westoncommunitycoalition.ca/ would serve many nodes, the airport, would be cheap, fast to build and probably the most bang for the buck.
You know, at first I thought it was a cute proposal with no real merit. But the more I looked into it, the more I noticed it benefits almost everyone, not just Weston... seriously.
This is what I currently have on it in my essay on the Blue 22... (I still have to clean it up, and verify time estimates, but still of interest...)
Firstly, and of most relevance to this essay, the line would connect to the airport allowing commuters to get downtown with a TTC fare of $2.50 rather than $20, and without the hassle of taking luggage on a bus. With the 16 stop, 14 kilometre University-Spadina line taking 25 minutes to reach Union Station from Downsview (
www.toronto.ca/ttc/schedu...index.htm) , it is difficult to put an estimate of time on a route that is of a greater distance, but fewer stops. An educated guess, however, would be in the neighborhood of 30-35 minutes. Taking the midpoint of that range and accounting for waiting times, that would mean a time of 35 minutes, or approximately 5 minutes longer on average than the Blue 22 train. Though adding 5 minutes to their journey, those traveling to and from the airport would benefit tremendously. First off, the obvious cost savings of $17.50 more than offset the five minute time difference. Secondly, no longer are passengers only funneled to Union. Though there will be a stop at Dundas West on the Blue 22 line, it would seem curious for people to use it, only to then pay another fare to get on the TTC which could have been done from the airport in the first place. This route would allow access to the entire network from the airport.
Secondly, the line has the potential for enormous ridership. Cutting across the city at a diagonal rather than the traditional north-south and east-west lines, this allows routes of any direction to intersect with the line, not only increasing ridership in the neighborhoods around the stations, but even the buses feeding into them. Currently, those who take the 35 Jane bus to and from the densely populated Jane/Finch intersection, take 37 minutes, even in a time that is not rush hour, to get from Jane Station to the Jane/Finch intersection (
www.toronto.ca/ttc/schedules/index.htm). From the proposed Jane stop on the Weston line, at Trethewey, it would take only 15 minutes (
www.toronto.ca/ttc/schedules/index.htm). Getting from Union to Trethewey on this line would take approximately 20 minutes, roughly equal to the time it takes to get to Jane Station from Union (
www.toronto.ca/ttc/schedu...ndex.htm). This means that riders would usually save around 22 minutes on their commute, or 35% off the time it takes to get downtown. The alternative route, taking the Finch bus to Finch station and down, is no faster, and would also be improved upon. Not only does this subway have stops in neighborhoods that are high density and can support transit, but buses that would feed into the subways will save riders that do not even live near a stop tremendous amounts of time.
Not only would those on buses who are traveling to a distant subway benefit, almost everyone in the west end of the city who uses the Bloor subway to go downtown would benefit. Rather than transferring at St. George station, they could transfer at Dundas West station instead, saving approximately a kilometre in distance off their journey, and 10 stations, saving roughly 8-9 minutes off travel time as a result of not having to stop and start the train as frequently. With that much of a time savings, it would actually be quicker to transfer at Dundas West, and again at Union to go anywhere on the Yonge line south of Bloor, meaning it would also relieve congestion at Bloor-Yonge. The benefits to this line in the way of time saving for anyone in the west end of Toronto would be enormous.
Finally, the subway would not only save transit users time and encourage people to use transit rather than drive, but it has the possibility to rejuvenate neighborhoods that are in need of renewal. The stops at Rexdale, Weston, The Junction, and Parkdale would bring riders to an area of the city otherwise difficult to access. Suri Weinberg-Linsky compared Weston to Bloor West Village without the subway, and looking at the town it is difficult to disagree. The storefronts and streetscape look vastly similar, with the only noticeable difference being that transit in Weston is abysmal, while in Bloor West a subway runs underneath or behind the shops. Rather than tearing apart Weston, a subway line would instead bring new customers into the area, and even if John St. and Denison Ave. had to be closed in order to make construction cheaper, that bit of bad news would be greatly outweighed by the economic benefits of a subway through the town.
Rather than serving only the business elite, this line would serve the airport and the city as a whole. Though it is rare that citizen proposals for subways make any financial sense, this one is gaining ground, being brought to city council’s attention by Councilor Nunziata in December of 2005 (
www.westoncommunitycoalit...bway.pdf). Though a formal cost study would have to be conducted, it seems almost certain that this subway, on its own, would be of a much greater benefit than both the Blue 22 rail line and the Spadina subway extension, which runs through low density neighborhoods and is only of any real use to York University combined, and with the Spadina extension to Vaughn Corporate Centre currently estimated around $2 billion (
www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs...54016536), the cost would be similar as well. This proposal, by far would be of more benefit to travelers, and Toronto residents, adding new riders, saving time for current west end riders, and eliminating much of the congestion at Bloor-Yonge for east end riders.
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Sorry about boring you all there.
Just thought I'd contribute what I've researched in the last while since this thread is about the huge waste of money that is the Spadina extension...
