2014 Municipal Election: Toronto Transit Plans

[denfromoakvillemilton]

John Tory transit plan
Mayoral candidate John Tory has released his plan to get you moving in the city and beyond with his "One Toronto Transit Plan."

Tory is hopping onto a plan already announced by the province that would bring in Regional Express Rail, an all-day, two-way surface subway service that would run on existing GO track lines with new higher-speed vehicles.

The first project would be the SmartTrack line which would run from the Airport Corporate Centre near Matheson Boulevard, down to Union Station and back up to Markham in the East.

The SmartTrack line is 53 kilometres long and would include 22 new stops and 4 interchanges with the TTC Rapid Transit Network.

Tory is promising the new line within 7 years and would include full fare coordination with the TTC system.

The total cost of the SmartTrack line is $8-billion.

The city's one-third share of the cost would be financed using Tax Increment Financing, which would dedicate a portion of increased tax revenue from development along the line to fund construction.

John Tory reiterated his promise to immediately start building a Scarborough Subway extension as well as his pledge to provide new express bus services for areas like Don Mills Road, Liberty Village, and Dufferin Street.

Tory says the new SmartTrack line would generate relief by reducing passenger use of the Yonge-University-Spadina line as well as reducing car congestion in the areas serviced by the new line. - See more at: http://www.newstalk1010.com/news/20...n-for-transit-in-toronto#sthash.YmjqTwtv.dpuf

 

[gweed123]

Well that was unexpected...

The Eglinton West part is quite interesting. That may actually end up being the least expensive way to get a direct GO/"Subway" connection to MCC, because it could run largely above ground.

As for the price tag, $8 billion seems a bit steep, doesn't it? This is basically a GO REX line with a diversion along the Richview corridor. Electrification wasn't slated to cost that much, and aside from the Stouffville corridor the associated track work is pretty much done (i.e. Georgetown South project).

 

[denfromoakvillemilton]

entire plan
http://onetorontotransit.ca/

 

[TheTigerMaster]

This thing had better not be a replacement for the Relief Line.

 

[minilude]

looks like a relief line revised to buy scarborough votes? Is this guy coming from Unionville? why so less stops in the busy core of downtown TO but so many stops in the up northeast?

 

[ehlow]

Well that was unexpected...

The Eglinton West part is quite interesting. That may actually end up being the least expensive way to get a direct GO/"Subway" connection to MCC, because it could run largely above ground.

As for the price tag, $8 billion seems a bit steep, doesn't it? This is basically a GO REX line with a diversion along the Richview corridor. Electrification wasn't slated to cost that much, and aside from the Stouffville corridor the associated track work is pretty much done (i.e. Georgetown South project).

Yeah that's the part I thought was interesting. He's basically running new GO/RER tracks on the Richview corridor on Eglinton West.

My first thoughts are that I like the fact that it would (theoretically) be fast to implement and goes to employment areas.

 

[TOareaFan]

Is that rail corridor capable of handling this service And 15 minute GO service and the HSR/UPex?

 

[gweed123]

looks like a relief line revised to buy scarborough votes? Is this guy coming from Unionville? why so less stops in the busy core of downtown TO but so many stops in the up northeast?

The Scarborough Subway is still there on top of it, which means that Scarborough would be getting 2 transit lines less than 2km apart.

As for the stop spacing discrepancy, it just looks that way because of the scaling of the map, where it enlarges the central area and shrinks the outer areas. There would be a few stations that I would add or move, but by and large the station locations seem about right (for the alignment that was chosen, I mean).

Yeah that's the part I thought was interesting. He's basically running new GO/RER tracks on the Richview corridor on Eglinton West.

My first thoughts are that I like the fact that it would (theoretically) be fast to implement and goes to employment areas.

The stop spacing through Richview worries me a little bit, but the concept isn't without merit. Part of me wonders if it may be worth exploring a 4-tracked elevated guideway through that area, in order to extend both the Eglinton LRT (with a more local stop spacing), and the express line on the same corridor. The corridor is certainly wide enough to do it, and making a wider elevated guideway isn't nearly as expensive as building a bigger tunnel.

 

[minilude]

The Scarborough Subway is still there on top of it, which means that Scarborough would be getting 2 transit lines less than 2km apart.

wow, much more sophisticated transit network than the yonge corridor, unbelievable, while everyone is yelling yonge line is over capacity. Can anyone convince me why suddently scarborough gets so much love?

 

[ehlow]

The stop spacing through Richview worries me a little bit, but the concept isn't without merit. Part of me wonders if it may be worth exploring a 4-tracked elevated guideway through that area, in order to extend both the Eglinton LRT (with a more local stop spacing), and the express line on the same corridor. The corridor is certainly wide enough to do it, and making a wider elevated guideway isn't nearly as expensive as building a bigger tunnel.

If this happens (which is obviously a huge IF), I would assume Eglinton LRT extending west would never happen.

I would think they would want to build it cheaply by trenching it along Richview (if that is still possible)

 

[gweed123]

wow, much more sophisticated transit network than the yonge corridor, unbelievable, while everyone is yelling yonge line is over capacity. Can anyone convince me why suddently scarborough gets so much love?

Rob Ford. He pumped the whole notion of "deserving" a subway, regardless of what the ridership actually warrants.

Although, in the people of Scarborough's defence, STC is in the wrong spot. It should be about 2km further west, straddling the Stouffville line. That would have made serving it with rapid transit significantly easier, because the Bloor-Danforth Subway could have simply been extended north along what is today the SRT right-of-way. It's that ~2km spur eastward that causes all the complications when it comes to serving STC with rapid transit.

 

[West End Boy]

.....STC is in the wrong spot. It should be about 2km further west, straddling the Stouffville line. That would have made serving it with rapid transit significantly easier, because the Bloor-Danforth Subway could have simply been extended north along what is today the SRT right-of-way. It's that ~2km spur eastward that causes all the complications when it comes to serving STC with rapid transit.

Same problem with MCC. Just a tad too far from Cooksville GO, and also from the Dundas corridor which has way more potential for higher order transit than Burnhamthorpe. Hard to fix the problem now, in both cases.

 

[nfitz]

Same problem with MCC. Just a tad too far from Cooksville GO, and also from the Dundas corridor which has way more potential for higher order transit than Burnhamthorpe. Hard to fix the problem now, in both cases.

But not impossible ... given the Metrolinx Big Move project to run express rail into MCC.

 

[gweed123]

Same problem with MCC. Just a tad too far from Cooksville GO, and also from the Dundas corridor which has way more potential for higher order transit than Burnhamthorpe. Hard to fix the problem now, in both cases.

Yup. Square One is where it is because of the highway though. STC is even worse IMO, because the 401 runs perpendicular to the GO line, so you still could have had the same degree of 401 access if it was situated straddling the rail corridor. At least at Hurontario the GO line and 403 are virtually parallel, so any closer to one is further from the other. Not to excuse the 1960s era planning behind it though.

But yes, still both less than ideal. At least the GTHA got it right when they planned Richmond Hill Centre, and now the future Downtown Markham and Vaughan Centre (I refuse to insert the word "Metropolitan" into that, haha).

 

[diminutive]

The Scarborough Subway is still there on top of it, which means that Scarborough would be getting 2 transit lines less than 2km apart

This Smarttrack proposal would have much more credibility with me if it was presented as an alternative to the Scarborogh subway.

For a relatively low cost, a branch could be built from the main Smarttrack line to STC via the current alignment. Or a branch along the CP line to Malvern, either of which would do a better job than the Scarborough subway. Maybe it would add a few hundred million in incremental costs, but it would save billions.