Subway To Mississauga: Routing

[jks]

HAHA, I'd vote for Bloor, as it would run right by my house, but Sherway is a HUGE trip-generator, so technically, my most preferred option would be going down to Sherway, the turn right back up, with a stop somewhere in the Markland Woods area (Preferrably in the middle, at Mill & Bloor), then continue along bloor with stops at Fieldgate, then High-Point Mall (Dixie-Bloor), then at Tomken, Cawthra, something in the Mississauga Valley, and back up to square one.

I don't even know if it's technically possible to have it snakw down to Sherway, then go back up to Bloor.

 

[Dan416]

I don't think the bloor line should be extended into Mississauga. I think it should go along the 427 (strategically, of course) to the airport and the future Egg LRT. In the distant future this line could then veer back east to downsview and eventually link up to the shepard subway. Regaurding Mississaga, I think they should develop they're own rapid transit solutions to the (then) multiple stations along the 427.

This seems to be a very insular and ignorant view of the GTA as it is now. Why are people so scared of crossing the 416/905 line? There wasn't a line there before! And if anything, things have blurred between 416 and 905 even more than before they became 416/905!

 

[RedRocket191]

This seems to be a very insular and ignorant view of the GTA as it is now. Why are people so scared of crossing the 416/905 line? There wasn't a line there before! And if anything, things have blurred between 416 and 905 even more than before they became 416/905!

I think there are better ways to serve the area than bringing the subway into Mississauga, but that's besides the point. I fully agree with you. The environment, the economy and quality of life doesn't change when you cross municipal boundaries.

 

[doady]

Even though I think an LRT is better, I think there are some valid reasons to extend the subway instead. Subway would provide a seamless connection without transfer.

The problem with the Dundas LRT is that it would be very short, going from Hurontario to Islington only (there is no reason to go beyond this). But still, this LRT alone would directly connect two urban growth centres, which is more than can be said of any Transit City line.

Also, it doesn't make sense to have a higher-order transit line in Mississauga than the Hurontario LRT. Hurontario is the most important corridor after all.

 

[autopilot]

Someone should make some maps.

 

[Rainforest]

There may be a case for extending the Bloor subway into Mississauga, eventually.

But a higher priority should be frequent express service on the Milton GO line, electrification of that line, and its re-routing (in a tunnel) via Square One. That would connect Square One to Union Stn / Toronto downtown, while another branch could operate on the North Toronto sub and connect Square One with Toronto midtown.

Those services would be faster than Bloor subway, plus they can be extended west of Square One.

 

[doady]

A lot of people have suggested a diversion of the Milton Line also, but this has some problems. Not only would it be expensive, it would also overlap with the Hurontario LRT. And also, it would screw up the Erindale and Cooksville stations.

I think a better solution would be build a new rail line using the transitway corridor to the Georgetown line. This is better because the ROWs are already there and, if I am not mistaken, GO now owns all the tracks in this part of the Georgetown corridor itself (though I made this map well before the acquisition). In contrast, more service in the Milton corridor would conflict with CP Rail.

Also this new rail line would serve new areas not already served by GO rail, including a direct connection to the airport for both MCC and downtown at the same time. This new rail corridor could also be the foundation for a new crosstown GO train service in the future.

You can see my old map if you want to see what such a line would look like. The line I am talking about is called the 'D' line. The crosstown line is called 'H'. The routing is similar to the transitway. The map also shows my preferred alignment for an extension of the B-D line.

 

[spaced]

This seems to be a very insular and ignorant view of the GTA as it is now. Why are people so scared of crossing the 416/905 line? There wasn't a line there before! And if anything, things have blurred between 416 and 905 even more than before they became 416/905!

I have no problem with imagining a subway extending into suburbs. I've lived in cities that have, and have done it well. I'm just surprised at the lack of imagination in this city with infrastructure. If you read what I said you would see that I'm not insinuating that you shouldn't go into mississaga but that maybe the bloor line might not be the best way. Why does a subway line have to keep continuing in one direction. Why not use a little lateral thinking? And if you can't, why disparage someone who holds a different view than your own?

