Transit Fantasy Maps

[BurlOak]

Btw: DRL long (U shaped Danforth to Dundas West) is tagged at $11B, guaranteed it will go well above that as planning details become known)

I wouldn't call Danforth to Dundas West as the "DRL long". I would say Fairview to Dundas West is "DRL Long.".

It seems my guess was not that bad then. $6.5B for the Pape to City Hall, plus $5.0B for the Downtown West = $11.5B. 5% off.

 

[OneCity]

@BurlOak

One of my biggest pet peeves since moving to Scarbs is there is no streetcar or rapid transit proposed to the Bluffers Park. Which IMO could be one of the City's greatest attractions outside of Downtown

Anyway too bad It doesn't look like this line could be run further along Kingston Rd as it would be a tough loop back around St.Clair and Midland toward Kennedy station

 

[steveintoronto]

@BurlOak

One of my biggest pet peeves since moving to Scarbs is there is no streetcar or rapid transit proposed to the Bluffers Park. Which IMO could be one of the City's greatest attractions outside of Downtown

Anyway too bad It doesn't look like this line could be run further along Kingston Rd as it would be a tough loop back around St.Clair and Midland toward Kennedy station

I completely agree, and so does history:

Toronto Sun
Scarborough’s streetcars
Era of electric transit began in district in 1893, but ended in 1954

By Mike Filey
First posted: Saturday, February 06, 2016 10:04 PM EST | Updated: Saturday, February 06, 2016 10:28 PM EST

When Scarborough’s first streetcar line was absorbed by Mackenzie’s Toronto & York Radial Railway Company in 1895 (the term Radial in the title emphasized the fact that the company’s routes radiated out west, north and east from the city) plans were soon underway to extend the line further and further into the eastern parts of the still very rural township. Tracks, with passing sidings, were laid on the side of the Kingston Rd. reaching the Eglinton Ave. intersection (and the location of the Scarborough Post Office) in late 1905. One year later, the line was extended once again this time to the small community of West Hill, so-called because even though this community was many kilometres east of the big City of Toronto it had originally developed on the west bank of Highland Creek. In this photo, taken in 1920, we see one of the big radial streetcars operated by the Toronto & York Radial inbound at the Kingston Rd. and Midland Ave. intersection. In the right distance, is another T & Y car outbound to West Hill. The large building to the left of the photo is the Half-Way House, built in 1849 and served as a place of respite for weary stagecoach travellers for many decades. When the hotel closed, it became a residence then a store before it was moved to Black Creek Pioneer Village in 1966 where it can be found today. Streetcars continued to operate to West Hill until 1936 when more convenient vehicular modes of “getting there and back” forced an end to electric operations. City cars of the TTC continued to run as far east as Birchmount Rd. and the Kingston Rd. where a loop had been constructed on the southwest corner in 1928. Then, shortly after the Yonge subway opened in early 1954 the TTC stopped operating streetcars as far as this loop, and buses took over. The age of electric streetcars in Scarborough had ended. Or had it?


http://www.torontosun.com/2016/02/06/scarboroughs-streetcars

 

[Midtown Urbanist]

@BurlOak

One of my biggest pet peeves since moving to Scarbs is there is no streetcar or rapid transit proposed to the Bluffers Park. Which IMO could be one of the City's greatest attractions outside of Downtown

Anyway too bad It doesn't look like this line could be run further along Kingston Rd as it would be a tough loop back around St.Clair and Midland toward Kennedy station

If it ran to Midland and Kingston perhaps?

 

[BurlOak]

If it ran to Midland and Kingston perhaps?

Midland has a lot more people lining the streets who could object, and likely no node like Scaroborough Junction.

I don't think a Metro close to the bluffs would help, since its quite a climb down to where people need to get. I see this as being impossible to service with a Metro.

 

[steveintoronto]

Midland has a lot more people lining the streets who could object, and likely no node like Scaroborough Junction.

I don't think a Metro close to the bluffs would help, since its quite a climb down to where people need to get. I see this as being impossible to service with a Metro.

For the last stretch, agreed. A shuttle bus would probably be the best solution, and then it can run on an 'as needed' basis (seasonal, weekends, etc).

