Have Streetcars Adequately Demonstrated Their Development-Generation Potential?

[ehlow]

Calgary has LRT, but it is "very urban sprawl like Mississauga". What does that say about LRT?

Isn't that more of a result of the time when most of Calgary was developed? Most areas developed after WW2 are suburban in nature, most places developed before are urban in nature.

The title of this thread is a bit misleading because I'm assuming their discussing new streetcar lines. Streetcar lines have consistently shown development potential because they were the original thing that allowed people to live further than walking distance away from downtowns. Both Bloor and Yonge and all the current streetcars directed the growth of Toronto.

 

[ehlow]

I don't think that a transportation network attract people to a particular city in any great numbers. People migrate to a new city for job opportunities or social reasons, not because they like to drive or take trains. However, the transportation networks play a role in where those people choose to live within the city. If the city is automobile-oriented then the city needs to be highly dispersed. If the city is transit-oriented it needs to be highly concentrated and walkable.

Projects like the Hurontario/Main Street LRT will allow Mississauga and Brampton to start building larger, more concentrated, developments along the corridor. The flip side of that is when it comes online there will likely be less low-density development pressure in neighbouring Caledon and Milton. If people have a choice of living near the LRT in Brampton or commuting by car from Caledon, some people will choose Brampton. Right now they don't have that choice. When the Eglinton Crosstown LRT comes online there will likely be a some shift of development to the Eglinton corridor. If the Crosstown wasn't being built that development would go elsewhere in the GTA.

So to say transit "generates" new development is probably incorrect. It just redirects development within the community.

Transit may or may not have a role in attracting new businesses to a city.

I think an urban lifestyle and vibrant walkable neighbourhoods can attract or retain members of the younger generation to a city, and this can result in innovative high-growth companies being created in that city. You can see it all over our city, young people tend to either want to live downtown or near a transit line that goes downtown.