Adjei
Senior Member
The article is saying it could 2029 before this thing opens and that's even just the first phase.
Metrolinx looking for short-term fixes to Toronto’s transit snarl as Downtown Relief Line still decades away
It may well be a popular topic among commuters and mayoral candidates promising swift action, but the downtown relief line feels light years away.
A link without any indication of what it is about. I just love those.
Aside from the fact that light years is a distance and not time, the article almost mirrors my analysis. If the DRL is 15 years away, the DRL is not a priority. They talk about it being a priority, but they do not act in a way to make it a priority.
http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/showth...inx-TTC-Proposed)/page212?p=847428#post847428
I personally found the TTC part a bit boring since it was basically a public consultation about how they should do public consultations, and the long detailed speech about the long process they have to go through.
My one question for them was that is the study area limited to east of University or is it possible that phase 1 could end west of University at say Spadina. I did get my question answered, the answer is yes, it is possible that it could end at Spadina or west in phase 1.
With regards to the Metrolinx part, I thought it was good that they're looking at the short and medium term ideas since the DRL will take so long to finish (they said 8-10 years construction after a few more years of study, I think). Increasing GO service and routing more buses downtown instead of to the subway lines were good ideas.
Overall, not much detailed info, it was very preliminary very early stuff.
I think the conclusion of all of this may just be that the DRL is not needed now and that GO service will increase.
The entire Transit City LRT (Local Rail Transit) plan was developed with no though or allowance for a DRL. Its purpose was to transform disadvantaged neighborhoods more so than transporting people. At the same time, Metrolinx was slowly planning increased GO service - again with little thought for the DRL. 3 or 4 years ago the City tried to reverse this direction by changing the LRT acronym to mean Light Rapid Transit. The first part would have involved making Eglinton a Regional transit line that stretches right across the entire City. Unfortunately, the plan was not fully developed and City Council thought it was more important to defeat Ford, rather than improve on the Rapid Transit plan. Council then voted to go back to Transit City. The switch from SRT/LRT to B-D Extension did not really change anything - it was just a $1.5B to $2.0B solution to remove the transfer, yet it did not reduce the amount of in-street LRT by one metre.
So here we are with essentially the original Transit City plan. A plan that did not include a DRL. Councillors and Mayoralty hopefuls continually talk about how important the DRL is, yet they continue to support other transit initiatives that preclude a DRL.
We shall see, but I would not be surprised if the study yields no DRL - and everyone who claimed they supported transit will be responsible for the decision.
Yeah the TTC portion was a bit of a disaster. Too much "how do you want to be asked" and not enough "what do you want to be fixed"
Metrolinx, even if they completely burned and shredded the papers afterwards, made me feel much more listened to.
That's not the impression I got during the public meeting. The things like bus relief and increased GO service was more things we can do until the relief line is built. It was more like: since it's going to take so many years to build, we can do things in the meantime to make things better in the shorter term, in addition to the line, not instead of it.
A link without any indication of what it is about. I just love those.
Aside from the fact that light years is a distance and not time, the article almost mirrors my analysis. If the DRL is 15 years away, the DRL is not a priority. They talk about it being a priority, but they do not act in a way to make it a priority.
see above a few posts http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/showth...inx-TTC-Proposed)/page212?p=847428#post847428
I agree about the TTC stuff. Metrolinx on the other hand came ready. I go the impression that the TTC still has not decided on the route yet. For metrolinx, their plan was more detailed, although not what everyone expected. I feel people want more go service, and several mentioned all day service on the Richmond Hill line so they didn't have to build the extension, but Metrolinx came out well. I suggested to them that Eglinton West should be build and the DRL west extended to Eglinton , just to create a new pressure point and it would help relieve the YUS even more. I also mentioned opening Summerhill again to help union out. I feel part of the reason there is no service all day on the other lines is that they think Union would collapse.
For the DRL, I said this: It's no enough. It's not enough to build to just St Andrew and Pape. This needs to go to Eglinton on both ends at first attempt. Is this just a new line or are we actually going to relieve the system.
Finally, they are consider Broadview as well as Pape and Coxwell for the DRL east interchange. Got it from some sources.
IMO, DRL should be open in 2023. And not this stubline DRL either.
I agree about the TTC stuff. Metrolinx on the other hand came ready. I go the impression that the TTC still has not decided on the route yet. For metrolinx, their plan was more detailed, although not what everyone expected. I feel people want more go service, and several mentioned all day service on the Richmond Hill line so they didn't have to build the extension, but Metrolinx came out well. I suggested to them that Eglinton West should be build and the DRL west extended to Eglinton , just to create a new pressure point and it would help relieve the YUS even more. I also mentioned opening Summerhill again to help union out. I feel part of the reason there is no service all day on the other lines is that they think Union would collapse.
For the DRL, I said this: It's no enough. It's not enough to build to just St Andrew and Pape. This needs to go to Eglinton on both ends at first attempt. Is this just a new line or are we actually going to relieve the system.
Finally, they are consider Broadview as well as Pape and Coxwell for the DRL east interchange. Got it from some sources.
IMO, DRL should be open in 2023. And not this stubline DRL either.
We're you wearing a black U of T jacket? And did you do Metrolinx "how to use what you have" first? I'd private message you but your inbox is full.
Maybe in 50 years before it hits Sheppard but good idea either way.
The 2029 projected completion date is really de-motivating for me, it's so far into the future. I was hoping for 2024.
I still support starting the project and I'd be interested in seeing the routing & stations in a few years but it just seems way to early to talk about at this point. If this can be somehow accelerated I would support that as well.
I'm looking forward to the things that will hopefully improve things in the shorter term though, Union station, ATC in 2016, new streetcars, more GO service, Spadina extension & Eglinton Crosstown.
A few UT cameos here...
http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/public-weighs-in-on-downtown-relief-line-1.1762811
This is why I find it funny when all these mayoral candidates are talking about this line as if it will be built tomorrow. This line is about 15 years away from completion and that's just for the short segment, not even the extended phases people here want.