GO Transit: Construction Projects (Metrolinx, various)

[ShonTron]

Forget even Kirby and Lawrence East -- Gormley (now open) and Bloomington (under construction) are also very dubious new GO Stations. As they're both on the Oak Ridges Moraine, they're completely incompatible with provincial land use policies.

 

[mdrejhon]

One thing I'd like to see is Metrolinx do a "low lying apples" optimization of the GO network:

Minor things, like turning West Harbour into a 2-way station, so it can become part of the existing seasonal Niagara summer service and successfully put "more bums in seats". Metrolinx might be concerned about the low ridership of West Harbour GO station (and even the earlier dissapointing ridership results of the underadvertised-but-wonderful Pan Am express trains), but that's simply because it only has 2 super-early commuter trains in the morning -- and no ability to service the 8 trains per weekend that simply trundle by the station (4 to Toronto, 4 to Niagara Falls).

I often see the existing Niagara GO train pass Hamilton without stopping, taunting of potential ridership.

Oh, and yes, HSR does need to pony up -- with an improved connection to West Harbour GO -- but existing routes can still handle this.

That's a lot of ridership per dollar for a minor station modification. Considering that the GO trains actually often go between WestHarbour-Niagara faster than by car and also goes between WestHarbour-Toronto faster than an Aldershot allstop train (the Niagara seasonal is semiexpress), even before the planned 2019-2023 extra track to St. Catharines.

I certianly anticipate a major announcement before Election 2018, and the station is extremely important in future transit plans (moreso than many think), but why not utilize assets now with some "Quick Wins" spending?

 

[DonValleyRainbow]

Statement from Minister of Transportation on Kirby GO Station

"...I recommend that Metrolinx not enter into any contractual obligations until relevant management staff and the Board are satisfied that the updated land use planning information, finalized RER service concept for the Barrie Corridor, station design and cost, and local transit services justify the station. If the aforementioned information is not adequate, then I would recommend that the proposed Kirby GO station be deferred to the next round of consideration at a future date."

lol, he's still trying to cling onto it.

But the fact it caught Metrolinx off guard is probably the best part:

Matt Elliott‏Verified account@GraphicMatt
Metrolinx CEO was surprised by Transportation Minister’s GO station announcement. Broken governance. http://www.metronews.ca/news/toronto/2017/08/28/metrolinx-pressured-approve-go-station-in-ministers-riding.html…

Some more awesome tidbits by Ben Spurr:

Ben Spurr‏Verified account@BenSpurr
Going to tweet a few things from the Metrolinx documents I FOI'd, which I couldn't fit into today's story.

On the left is the business case for Kirby from early June 2016. On the right is the public version Metrolinx released nine months later.

Here is Metrolinx's mngr of station planning responding after being asked to see if the business cases could be changed.

The business cases were prepared by consultants. "We can't change them to make their scores different," the station mngr wrote.

A separate summary report contained explicit recommendations to not proceed with Kirby and Lawrence East.

The station mngr says here that the consultant, AECOM, demanded its name be taken off the report if Metrolinx altered it.

 

[crs1026]

to @mrdejhon's comment - I wish one could get sufficient information from ML about all its projects' timelines and work plans and interdependencies.

Adding a connection to the east end of West Harbour is not necessarily a "minor" modification. One would have to know how much of that investment would outlive the longer term extension to Niagara. I would hate to see ML spend say $10M now and then have that investment removed, or prove to be unnecessary, for the longer term.

But it's definitely irritating that this potential modification sits unattended with no end in sight. The way the whole extension from Bayview to Hamilton is sitting unfinished, with no work going on, needs some media attention. I have a real theory that the only serious commitment ML and the government had to West Harbour was the 2015 Pan Am games. Now that the games are over, the whole development of West Harbour seems to have been parked until whenever the eventual extension to Confederation is mobilised.

- Paul

 

[amnesiajune]

The great thing about BRT is that buses can continue to operate off the end of the busway, accessing destinations that aren't directly served by it.

They can't really stop while they're merging across three lanes of traffic to get into the busway. So there would have to be a sizeable walk (about 300 meters east) from the Concord Go Station to the Viva stop, which makes that service improvement even smaller.

How does it compare to Kirby or Innisfil stations in these respects?

I don't doubt that Kirby is a pointless station. For Innisfil, I'm not sure. It's not likely to generate a whole lot of ridership, but it's not going to slow down as many passengers' trips (since there are only two stations before it) and there aren't stations 3 km away in both directions (the closest stops at 10 km towards Barrie and 25 km towards Toronto).

 

[steveintoronto]

Away and unavailable, where, I wonder considering this is a once-in-a-career photo-op he cannot afford to miss.

Having said that, my confidence in the NDP or PC in practising "evidence-based decision making" as opposed to "decision-based evidence making" on the transit file is also exactly zero.

AoD

The alternatives are even worse, doubtless...but I suspect this is being realized as such an incredible botch-up that the OntLibs are on the back foot cloistered away in crisis mode to try and put the best face on this.

I just got glimpse of an announcement, will read it before further comment.