 

[BB ON]

A few years ago I posted my TTC2054 map to give an idea of what I thought the network could look like at its hundredth anniversary given the appropriate levels of capital funding. To my surprise it got published on places like BlogTO and got a boatload more attention than I expected. I decided to heavily revise my map to make it look more like a professional product you'd see in a bus shelter.

TTC2054 V3

This map contains:

• Full DRL
• GO RER
• Reactivated Midtown Line
• Expansion of existing streetcar lines (including in no particular order: Bremner, Harbourfront East, Dufferin, Kingston Road, Queensway, Lakeshore)
• On Line 1, TYSSE + YSE, plus logical extensions to Major Mackenzie in the later years as these corridors grow
• On Line 2, the 1994 Dixie Subway Extension + STC Subway Extension via SRT corridor
• On Line 4, the Network 2011 buildout
• MoveOntario 2020/Transit City LRT Lines
• Finch and Eglinton extended to Pearson

...among other minor enhancements.

The most controversial part of course, remains Scarborough. V1 followed the Murray (SRT) Subway Extension because it was the most likely looking plan at the time. In this version, I compromised by truncating it to STC and transforming it into a hub which would serve as the terminus for Sheppard and connections further into Scarborough and Malvern. Although the map doesn't need to be strictly geographically accurate (London's certainly isn't), I've drawn it to reflect an SRT corridor.

To avoid ambiguity between stations named after places and stations named after streets, I've tacked on the street title wherever possible. I've also avoided naming based on neighborhoods or landmarks since these can be respectively large (e.g. where might a station in Forest Hill be? Bathurst? Spadina? Allen?) or significantly far away from the station, instead naming them after streets wherever possible since that gives the rider the most precise resolution on their position.

Lastly, I think parks are Toronto's civic treasure, so I've added them onto the map. Ditto the lake, and other land forms, and regional context to help with wayfinding.

 

[adrianaliu]

A few years ago I posted my TTC2054 map to give an idea of what I thought the network could look like at its hundredth anniversary given the appropriate levels of capital funding. To my surprise it got published on places like BlogTO and got a boatload more attention than I expected. I decided to heavily revise my map to make it look more like a professional product you'd see in a bus shelter.

TTC2054 V3

This map contains:

• Full DRL
• GO RER
• Reactivated Midtown Line
• Expansion of existing streetcar lines (including in no particular order: Bremner, Harbourfront East, Dufferin, Kingston Road, Queensway, Lakeshore)
• On Line 1, TYSSE + YSE, plus logical extensions to Major Mackenzie in the later years as these corridors grow
• On Line 2, the 1994 Dixie Subway Extension + STC Subway Extension via SRT corridor
• On Line 4, the Network 2011 buildout
• MoveOntario 2020/Transit City LRT Lines
• Finch and Eglinton extended to Pearson

...among other minor enhancements.

The most controversial part of course, remains Scarborough. V1 followed the Murray (SRT) Subway Extension because it was the most likely looking plan at the time. In this version, I compromised by truncating it to STC and transforming it into a hub which would serve as the terminus for Sheppard and connections further into Scarborough and Malvern. Although the map doesn't need to be strictly geographically accurate (London's certainly isn't), I've drawn it to reflect an SRT corridor.

To avoid ambiguity between stations named after places and stations named after streets, I've tacked on the street title wherever possible. I've also avoided naming based on neighborhoods or landmarks since these can be respectively large (e.g. where might a station in Forest Hill be? Bathurst? Spadina? Allen?) or significantly far away from the station, instead naming them after streets wherever possible since that gives the rider the most precise resolution on their position.

Lastly, I think parks are Toronto's civic treasure, so I've added them onto the map. Ditto the lake, and other land forms, and regional context to help with wayfinding.

excellent map very very nice. i would extend rer service on midtown line to malvern or rouge park, and tbh by 2054 i would be disappointing if it doesnt go all the way into durham to serve pickering and ajax.

 

[44 North]

A few years ago I posted my TTC2054 map to give an idea of what I thought the network could look like at its hundredth anniversary given the appropriate levels of capital funding. To my surprise it got published on places like BlogTO and got a boatload more attention than I expected. I decided to heavily revise my map to make it look more like a professional product you'd see in a bus shelter.

