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SmartTrack (Proposed)

What started off as a good idea that the province had already started working on, (utilizing existing infrastructure for new/improved transit (RER)) has turned in a multi-billion-dollar boondoggle that the City is mostly responsible for funding. The timelines and TIF funding promised during the election campaign (and even over the last two years) show just how ill-prepared Tory was and still is when it comes to transit and politics. Add to this the fact that there is little evidence that SmartTrack is a net benefit to Toronto. This is the result when campaign strategists draw up transit plans.

This appears poorly negotiated, and I hope it is defeated before Tory & Co. can spend any more of our money.
 
jswag said:
What started off as a good idea ...

This appears poorly negotiated, and I hope it is defeated before Tory & Co. can spend any more of our money.
Click to expand...

I think Smart Track suffers from under spending. The main capacity constraint in the proposal is the lack of a 4th track on Lake Shore East which I've seen priced in the $1B range (so maybe $1.5B now). A 5% property tax boost would get us Smart Track + Lake Shore East capacity boost might allow for 6 minute frequencies, and possibly something closer to 4 minutes during rush.

As it is I don't mind what is proposed because it's really a Phase 1. Hopefully Metrolinx will finish it off; they've started looking at Lake Shore East 4th track seriously in the last 6 months.

4 tracks allows for 40 trains per hour per direction (20 per track) IF stops for a given track are fixed (all trains using that track make all stops).
 
rbt said:
I think Smart Track suffers from under spending. The main capacity constraint in the proposal is the lack of a 4th track on Lake Shore East which I've seen priced in the $1B range (so maybe $1.5B now). A 5% property tax boost would get us Smart Track + Lake Shore East capacity boost might allow for 6 minute frequencies, and possibly something closer to 4 minutes during rush.

As it is I don't mind what is proposed because it's really a Phase 1. Hopefully Metrolinx will finish it off; they've started looking at Lake Shore East 4th track seriously in the last 6 months.

4 tracks allows for 40 trains per hour per direction (20 per track) IF stops for a given track are fixed (all trains using that track make all stops).
Click to expand...

It absolutely suffers from underspending. It's $800 Million to build a plan that'll move less people than 40 TTC surface routes. A lot of money for something that'll benefit so few people.

For SmartTrack to be impactful, and for it to reach originally projected usage of (20,000+ pphpd) we'd be looking at a $10 Billion+ investment. But nobody wants to pay for that, so instead we throw away money on SmartTrack Lite.

Build SmartTrack right or cancel the darn thing. SmartTrack Lite is a waste of money
 
TheTigerMaster said:
It absolutely suffers from underspending. It's $800 Million to build a plan that'll move less people than 40 TTC surface routes. A lot of money for something that'll benefit so few people.

For SmartTrack to be impactful, and for it to reach originally projected usage of (20,000+ pphpd) we'd be looking at a $10 Billion+ investment. But nobody wants to pay for that, so instead we throw away money on SmartTrack Lite.

Build SmartTrack right or cancel the darn thing. SmartTrack Lite is a waste of money
Click to expand...

"A lot of money for something that'll benefit so few people" is the only way we build mobility infrastructure in Toronto. Take the Gardiner East rebuild or SSE, neither of which can be justified by the numbers. So building SmartTrack is exactly the sort of dumb decision Council always makes. If we were serious about fixing our mobility issues we'd elect a different mayor and council, but then we wouldn't be Toronto.
 
jswag said:
What started off as a good idea that the province had already started working on, (utilizing existing infrastructure for new/improved transit (RER)) has turned in a multi-billion-dollar boondoggle that the City is mostly responsible for funding. The timelines and TIF funding promised during the election campaign (and even over the last two years) show just how ill-prepared Tory was and still is when it comes to transit and politics. Add to this the fact that there is little evidence that SmartTrack is a net benefit to Toronto. This is the result when campaign strategists draw up transit plans.

This appears poorly negotiated, and I hope it is defeated before Tory & Co. can spend any more of our money.
Click to expand...

Careful there... people around here twist themselves into knots to say it's okay to delete Scarborough stations or dig under Queen because ScamTrack covers the differences.
 
This is going to be a very interesting debate. There are some interesting insights into technical matters and design, but they are just sideshows. This report is all about funding. It's well past time for that discussion.

Time for Council to cook or get off the stove.

- Paul
 
Mwahaha I think I broke the Smarttracker!

upload_2016-10-31_20-18-9.png


Looks like whoever cooked this up worked for the original plan.

AoD
 

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TheTigerMaster said:
Yikes. This number is actually overstated. Daily ridership of SmartTrack (Option D) is about 7,750 per day, at a cost of $700 Million to $1 Billion.
Click to expand...

Three things to point out:

1. Metrolinx is building Option C. The only difference between the map and what they've committed to is no Ellesmere station

2. Annual ridership is 30.4 million. Average ridership works out to ~83,000 per day, but ridership will be a lot higher during peak hours, which is what the TTC usually factors into its planning. Roughly 45% of the TTC's total ridership is weekdays from 5 am to 9 am and 3 pm to 7 pm (5% of the TTC's total operating hours)

3. The study seems to say that it's based on existing fare structure, i.e. no transfers between the TTC and Go Transit. Obviously it'll get a lot more ridership if (or more accurately, when) fare integration happens.
 
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