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TTC: Sheppard Subway Expansion (Speculative)

Edward said:
Extending the Sheppard line west to Downsview/Sheppard West is important I think. A more connected system is valuable.
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More so than putting transit to places that people will actually be able to ride it to?

Dan
Toronto, Ont.
 
Well, everything is important to some people at some point - I found it exceedingly ironic that the councillors who espouse fiscal discipline seems to be the ones who are least able to prioritize according to need. Not want - need.

AoD
 
council voting on this means nothing. Vaughan voted to ask Metrolinx to extend the spadina subway to Major Mack, and they obviously won't be getting it. similarly, we won't be getting the Sheppard west subway. If they wanted to push it for phase 3 (over 15 years away) they could, but the second phase of projects is already decided upon. Remember, in order to get the sheppard subway they will need to eliminate another project of equal value. Personally I think that all day 2 way GO on the Richmond Hill line is a bit superfluous, but I would not reroute that money to the Sheppard West subway. Rather, I would prefer it go to a Bloor extension to Sherway, or eliminate another project and build the DRL to Eglinton. (maybe some portions of the Dundas BRT and the rest being financed traditionally)
 
In the Scarborough RT thread, EnviroTO drew up an absolutely brilliant proposal for Sheppard West. Rather than have it continue along Sheppard, tunnel it underground northwest to Bathurst and Finch, and then run along Finch to Keele. Not only would this close the loop, but would connect the Finch and Sheppard LRTs without the need for an extra transfer.

Here is EnviroTO's map

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They found out it would cost them more then they initially thought. That being said to eliminate a transfer at Fairview and to have a continuous route it makes a lot of financial sense. Going west with LRT with surface stations is much cheaper then going underground. The conversion is what sucks but it at least makes a real crosstown route. I don't see the problem as long as Bloor Danforth is extended then scarborough residents cant say they didn't get a subway.
 
sixrings said:
They found out it would cost them more then they initially thought. That being said to eliminate a transfer at Fairview and to have a continuous route it makes a lot of financial sense. Going west with LRT with surface stations is much cheaper then going underground. The conversion is what sucks but it at least makes a real crosstown route. I don't see the problem as long as Bloor Danforth is extended then scarborough residents cant say they didn't get a subway.
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Still a bad idea. You would need to dig under Sheppard Ave. until at least Bathurst From Yonge. 500M$ is a lot of money that could be used elsewhere. With your plan, you're screwing people living east of Dufferin on Finch. Between Bathurst and Yonge, lots of growth is happening and single homes are being replaced by townhouses. The density is rising very fast and an LRT would very useful to them.
 
Solid Snake said:
Still a bad idea. You would need to dig under Sheppard Ave. until at least Bathurst From Yonge. 500M$ is a lot of money that could be used elsewhere. With your plan, you're screwing people living east of Dufferin on Finch. Between Bathurst and Yonge, lots of growth is happening and single homes are being replaced by townhouses. The density is rising very fast and an LRT would very useful to them.
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does that mean you are ok with service on both finch and on sheppard??????? most people think that's a duplication of service although I would eb in the camp that would like to see both get service. The idea is that dufferin is easily wide enough to fit in the LRT. Sure you are correct that people living in the area you mentioned are screwed. No plan is perfect. If I was to continue drawing lines on a map my Don Mills LRT would turn east at finch and go all the way to mcowan.
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Why don't they extend the Sheppard west to Spadina and interline with the Spadina line and then have it head further east towards Jane? Half the trains could go north to York and half to Jane and conversely half the Spadina trains from Union could go to York and half to Jane. It would make transfers a hell of a lot easier and make a lot of sense for many coming from downtown. For the Finch section they could use the Finch Hydro corridor and save a lot of money, time, and construction mayhem.
 
I did the math on it on here a while ago, and I concluded that these two options are more or less cost-neutral:

1) Extending Sheppard west to Downsview underground using subway technology.
2) Converting the Sheppard Subway to LRT and running the extension westward to Downsview mostly at-grade.

I believe the two options came out as being within $100 million from each other. Given the advantage that converting and extending would have (single line from what will now be the zoo all the way to Downsview), that seems like by far the better option.

Also, it would be less expensive to run Phase 2 of the Finch West LRT over to and then down Dufferin to Downsview station to connect with the Sheppard LRT there, thereby creating a continuous crosstown line from Humber College to the zoo. By less expensive I mean in comparison to continuing along Finch all the way to Yonge (4.1 km vs 6.3 km).

When you couple those 2 projects (and their associated costs) together, the conversion + extension + rerouting of Finch Ph2 makes a lot more sense than creating a disjointed network of subways and LRTs (aka Transfer City).
 
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sixrings said:
does that mean you are ok with service on both finch and on sheppard??????? most people think that's a duplication of service although I would eb in the camp that would like to see both get service. The idea is that dufferin is easily wide enough to fit in the LRT. Sure you are correct that people living in the area you mentioned are screwed. No plan is perfect. If I was to continue drawing lines on a map my Don Mills LRT would turn east at finch and go all the way to mcowan.View attachment 13005
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LRT and Subway doesn't provide the same level of service (in regard to Finch and Sheppard). They would complement each other, not duplicate each other.

I know that on a map Sheppard and Finch seems near but they are farther apart than they look except between Allen Road and Keele
 
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