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Niagara River Line (Automated Electric Tram)

Northern Light said:
I was pretty close, I didn't account for it being a one-way loop, to this doesn't go quite as far west as I thought.

I'm not enthusiastic for this at all.

I don't see it adding value, how many ways can you look at the Falls? So this just slashes business for the Skylon Tower, that's fine, but its not a big net new trip generator.

I don't think a Big Ferris wheel will achieve much either, nor another casino.

To me, the biggest trip generator for the Fall is unquestionably, in one way or another, a better transit connection from the current VIA/GO station, connecting people more easily to Clifton Hill, and maybe on to Fallsview.

Alternatively achieve the same by a net new or relocated GO Station.

After that, its Transportation again, its hourly GO service or thereabouts, maybe bi-hourly on weekdays, hourly on weekends from Toronto.

Those 2 moves alone could pull a 25% increase in tourism to the region. (particularly with an infill station in wine country.

*****

After that, the best options include augmenting the Bruce Trail (taking it off road wherever possible), connecting it to transit, wherever feasible, adding quality trail heads periodically (seating, canopies, route maps), and then anchoring it with a significantly enlarged Shorthills Provincial Park and add a 350 site campground. It would do gangbusters business.

A viable, well done theme park may make sense, if a private operator wants to do the heavily lifting. An amphitheater with a Lakeside view somewhere that could host TSO or Hamilton Philharmonic concerts on summer weekends would also be a good magnate.
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Naw. For a Ford-visioned "Ls Vegas North" you need to think glitz, tacky and lots of flashy lights. Including plans to upgrade the NF airport means he isn't seeing Toronto as the main clientele.
 
lenaitch said:
Naw. For a Ford-visioned "Ls Vegas North" you need to think glitz, tacky and lots of flashy lights. Including plans to upgrade the NF airport means he isn't seeing Toronto as the main clientele.
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Broadly agreed; though the implicit target is Porter customers via Billy Bishop, its in there if you read through all the docs.

They may well envision the odd direct flight from elsewhere, but I think traffic with a Toronto stopover would be key in their imagination.

I don't see it. Casinos are now ubiquitous in North America. To be a gambling hub (for good or bad as one may see it), you need a critical mass of tourist showpiece hotel/resorts and you need to be able to woo the high end clientele away from Vegas, or Macau etc.

There is nothing there that sets that stage, and I don't see a path, there is a finite number of high end gamblers and indoor resort goers.
 
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lenaitch said:
Naw. For a Ford-visioned "Ls Vegas North" you need to think glitz, tacky and lots of flashy lights. Including plans to upgrade the NF airport means he isn't seeing Toronto as the main clientele.
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Yeah, I take back my previous cautious optimism. This is just gimmicky nonsense. But I'm sure it'll make some of DoFo's developer buddies a lot of money, so completely on brand.
 
It’s a rehash of Doug Ford’s old plans for the Toronto Portlands, just moving the gadgetbahn and the Ferris to the Falls, along with more casinos and such.

I can’t take this too seriously, but given his power over his party and the province, I’m taking it a bit more seriously than the first Biff’s Pleasure Paradise proposal.
 
reaperexpress said:
What they could have done with 3.8 km
View attachment 703093
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You know I thinks there was another plan years ago to run the monorail on the defunct Michigan Central railway track. Which now it's being used as a walkway for pedestrians etc starting at the hwy 420. You can see it on the map that you created the route on the parkway. It runs practically parallel to your visionary route. The south side of the track will be used for the Niagara River Line starting from Marineland Boulevard area ending at the new casino where the Avalon music venue is. They should continue on the same route from the old defunct track on the north side of the casino by Murray Street. Running it parallel to Victoria Ave crossing to the 420 highway. Then straddle on top of the new existing walkway to the Via ,GO station. They already have the We Go bus using the Parkway route to get to Niagara on the lake!
 
Northern Light said:
Broadly agreed; though the implicit target is Porter customers via Billy Bishop, its in there if you read through all the docs.

They may well envision the odd direct flight from elsewhere, but I think traffic with a Toronto stopover would be key in their imagination.

I don't see it. Casinos are now ubiquitous in North America. To be a gambling hug (for good or bad as one may see it), you need a critical mass of tourist showpiece hotel/resorts and you need to be able to woo the high end clientele away from Vegas, or Macau etc.

there is nothing there that sets that stage, and I don't see a path, there is a finite number of high end gamblers and indoor resort goers.
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Agree. Numbers are closely held but attendance at the three 'corporate' casinos (Rama, Windsor and NF) fell off a cliff during Covid and never recovered. The entertainment venue at Rama isn't doing too bad but has not returned to previous levels. A lot of the restaurants are either closed or have reduced hours and the bus bay out back would have tumbleweeds rolling through it if the climate was different. It seems that the more places you have to spend discretionary money, the less each one will earn. Who knew.

Unless it can replicate all that Vegas has to offer; top level entertainment, loose/no liquor laws, year-round decent weather, dirt cheap flights and packages from all over, I don't see it.
 
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Would it really hurt to just build a basic LRT from Niagara GO station…through the historic town centre and then into the tourist district? It’s literally all in one direction basically (north to south)? There are people who actually LIVE in Niagara Falls….

In fact with the way Niagara Falls, St. Catherines and Welland are all growing, it could very well become one continuous urban area similar to Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge.

Would be wise to look at the grander scheme of things (ie. an Ion for the Niagara region).
 
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