Transit City Plan

[MetroMan]

What happens after today's vote?

Anybody wish to guess when the Province will be able to come forward with the final build plan given today's clarification from council?

1 - What version of Eglinton will be built? Transit City with its terminus stations or an entirely different plan with the East section above ground but the Ford MOU terminus stations?

2 - What is the timeline for Finch. How quickly can the project resume and shovels hit the ground? Where were we at when it got cancelled?

 

[Paleo]

TC simply needs to be faster either by elevation or better separation. Metrolinx clearly favors this and it'll be interesting what they will do to do this while still abiding by "above ground" mandate.

Council also voted for subways: BD to STC, Sheppard to Dowsnview, DRL. it makes no sense to build LRT to STC if subway will reach it anyway. Metrolinx might cancel refurbishment in this case and replace by subway, and maybe use the rest to build Sheppard to Dowsnview. Both proposals which council and Ford agree on.

Have you been paying attention at all? Ford is far too intransigent for that. Mention that Eglinton east is going above ground and he turns into 100% obstructionist as evidenced by his actions these past few weeks at council and TTC meeting.

 

[Rainforest]

My highest prize goes to Karen Stintz, Gary Webster, and all Councillors who contributed to the debate in a meaningful way.

The outcome is absolutely best possible under the circumstances. The 3 light rail lines that deserve support were reaffirmed, while the debatable Sheppard East corridor moved to a separate discussion.

I don't know what the Sheppard East commission will recommend at the end (and my preference is a short subway extension plus BRT east of the subway terminus). But even if they end up restoring SELRT, I'll be satisfied that they consider this corridor based on its own merits, and not select LRT on Sheppard just because it bundles with other LRT lines.

 

[Rainforest]

As for mayor Ford: participants of this forum and, most importantly, Ford himself should realize that he was NOT elected on the platform of building subways. He was elected because he promised to freeze or cut taxes.

It is true that his platform included subways and was against LRT, and he probably still receives more pro-subway messages from constituents than pro-TC. But the majority of people who voted for him, did not do so because they want him to build subways. Transit expansion in any form is just not the first priority for the majority of ordinary people; they are concerned about taxes and services, schools, public safety, garbage collection, perhaps the existing transit services. Only few would make their voting decision based on the candidate's long term transit expansion plans.

 

[Johnny Au]

I shall give a laurel to Karen Stintz, Toronto Star-style, for common sense. Her transit plan has been supported by over half of city council, transit experts, academics, and many citizens. I shall give a dart, Toronto Star-style, to Rob Ford and his "nation" of apologists for declaring war on common sense. Rob Ford's subway proposal is nothing but a literal pipe dream, with no finances to back it up and no density or demand to justify its construction. Rob Ford and his cronies ignored democracy, stating that council is irrelevant and demand construction regardless of votes. Ford Nation bullies "Millerites" and "lefties" mercilessly, especially on the comments section of mainstream news websites and major social networking websites, because "Millerites" and "lefties" have proven that Ford Nation are sore losers who lack self-esteem and are desperate for attention like little children who kept whining and throwing temper tantrums to their parents about not receiving their 100 Zhu Zhu pets or a large collection of the most popular new action-oriented video games for their birthday.

 

[11th]

- Pedestrian bridges at stations, and large stations with real platforms. This avoids the problem of large amounts of pedestrian traffic crossing the street to the LRT seen on the Spadina and St. Clair routes.

Are the stations on Eglinton projected to have the same size of crowds as on Spadina and St. Clair? It's something to look on since the pedestrain traffic will intersect all right-turns at the intersection (and left-turns, but those usually have protected green phases).

 

[Electrify]

A couple of comments I'd like to make before going to bed:

1. While it is disappointing that the Eglinton and Scarborough lines will operate separately, I think it misses a grander picture. With it connecting to Sheppard, the SRT potentially becomes a true north-south line for Scarborough, rather than simply an extension of the Danforth line done on the cheap. Hopefully any rebuild of Kennedy will allow easier transfers between the lines, as well as redevelopment of the area into a Transit Oriented Development.

2. On topic of Sheppard, after drawing up a map of the project to get a better idea of how it would look, it really needs to be a single line. Going crosstown from the north end of the city requires at least 5 transfers, which is simply ridiculous. With that said, I do not think it should be as a subway. I'm hoping the panel concludes to modify the current tunnel to support LRT trains, so it can go above ground without needing a transfer.