TTC2054 V3

This map contains:

• Full DRL
• GO RER
• Reactivated Midtown Line
• Expansion of existing streetcar lines (including in no particular order: Bremner, Harbourfront East, Dufferin, Kingston Road, Queensway, Lakeshore)
• On Line 1, TYSSE + YSE, plus logical extensions to Major Mackenzie in the later years as these corridors grow
• On Line 2, the 1994 Dixie Subway Extension + STC Subway Extension via SRT corridor
• On Line 4, the Network 2011 buildout
• MoveOntario 2020/Transit City LRT Lines
• Finch and Eglinton extended to Pearson

...among other minor enhancements.

The most controversial part of course, remains Scarborough. V1 followed the Murray (SRT) Subway Extension because it was the most likely looking plan at the time. In this version, I compromised by truncating it to STC and transforming it into a hub which would serve as the terminus for Sheppard and connections further into Scarborough and Malvern. Although the map doesn't need to be strictly geographically accurate (London's certainly isn't), I've drawn it to reflect an SRT corridor.

To avoid ambiguity between stations named after places and stations named after streets, I've tacked on the street title wherever possible. I've also avoided naming based on neighborhoods or landmarks since these can be respectively large (e.g. where might a station in Forest Hill be? Bathurst? Spadina? Allen?) or significantly far away from the station, instead naming them after streets wherever possible since that gives the rider the most precise resolution on their position.

Lastly, I think parks are Toronto's civic treasure, so I've added them onto the map. Ditto the lake, and other land forms, and regional context to help with wayfinding.

Very nice, I love the inclusion of parks. Wonder if everything that isn't a transit line had its brightness reduced by 20%, or used paler colours, could it make the lines themselves standout a bit more.

 

[aquateam]

A few years ago I posted my TTC2054 map to give an idea of what I thought the network could look like at its hundredth anniversary given the appropriate levels of capital funding. To my surprise it got published on places like BlogTO and got a boatload more attention than I expected. I decided to heavily revise my map to make it look more like a professional product you'd see in a bus shelter.


TTC2054 V3

This map contains:

• Full DRL
• GO RER
• Reactivated Midtown Line
• Expansion of existing streetcar lines (including in no particular order: Bremner, Harbourfront East, Dufferin, Kingston Road, Queensway, Lakeshore)
• On Line 1, TYSSE + YSE, plus logical extensions to Major Mackenzie in the later years as these corridors grow
• On Line 2, the 1994 Dixie Subway Extension + STC Subway Extension via SRT corridor
• On Line 4, the Network 2011 buildout
• MoveOntario 2020/Transit City LRT Lines
• Finch and Eglinton extended to Pearson

...among other minor enhancements.

The most controversial part of course, remains Scarborough. V1 followed the Murray (SRT) Subway Extension because it was the most likely looking plan at the time. In this version, I compromised by truncating it to STC and transforming it into a hub which would serve as the terminus for Sheppard and connections further into Scarborough and Malvern. Although the map doesn't need to be strictly geographically accurate (London's certainly isn't), I've drawn it to reflect an SRT corridor.

To avoid ambiguity between stations named after places and stations named after streets, I've tacked on the street title wherever possible. I've also avoided naming based on neighborhoods or landmarks since these can be respectively large (e.g. where might a station in Forest Hill be? Bathurst? Spadina? Allen?) or significantly far away from the station, instead naming them after streets wherever possible since that gives the rider the most precise resolution on their position.

Lastly, I think parks are Toronto's civic treasure, so I've added them onto the map. Ditto the lake, and other land forms, and regional context to help with wayfinding.

Amazing!!!!! And I love all of these proposals, there's nothing here that I wouldn't add. I especially enjoy the attention to little details (there's a second pedestrian connection to the Islands!) like how the Finch West and Eglinton LRTs loop around the airport and how it incorporates so many individual proposals (Midtown RER, Dundas streetcar, St. Clair streetcar extension, Parliament streetcar etc.)

A few constructive comments/questions though:

• Why does the Sheppard subway take a Progress alignment? Is it using the SRT too? I would consider keeping it on Sheppard longer and reducing the length of the Sheppard LRT. The Network 2011 alignment stays on Sheppard until after Kennedy as well

• I love that you incorporated a Dufferin streetcar, but I'd expect it to continue north of Eglinton to replace more of the bus route, since the ROW is wider and there's a lot of commercial density and developable strip malls. Unless you think it's too close to the Barrie line RER.

