News   Apr 26, 2024
News Roundup for April 26, 2024
 140     0 
News   Apr 26, 2024
How It's Going
 350     0 
News   Apr 25, 2024
GTA 2024 BILD Award Finalists Announced — and You Can Vote!
 526     0 

Transit City Plan

Which transit plan do you prefer?

  • Transit City

    Votes: 95 79.2%

  • Ford City

    Votes: 25 20.8%
  • Total voters
    120
I can see that concept being a disaster. What happens when both the station, and the train are full of people? How do you unload the train in a full station? What if there was an emergency and a train had to be completely offloaded at a station?

Escalators and stairs seem much safer and reliable.
 
There would have to be stairs for safety, that's a given.
Also, I don't think it would be neccesary to have all the stations like that especially if there is more room for a more standard type system. Still, you have to confess it's pretty cool and has the advantages of not taking up any road space unlike LRT and would breeze along traffic. Beats the hell out of the Gondala idea which I think it kind of silly except for specific uses like getting to Toronto Island Airport.
Notice how the beams are made of steel which would mean that most of the line could be built off site and then simply assembled causing far less disruption and time than LRT. Actually I think with the novel station concept they are more pedestrian friendly than any LRT with ROW as it inhibit pedestrians being able to cross streets and the ROW takes up road space and thus potential sidewalk room which is the last thing Toronto needs.
You must admit it's kind of a neat concept and it's Canadian as the roadway they showed was Broadway and the B-Line articulated buses. The capcity wouldn't be subway level but certainly higher than any at grade LRT as the trains are subway width and look roughly 30 meters. Also, not dealing with street traffic they could have far higher frequency levels.
This is also the kind of thing that I think would be ideal for some form of PPP. I could see the TTC giving long term advertsing rights in exchange for helping build the stations.
 
ssiguy2 said:
has the advantages of not taking up any road space (...) Actually I think with the novel station concept they are more pedestrian friendly than any LRT with ROW as it inhibit pedestrians being able to cross streets and the ROW takes up road space and thus potential sidewalk room which is the last thing Toronto needs.
Click to expand...
The stations need space, and that space will have to come from sidewalks or road. There is nothing magic about this station design over an LRT stop -- it doesn't defy the laws of physics, or exist in its own spacewarp bubble. And, in contrast to LRT designs, each stop now has a very complex mechanical component, as opposed to just being a concrete island. That complex mechanical component has to endure outdoor weather and reliably function continuously, and will require constant maintenance and attending, making the cost of each stop much more expensive.

And each stop is also much more visually intrusive -- every few hundred metres you will now have a structure that is about four stories tall and five or more metres wide. Do you want that in front of your house, or your store?

And perhaps it is just me, but I find elevated tracks, even these, to be hugely unsightly and intrusive, compared to running the line down the median.
 
Oh happy days! I never thought I'd see the day when someone in Toronto actually proposes a BRT on Finch (all of Finch, not just Finch West):

http://www.thestar.com/news/article...ivers-more-bang-for-the-8-2-billion-buck?bn=1

If the at-grade proposal for Eglinton East includes some kind of grade-separation at major intersections, I'd be 100% for this plan.

I also like the Sheppard Subway extension to Victoria Park, something that I have also been hoping for.
 
f74aad444aa080529a47f60d8073.jpg
 
NO to BRT on Finch West. I'm a transit user and prefer to see a LRT on Finch West. There are automobile-addicted drivers who want buses, but as a transit user (not just Subway) I see that the LRT as a better rapid transit infrastructure in the long term.
 
Wouldn't a BRT be a good first step towards an LRT? That is, wouldn't the infrastructure necessary for a BRT be repurposeable for the LRT right-of-way?
 
Tulse said:
Wouldn't a BRT be a good first step towards an LRT? That is, wouldn't the infrastructure necessary for a BRT be repurposeable for the LRT right-of-way?
Click to expand...

in theory YES but I am sceptical if it will actually happen. I think Id be much more ok giving up one LRT if I got BRT on at least three lines. For instance FINCH, LAWRENCE, WILSON, (Don mills already has dedicated lanes, and unfortunately JANE wouldnt fit if im right)
 
Tulse said:
Wouldn't a BRT be a good first step towards an LRT? That is, wouldn't the infrastructure necessary for a BRT be repurposeable for the LRT right-of-way?
Click to expand...

It depends. As long as what they build doesn't involve too many 90 degree turns or steep slopes, it should be convertible. For instance, the separated lanes Viva is building in York Region are in theory designed to be convertible AFAIK.

At the same time, the price difference between BRT and LRT shouldn't be that great, so I'm unsure how they are expecting the money to pay for double the amount of BRT. I suspect they are doing something silly like taking the per-km cost of the York University busway and using it to erroneously approximate the cost of a busway on Finch Ave itself -- using the Viva numbers would be more accurate and expensive.

Alternatively, they could be cheap idiots and mean bus lanes as in lanes with diamonds painted on them, not ones separated by a concrete edge. Those would be useless when it comes to conversion and dubious in terms of separating buses from car traffic.
 
I like Karen Stintz proposal. I think it's a fairly reasonable compromise that might actually accompolish than Transit City Stubs plan would have.

And taking Sheppard across the 404 is huge. That's the biggest hurdle to further expansion. This leaves the door open to eventual expansion. And knocks off the biggest bottleneck on Sheppard. The rest of Sheppard East can be improved simply through signal priority and queue jumps as required.
 
leopetr said:
Alternatively, they could be cheap idiots and mean bus lanes as in lanes with diamonds painted on them, not ones separated by a concrete edge. Those would be useless when it comes to conversion and dubious in terms of separating buses from car traffic.
Click to expand...

Actually living on Eglinton which has a bus lane during rush hour, it is rare that cars actually use the bus lane. I would say the same thing for the DON Mills bus lanes and as well as the car pool lanes on the highways. People follow the rules more often then not. Id argue that Id take twice as many cheaply diamond painted lanes (as long as its an actual additional lane - not taking a lane away from the cars since i believe that will infuriate drivers causing them to break the rules) then dedicated BRT lanes.
 
You must log in or register to post here.

Back
Top