Toronto Union Pearson Express | ?m | ?s | Metrolinx | MMM Group Limited

Could be 15 years or could start next year. All depends on funding.

The weston residents appear to be a bit gunshy over the new proposal and are meeting with metrolinx today. I reserve my judgement of them until after the meeting
 
...and thusly is the whole city held hostage until each and every one of the WCC's concerns is addressed as expensively as possible. Charming.
 
I think they are in a sort of "fool me once, shame on you. fool me twice, shame on me" kind of perspective.

They are going to keep their guard up until they are sure that it works for them. They have been made cynical by the process and understandably weary of the new proposal. The real question is what will they say when they have all the details - much more than are available now.
 
Mike Sullivan of the Weston Community Coalition, who is to meet with the Metrolinx chairman today, said the current plan was still unacceptable: "They've clearly not been listening up to this point."
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I'll refrain from using the N word until they've had more time to digest this.
 
Look, I understand that people in that community have concerns about this. But since when did the residents of one small community get veto power over regional transit planning? They don't want "smelly diesels" in their neighbourhood? Is that seriously a problem? People in Rosedale must be really screwed then, to say nothing of those in Cityplace, Leslieville, St. Lawrence, Liberty, or any of the dozens and dozens of other places in the GTA with train traffic.

Thanks to major investment in the GTA rail system, that traffic is set to increase. Everyone else is perfectly happy to deal with it.

If the issues about closing streets can be addressed (and it sounds like they have) I don't think the Weston folks have a leg to stand on anymore. They have already extracted benefits far, far beyond those going anywhere else as part of this plan. As for the notion that somehow stopping Blue 22 means Metrolinx will suddenly endorse a Weston-corridor DRL instead, the WCC is truly smoking something potent. That's just not going to happen. The DRL is necessary, and there's a good argument that it should run on the Weston corridor, but it and Blue 22 are two separate issues entirely, for better or worse.

Sometimes Toronto's proud history of community activism can be exploited in negative ways, and this is one such example.
 
Prometheus The Supremo said:
what's wrong with wanting electric powered trains?
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Nothing, but there is a difference between saying "we prefer" and saying "we won't allow this to be built any other way".

In reality, there is a carrot and stick approach going on here. Metrolinx has made some very significant concessions. On the other hand, the restart of the EA under the new six month timeline means that WCC will be much more limited in their ability to stonewall.
 
"They've clearly not been listening up to this point."

I think he is right....because what we all thought they were saying was that they wanted a stop in their town (they got that plus a new GO Station in a better location), they wanted a trench for noise abatment (they got that) and they wanted to make sure the two halfs of their community remained connected (they got that with full access on 2 of 3 roads and pedestrian access on the third).

Clearly, if GO/Metrolinx/Anybody had been listening....we would have heard them say

"No way In hell are we going to Makethis possible for you to Build this....Yahoo!!!!!
 
I would love to see the projected passenger numbers for Blue 22's Weston stop against those for a conceptual Parkdale or Liberty station.
 
DavidH said:
Today's Star has a story with some interesting points:

http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/575252

- until the line is electrified, refurbished Budd cars will be used
- fares have not been decided but will reflect that it is a premium service
- travel times are expected to be 25 minutes.
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Would it be hard/impossible for newspapers to fact check? maybe look at the map? maybe send the writer out on the train, once?

"It also suggests an additional station could be built at Woodbine, where there is a very small GO stop now..."

really?
 
We will have to see. Me thinks that Mike Sullivan is more radical than the Westonites as a whole. That might have been a huge asset when the community needed to be organized - a firebrand would be the one willing to invest the time and effort needed to organize the community.

Of course, continuing a strong campaign might leverage a few more concessions, or at the least, be the devil's advocate and ensure the right questions are asked.

Since the EA process has been re-started under the new rules, I don't see any 'hijacking' of the city going on the WCC was 100% right the first time around, now it's much murkier.
 
allabootmatt said:
I would love to see the projected passenger numbers for Blue 22's Weston stop against those for a conceptual Parkdale or Liberty station.
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Here's how it will go.

1. System starts operating with stops at Bloor (which may pick up some custmors if it is connectect to the subway) and Weston;
2. Stop at Weston adds 1 - 2 minutes to each trip.
3. No one gets on at Weston
4. Operator proposes to eliminate stopping at Weston to enhance the value proposition to the people actually using the service from Union and/or Bloor
5. The next thing you will hear from the Weston Community group is that the fare should be much lower because they are so close to the airport they could just take TTC....so Blue 22 should charge, them, TTC fares.....



......betcha!
 
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