Overall incredible map, must have taken forever to make. Print a poster-sized version of it and send it to John Tory and Kathleen Wynne and just tell them that this is the plan for the next few decades.

Edit: saw that you already explained the SRT alignment for line 2

 

[BB ON]

Amazing!!!!! And I love all of these proposals, there's nothing here that I wouldn't add. I especially enjoy the attention to little details (there's a second pedestrian connection to the Islands!) like how the Finch West and Eglinton LRTs loop around the airport and how it incorporates so many individual proposals (Midtown RER, Dundas streetcar, St. Clair streetcar extension, Parliament streetcar etc.)

A few constructive comments/questions though:

• Why does the Sheppard subway take a Progress alignment? Is it using the SRT too? I would consider keeping it on Sheppard longer and reducing the length of the Sheppard LRT. The Network 2011 alignment stays on Sheppard until after Kennedy as well

• I love that you incorporated a Dufferin streetcar, but I'd expect it to continue north of Eglinton to replace more of the bus route, since the ROW is wider and there's a lot of commercial density and developable strip malls. Unless you think it's too close to the Barrie line RER.

Overall incredible map, must have taken forever to make. Print a poster-sized version of it and send it to John Tory and Kathleen Wynne and just tell them that this is the plan for the next few decades.

Edit: saw that you already explained the SRT alignment for line 2

Thanks for your feedback and glad you like it!

Sheppard/STC was probably the toughest part to lay out on the map.

Sheppard has a few options: Convert to LRT and integrate with Sheppard East, send it to STC, send it to Markham, send it somewhere else, or do nothing. Toronto's embroiled fight for subways shows us that option 1 is a political non-starter, and of the remaining options, only the STC extension has had any formal level of study. The fight to make STC a transit hub has made it a political opportunity to extend Sheppard there, which I believe makes it the most likely option.

So if Sheppard goes to STC, then how? To minimize costs, we'd like to trench or elevate it as much as possible. Sharing the SRT corridor saves us about a mile of digging, and it's ready for us to use if it's already been rebuilt to support Line 2. But what do we do west of the rail corridor? We probably can't do a sharp north turn right there, because the buildout of RER will take up the space we need. Also, we'd need to either make a large radius or slow down the trains to avoid noise and wear. We can do a bit of a meandering turn along William Kitchen Rd. and then tunnel north to Sheppard in the existing mall site there, but then there's a sharp-ish turn at Kennedy. I don't really like it.

Plus, if we build out the SELRT via STC then this leaves a gap on Sheppard between Kennedy and Progress without any form of rapid transit, and misses an important RER connection. We could of course just extend an LRT spur down Sheppard in the same way, but i) I wanted to make each terminal of the SELRT a destination where people want to go, and ii) Sheppard needs more local-oriented transit along that stretch since it's residential, which is better served by LRT.

So to justify both, I decided to make them split at Victoria Park, where there's a large commercial hub. In this plan, the subway would follow Sheppard's gentle southeasterly curve past Victoria park to where Progress would extend to meet up with Warden. The subway would then follow Progress to the SRT. The advantages are that this maintains a fast, high bandwidth connection between Yonge and STC; provides rapid transit to the residential areas south of the 401; and promotes the urbanization and redevelopment of the large blocks of industrial lands there. Cut and cover, trenching and elevation are ideal for this area which minimizes the cost.

It may not be the most likely outcome but it's the solution I like most for the area.

 

[DonValleyRainbow]

Does it count as a fantasy map if it is based on The Big Move?

From Trevor Heywood on Twitter, in a thread that starts here.

17. So let’s make this into a tangible #TTC map. Anything grey is in the Big Move for Toronto, but with no solid commitment. #TOpoli #onpoli

4:22 PM - 15 Jun 2017

 

[toaster29]

Nice maps. No North-South connections for Etobicoke, though?

 

[Leo_Chan]

Nice maps. No North-South connections for Etobicoke, though?

Jane LRT?

 

[toaster29]

Jane LRT?

Jane is not in Etobicoke. A Kipling LRT could work.