 

[autopilot]

In some cities, subway lines split in half and serve two communities instead of one. What if we did that with the Bloor line?

Bloor-A (Bloor-Danforth-DUNDAS) could be routed along Dundas to Hurontario and eventually to UTM and the Dundas west retail strip (which has huge redevelopment potential) or Erin Mills Town Centre.

Bloor-B (Bloor-Danforth-LAKESHORE-HURONTARIO) could go south to Sherway, down Browns Line and West on Lakeshore to Port Credit GO, and then north up to Square One.

Use the same technology that they are installing on the YUS line to allow bloor-danforth trains to run at 90 second intervals, and then Mississauga would have 3 minute intervals...

The two lines would intersect at Dundas and Hurontario. you'd be able to serve the entire city (of Mississauga) if you made all the bus routes connect to a station.

Sounds crazy but in 100 years it might not be a bad idea.

 

[EnviroTO]

If the goal is to create a subway connection to MCC then I would either do it with a Bloor line extension following a path under Bloor (because that is the shortest route), or with an Eglinton line. It makes no sense to me to follow the same path the Milton GO takes because with fare integration and an existing Kipling GO station people can get to everywhere the subway would stop except Tomken Rd via GO and the section between Cooksville and MCC would duplicate Hurontario service. Dundas as a subway would also not make sense because having a subway run under Dundas and take a 90 degree turn north to MCC is a much longer trip and if the Dundas subway ended at Hurontario that would have put the subway on the section of the route with less density and LRT on the part with greater density. What makes most sense to me for Mississauga is 403-Eglinton BRT to Renforth, LRT on Lakeshore, Dundas, and Hurontario, and in the future a subway extension from Kipling to MCC via the East Mall 427-Bloor-Mississauga Valley route.

 

[unimaginative2]

An even more useful plan than building a subway to MCC would be to spend the money to upgrade the entire Milton line to have two dedicated GO tracks so that frequency could be increased to every 10 minutes or better. Then, divert the line north along Hurontario to MCC, rejoining the existing route via the 403 corridor near Erindale station. A regional rail service would provide a much faster trip downtown, and also directly serve other parts of Mississauga with a rapid transit route to MCC and Toronto. If you upgraded the Orangeville line, you could even directly serve downtown Brampton and the Meadowvale office park.

The vast majority of people riding the subway from Mississauga aren't going to Royal York or Keele stations--they're going downtown. Why make them stop at two dozen stations in between? This would allow them to get from MCC to downtown in 20 minutes or less, compared with twice the time or more with a subway. Even for people going to Keele or Royal York or places like that, they can simply transfer at Kipling, while people going to the north end of downtown could transfer to the subway at Dundas West. It's a much more useful service for everyone concerned, and would likely cost even less than a subway that serves just MCC.

 

[gei]

Someone should make some maps.

+1

 

[Dan416]

My TTC map with B-D becoming D-B-D (Dundas-Bloor-Danforth) until I decided I didn't like Dundas as a subway corridor anymore

 

[nfitz]

10 stations between Pape and Union? It's the downtown relief line, not the downtown milk train!

 

[unimaginative2]

Your routings are great, CC, but nfitz is right about the stations. You really don't need more than Gerrard and Queen in the east end. Dundas and Riverdale are both two blocks from Gerrard. Same with Cherry, Parliament, Jarvis and Sherbourne. A stop at Cherry would be only two blocks from Parliament, while a single stop between Jarvis and Sherbourne could comfortably serve both streets. It's very important to keep the speed up on the DRL in order to tempt people off the Yonge line. That means keeping stops to a reasonable minimum.

Back on the topic of Mississauga, though. CC's map helpfully shows that someone riding from Square One to Union would have to pass 28 stations. There's no way you'll be able to do that in under an hour. The GO train from Cooksville to Union takes 30 minutes, and any increases from the extra kilometre to Square One and additional stations would be more than made up by electrification and faster loading times. An express service like this would give people the option of either a quick 30 minute trip downtown, or connecting to the subway if they're going to some point on Bloor.