Transit City Plan

[denfromoakvillemilton]

How exactly are my posts good luck? lol

After you signed up the tide turned completely. Stay until Wednesday at least.

 

[BurlOak]

Transit City was by no means intended to be the final word on transit in Toronto -- it was meant to be a relatively affordable, realistic, stageable plan to significantly increase transit accessibility and capacity for a large part of the city otherwise underserved by existing service. There was (and is) nothing in Transit City that precludes a DRL, BRTs, or extention of YUS and BD.

The current funding is enough to built 3 lines of Transit City and it takes up about 10 years of funding from the Province - and they probably will slow the funding even more after the next budget. I expect the next 20 to 30 years of funding would go towards the remainder of the Transit City projects and then, maybe then, the DRL would be the next priority.

The Downtown councillors have spoken loudly with their silence that the DRL is not needed any time soon.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

After you signed up the tide turned completely. Stay until Wednesday at least.

You give me too much credit. But I'll keep fighting for proper transit in Toronto until our new light rail lines open in a few years. In the meantime if you have Twitter use the hashtag #TeamTransitCity when tweeting about it (Its initials are TTC ).

And also email your councillor and the mayor (but I doubt he will listen) http://app.toronto.ca/im/council/councillors.jsp

 

[BurlOak]

Running LRT on the south side will interfere with the Celestica interchange. Of course I am not sure if the interchange is even useful these days.

This could be turned into a diamond interchange instead of a loop - thus is would take up much less space on the South side. The exiting vehicles would go onto a descending exit lane that is essentially parralel to Eglinton - then make a left turn under the bridge. The entering vehciles would make a left turn from under the bridge onto an ascending on-ramp that would merge onto Eglinton slightly to the East of the bridge. 401 has something like this at Westney Road.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

The current funding is enough to built 3 lines of Transit City and it takes up about 10 years of funding from the Province - and they probably will slow the funding even more after the next budget. I expect the next 20 to 30 years of funding would go towards the remainder of the Transit City projects and then, maybe then, the DRL would be the next priority.

The Downtown councillors have spoken loudly with their silence that the DRL is not needed any time soon.

I think that the province is already committed to funding the other 4 TC projects within the next 10 years. The City just has to request the money

 

[Rainforest]

Her compromise plan is certainly better than Ford's plan. IMO, her plan is better than Transit City as well (although my preference would be LRT on Finch West and leaving Finch East for a later stage).

Wasting $1-billion on a 2-km subway extension is a better plan than building an entire LRT line?

My concern with SELRT is that the "entire" line will be somewhat remote from places where people actually want to go. The City of Toronto is a trapezoid with the north-eastern corner being the farthest from both the geometric centre and the historical downtown. SELRT will be a moderate improvement compared to the existing bus, but at the same time will kind of seal the isolation of that corner.

A westbound trip on SELRT will take 30+ min for those boarding east of McCowan, and get the riders to Don Mills subway that's not the final destination for the majority of them. At the same time, a transfer from SELRT to SRT-Eglinton won't be convenient for those boarding west of Markham Rd, as they will have to backtrack.

SELRT could be made more useful in conjunction with a substantially improved GO service on the Stouffville sub, but such GO improvements are iffy.

Without that, I'd rather go with a gradual subway expansion + BRT east of the subway terminus. BRT would be same speed as LRT (just less capacity, but still enough). The goal would be to eventually bring the subway to the new hub at Agincourt Stn.

 

[jeffreym]

I think that the province is already committed to funding the other 4 TC projects within the next 10 years. The City just has to request the money

Hopefully they resume planning on them then

 

[Rainforest]

^ My second concern with Transit City is the design of Eglinton LRT between Brentcliffe and Don Mills. I don't think the whole line must be underground or even fully grade-separate; but the section between Brentcliffe and Don Mills is critically important for the capacity management, and should be fully grade separate (south side of the road).

 

[BurlOak]

I have to say, this is thoroughly entertaining and satisfying to watch.

It had seemed like Ford's biggest defeat was council voting to overturn his budget cuts. This is going to completely overshadow that. The budget defeat was at least covered up with supposed victories. Reverting back to Transit City despite the Mayor's press conference is a total rebellion by Council against Ford. There's no way to make this look good.

I wonder if Ford could make a gamble that the City wants subway and hold a referendum. Who could call this, would it be Council or the Mayor? As with all the referendae, the key is in the phrasing of the question.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

Hopefully they resume planning on them then

That would require a city council vote. I see City Council either restoring the other 4 TC lines or using the money for something else. But it would require another vote separate from the Wednesday one. Wednesday's vote only addresses Sheppard, Finch and Eglinton.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

I have a feeling that David Miller is sipping a latte somewhere saying "I told you so" right now.

 

[Rainforest]

^ On the other hand, I'd rather go with LRT than BRT on Finch, even if it means that only Finch West gets LRT at this time. The projected demand is close to the upper limit of BRT, but can be easily handled by LRT.

Plus, design does not yet exist for Finch East and choosing that design is a nontrivial matter given the street width issues.

 

[Johnny Au]

I have a feeling that David Miller is sipping a latte somewhere saying "I told you so" right now.

I agree. Hint: I voted for Joe Pantalone for the last municipal election. Pantalone promised the continuation of Transit City, stating that it provides quality public transit service to as many people at the lowest cost.

 

[jeffreym]

That would require a city council vote. I see City Council either restoring the other 4 TC lines or using the money for something else. But it would require another vote separate from the Wednesday one. Wednesday's vote only addresses Sheppard, Finch and Eglinton.

Would it? Work was never cancelled. Wednesday's motion simply reaffirms the existing MoU with the Province (TC).

 

[TheTigerMaster]

I agree. Hint: I voted for Joe Pantalone for the last municipal election. Pantalone promised the continuation of Transit City, stating that it provides quality public transit service to as many people at the lowest cost.

So did I. Looks like we were one of the few who foresaw the disaster that would happen if Ford was elected