But they don't, the ridership projections can be served with an LRT. York chose a subway extension b/c they felt that the subway had a 'cache' of some sort. "Hey look we have 2/3 subway stations in our city aren't we urban!!!". Plus York has been just as irresponsible with it's focus on a subway (they only get partial credit for VIVA) when there is and won't be demand for a subway for the next 50 or more years than Toronto has with it's focus on streetcars and LRT while ignoring the need for subways (Central Eglinton and DRL come to mind). You can't praise one city and belittle the other when both are ignoring the realities of what is the right solution for a region.
Again, do you really expect the subway extensions to carry the maximum theoretical capacity of the line? I bet you won't apply that criteria to an LRT line, which will invariably cover stretches easily served by buses. Both Spadina and Yonge need to be extended and Hwy 7 makes a natural (and artificial, due to Viva and development) terminus for both lines. You should come up with some shred of rationale for terminating the lines south of Hwy 7, but you don't seem up to the task.
No, Eglinton does not 'need a subway' more than Yonge needs to be extended north of Finch to replace that ridiculous parade of buses and comical overabundance of overlapping routes.
Sheppard and Spadina have shown us the folly of building subways and expecting transit oriented development to follow. Residents around the Sheppard line are still complaining about the density being built in there formerly low density 'hoods (what did you expect when the subway was built?) and new residents are not using the subway system as much as was expected. How quaint of you to revive the meme "too screwball european!".
The
reality is that literally about 5 people oppose development along Sheppard, only they are quite vocal and trample over the silent majority. Sheppard East is actually one of the densest corridors in the city and no transit line outside the YUS loop has ever been run out to as much as exists around and east of Don Mills station. Sheppard is seeing vast amounts of development, even without including all the density unlocked in North York Centre. Spadina is seeing none because the city hasn't permitted any, except along Sheppard east of Downsview, where the city has permitted it. The Downsview area is seeing substantial developments. Sheppard's ridership was forecasted to be higher but the line was also supposed to be much longer...it doesn't change the fact that transit use went up along the corridor and continues to grow, even though only a fraction of the line was built. The true meme here is stupid anti-subway arguments that employ neither facts nor common sense. Everything you say can be paraphrased as "OMG, teh 905 doesn't deserve teh subway!!!"
Weather the service is GO or subway there will still be a fraction of people who will be driving to the station, otherwise why would they build those mega lots at Steeles West, 407, RHC, and Langstaff. I don't follow your point there. I have seen the plans and still hold a I'll believe it when I see it stance. I can see lots of opposition to the 30 storey towers proposed for the VCC site coming. Plus I don't think Walmart or the AMC complex will be going anywhere nor will they be all to pleased to see thier parking lots developed into a 'downtown'. I can't forsee any development that will completely take away the car centric nature of the area.
The point about driving to stations was *your* point. Your argument makes so little sense, no wonder even you can't follow it.
The entire city is autocentric, all the more reason to expand appealing and effective transit infrastructure like the subway network.
Wal*Mart will be very pleased to have thousands of new customers at their doorstep and see the value of their property climb in anticipation of redevelopment. You're free to pretend the development isn't happening when the cranes pop up on the horizon.
It's this incremental approach that traps us. It's only 2km to VCC why not go there. It's only a few more km to Vaughan Mills and Canada's wonderland, lets go there. The new Vaughan hospital will be less than 2 km away from that (Jane and Major Mac) let's go there too. At what point do we say stop? At what point do we say "Maybe it's better if we invested that money in a regional service for those heading to the core and a service such as LRT that will allow us to serve a greater area".
You really don't know why terminating at Hwy 7, a growth node with a connection to Viva, is better than stopping in a field in the middle of nowhere at Steeles? Seriously? Have you never been to a city or used a vehicle before?
Regional services are being expanded along with the subway extensions. Both are being done, both need to be done. Money for one project is not available for other projects, by the way. York Region also has future LRT plans, plans that will complement the subway extensions, not replace, them, which they cannot.
