Transit City Plan

[scarberiankhatru]

"Other" options are the YUS line, the BD line, regular existing bus routes, GO, etc.

 

[dashingdan]

"Other" options are the YUS line, the BD line, regular existing bus routes, GO, etc.

This thread is about light rail though.

 

[scarberiankhatru]

So what? It's all one network.

 

[Brighter Hell]

Well what "other" options are there, really?

Something downtown. If a tunnel on Eglinton is needed then something similar downtown is needed even more. Downtown has four east-west streetcar lines (not counting Queen's Quay). Three are busier than the Eglinton West bus and all four are busier than Eglinton East. So when east-west downtown travel has 400% more demand than Eglinton crosstown travel, why is it Eglinton that gets the priority?

 

[Darkstar416]

"Downtown" is glaringly missing in this plan, otherwise I think it's 90% great!

 

[dashingdan]

But do downtowners really want their streetcars buried? Can you imagine Queen Street without streetcars?

 

[Darkstar416]

I think we'd take it over the current arrangement. Or give us a DRL instead.

 

[livesquid]

Can you imagine Queen Street without streetcars

I see it almost every day, for 15 minutes at a stretch.

 

[roch5220]

I think those that ride it, stuck in mixed traffic, would rather have a fast, reliable transit line instead.

 

[Mark Dowling]

re: madrid - Professor Melis (sp?) would probably be willing to come and speak to Toronto transit folks/pols about his experience - he testified to an Irish parliamentary committee about the cost difference between Madrid's metro and the enormous figures being touted to build metro in Dublin.

 

[Chuck100]

Can you imagine Queen Street without streetcars

Can you imagine Yonge St. without streetcars?

Moving Queen St. transit underground would allow the downtown area to really take off. The future of streetcars lies in the inner suburbs, and while they are appropriate in a number of downtown locations, they don't work everywhere.

 

[adma]

Quote:
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Can you imagine Queen Street without streetcars
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Can you imagine Yonge St. without streetcars?

Then again, there may be a controversial counter-argument that Yonge is a little sterile for its lack of streetcars, as well as more treacherous (i.e. speeding, weaving combustion-engine traffic on asphalt). Not an argument for reinstating streetcars along Yonge; but, look at Yonge, and then look at Queen, and decide for yourself which one's urbanistically richer...

 

[Towered]

but, look at Yonge, and then look at Queen, and decide for yourself which one's urbanistically richer...

I agree with this. Yonge has virtually no nightlife in the form of clubs, live music venues, or funky lounges - it has no "scene". Yet you can find tons of that stuff on Queen, College, and King to a degree, al lof which happen to have busy streetcar routes.

 

[Towered]

And at the last TTC meeting I heard Adam Giambrone himself say that burying the streetcar line on Queen is a bad idea because it would kill its unique vibrancy.

 

[Darkstar416]

I agree with this. Yonge has virtually no nightlife in the form of clubs, live music venues, or funky lounges - it has no "scene". Yet you can find tons of that stuff on Queen, College, and King to a degree, al lof which happen to have busy streetcar routes.

Although, Yonge did have a bustling club, bar and live music scene that lasted for a good 20 years past the opening of the Yonge subway. I'm not doubting the streetcar's impact on a corridor, but I think Yonge's decline is way more complex.