Toronto Ontario Line 3 | ?m | ?s

kEiThZ said:
Back on the title topic....how do we advocate for the DRL?
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Start a letter campaign to TTC Commissioners, Metrolinx, The mayor, TTC Chair's and who has the money. Write to the newspapers.

Get yourself before TTC Commissioners at a TTC Meeting.

Start a petition and collect as many names you can. Need at least 10,000.

I did my job for the DRL already.
 
It has to appear as a united, organized effort or else there's a risk that the politicians will think that it's just a bunch of yahoos. It has to be respectful and professional.

You have to target your efforts. Since the city of Toronto isn't paying for the line out of their capital budget, talking to them about money is a waste of effort. The goal should be to get political support from them. Metrolinx controls the purse so that's where you want to push the finance-related advocacy.

This is key: Something is going to have to give. If your goal is to push the DRL into the 15 year plan then you're going to have to justify why it belongs and why others have to be moved. That has to be done in a way that is respectful to the rationale for putting those items in the 15 year plan in the first place. It's got to be more than "this line will move more people".
 
Regarding this DRL ... what are you all referring too.

Don't forget the TTCs version is just the eastern half of what most of you propose - that's where the 2.1 billion figure comes from. From Queen to something on the Bloor East line. That's it!
 
taal said:
Regarding this DRL ... what are you all referring too.

Don't forget the TTCs version is just the eastern half of what most of you propose - that's where the 2.1 billion figure comes from. From Queen to something on the Bloor East line. That's it!
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The eastern half is the more important part.
 
Everything about it to this date has been packaged as a Bloor-to-Danforth-via-downtown line. My gut feeling is that those in power will not be able to separate the it into two parts. I can see phased construction with the eastern half opening first, but politically it's going to be looked at as a whole. If you're going to advocate for it then you're going to have to take politics into account.
 
Ok, so the DRL will obviously relieve the Yonge line, but if it's built from, for example, Pape to Union, a person who lives at STC will have quite a few transfers. Say the person who lives at STC works at King & Bay. he would have to transfer from the RT to the Bloor Subway, then to the DRL at Pape, then to the Yonge line at Union, an then he would get of at King, and walk a block to Bay. Wouldn't it be easier for this person to just stay on the Bloor train and have just 2 transfers total. If the DRL went along Queen, that would still need a transfer in winter, because of the weather. So, what I'm basically saying is that the DRL would only remove riders going to Union, or in the close proximity, riders along the route, and I guess riders not coming from Scarborough but rather from the B-D line, and of those only those working close to Union.

Hope that was clear enough, I'm just questioning what kind of alignment would best serve as relief.
 
jks said:
Say the person who lives at STC works at King & Bay. he would have to transfer from the RT to the Bloor Subway, then to the DRL at Pape, then to the Yonge line at Union, an then he would get of at King, and walk a block to Bay. Wouldn't it be easier for this person to just stay on the Bloor train and have just 2 transfers total.
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RT to Kennedy, GO train to Union? ;)
 
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Why assume someone would take the subway from Union to King and walk west instead of just walking north when this same theoretical person would walk south from Queen? You cannot plan transit lines based on the needs of individual, imaginary people.

The point of the DRL isn't to shift every single rider off the Yonge line, it's to give many riders another option. Maximum relief that will preempt a bazillion dollar Yonge line renovation will only happen if the line runs up Don Mills, but even a stretch from Union to Pape would shift thousands and help thousands along the route. Don't forget that the DRL would provide quick access to the downtown zones outside the YUS loop that are often so frustrating to get to via transit (I'm likely to walk to any point within about 2km of the YUS loop just to preemptively avoid frustration, though most people wouldn't walk that far).
 
Toronto City Council has voted to pass its motion supporting the Yonge North EA, however, with two important amendments. First, a recommendation that Metrolinx move the Downtown Relief Line into its 15-year plan, and further to that, to place it ahead of the Yonge Subway extension to Richmond Hill. Second, it recommended that TTC staff do a detailed study (and possibly EA) for the Downtown Relief Line.

Third, Councillor Minnan-Wong moved to change the name of the Downtown "Rapid Transit" Line to something more imaginative.

Things are looking up for the DRL!
 
299 bloor call control. said:
Toronto City Council has voted to pass its motion supporting the Yonge North EA, however, with two important amendments. First, a recommendation that Metrolinx move the Downtown Relief Line into its 15-year plan, and further to that, to place it ahead of the Yonge Subway extension to Richmond Hill. Second, it recommended that TTC staff do a detailed study (and possibly EA) for the Downtown Relief Line.

Third, Councillor Minnan-Wong moved to change the name of the Downtown "Rapid Transit" Line to something more imaginative.

Things are looking up for the DRL!
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Great news!

I agree with Councillor Minnan-Wong. DRL is a great engineering name, but doesn't capture the imaginations of average citizens. But based upon Toronto naming conventions we couldn't name it until the route is chosen. Don Mills-Pape-Front/Queen (-Roncesvalles) line? I would say that it is extremely important that a name reinforces that the line serves more than the downtown core.

(Flemington-Thorncliffe-East York-Greektown-Riverdale-Leslieville-Distillery-St. Lawrence-Downtown-Fort York-Exhibition-Parkdale-Roncesvalles-Junction Line?)
 
Excellent news!

I hope this EA is completed post haste so that lobbying the government could begin as well. If all goes well, shovels could hit the ground by 2011.
 
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