Waterloo Region Transit Developments (ION LRT, new terminal, GRT buses)

[drum118]

Sorry, but any route off King to The Ainslie Street Terminal is a waste of resources and riders time.

Sure, Hespler is a shopping area, but that it. Only waste money to build that route that could be better use to beef up service on other routes including Hespler.

 

[timc]

Sorry, but any route off King to The Ainslie Street Terminal is a waste of resources and riders time.

Sure, Hespler is a shopping area, but that it. Only waste money to build that route that could be better use to beef up service on other routes including Hespler.

I agree with this, and I think a lot of people do. But I don't live in Cambridge, nor do I work in Cambridge. In fact, I rarely go there at all.

In a lot of discussion of Cambridge routes, I don't hear much from the local residents. There must be some opinions, especially seeing how much gnashing of teeth there is over placement of a recreation centre.

 

[SaugeenJunction]

Preliminary preferred route (two different graphics), via Stage 2 website:

 

[Amazon]

Which sections would be off road?

 

[SaugeenJunction]

Which sections would be off road?

See for yourself here.

 

[drum118]

LRT Cambridge proposed route announced

 

[cplchanb]

LRT Cambridge proposed route announced

They can do what ever they want....just make sure BBR does NOT win the contract for the LRVs

 

[mpd618]

Sorry, but any route off King to The Ainslie Street Terminal is a waste of resources and riders time.

Sure, Hespler is a shopping area, but that it. Only waste money to build that route that could be better use to beef up service on other routes including Hespler.

This is based heavily on redevelopment possibility and density of destinations. There's not very much opportunity on the stretch between Preston and Galt for redevelopment because of the river and flood zone. Meanwhile, Hespeler Road is full of big box parking lots that no one will miss if they get redeveloped to be dense and urban station areas. And it has existing destinations including Cambridge Centre Mall along with better possible connections to bus routes to the rest of Cambridge - including Hespeler (which isn't otherwise connected).

 

[jje1000]

Hespeler Rd lies smack between the three former towns that make up Cambridge, as opposed to King St, which really only connects Preston and Galt.

It would be the perfect place to build Cambridge a new civic core, with bus routes running radially off of it.

 

[micheal_can]

Why not make it a spur?

 

[dunkalunk]

Hespeler Rd lies smack between the three former towns that make up Cambridge, as opposed to King St, which really only connects Preston and Galt.

It would be the perfect place to build Cambridge a new civic core, with bus routes running radially off of it.

You mean like how Missisauga built a new city core? Regardless of how much tranist is running down it, as long as Hespeler is being used as a major intercity highway, it's hard to imagine anything walkable being developed around there.

I'm inclined to agree with Drum118 that the route needs to go through downtown Preson, down Coronation to serve the hospital, and into downtown Galt. I've envisioned something like the following:

Compared with Hespeler Rd, a route through Preston would be able to make use of an already existing street grid to promote human-scale, walkable intensification in station areas. In 10 years' time could feasibly be somewhere people working in KW would want to live.

 

[TOareaFan]

http://www.regionofwaterloo.ca/en/n...eQuAl&newsId=k8MFUstLWxwNFyFiP7JNbgeQuAleQuAl

 

[SaugeenJunction]

http://www.regionofwaterloo.ca/en/n...eQuAl&newsId=k8MFUstLWxwNFyFiP7JNbgeQuAleQuAl

Link to the tracker is here. I'm pumped... like VERY VERY pumped.

 

[Cobra]

First LRT vehicle leaving Thunder Bay on Tuesday

http://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/first-lrt-vehicle-leaving-thunder-bay-on-tuesday-1.3283452

The first vehicle for Waterloo Region’s Ion light rail transit system is expected to be in the region within two weeks.

Regional officials said Monday that the first vehicle would leave Bombardier’s plant in Thunder Bay on Tuesday, and arrive in the region 10 to 12 days later. It was originally scheduled to be in Waterloo Region by August 2016.

A website has been set up where people can track the vehicle’s journey from Thunder Bay.

Once it arrives here, it will be taken to the storage facility on Dutton Drive in Waterloo, where it will be prepared for testing. It is not expected to make its public debut until April.

Starting in the spring, the vehicle will undergo test runs along part of the Ion route in Waterloo.

Bombardier is building a total of 14 vehicles for the Ion system. According to the region, the second one is expected to arrive in June or July.

 

[Dandy Horse]

Preliminary preferred route (two different graphics), via Stage 2 website:

This is absolute nonsense. Direct routes are important! Imagine if the Yonge subway wowed out to Laird Drive before continuing North! They're trying break something that hasn't even been built yet. This action is violent towards transit users and is being done to pad the pockets of big box landlords. Absurd!