Toronto Ontario Line 3 | ?m | ?s

Anyone who thinks that advocacy was limited to Urban Toronto and Facebook is deluded.

There's a whole "real world" out there. The DRL has been advocated by phone, e-mail, lettermail, and most of all face-to-face to politicians, reporters, decision makers, developers, bureaucrats, and also to other advocates.

Some people have put a lot of time and effort into this, and I thank them for their work and dedication. Thankfully, they haven't let any basement-dwelling armchair critics hold them back.
 
If there's public consultations involved does this mean a full blown EA is being done? That's lightning quick by TTC standards from nothing to an EA in 8 months.
 
Swarley said:
If there's public consultations involved does this mean a full blown EA is being done? That's lightning quick by TTC standards from nothing to an EA in 8 months.
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Back in January, Toronto City Council referred to the Toronto Transit Commission for consideration that "The Toronto Transit Commission be requested to commence the proper studies, including Environmental Assessments as required, to evaluate the merits of the Downtown Rapid Transit Line and Don Mills LRT for the purpose of moving these projects up on the priority list of Metrolinx and making it a greater priority for Transit City, and that these studies form part of the discussions occurring with the other project partners".

I can't see that TTC has considered this yet though, presumably this is what Giambone is referring to as starting this fall.
 
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Bring on the DRL! This is the best piece of news I have heard in a long time.

Hopefully the TTC routes this under Queen or King. There isn't enough space in the railway corridor to accommodate all the extra service, tracks and whatnot other crap to the boroughs and beyond. I envision these cathedral-like stations decorated with elements from the streets/neighbourhoods they're under. For example a station near John Street should include elements of entertainment, etc. They should be heavily decorated with art.. In fact, why explain? Look down the 401. Montreal has, in my opinion, a wonderful metro that we should look up to!
 
Here come the alignment arguments again ;)

I hope they route the DRL through Union. I don't really care too much exactly which street it runs under as long as it hits Union.
 
nfitz said:
he says, before he throws out the first shot.

Perhaps we can just leave the argument out of it, until we see some real data on what ridership would be on different options, and how how different options would reduce the YUS loading.
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I know it's called the "downtown relief line" as in reducing pressue on Yonge-Bloor, but I think network connectivity is more important, thus connecting at Union makes more sense to me.
 
Darkstar and Facebook

I've said it in another forum, under another name......

But I'll say it here again.

I would like to thank Darkstar for his efforts on this file, and the real difference I believed they helped in achieving.

Let's be clear, the DRL issue goes back more than a generation, Darkstar didn't invent it, nor did Facebook or UT.

However, as we came into mid-2008 the DRL was not on the radar, not for the TTC, not for Toronto politicians, and not for Metrolinx.

It was public comment, that swept the dust away from this idea and brought it back to the fore.

It was not posts on UT or a Facebook group alone that did this; but the reanimation of many people's imaginations (yours truly included) certainly began the public comment process in earnest, and from UT to the Facebook group to the ensuing attention by transit advocates and the media to this issue, it came back to life.

And I think Darkstar, and those whose interest he rekindled, countless numbers it should said, deserve their full share of credit for bringing this issue back as far as it has come.

That said, there is more yet to do; this is not the final victory. But it one important step along the road to good, sensible transit policy that will deliver some much needed infrastructure, only 35 years late! (if we succeed)

Credit to the few, and the many.
 
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There was a group of us who used the right channels to get this moving - I posted several items on Spacing that got that crowd excited. There were people involved in TRAC as well, such as Darkstar, but also CDL.TO, "Railization", Interchange42, and especially unimaginative2, who was a guru on the earlier plans and what was possible. With interested polticans like Thompson in on the ground floor, it helped bring this at least to the closest possibility since the 1980s.

Lots of people deserve a shout out on this one.
 
There are a few folks in Metrolonx that are in support of this line.

I still say that this DRL needs to go further north of Danforth to Sheppard as it will draw 15-17,000 riders off the Yonge line at peak time. I said this to TTC early this year as well in my written report on the Yonge extension.

I don't support the idea of taking it to Union as it will overload that area.

Any place between King and Queen is a good location.

Going west of Yonge or more like Bathurst St, you only have 2 routes to follow. Given what Queen is like, this is where it should run west of Bathurst.
 
drum118 said:
I don't support the idea of taking it to Union as it will overload that area.

Any place between King and Queen is a good location.

Going west of Yonge or more like Bathurst St, you only have 2 routes to follow. Given what Queen is like, this is where it should run west of Bathurst.
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I agree. Union is already very connected-north, east and west, and arguably, south. As GO services improve and diversify following electrification, it'll be even more so. Adding additional east-west capacity out of Union is redundant.
 
corridor_dweller said:
I agree. Union is already very connected-north, east and west, and arguably, south. As GO services improve and diversify following electrification, it'll be even more so. Adding additional east-west capacity out of Union is redundant.
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But if you're riding in on the GO train and arrive at Union, what if you want to take the DRL? If the DRL doesn't go through Union, then you have to get on Yonge or Universtiy, and then transfer. That doesn't make a lot of sense to me. If you have them converge at Union, then from Union you could take the subway to Bloor/Finch, Pape, Dundas West or St George/Downsview.

Maybe I'm biased by my love of pretty maps and converging lines, but I don't see overcrowding Union as an issue.
 
Coruscanti Cognoscente said:
But if you're riding in on the GO train and arrive at Union, what if you want to take the DRL? If the DRL doesn't go through Union, then you have to get on Yonge or Universtiy, and then transfer. That doesn't make a lot of sense to me. If you have them converge at Union, then from Union you could take the subway to Bloor/Finch, Pape, Dundas West or St George/Downsview.
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Have them transfer at station in Parkdale/Roncesvalles if coming in from the west or Riverdale in the east?
 
Paleo said:
Have them transfer at station in Parkdale/Roncesvalles if coming in from the west or Riverdale in the east?
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Sure you COULD do that, but something inexplicable is drawing me to Union Station. Maybe it's all those years of taking the GO train there. Maybe it's because in my mind Union is a hub, and a new subway line just a few hundred meters away missing it would be an insult. I don't know. I guess it's not really rational, per se, as I don't know what the engineering and ridership predicition studies of the alternatives will show.

That said, I hope this study is a SERIOUS study, and not just another study to be put back on the shelves (e.g. RTES).
 
Paleo said:
Have them transfer at station in Parkdale/Roncesvalles if coming in from the west or Riverdale in the east?
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Bingo.

Obviously a downtown relief line isn't going to go into Union. The concept is to relieve Yonge-Bloor, and Yonge from Queen to Eglinton (south in AM peak, north in PM Peak). GO Riders are not a significant proportion of these riders even without transfer stations in the east and west.
 
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