Statement from Minister of Transportation on Kirby GO Station
lol, he's still trying to cling onto it.
But the fact it caught Metrolinx off guard is probably the best part:
Some more awesome tidbits by Ben Spurr:

Just accessing some of your links now. I find Twitter a step too far many times to follow, a shame in some respects, because the nuggets get buried in the noise. Following your links, I see this:

I still can't help but wonder on the blowback going as far as Tory's office, and Keesmaat's realizing the time to jump ship is now. I get the distinct whiff of something much bigger going on here. It doesn't take a huge breach to sink ships, and this is more than big enough. I suspect Elliot, Spurr et al sense the same thing.

Haven't read Il Duce's plea for love and understanding before being lynched yet, I'm sure, as Don Valley points out, he's got a few more steps backward yet to even begin to make it believable. And Shon Tron's point on it being more than just the two stations presently in the cross-hairs may prove prophetic.

Edit to Add: I keep staring at the figures Pagliaro posts above...and beyond the two takes all being negative in every respect, the *disparity* of the figures is mind-boggling.

Von Münchhausen would even be shocked...

AECOM, demanded its name be taken off the report if Metrolinx altered it.

Well at least one party realizes the value of integrity.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Since we already know where the Liberals stand, the devil in me would love to pose the question to Horwath and Brown as to whether they will commit to cancelling Kirby and Lawrence West given their professed belief in evidence - instead of hopes and prayers type of answer.

AoD

 

[steveintoronto]

Since we already know where the Liberals stand, the devil in me would love to pose the question to Horwath and Brown as to whether they will commit to cancelling Kirby and Lawrence West given their professed belief in evidence - instead of hopes and prayers type of answer.

AoD

Well they may not have to be asked. You can bet your bottom broadsheet both parties are working on how to turn this into a weapon of mass corruption by playing their words strategically. Given Brown's penchant for saying nothing even as he tries, and Horwath's missing the mark on policy, Wynne might still survive. But only by default. It may be to the point that the Libs have to dump Il Duce from his post, he's a liability they just don't need.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Well they may not have to be asked. You can bet your bottom broadsheet both parties are working on how to turn this into a weapon of mass corruption by playing their words strategically. Given Brown's penchant for saying nothing even as he tries, and Horwath's missing the mark on policy, Wynne might still survive. But only by default. It may be to the point that the Libs have to dump Il Duce from his post, he's a liability they just don't need.

They already did considering the request to refer the file to the Auditor General, but posing the question will just illustrate how vacuous all of them really are. I am sure we will get some hash out of it.

It's like the gas plant all over again - all of them more or less wanted the same outcome for electoral reasons, none wanted to be the one pressing the button.

AoD

 

[narduch]

Since we already know where the Liberals stand, the devil in me would love to pose the question to Horwath and Brown as to whether they will commit to cancelling Kirby and Lawrence West given their professed belief in evidence - instead of hopes and prayers type of answer.

AoD

The Kirby station would be politically easy to cancel. The average voter in Vaughan probably wouldn't even care or notice. The only groups that would be upset would be the Developers of the new subdivisions that are going up near by.

 

[steveintoronto]

The Kirby station would be politically easy to cancel. The average voter in Vaughan probably wouldn't even care or notice. The only groups that would be upset would be the Developers of the new subdivisions that are going up near by.

That's a very good point! If someone has a guesstimate of how many *present* locals would be inconvenienced by this, please supply. I feel a bit naive now in missing that dynamic, that The Libs don't stand to lose votes from postponing this, in fact they may even gain some if the negative indicators for ridership are accurate. It's only Il Duce's henchmen who will be miffed.

Very interesting, that puts a whole different shine on the turd.

It's like the gas plant all over again

I used that illustration in a post yesterday, to which Amnesia poured magnesia all over. I think the validity of the simile will become more apparent with time, and narduch brings clarity to the point with his post.

I'm sure someone is digging right now to see what the developers have contributed to Il Duce's case of fascist-itis.
How the Vatican built a secret property empire using Mussolini's millions

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

The Kirby station would be politically easy to cancel. The average voter in Vaughan probably wouldn't even care or notice. The only groups that would be upset would be the Developers of the new subdivisions that are going up near by.

No doubt, though I wonder what kind of donor/party relationships we might be dealing with in that case.

AoD

 

[DonValleyRainbow]

Ben Spurr‏Verified account@BenSpurr 2h2 hours ago
Premier says Del Duca is sending letter to Metrolinx today stating that GO stations that aren't supported by evidence won't be built

Here the full transcript of Wynne's answers today to q's about Metrolnix's approval of GO stations that internal reports recommended against

Meanwhile (h/t @hey_trev):

 

[narduch]

No doubt, though I wonder what kind of donor/party relationships we might be dealing with in that case.

AoD

And that's how this Liberal party works and is a big reason why they deserve to get turfed next year.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

And that's how this Liberal party works and is a big reason why they deserve to get turfed next year.

Right, though you didn't read into my quote deeply enough - and especially given the Greenbelt review to come.

AoD