Ontario Northland/Northern Ontario Transportation

[micheal_can]

They are not planning to build, rebuild or renovate any buildings at the Northlander station stops. They are pouring a pad and dropping a pre-made kiosk on it - with a power connection. I'm not aware what VIA does but I doubt they are on a building spree.

Lets say you want a shed in your back yard. You go pick up one from the local hardware store. You pour a pad so that it won't fly away. You assemble it on site and on the pad. Did you not just build a shed? Now let's say you have one that is old and you want to replace it. Did you not just build one? Maybe you may even say you rebuilt it.

Perhaps at a couple of larger centres if it fits into the urban plan, but you two are talking about turning station stops into the next Markham or Barrie by dropping density development, condos and hotels into smaller communities that have neither the infrastructure nor need. Besides, in most cases, the government doesn't own the land. Local municipalities do own some of the older station buildings but I'm not clear on the land ownership.

A well thought out transportation network should be as integrated with the local community it serves as best as practical. This does not mean the final build happens on day one, but could be many phases later. So, this could be the next logical phase of the construction of a community hub. Even if it is decades from when it first opened. So, for Ottawa's station, that is 6 decades. or less than a decade since the LRT station opened. Look around and use that logic to others that are in a sea of parking and not much else.