This is a post and reply from another thread, which I think is better placed here
Not sure if this image has been posted yet
Couple of observations:
1. Is there actually talk about Finch going through, or is this just a mistake? From everything I've read, my understanding that any Finch BRT would be exclusive to the western portion of the route.
2. Regardless of whether or not the map is accurate or not, it shows just how wasteful Sheppard was and is. Building a Finch B/LRT along the hydro corridor across the top of the city just looks to make too much sense. Two points I want to make on this:
- While it may take a little longer to walk from Finch to the hydro corridor, it is worth noting that any walk would be no worse than walking through a subway station (which is what these people want, Ford said so!) and would serve a mobility market needing to travel longer distances while buses on Finch would serve more local commutes.
- The location makes sense too. Despite what andrewpmk said above, the way rapid transit is constructed, at least in the GTA, tends to be designed to compete more with major arteries than highways. Simply look at the Spadina line. With the exception of rush hour, it is consistently passed by road traffic. The same cannot be said for the GO Lakeshore East line, which is highly visible from the 401. Even the Yonge line between Eglinton and Sheppard tops out around 70-80km/h, if that.
- A Finch line also makes sense from an urban planning theory point of view as well. You have highways around the city, and rapid transit to take people into the core. In this case, the 400, 407, 404, and 401 form the ring, while rapid transit along Finch and Yonge take people into downtown North York. This way people from out of town can get into the core without driving all the way in. This theory isn't perfect, as some argue it allows people to bypass the city possibly too easily. But personally it is far better than the alternative which is to force obscene amounts of traffic on to city through streets, or worse, build highways directly into the core.
The only way to save grace for Sheppard would be to extend it north along the Viva Green route to downtown Markham. With the new urbanist TOD being constructed there, it may have a shot of actually generating ridership - even if currently the Green line is rush hour only due to poor ridership.
Finch in Hydro corridor doesn't make much sense West of Bathurst. Obviously it is completely useless west of highway 400.
There are a few places between Bathurst and Jane on Finch where the bulk of destination are on the south side of the street and a it would be difficult to get through mid-block from the hydro corridor. One of the more obvious is where the York U busway is.
A good chunk of employment for people coming from further east on Finch (Jane area) is directly south of the impassable oil storage yards. As I've said elsewhere, Finch has an unually high number of trips that do not require a transfer. Both the origin and destination are on Finch and care must be taken to preserve these very lucrative* trips.
* TTC benefits greatly from high-turnover of full price short trips and Finch has a lot of those. If local service is gutted too much in favour of express, we may see those trips disappear.
I'm not convinced it is the best idea East of Bayview either both due to the distance involved and the roads department will take issue with adding hundreds of new lights on North/South streets.
East of the 404 the hydro corridor obviously isn't workable for Finch service as they are 1km apart.
First, in regards to the west end, while I am not condoning government waste, profit should not be the prime goal of a public service either. The Finch corridor is home to some of the poorest people in the city, many of whom cannot afford a car for the option of longer travel. Therefore they are forced to meet their everyday life needs close to home. While far from a bad thing, they should WANT to do this rather than be forced to due to their economic situation. Even those who are well off and do choose to live such a lifestyle, they tend to have access to options to meet longer travel needs (car, rapid or commuter transit).
Northwest Toronto is also not just a suburban abyss, as there are quite a few points of interest which could generate ridership on a faster route. Woodbine Racetrack and Slots, Woodbine Centre Mall, Humber College, and to a lesser extent Wild Water Kingdom are all located near or at where a Finch BRT would end. I actually have met a surprising number people in Richmond Hill who attend or attended Humber, and of course, they drive as transit would take several hours in its current form. If there was a rapid transit option, some of these people might take it instead. That doesn't even consider those from North York or Scarborough who would be able to get to these places in a reasonable amount of time.
As for the eastern portion... okay, considering that it is more open and the fact that the hydro corridor is out of the way, I can see putting in bus lanes on Finch as a more probable option. Still, it would be interesting to see how many people would travel the extra kilometer north to access a faster ride overall...
