Option 2B - Relief Line LONG (Sheppard/Don Mills to Downtown)
Underground Relief Line subway running from Danforth Avenue to Downtown (likely King Street). In the pricing assessment, the study assumes this line is 100% underground. It is noted that elevating or building the line at grade can significantly lower costs. Further study is needed to determine exact alignment and grade
- Up to 14 stations
- 16.6 km
- 22.2 minute travel time from Don Mills/Sheppard to King
Conclusions:
- Ridership of 19,200 pphpd
- Ridership on Yonge will be reduced to 20,700 pphpd (a reduction of 11,600 pphpd; 36%)
- Ridership on Bloor-Danforth will be reduced to 21,400 pphpd (a reduction of 6,500 pphpd; 21.4%)
- Attracts significant demand from Yonge and Bloor Danforth
- Bloor/Yonge station improvements may not be needed
- Progressed to full evaluation
- $7.8 Billion
Thanks for the summary, that's really helpful. The Don Mills option looks like it'll perform even better than I expected. Ridership on Yonge, Bloor, and Don Mills/DRL would be an almost 3 way split. From a network perspective that's a slam dunk.
I can see why the western extension doesn't perform as well as the other options. The GO lines have far better potential connections to TTC routes and neighbourhoods in the west end than in the east, so RER would take much of the ridership that would otherwise go on a subway line. Building extra subways there would be redundant. The one part of the west end where a subway would really help, IMO, is along King West or Queen West, where RER won't have much of a presence.
I briefly looked at the report and curiously the term Smart Track wasn't used once that I could see.
They made lots references to GO RER and even enhancing it but not ST. Until they come to terms with the real issue that differentiates GO from ST, meaning the same fares as TTC, then this study is useless.
I also have to say that the policy wonks at Metrolinx are pretty damn insulting to Torontonians and Tory with this plan. Tory was not voted in on, nor doesn't have a mandate, to put money into a DRL. Besides Ford, there was only one real issue in the last campaign.............transit. Tory was very explicit with his ST program and got support from across all regions of the City so he has the mandate to spend funds on that NOT a DRL. He was also very specific that ST would be a TTC fare and GO RER has no such guarantees except vague promises about fare integration which can mean anything from complete TTC fares or a 10 cent reduction.
This study should be filed away and collect dust like all the other DRL studies. Tory has no mandate from the people to put precious transit funds into a DRL but he does have a mandate to put money into ST.
Considering how everyone bitches about politicians never keeping their promises, Tory is right to move forward with ST instead of funds for a DRL He promised ST not a DRL and for those who continually complain about lying politicians, they should support Tory to actually do what he promised.
When they did the study for GO RER Plus and the effects on how it would reduce capacity at Y&B, what did they assume the fare would be for the GO RER Plus. If the fare is still a GO based fare structure then I can see how it would have little effect but if it's a standard TTC fare then the reduction of passengers going to Y&B could be substantial. Fares are a big determination of ridership and that is a hell of an omission.
It's no secret that Metrolinx is actively working towards
fare integration across the GTHA. I think it's safe to assume that studies for various rapid transit projects across the region take that into account. GO and the TTC, along with the suburban systems, will all be integrated into a single fare structure that takes modes and distances into account. If it will eventually work the same way here as it does in other cities, Smarttrack won't be a flat TTC fare from one end to the other, and neither will the subway lines. The TTC will likely get more expensive to travel long distances and GO will likely be cheaper.
Just because John Tory says that Smarttrack will be a flat fare that doesn't mean it's going to happen. He's just one politician and he's working with a regional plan led by the province that's been years in the making. The TTC doesn't work in isolation anymore; the city's transit plans have to fit into the regional whole.
Once Metrolinx and the City come back and see how useless the section on Eglinton really is, it will get rolled into RER and we won't hear of that useless name again.
Yeah this is pretty much what I think too. Smarttrack is just RER by another name. It would duplicate RER lines that are already happening (and funded). Really the only outcome that makes sense is the two being merged.
Why stop at Sheppard. It could veer eastward to hit Seneca College directly, and then slightly more east to hit that McNicoll office park at the 404, then slightly into Markham.
Probably because that's where the subway and Sheppard LRT will meet anyway - it's the major transfer hub for the area. Extending it a concession or two north would just create another transfer. Kind of like how the streetcar lines stop at Bloor and beyond that are bus routes - the forced transfer happens where the most people are already getting off.
Then again, the way they're handling rapid transit in Scarborough completely ignores all of that logic, so who knows. Realistically, any potential extension past Don Mills is so far in the future that we might as well be talking about hovercars.
