Ontario line is estimated to be almost $30 billion, or nearly 2 billion dollars per kilometre. 1 In 2009, the capital cost of the Canada line was $2.1 billion. Not per kilometre, but for the entire 19km line with 16 stations and a dedicated operations and maintenance facility. 2 Even accounting for inflation and 30 years of operations and maintenance costs, the total cost of the Canada line would be something around $6-10 billion. The difference in price just doesn’t make sense. In four years, Vancouver built a 19km metro line with 16 stations for the same amount of money it takes Toronto to build 3km of subway. Why is that?

  1. Global News on Ontario Line original price: https://globalnews.ca/news/10585617/ontario-line-original-price-metrolinx/ ↩

  2. Vancouver Sun on Canada Line numbers: https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/by-the-numbers-canada-line-turns-10 ↩

my thoughts on line 5

7 minute read

Published:

15 years after shovels hit the ground, the Line 5 Eglinton finally opened to riders on February 8th, 2026.1 Years of delays, cost overruns, and significantly slower-than-anticipated end-to-end time soured what should have been a day of celebration.2 What frustrates me, as a lifelong transit enthusiast, is just how avoidable the whole situation was.

  1. Ontario announcement confirming Line 5 opening date: https://toronto.citynews.ca/2026/02/03/line-5-eglinton-crosstown-lrt-ttc-opening/ ↩

  2. TTC line information showing end-to-end time (~52–54 minutes): https://www.ttc.ca/routes-and-schedules/5/0 ↩

transit

how deep does the rabbit hole go? (about 40 meters, actually)

16 minute read

Published:

Why is it so expensive to build transit in Toronto? The current cost of the Ontario line is estimated to be almost $30 billion, or nearly 2 billion dollars per kilometre. 1 In 2009, the capital cost of the Canada line was $2.1 billion. Not per kilometre, but for the entire 19km line with 16 stations and a dedicated operations and maintenance facility. 2 Even accounting for inflation and 30 years of operations and maintenance costs, the total cost of the Canada line would be something around $6-10 billion. The difference in price just doesn’t make sense. In four years, Vancouver built a 19km metro line with 16 stations for the same amount of money it takes Toronto to build 3km of subway. Why is that?

  1. Global News on Ontario Line original price: https://globalnews.ca/news/10585617/ontario-line-original-price-metrolinx/ ↩

  2. Vancouver Sun on Canada Line numbers: https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/by-the-numbers-canada-line-turns-10 ↩

the canada line is brilliant, actually

18 minute read

Published:

Every transit enthusiast in Vancouver seems to think that the Canada Line is an underbuilt, over capacity, and poorly designed transit line. 1 Unfortunately, I simply cannot agree with this sentiment. The Canada Line is a brilliantly designed, perfectly sized transit line that has built-in latent capacity sufficient for sustained growth beyond 2050. Creating an “overbuilt” Canada Line would not only have been politically and financially impossible but would have been fiscally irresponsible. The claim that the Canada line is “underbuilt” relies on incorrect assumptions about the actual design capacity of the Canada line, ignores the political climate of the time—which would have made an “overbuilt” line impossible—and ignores the most powerful argument for reducing present-day capital expenditure: the actual cost of a retrofit in present value terms.

  1. Daily Hive on Canada Line capacity concerns: https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/canada-line-skytrain ↩

my thoughts on line 5

7 minute read

Published:

15 years after shovels hit the ground, the Line 5 Eglinton finally opened to riders on February 8th, 2026.1 Years of delays, cost overruns, and significantly slower-than-anticipated end-to-end time soured what should have been a day of celebration.2 What frustrates me, as a lifelong transit enthusiast, is just how avoidable the whole situation was.

  1. Ontario announcement confirming Line 5 opening date: https://toronto.citynews.ca/2026/02/03/line-5-eglinton-crosstown-lrt-ttc-opening/ ↩

  2. TTC line information showing end-to-end time (~52–54 minutes): https://www.ttc.ca/routes-and-schedules/5/0 ↩

vancouver

how deep does the rabbit hole go? (about 40 meters, actually)

16 minute read

Published:

Why is it so expensive to build transit in Toronto? The current cost of the Ontario line is estimated to be almost $30 billion, or nearly 2 billion dollars per kilometre. 1 In 2009, the capital cost of the Canada line was $2.1 billion. Not per kilometre, but for the entire 19km line with 16 stations and a dedicated operations and maintenance facility. 2 Even accounting for inflation and 30 years of operations and maintenance costs, the total cost of the Canada line would be something around $6-10 billion. The difference in price just doesn’t make sense. In four years, Vancouver built a 19km metro line with 16 stations for the same amount of money it takes Toronto to build 3km of subway. Why is that?

  1. Global News on Ontario Line original price: https://globalnews.ca/news/10585617/ontario-line-original-price-metrolinx/ ↩

  2. Vancouver Sun on Canada Line numbers: https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/by-the-numbers-canada-line-turns-10 ↩

the canada line is brilliant, actually

18 minute read

Published:

Every transit enthusiast in Vancouver seems to think that the Canada Line is an underbuilt, over capacity, and poorly designed transit line. 1 Unfortunately, I simply cannot agree with this sentiment. The Canada Line is a brilliantly designed, perfectly sized transit line that has built-in latent capacity sufficient for sustained growth beyond 2050. Creating an “overbuilt” Canada Line would not only have been politically and financially impossible but would have been fiscally irresponsible. The claim that the Canada line is “underbuilt” relies on incorrect assumptions about the actual design capacity of the Canada line, ignores the political climate of the time—which would have made an “overbuilt” line impossible—and ignores the most powerful argument for reducing present-day capital expenditure: the actual cost of a retrofit in present value terms.

  1. Daily Hive on Canada Line capacity concerns: https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/canada-line-skytrain ↩