Traffic congestion doesn’t just make people late; it makes them crazy. Toronto Mayor John Tory has declared his willingness to pay a premium to speed road work that creates gridlock. Whether that means overtime, extended hours or more people, he says it’s worth the cost.

So does councillor and public works chair Jaye Robinson. “When you consider the millions lost daily to traffic congestion in our city,” she told the Star, “I see this as a wise investment.”

They are absolutely right. In the long run, getting work done quickly and efficiently saves money.

But that’s always true, whether we’re talking about renovating Nathan Phillips Square, remaking Queens Quay, construction that visibly slows drivers on the westbound Gardiner Expressway, or expanding transit across the city.

Indeed, many would argue that the wisdom and sense of urgency civic leaders have brought to road construction would be more appropriately focused on issues such as housing and, of course, transit. That argument about the “millions lost daily to traffic congestion” takes on new meaning when it comes to moving the masses.

Yet the same regime that gets bent out of shape when other city projects go over budget is content to blow billions on a three-stop Scarborough subway and deal with much more serious congestion on the King streetcar by allowing passengers to board through the back doors.

Wild inconsistencies such as these are acceptable only because the real political agenda is more about keeping middle-class commuters happy than improving mobility and providing all Torontonians with the means of success. It’s easier to spend money on things that irritate us than to spend it on things that must be done.

Besides, improving mobility would necessitate a wholesale re-examination of how we use roads and who has priority, let alone how we spend scarce public dollars. But most Torontonians are less interested in that than getting home sooner.

Regardless, the argument that this is simply the way it is here in Toronto and there’s nothing we do about it no longer holds.

The biggest change we need to make is about how we make decisions. Instead of talking about homelessness, for example, we debate who should declare a cold-weather alert and when. Should it be the mayor, the medical office, a committee?

Cities, which are the level of government that must handle the people’s most immediate issues with the least resources, need to be nimble and flexible. They must respond quickly, decisively and intelligently. But the need to cope with what’s happening today shouldn’t mean we lose sight of tomorrow, as tempting as that may be.

The justification for the Scarborough subway — dismissed by every transit expert around — is that the decision has been made. That counts for more than the decision itself. As unfortunate as that most assuredly is, it’s not hard to understand why no one wants to mess with it. Decision-making isn’t easy in such entitled times.

It all boils down to leadership and whether leaders still have the power and the will to implement the sorts of changes that threaten those who just want things to continue the way they are.

And what will happen when the overtime bill comes in, or when the Scarborough subway must be paid for? We’ll see then how the good taxpayers of Toronto respond. Will the convenience have been worth the price? What about the subway to nowhere?

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That’s when we’ll discover the difference between the express train and the gravy train.