It would also require closing the Sheppard subway for years. And there are 50,000 people who use it per day
Years? Not quite. A lot of the work can be done with the line still operational.
1) Reduce platform lengths so that half the platform can be closed off for reconstruction, while the other half remains open (remember, Sheppard has knock-out walls at the end of the platforms, because the platforms themselves are long enough for 6 car trains).
2) Reconstruct half the platform to be compatible with low floor LRT vehicles.
3) Shut the line down for a month or two to replace the tracks and cabling system to be LRT compatible.
4) Re-open the line as an LRT line, and proceed with reconstructing the other half of the platform.
Do the shutdown during the summer when a) ridership is lower because there are fewer students and more workers on vacation, and b) it's nicer weather outside to wait for a shuttle bus.
What is the difference between the Sheppard express bus and a regular bus? The only difference is that the stops are further apart. I don't see how anybody would consider that to be BRT.
It's not BRT, by nearly any possible definition. To even be BRT-lite, it would need to have queue jump lanes and signal priority, in addition to the wider stop spacing.
