Disparishun
Active Member
In ways the megaterminal is bizarre but in others not. TTC routes 11, 97, 98, 7, 53, and 60 would likely terminate there as would YRT routes 2, 5 (?), 23, 77, 88, 91, 99, and 340. I suspect Finch's other northern routes would be redistributed to Royal Orchard (route 3) and RHC Stns.
Interesting. There are a lot of routes there. TTC 53 and 60 would certainly terminate at Steeles subway! So would others. But it bears some thinking, especially given that there is nothing special about Steeles apart from the giant bus station (i.e. it is not a transfer point), although presumably the giant bus station is itself the justification for terminating routes there. But nonetheless:
One theme is whether routes need to terminate at Steeles simply because Steeles is the municipal boundary. The answer in many cases may be yes, on account of the giant bus terminal, but one hopes that the agencies involved, or else Metrolinx, would give it some thought where there is no benefit and not doing so improves service or connectivity elsewhere. The relationship between TTC 97 and YRT 99 is a good example -- they're basically the same route handed off between two transit agencies, so it would be nice to enable those travelling across the municipal boundary to avoid a transfer, using whatever fare harmonization scheme will have been adopted for the subway itself. I imagine there are some differences in daytime frequency and overnight service and so forth, but you'd think there would be an opportunity to combine these routes. The same, on a smaller scale, with TTC 11 and YRT 91.
Another theme is what happens at subway stations that have no bus bays. The 2 and 5 and 77 are good examples re: Clark. I'd think you'd want the 5, in particular, to just rove back and forth on Clark all day -- better, consider combining the 2 and 5 to create an east-west route that is municipality-agnostic. Similar situation for 77 re: Clark subway, though not sure whether that line will be rethought altogether with the new subway extensions, which will surely affect demand in both Brampton and Vaughan. I suppose the answer is that they will all head to Steeles, but it seems to me like that is generating useless road traffic.
A third theme, brought up by routes like YRT 23 and 88 and TTC 7, is the relationship between the new subway stations and existing hubs like the Promenade Terminal. [It would be sort of nice from an urban design standpoint if they created a building with a cafe or something at the Promenade Terminal (ditto for others, like Vaughan Mills).] You can either have each of these buses run through the Promenade Terminal en route to a subway, or you can have them terminate there and create a much more frequent connection between the Terminal and a subway station. (The closest, again, being, Clark -- see above. Again, Steeles instead?)
The problem lies both in the failure of Toronto's own municipal gov't to thrive for better than LRT for the area's that meet the threshold for HRT operation eg. Eglinton, Don Mills, innercity corridors; and in the exuberant cost to construct underground transit lines in Toronto compared to Madrid, Montreal or other places that are proactively expanding their networks.
Exactly.