Recent content by DirectionNorth

Russia is a strategic adversary and competitor in the Arctic. Not to sound mercenary, but Ukraine wearing them down (with their blood, mind you) is easily worth $22 billion to us. Probably actually an order of magnitude or more. We're also in the middle of trying to run away from the US as...

I wonder if the best solution to Eglinton East LRT, rather than trying to recreate the Eglinton-Kingston-Morningside route, is a combination of the McCowan-Eglinton infill suggested by @Northern Light (no doubt by other people as well) and an upgrade to Lakeshore East GO, with an improved...

MiWay service changes - 5 January, 2025 (source) Route Change Old/New 26 Burnhamthorpe Midday: +7% 16 min. -> 15 min. 35 Eglinton Routing EB service removed from Erin Centre and Tenth Line, both directions now run on Ninth Line and Eglinton 61 Mavis Midday: +14% 16 min...

They already removed O&M cost before calculating the data. You can see for yourself, even Finch West slower-than-a-bus-T cost $2.3 billion ($230 million/km) before a single passenger had boarded a tram, per Metrolinx's latest board meeting. And escalation is lower elsewhere because they do not...

The main cost driver of underground (and TBH overground) transit are the stations and systems. Tunnelling is not really where the budget goes, it's all the downstream effect of tunnelling (ie. stations) that eat money. At least, that's how it works in most of the world. At Metrolinx, the main...

[insert YRT reminder about arithmetic and percentages] New YRT changes are out. They seem to have included the old service levels on some but not all changes, so less work for me! Yay? https://www.yrt.ca/en/schedules-and-maps/service-changes-and-updates.aspx? York Region Transit service...

I think Jane in York Region has a good case for a Parisian-style tram, if we could build it for Parisian costs and operate at Parisian speeds from the Vaughan Hospital hitting Canada's Wonderland, Vaughan Mills, VMC, and possibly Highway 407 (if we get a 407 line there someday) achieving a ~10...

Just rambling, but ... If I recall correctly, one of the big frustrations that led to Deutsche Bahn pulling out, was that Metrolinx had no idea what kind of scope it wanted. Having that now (even if $26 billion for 4TPH to Burlington/Bramalea/Maple/Unionville/Oshawa is a ridiculously high...

From the APTA 2024 ridership report, GO had ~53 million boardings and ~220k daily riders. When it comes to commuter rail, this puts it behind all three New York metro systems (the LIRR, Metro North, and NJ Transit), and ahead of the Chicago Metra.

The massive wealth of billionaires hides the fact that most consumption doesn't accrue to them. The assets of every billionaire in the country (assuming you could liquidate them all at current rates, which you can't) would not even fund one year of federal spending (source). Tax them to prevent...

The benefits are individual, the harms are on a wide scale (a $17000/year program, so the Ontario "pilot", is equivalent to more-than-doubling the federal budget; a taxation scheme would suck the life out of the economy, a deficit scheme would turn us into Argentina). A pilot for a few thousand...

The 21st century will belong to whichever major power ends the self-inflicted catastrophes first. Welcome back to the era of "personality*"-driven politics. *I use this term generously to describe Trump, Xi, Putin, etc.

York Region Transit Service Changes - 2 November, 2025 Obligatory reminder that a large percentage of a small number is a small number. Route Change Old/New 6 Major Mackenzie Late evening service added 7 days a week Weekday service ends at 0100; weekend service ends at ~0000 (formerly...

Brampton Transit Service Changes - 27 October, 2025 Route Changes Old/New 501 Züm Queen Saturday: -6% 15 min -> 16 min 1/1A Queen Peak periods: +9% 12 min -> 11 min 1/1A Queen Midday: -6% 15 min -> 16 min 1/1A Queen* Early evening: +14% 25 min -> 22 min 1/1A Queen* Late...

Worst construction costs for a "regular" infill station in the world, as far as I know. America is not that bad. Gord Perks was not strong enough in renaming those stations - I would have chosen "We're #1 for a change!" and "Toronto is the worst!" as my picks. """Smart""" track, the dumbest move...