Debating BRT vs LRT for this route is a bit academic.....Mammo's proposal is to do NOTHING on this route (except buy Articulated buses). He seems to want to divert the budgeted money altogether. Replacing LRT with a BRT might save some dollars, but not on the magnitude he's seeking.
The thing I have never understood about the Finch line is....what market is it proposing to serve? It looks like a great plan to help people in the Northwest get to the Spadina Subway and downtown quicker - but is that really what people in the Northwest need most?
Any east-west line in the north end needs to enable direct, non-transfer trips across the top of the whole city. Building another smaller stub line just replicates the Sheppard Subway mistake...the money runs out, and we shift our focus somewhere else, but what was built doesn't accomplish enough to have been worth it.
It might make sense to shift the Finch money to maximise the reach of existing lines e.g. extend the Eglinton Crosstown to the Airport (that's an LRT for LRT swap, so LRT proponents shouldn't be opposed) and deal with Finch later. Or shift it to accelerate the Sheppard project (in whatever form that makes sense) from the Spadina line all the way east. Or stick to the premise of a line on Finch, but reaching well east of Yonge.
It's a noble aspiration to try to drive transit to every part of the city, but the funding reality means Toronto will need to pick and choose. I'm not a Mammo fan, nor a Smarttrack moonie, but there may be good reason to redirect the money, just not where Mammo wants it to go.
- Paul