Uh, this is what you said. The subway sucks because it cut the bus service drastically. Of course it cut the bus service! It replaced it with a subway. And that's a very good thing.
Uh, READ again in entirety!
"Yup, a stubway that Lastman managed to pimp out and that cuts Sheppard bus service drastically, that staggers stations over the 2 km area and that has most underwhelming ridership sure qualifies."
If you're not near a station, it can be a long walk... And that's not neither here nor there, nor does it say I think buses served Sheppard better!
People are more than willing to walk a little further to get the reliability, speed, and comfort of a subway route. The more-than-tripling of the ridership in the corridor attests to it quite clearly.
Walking a kilometer to the subway line is hardly convenient, and that's assuming you live on Sheppard. There won't be much avenueisation here, that's for sure. And if scareberian is right that there isn't much demand outside those 2km stations, that just about makes the stubway impossible to defend. Subways should be a bit more than commuter lines, although that's precisely the nature of Sheppard.
Sheppard has great ridership. What is it? Around 50,000 a day on a 6km line? That's fantastic by any world standard for outer-urban routes, and in its first few years of operation no less. That's way higher than many American subway lines of five times the length, and higher than the outer 6 kilometres of many European routes. It's a big success, and would be a far bigger success if it was completed to Scarborough Centre, connecting the two major centres, Consumers Road, and all of the north-south bus routes that make Finch so busy.
Ah, but it was NOT completed to STC, and since Mr. Lastman left the building, there was no earthly plan that was going to suggest that extension. We can all draw pretty little subway maps all over the city, but unless there is a politician that's going to benefit big time from an extension, nothing happens, and it's the reason why we're going to get a subway that's going to run in the middle of a field.
The service runs 43,000 trips, still below its INITIAL projection, in an incredibly peak-oriented fashion (off peak usage remains incredibly underwhelming) and little bi-directional demand. That is one VERY expensive commuter line.
Yeah, you know what, someone who considers himself a transit advocate calling a major transit investment a bad thing, even though he admits it improved transit in the corridor, is indeed wacky.
Just because it improves transit doesn't mean that it's a good investment. Indeed, VCC boondoggle is going to massively improve transit in Vaughan. Massively. But it's an absolutely terrible investment. As much as I think Sheppard was a mistake, it pales in comparison to subway in the field.
I am not quite as enamored with the LRT at Steve is, and I do think Sheppard should be finished now that's it started. It won't be though because no political interest cares about that option. I think DRL is desperately needed, but once again, there's nobody who can effectively wrangle that much money. Having said that, vast, vast swaths of city have no transit service to speak of. Much of Transit City addresses that.
