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Eglinton-Crosstown Corridor Debate

What do you believe should be done on the Eglinton Corridor?

  • Do Nothing

    Votes: 5 1.3%
  • Build the Eglinton Crosstown LRT as per Transit City

    Votes: 140 36.9%
  • Revive the Eglinton Subway

    Votes: 226 59.6%
  • Other (Explain in post)

    Votes: 8 2.1%

  • Total voters
    379
I think the planned grade seperated LRT is better then nothing. I think a single bus gets a lot of cars off the road, LRT even more so and subway and RT even more so. I like the idea of Subway's and LRT because they run on elecrical power so they don't cause local area pollution. It will be good for all of our health to have a few less smog days every summer.
 
I'm not saying that GO wouldn't find the riders; I'm saying that improving GO as a way of serving crosstown riders simply isn't part of the Toronto mindset.

We've seen over and over again that the public generally wants more of the modes they are familiar with.

This is the worst reasoning I've heard yet. The only reason it's not in a "mindset" is due it's lack of existence.
 
This is the worst reasoning I've heard yet. The only reason it's not in a "mindset" is due it's lack of existence.
Did you actually read the context surrounding my post before criticizing it?

I wasn't saying that we can't change the mindset, or that crosstown GO is a bad idea. In fact, I've *been* saying we need crosstown GO routes (CP corridor or 401). It's just that crosstown GO has a harder time getting mindshare right now because Toronto residents are less familiar with it than subways. It's simply not what comes to peoples mind as a solution, and so they promote subways as the only solution.
 
In that case, I was not criticising you, I was criticising the people you were talking about :)
 
Ive always believed that this disconnect isn't something we can't solve with good marketing.
 
I'm sure a lot of people would support a Crosstown/Midtown GO line if they knew how fast it would take them across and through the city.
 
I'm sure a lot of people would support a Crosstown/Midtown GO line if they knew how fast it would take them across and through the city.

Right. I think people's experience with GO in this city has been rather poor. It's seen as a suburban service, but GO would be a great way to get from the east end of the city to the west end. The subway is currently about 1 hr from end to end.
 
By contrast, on the Lakeshore Line from Long Branch GO to Rouge Hill GO is roughly 53 minutes including a 5 minute stopover at Union Stn, as extreme west and extreme east as one can go within the city limits.

Now, if only the TTC would welcome fare integration like the 905 'burbs do. Having to pay only a mere $0.60 fare to ride on the Rocket must be too frightening a prospect for them though.
 
The first thing to do in order to have Toronto citizens support GO Transit more is to get rid of the rules that create crappy service at Toronto GO stations. Currently every GO station outside the city gets bus services when the trains aren't running but the ones inside the city get nothing. The rules need to be changes so GO stations inside and outside the city are treated equally. Going to Rouge Hill on the TTC is argueably more of a hassle difficult than going to Dixie and Dundas on the TTC and MT.
 
I guess we should be doing some before photos, to compare with after they put in Eglinton Crosstown LRT:

Oakwood, looking south from Eglinton, in 1924:
ser71%5Cs0071_it3335.jpg


Laying the track bed for the Oakwood streetcar, in 1924:
ser71%5Cs0071_it3433.jpg


Laying the track bed along Eglinton, in 1924:
ser71%5Cs0071_it3434.jpg


Track laying at Oakwood and Eglinton, in 1924:
ser71%5Cs0071_it3464.jpg


Eglinton West at Gilbert (west of Caledonia), in 1924:
ser71%5Cs0071_it3332.jpg


The Gilbert Loop, the Oakwood streetcar went no further, in 1924:
ser71%5Cs0071_it3456.jpg


Laying the tracks at the Gilbert Loop, now a park, in 1924:
ser71%5Cs0071_it3498.jpg


The Gilbert Loop being used:
streetcar-4119-07.jpg


The Oakwood streetcar line was abandoned on January 1, 1960. If you look at the roadway, you maybe able to see the outline of the old streetcar tracks in the asphalt. I have noticed at Oakwood, just south of Eglinton, the pattern of the tracks. When they start to dig in the area for the LRT line, all those old cover ups could disappear.
 
I get the feeling Metrolinx is seriously considering running Mark II cars along Eglinton. It seems they really want to ensure the SRT doesn't remain an oddity on the network so it may either be made prominent or made extinct. I don't see any other reason for the comments which have been made to date and the complete silence since the Scarborough Benefits Case came out. There should have been follow-up Eglinton EA meetings and a Metrolinx Eglinton Benefits Case out by now. The inflation of the cost estimates on the route could be padding to ensure flexibility on the decision. The Scarborough Benefits Case resulted in a bit of a tie depending on whether the decision is purely a numbers game or more qualitative. I have to believe that the ridership projections on Eglinton would show far more long term potential on the route. I really wish they would release the Eglinton Benefits Case study or schedule the next EA. I would especially like to see the preliminary plans for the Kennedy station makeover.
 

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