Fate of the SRT

[Dan416]

In line with my suggestion in a couple other threads at different times, I want to start a few polls to see what the general consensus is regarding various transportation corridors in the city and what form of rapid transit (if any) they should be. The first and most important one in my opinion right now is the SRT, for reasons others on this board have explained better than I have. So let the polls begin!

Don't forget to vote in Poll #2: Fate of the Sheppard Stubway here: http://urbantoronto.ca/showthread.php?t=8415

 

[scarberiankhatru]

Guess what I voted for!

 

[nfitz]

How about extending it on both ends?

 

[scarberiankhatru]

Why would we spend even more money to help fewer people than a subway extension would? It'd exactly duplicate the Stouffville GO line, anyway.

 

[Dan416]

Guess what I voted for!

Hmm, the same option I voted for? I made the voting public

 

[DENTROBATE54]

I can live with a Bloor-Danforth extension to Scarborough Centre if people at least entertain the notion of closing the loop with the Sheppard Line via Markham Road instead of through the industrial wastelands. Transit should be about appeasing as many conflict of interests as possible, which an only slightly longer eastbound commute for the sake of Malvern/Centennial College would allow.

 

[Dan416]

Well I plan to make Poll #2 about Sheppard.

 

[andomano]

don't hate
i had this on the back burner for a while till i saw nfitz's similar idea

 

[urbanfan89]

Threw this together in 2 minutes:

Scarborough RT would be replaced with LRT and extended to Malvern, then Finch/Morningside, then loop around following the path of Transit City Morningside Line. This creates the Scarborough Loop Line.

Sheppard is extended as LRT to STC, then interlines with Scarborough Loop to Malvern.

Once the Kingston LRT line is completed, a line runs between Union and somewhere on Kingston (Guildwood GO?).

Once a Durham LRT and an LRT link is completed, there will be an LRT between Kennedy and Pickering TC.

My idea would try to maximize interlining and minimize transfers.

 

[scarberiankhatru]

Transfers won't be minimized if the transfer at Kennedy sticks around. Travel times could also increase for much of Scarborough because McCowan, Ellesmere and Lawrence (whose corridors actually form the majority of the RT's ridership base) are not served and LRT is slower than the RT. One transit line will terminate in Malvern for every 25,000 residents. LRT from Durham would be quite a bit slower than the parallel GO line that already exists and which can connect to the TTC surface system at stations like Eglinton, Guildwood, or Port Union.

andomano: would the RT replace the Stouffville GO line or just duplicate the whole thing?

 

[CDL.TO]

I have to question the amount of transit infrastructure that people are willing to propose for Scarborough. It seems seriously overkill, and if applied equally across the GTA based on population would require many, many billions of dollars.

 

[Kitsune]

When everyone says extend the BD subway - is that using the current route of the RT, or is the extension entirely underground?

 

[CDL.TO]

When everyone says extend the BD subway - is that using the current route of the RT, or is the extension entirely underground?

It could take any route, but the general consensus seems to be that the best option would be underground via McCowan Rd (and Scarborough General hospital).

 

[Hipster Duck]

I voted to build an exclusively underground busway (yes, bus) at $150M/km, using a fleet of battery-operated Orion VIIs with the original seating. I would also like to tack on a proviso that this only get built if my proposed Zoo-Port Union underground bus goes ahead.

Just kidding! I voted for the subway.

 

[Anth]

I have to question the amount of transit infrastructure that people are willing to propose for Scarborough. It seems seriously overkill, and if applied equally across the GTA based on population would require many, many billions of dollars.

I think this more than anything is what makes the lack of attention to MCC/East Mississauga so difficult for Mississaugans to stomach here. An extension to SCC is nearly universally supported (I count myself among those who do), yet the prospect of extending the BD past Kipling always seems to be hotly contested as if the west end wouldn't see the same benefits because somehow it's more decentralized(!) than Scarborough.

That's not to say that regional rail isn't the right solution for Toronto's suburbs, but I struggle to understand why it wouldn't be good enough for the east as well instead of the numerous existing and proposed subway, LRT and ICTS lines.