Toronto Spadina Subway Extension Emergency Exits | ?m | 1s | TTC | IBI Group

I had to look at that pic a couple of times to convince myself they were not building a small airport ;)

haha, definitely looks like the makings of one.

highway407-airport.png
 

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If you look at the subway ridership numbers to system length, Toronto moves more riders per km of track than New York or London. I'm no expert so I don't know if the numbers I looked at are wrong but it suggests that all our worries about subways to no where might be an exaggeration. Major Western Cities have more km of subways to no where than we have. By the way Toronto moves far fewer riders per km of track than major Asian cities.
 
Yes we move more people per km of track but we also have the lowest subsidy. Other cities may have more money to waste but Toronto has such a neglected demand for transit that even spending 0.5M on UPX (which includes upgrades on GO Kitchener) seems wasteful. We need all the useful transit we can get for our money. The UPX, the Spadina extension and he Scarborough subway extension are all wasteful over spends of our few transit capital dollars. Not to mention the $1B wasted on Sheppard which would have been much better as an LRT, now that route will be an orphaned stub forever.
 
Yes we move more people per km of track but we also have the lowest subsidy. Other cities may have more money to waste but Toronto has such a neglected demand for transit that even spending 0.5M on UPX (which includes upgrades on GO Kitchener) seems wasteful. We need all the useful transit we can get for our money. The UPX, the Spadina extension and he Scarborough subway extension are all wasteful over spends of our few transit capital dollars. Not to mention the $1B wasted on Sheppard which would have been much better as an LRT, now that route will be an orphaned stub forever.
Not to disagree with your overall point...but the ~500mil on UP did not include upgrades on GO KW.....in fact an additional $1.3B was spent on the corridor at the same time...the $500mil on UP was just UP (which I agree is not all that much).
 
3 of the 6 stations will be busy. Downsview park is ppudo and Barrie line transfers only, so will be empty. 407 has a half decent parking area, but steeles west will have a larger one, and transfers from YRT and GO will be small. I expect half decent ppudo volumes though given its location next to a highway. Vaughan Centre will have a brt and large bus terminal, so it won't be horrible, but I still don't expect huge amounts of use.
 
The amount of political ego surrounding this whole subway extension is truly staggering, and it's not just coming from Vaughan. I found this 2014 video of councillor Perruzza speaking about the glorious future that awaits Keele & Finch. I appreciate his optimism and agree with a lot of this points, but gimme a break.
  • "The subway station, when it finally interchanges with the new lrt, that station will have an interphase of people that will exceed what you currently have at Spadina & Bloor"
  • "We have the largest growth potential of any other districts in the city of Toronto"
  • "This will be the new centre of the GTA"
  • "It will be an exciting place to be there is no question about it"




By the way, this councillor was the one who tried to rename Finch West station to "University Heights". Sadly, this was the only silly renaming that was unsuccessful.
 
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The amount of political ego surrounding this whole subway extension is truly staggering, and it's not just coming from Vaughan. I found this 2014 video of councillor Perruzza speaking about the glorious future that awaits Keele & Finch. I appreciate his optimism and agree with a lot of this points, but gimme a break.
  • "The subway station, when it finally interchanges with the new lrt, that station will have an interphase of people that will exceed what you currently have at Spadina & Bloor"
  • "We have the largest growth potential of any other districts in the city of Toronto"
  • "This will be the new centre of the GTA"
  • "It will be an exciting place to be there is no question about it"
By the way, this councillor was the one who tried to rename Finch West station to "University Heights". Sadly, this was the only silly renaming that was unsuccessful.

Now I knew who wrote the script for the notorious UPE video. Did they ever listen to what they have said and not cringe a little?

Seriously, individuals such as these have no business wielding transit planning power, ever.

AoD
 
Two things in life are certain. UT postings complaining about subway stations that are too grand, and UT postings complaining about subway stations that aren't grand enough.

I'm not against grand subway stations but having grand ones with limited to no development potential is a waste. I'd rather they overbuild on downtown stations to make it convenient to enter/exit and transfer than to make large airport terminals that will sit largely empty collecting dust. Downsview Park will be one as will 407. Finch West will get decent ridership I agree but when I joined the public consultations on it I voiced my concern that there was no need for a bus terminal. The then LRT would be going to Finch station and the Keele bus does not come often enough to justify a terminal. Even now with the shortened LRT, a terminal here is not needed. The Finch bus can do a street loop and drop and pick up passengers off from the street. It would be better if they used the land to put an office building to generate more demand at the intersection.
 
^I am not a big fan of station overbuild anywhere, TBH....but building "grand" stations downtown would likely be prohibitive from a cost point of view...land is so much scarcer and, as a result, more expensive.

I guess, in the remoter areas there are two aspects to the "grandness"...stations need to be noticed for people to get/accept/realize (whichever word works) that transit is there...and, I guess, from a creature comfort point of view the need to make transit attractive and "nice" to use is higher.

Still don't like it, but it is no surprise to me that the "grandness" is more to the outskirts than DT.
 
I can't wait for when we build a $2 Billion station right next to city hall and all we get is a doorway off the path and an open air stairway next to the fountain in Nathan Philips Square...
 

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