u/Feisty-Ad-6122

Original post was removed (twice) from r/germany because "its the middle of the night".

Just months ahead of this German state's election scheduled for September 6, 2026, the AfD is 3 seats away from a projected majority (42 seats) in this East German state.

The AfD's support has essentially doubled since the last state election, where they finished with 20.8%.

The AfD is a populist/very right wing party that most Germans deem extremist/racist, but in East Germany they're quite popular. All parties including the CDU (conservatives) refuse to ally with the AfD, choosing more liberal partners instead (firewall).

Polling also suggests 2 parties (FDP, Green) would be removed from the parliament all-together for failing to reach Germany's 5% threshold.

The king-maker would be the BSW faction, which is currently sidelining below 5%, but the election is still a few months away.

Media source: https://dawum.de/Sachsen-Anhalt/Infratest_dimap/2026-05-07/#Umfrageverlauf

Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Saxony-Anhalt_state_election#Opinion_polls

Original discourse from this post:
https://www.reddit.com/r/TTC/s/kdcO6TZbbU

The Scarborough subway extension, once built, will have major operating issues because of the current stretch of track between VP and Kennedy. As outlined in the post above, that portion of the line is in dire state of repair, and honestly replacement. The tracks aren’t even the concern, the foundation is. This is bad.

People are highlighting 15 minute delays, with trains straight up stopping, when travelling one station from warden to Kennedy.

So, going back to the SSE.
Metrolinx is essentially building new infrastructure connected to a dysfunctional system in disrepair. Without the proper funding and infrastructure support from MLX, the TTC single-handedly will NOT be able to provide the maintenance needed to support line 2’s Scarborough operations, potentially creating a massive operational gap in the only (true) rapid transit Scarborough has. This is because this portion of line 2 requires deep repairs, relating to the foundation of the entire structure. This isn’t just maintenance as usual.

It’s a big issue that MLX currently hasn’t addressed, or has interest in. This is because they don’t actually care about transit, they care about their rip-off contractors and opening the floodgates of provincial tax money for them to exploit, and not for real transit agencies like the TTC.

Note: The province IS upgrading Line 2’s signaling and power systems, as well as upgrades to Kennedy station, funding new subway trains to be ready for the extension’s “projected 2030 opening” ((with heavy salt)), however has not included any plans to upgrade infrastructure on this specific portion of line 2 that’s in disrepair and posed operational risks.

Just nasty. Some ppl suck. And homelessness is SO bad.

Vexed out that some are so inconsiderate of others. It’s likely a bum but still.

Public transit is public for everyone, not a sleeping tent and trash and restroom for the homeless. And yes it smelled like urine in the back.

So I was wondering why nobody was sitting there even though it’s crowded… yeah I wouldn’t either.

Pictures 1-3 are from the 505 eastbound.

Pictures 4-6 are also from the 505. But on a different westbound streetcar 😭 😭

Overall, streetcars are getting more disgusting everyday. I spotted two biohazards in one day.

The TTC needs to do better at enforcing fares and safety on the network.

But honestly, while we’re on the discussion, the real way to get the streetcar network taken seriously is by increasing its speeds.

This can be done by removing 1/3 of all stops, and removing speed restrictions (which I recently heard they’re doing!! Good start TTC!!)

Then, when ridership is up because people find streetcars useful, start enforcing fares and safety on the system.

It is currently faster to take a train one stop from Mount Denis to Bloor, and get on line 2, in order to go from the west to east terminal of the line.

It did the exact opposite of what it was supposed to- be the fastest way to cross Toronto.

There are obvious planning mistakes that should have been immediately flagged by the city and province, but because this is the city's first LRT project (ironically the second to open), they had no clue what they were getting into.

The project was chosen as an LRT in "Transit City" to save costs and quickly expand Toronto's network, at $5b and operational by 2020. HAHAHA I CANT BELIEVE THEY BOUGHT THAT!!

The LRT ended up costing $13b, 3x more (per KM) than the Sheppard line, except one is a fully underground proper subway, and the other is an LRT that's only 55% grade separated, and runs through car traffic the rest of the way.

There are way too many stops on the at-grade Scarborough portion, creating delays and inconsistencies for the entire line, and significantly increasing travel times. It's solely why GO/UP + line 2 is currently faster end to end.

The choice of vehicle is honestly a post of its own...

They glued 2 streetcars together and called it a day. There is no way to move around or switch in case of emergency or the casual ttc sh!t smear. Even finch west has a proper LRV despite needing much less capacity.

The streetcar also fails to decelerate and open/close doors in a timely manner, adding an estimated 2 minutes of travel time, as shown in the video comparing it to a line 1 rocket train.

During rush hour, like in the attached video, the 2 streetcars are completely packed, the pinch points in the vehicle are very uncomfortable to navigate through, and it's an overall unenjoyable, stressful experience.

Also the voice of line 5 is annoying, and the volume is irritating too. The line 1 voice is soothing and calm IMO.

I dont care if I get downvoted. We need to stop building things we don't know how to operate, and putting ourselves in these shituations. Subways should be the only form of real rapid transit moving forward. For downtown streetcars though, some TSP and stop reductions would do wonders for travel times.

this route really is a joke with the diversions.

Faster to walk to Bloor and take the subway 3 stops than get on.. whatever THIS is.

And while we’re on the topic.. REMOVE STOPS!! There’s way too many. I already made a map where I cut 25% and it still looks good.

If we’re already in Vaughan, we might as well reach Vaughan mills, and even better, CW & the new hospital at Major Mack. They’re all on the same corridor. It just makes sense.

Reality check. Now I’m aware that this is low priority, but the Jane busses connecting VMC to VM and CW are always full, even in this suburb of a suburb.