Downtown Rapid Transit Expansion Study

[TheTigerMaster]

^

Well, this thread is kind of going off topic with all this Yonge-talk, but as my final comment on the matter I think talk of Yonge line overcrowding is a bit overdrawn. Even with a Yonge extension and without a DRL the line's ok out to 2031. Between fold up seats (or even just all longitudinal seating) and a 7th car we should have some cushion for like a decade.

Plus, it's important to remember that Yonge's congestion is, mostly, PEAK congestion. Kind of an obvious point, but if you ride the Yonge line at 9am it's hardly swamped. Building a huge new twined subway would really only benefit the few hundred people who have to wait 3 or 5 minutes for the next train.

I think any DRL would give the Yonge sufficient breathing room for a few decades. Beyond that, the City will have to look at shaping demand to discourage our over-reliance on Yonge. It's been a conscious decision to funnel almost all of our major feeder routes onto Yonge and locate soo much development along the corridor (while also discouraging intensification elsewhere like Dundas West.

Do you ever ride the Yonge line? Allot of the time people can't even get on trains. And from what I've observed, a 7th car won't solve the issue.

 

[rbt]

Do you ever ride the Yonge line? Allot of the time people can't even get on trains. And from what I've observed, a 7th car won't solve the issue.

The concept of a congestion charge mentioned earlier would fix it pretty quickly.

A dime surcharge would be enough to push many trips outside of peak times or to alternative routes. If 5,000 people changed their morning/afternoon trips, there would be plenty of space.

It seems like a perfectly valid way for the city to raise money for the DRL too, even if it's only $150M over 10 years.

 

[JayBeeGooner]

Do you ever ride the Yonge line? Allot of the time people can't even get on trains. And from what I've observed, a 7th car won't solve the issue.

A lot of people can't get on, because they do not seem to make the effort to get on. It's astounding how much space there is in the trains, when you shove past the idiots crowding the doors.

 

[k10ery]

Interesting proposal.
That would be the same as making the downtown Yonge stations a separate fare zone.
I could see it working as a "demand management" mechanism to have Bloor line passengers transfer at St. George instead of Bloor-Yonge.

Well I thought about that but it doesn't quite work: If people used University but went "round the U" to e.g. King they would still pay the surcharge. I guess you could reconfigure stations so they have to tap on/off at platform level, to check which direction they are going. But that seems complicated.

Seems like another argument for disconnecting Yonge and Spadina lines

 

[k10ery]

The concept of a congestion charge mentioned earlier would fix it pretty quickly.

A dime surcharge would be enough to push many trips outside of peak times or to alternative routes. If 5,000 people changed their morning/afternoon trips, there would be plenty of space.

It seems like a perfectly valid way for the city to raise money for the DRL too, even if it's only $150M over 10 years.

I'd be surprised if 10 cents would be enough to fix it. But it would be a place to start. Actually the place to start is Presto: as far as I can tell the current software does not even support peak/off-peak fares. Sheesh.

 

[gweed123]

Seems like another argument for disconnecting Yonge and Spadina lines

Works for me . I've already voiced my opinion many times that the DRL should be an eastward extension of the University-Spadina subway, not a completely independent line.

Can't hurt to have another reason in it's favour.

 

[Dan416]

Has anyone heard the Sarah Thomson radio ads for the DRL and saying how she's not mayor, yet? And then she give a link to some website which I can't remember now.

 

[nfitz]

Has anyone heard the Sarah Thomson radio ads for the DRL and saying how she's not mayor, yet? And then she give a link to some website which I can't remember now.

I haven't heard - but I'd assume it's the http://www.unlockgridlock.ca/ which I think she is leading.

 

[Dan416]

Oh yes she specifically mentions the 1% tax. I was happy to hear it on the radio

 

[M II A II R II K]

There's also this campaign to encourage the rest of the funding.

http://your32.com/the-issue/