pstogios
Senior Member
What a waste of taxpayers money.
What a waste of taxpayers money.
cbrown2009
Active Member
Don't the Kennedy and McLaughlin routes do significantly more damage to commercial and residential properties along Steeles east or west than Main, which did almost none at all? Weren't those routes already rejected on those grounds? WTF?
44 North
Senior Member
Why does this project take so long? Are funds the biggest issue? This thing should've been in operation years ago.
pstogios
Senior Member
Let's be clear.
The Main route was rejected because rich residential property owners in the downtown area complained loudly to (and maybe paid off) their councillors. Councillors said "yes masters" and don't actually care about impacts to speed, and convenience in the approach to the GO station, parkland, commercial or industrial properties in any of the alternative routes.
The bottom line is any alternative route besides Main is acceptable to these corrupt councillors, so talking about the relative suitability of the Kennedy vs McLaughlin alignments, both of which are totally ridiculous, or trying to understand the thought process of these councillors, is a waste of time.
cbrown2009
Active Member
Oh I get all of that. Definitely something stinky there. But now on top of the wasted time, now we're talking millions of $$$s wasted as well. I hope people do the right thing and vote some of these jokers (councillors) out in the next election, albeit 4 years late imo. It's time for new blood and for Brampton to join the 21st century.
If we're choosing between bad options, McLaughlin is the least-bad of the bunch. At least that way the LRT could have a direct connection to Sheridan, which is/could be a pretty significant trip generator. Bringing RT to post-secondary institutions is a pretty common goal across the GTHA: York University is getting a subway, UTSC is hopefully getting the Scarborough-Malvern LRT, Mohawk is getting the A-Line BRT, McMaster is getting the B-Line LRT, and I'm sure there are others that I'm forgetting at the moment.
Tuscani01
Senior Member
I'm sure Sheridan would love the direct connection to the Hazel McCallion campus in Mississauga too!
TOareaFan
Superstar
The connection to Sheridan is the clear (and possibly only) advantage that the McLaughlin route has....the obvious advantage that Kennedy has is that the stretch of Kennedy from Steeles to Queen is likely the 2nd most "redevelopable" main corridor in Brampton....so it may come down to those choices (or, of course, the third choice of leaving the terminus at Steeles and Main and pump up the Zum/Bus connections to there).
TOareaFan
Superstar
It is only a waste of money if you assume that there will be no LRT north of Steeles at all. Council ended consideration of the Main route a while ago.....so if the desire is to connect the LRT to the Brampton GO station you have to find another route......if you are going to find another route, I guess, you have to spend some cash to figure out which of the other routes is "best".
TOareaFan
Superstar
If you include the Mayor, 6 of the 11 members of council are new as of the 2014 election. If changing for fresh eyes is all it took...the "new guys" have a majority
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Allandale25
Senior Member
Some of the studies and staff presentations have indeed referenced this. I'll dig them up and post them later.
pstogios
Senior Member
If you include the Mayor, 6 of the 11 members of council are new as of the 2014 election. If changing for fresh eyes is all it took...the "new guys" have a majority
You neglect to mention that most (4 of 6) that voted against the LRT on Main were NOT newly elected in 2014.
The old guard decided that vote. Which is precisely why they have to go.
TOareaFan
Superstar
Aside from the fact the last vote against Main was 7-4, there was no need to mention that because I was simply responding to post that repeated the old theme of "throw those guys out...new guys will fix it"...all I was saying was...don't be so sure...the new guys hold the majority in Brampton council and yet, the vote against the Main alignment only shifted from 10-1 against (with the "1" being the former mayor who was the biggest target of the the "change is needed" crowd before the last election) to 7-4 against.....so 3 of the new guys also voted against Main.
DonValleyRainbow
Senior Member
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The thing with all this is that Brampton City Council is assuming they will do this study and the province/Mx will go along with it. I'm not sure that's going to happen.
It's easy to see that not going along main adds 2.8km to the route, and once HLRT is done to Steeles, there will be tangible scenes of people shuttling between Brampton GO, buses and HLRT, all with exhaustion in their faces saying 'why the hell am I doing this crazy transfer?!' It will seed frustration, and if Brampton City Council keeps arguing for the go-around it could spark significant pushback.
I think it will turn into a game of seeing who blinks first. But a change in provincial government is the big wildcard here.
It's easy to see that not going along main adds 2.8km to the route, and once HLRT is done to Steeles, there will be tangible scenes of people shuttling between Brampton GO, buses and HLRT, all with exhaustion in their faces saying 'why the hell am I doing this crazy transfer?!' It will seed frustration, and if Brampton City Council keeps arguing for the go-around it could spark significant pushback.
I think it will turn into a game of seeing who blinks first. But a change in provincial government is the big wildcard here.
TOareaFan
Superstar
I don't think that is what is happening here at all...no one is assuming there will be funding. I see only 1 area of agreement on council...that is that they all seem to think that getting the LRT to the Brampton GO station is important. Now that they have, as a council, killed the Main route they have forced themselves to look at other routes....because they all seem to agree that getting it to the Brampton GO is important.
I think the plan is clear that when (if?) they settle on a new route that they will go back to the province and seek funding...I have no doubt about that.....but I don't think any of them assume that the funding will be there....sure, they hope it will be but I don't see anyone assuming it will be.
Who here would be transferring to a GO bus? People continuing on to Orangeville or Caledon? What does it matter where they would be transferring to a GO bus? They would still be transferring to a GO bus if the LRT went to Queen or Nelson. Any other people transferring would be jumping onto a city bus, and again, most of those would be doing that as well since very few people actually live in downtown Brampton. I am not sure transfers at Gateway are going to be much of an issue.
There will be no blinking until after the next election....it is apparantly going to take 3 - 4 years to do these studies/EAs.