I would argue that we should forget about anything on Sheppard East, and spend the money on extending it west to the Spadina line, but the concern I have with that is it would stop any chance of the line meeting the Scarborough line, thus reducing the benefits of its network building potential mentioned above.

Also, to get from Sheppard/SRT interchange to Humber College, you would need 3-4 transfers versus 2-3, depending on complete the system becomes.

 

[yin_yang]

good wrap-up, electrify..this should make st. clair more viable..

 

[superman]

Bloor Danforth Extension to STC

The more I think about it the more it makes sense. We are spending more than a billion dollars on SRT conversion that will close it for 5 years and another billion (ball park) on eglinton east.

Why would we just not do either and extend the BD subway as passed by council tonight. It would render the SRT obsolete but still keep it up during construction. Also, Eglinton east would lose much of its purpose (still should be built in long term).

 

[Memph]

A couple of comments I'd like to make before going to bed:

1. While it is disappointing that the Eglinton and Scarborough lines will operate separately, I think it misses a grander picture. With it connecting to Sheppard, the SRT potentially becomes a true north-south line for Scarborough, rather than simply an extension of the Danforth line done on the cheap. Hopefully any rebuild of Kennedy will allow easier transfers between the lines, as well as redevelopment of the area into a Transit Oriented Development.

2. On topic of Sheppard, after drawing up a map of the project to get a better idea of how it would look, it really needs to be a single line. Going crosstown from the north end of the city requires at least 5 transfers, which is simply ridiculous. With that said, I do not think it should be as a subway. I'm hoping the panel concludes to modify the current tunnel to support LRT trains, so it can go above ground without needing a transfer.

I would argue that we should forget about anything on Sheppard East, and spend the money on extending it west to the Spadina line, but the concern I have with that is it would stop any chance of the line meeting the Scarborough line, thus reducing the benefits of its network building potential mentioned above.

Also, to get from Sheppard/SRT interchange to Humber College, you would need 3-4 transfers versus 2-3, depending on complete the system becomes.

What about building a decent BRT along Sheppard East until we figure out if we're willing to pay to extend it as a subway or will have to settle for LRT?

 

[Voltz]

What about building a decent BRT along Sheppard East until we figure out if we're willing to pay to extend it as a subway or will have to settle for LRT?

Well since the question of blowing billions on sheppard will hopefully be decided within the next month, I'd say no to building BRT.

 

[Paleo]

A couple of comments I'd like to make before going to bed:

1. While it is disappointing that the Eglinton and Scarborough lines will operate separately, I think it misses a grander picture. With it connecting to Sheppard, the SRT potentially becomes a true north-south line for Scarborough, rather than simply an extension of the Danforth line done on the cheap. Hopefully any rebuild of Kennedy will allow easier transfers between the lines, as well as redevelopment of the area into a Transit Oriented Development.

While the idea of BD extension to STC is somewhat appealing, I think having the SRT as LRT might be better in the end so that it can connect with Eglinton. If it's cheaper it would also make the future extension to Malvern Town Centre via Centennial College much more palatable.

2. On topic of Sheppard, after drawing up a map of the project to get a better idea of how it would look, it really needs to be a single line. Going crosstown from the north end of the city requires at least 5 transfers, which is simply ridiculous. With that said, I do not think it should be as a subway. I'm hoping the panel concludes to modify the current tunnel to support LRT trains, so it can go above ground without needing a transfer.

I would argue that we should forget about anything on Sheppard East, and spend the money on extending it west to the Spadina line, but the concern I have with that is it would stop any chance of the line meeting the Scarborough line, thus reducing the benefits of its network building potential mentioned above.

Also, to get from Sheppard/SRT interchange to Humber College, you would need 3-4 transfers versus 2-3, depending on complete the system becomes.

This just highlights what a mistake it was to have chosen Sheppard and not Finch 30 years ago.

 

[Palma]

Then there is no reason those minor stops cannot be taken out of the Crosstown in the western part assuming the extension ever happens west of Keele. A 20 min walk will not hurt anyone and actually helps most everyone

 

[11th]

This just highlights what a mistake it was to have chosen Sheppard and not Finch 30 years ago.

Read the other thread . Most of the points were and are still valid for going with Sheppard rather than Finch; and TTC did not count LRT as part of their rapid transit extension back in those days, they only planned for grade-seperated transit extensions for their backbone network.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Apparently his worship was riding the TTC all night soliciting support for his plan. Geez, you don't see him use transit on any other day.

Interestingly, he didn't use it to travel home after his sojourn.

AoD