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Transit Fantasy Maps

Behold, the Halton LRT. The route would make use of the already existing hydro corridors through downtown Burlington and along Upper Middle Road. A new bridge would span across Bronte Creek, connecting both sides of Upper Middle. Route begins at Maple & Lakeshore in Burlington, and terminates at the 407 Trafalgar GO bus station. Trafalgar extension too because why not.
View attachment 420294
Does this not emulate the proposed Dundas BRT? But as an LRT, greater capacity per unit and greater speed? You seem to be following existing major hydro corridors as getting to the Maple terminus would be problematic other wise, as the previous rail line is not as accessible below Richmond street. Above Richmond you could follow the rail corridor to Burlington Go and then? I guess a hard left through some industrial area, skirting the Glenwood residential neighborhood, to connect with the hydro corridor at Roly Bird Park. That corridor connects with the Upper Middle Road corridor or takes you to Dundas. And then my only other questions. Why stop at the 407 Go Bus Station? Why not swing to the east along the 407/403 and link up with the Mississauga BRT at Winston Churchill (which could become a LRT as well) and then connections through to the airport. I would buy into that easily.
 
It certainly makes more sense to put the transit line within the urban boundary rather than along the 407.
 
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Future Ontario Line extension(s) post 2030. *The drawn routes shouldn't be taken too seriously as this is just a rough sketch/idea.

The Ontario Line would more closely resemble the REM in Montreal. 4 branches with terminus stations at Mississauga Centre (Square One), Brampton Centre, Richmond Hill Centre & Markham or Mount Joy. 100+ km in total with at least 20 interchanges connecting to the TTC subway, LRT & GO train stations.
 
Posted on r/Toronto: "I made a fantasy TTC/GO Transit map with a self imposed budget of 100 billion CAD"

I think combining Ontario Line West with what had been planned with Jane LRT makes a lot of sense. I know Dufferin is a busy bus route, but I still think that OL should cross Line 2 further west. I've long thought that Lambton makes sense as an interchange for Jane/St. Clair/Milton GO, so I think OL should make it there, then swing north. I still lean towards an alignment that goes up Keele, with an OL/GO Lakeshore station at Roncesvalles as the OL dives north (the corridor is already wider there, with the pre-existing gap for a long-lost centerline platform).

One other item...does the Kipling line end up being a surface, separated BRT that eventually gets autonomous platooning? Having grown up off Kipling, I'm not sure you'll get enough density along much of its length to warrant full blown LRT.

I also think you might take Line 4 all the way to OL West station Oakdale.
 
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This is a well thought-out map, but I have noticed that even in most fantasy maps, there is very little rapid transit in the downtown core, especially compared to other cities with extensive rapid transit.
I mean honestly, this isn't surprising with either Toronto's geography or a budget.

My take is that at the end of the day, the next thing that approaches a downtown connection really is the GO Midtown. Beyond that, what further downtown transit could even be anticipated?

Realistically the possibilities would seem to be:
  • some kind of enhanced surface service on Bay
  • surface imrpovements on the streetcar lines
  • a GO tunnel
  • A second relief line would seem vaguely possible in the long term, being something of a mirror of the OL, entering from a northerly direction and dipping south, but the details are really very vague
    • I wonder if this might actually be most appropriately done with creation of an underground streetcar corridor - a King tunnel inspired by the 1945 Queen plan would actually seem a very nice supplement to the OL
  • Edit: some kind of surface lanes for accessing the Union Station Bus Terminal would seem possibly reasonable, but we probably are headed in the direction of limiting the number of busses going all the way there.
as far as what I could see as an enhanced streetcar network that actually fits with the OL, contemplate something like the below,with today's routes using it, and purely surface routes operating on the core segments only:

1663708105149.png
 
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I mean honestly, this isn't surprising with either Toronto's geography or a budget.

My take is that at the end of the day, the next thing that approaches a downtown connection really is the GO Midtown. Beyond that, what further downtown transit could even be anticipated?

Realistically the possibilities would seem to be:
  • some kind of enhanced surface service on Bay
  • surface imrpovements on the streetcar lines
  • a GO tunnel
  • A second relief line would seem vaguely possible in the long term, being something of a mirror of the OL, entering from a northerly direction and dipping south, but the details are really very vague
    • I wonder if this might actually be most appropriately done with creation of an underground streetcar corridor - a King tunnel inspired by the 1945 Queen plan would actually seem a very nice supplement to the OL
  • Edit: some kind of surface lanes for accessing the Union Station Bus Terminal would seem possibly reasonable, but we probably are headed in the direction of limiting the number of busses going all the way there.
as far as what I could see as an enhanced streetcar network that actually fits with the OL, contemplate something like the below,with today's routes using it, and purely surface routes operating on the core segments only:

View attachment 427900
If we're going to do this, we might as well segregate all the e-w streetcar routes from private traffic, and make the area between the YU subway car-free. We could have multiple branch lines for both the Bay Street and King Street Tunnels.

That way the streetcars become full fledged LRT lines similar to how in San Francisco or the Boston Green Line the various branches of the streetcar metro converge on the downtown core.

Screen Shot 2022-09-20 at 3.50.08 PM.png

Theres so much potential for tram lines and bike streets downtown if only we reclaimed space from private vehicles.
 
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If we're going to do this, we might as well segregate all the e-w streetcar routes from private traffic, and make the area between the YU subway car-free. We could have multiple branch lines for both the Bay Street and King Street Tunnels.

That way the streetcars become full fledged LRT lines similar to how in San Francisco or the Boston Green Line the various branches of the streetcar metro converge on the downtown core.

View attachment 427916
Theres so much potential for tram lines and bike streets downtown if only we reclaimed space from private vehicles.

We just need to provide right of ways on the streetcar lines like on Saint Clair and then actually use good TPS systems. It would also be good to have better connections between streetcar stops and subway stations. It would take so much work...
 
We just need to provide right of ways on the streetcar lines like on Saint Clair and then actually use good TPS systems. It would also be good to have better connections between streetcar stops and subway stations. It would take so much work...
Can't be that hard to put a little precast concrete parking curb on the outside of the dotted line and paint a "NO CARS" sign on the roadway. Theres just no political will to making the streetcars run faster

Screen Shot 2022-09-20 at 6.01.08 PM.png

1663722109844.png
 

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