General question for the room: do we actually *know* that the TSP implementation will have vehicles sitting at red lights? We're being promised a TSP implementation but have little actual detail - at least that I've seen - on how it will operate other than what we can infer from the published average route speed compared to the current average speed.
It's funny; where was all of this community outrage when the City, TTC, and Metrolinx were all actively soliciting people's opinions?
Meanwhile, we have Stintz saying that Scarborough-Malvern should be a subway. Sigh. No wonder we are in this mess.
The EA says red lights will be an issue, which is one reason why stop spacing is not greater. I'd like to see what's planned for an intersection like Jane & Finch...keeping four directions of LRT running through green lights seems impossible, and probably is.
Re: outrage. Remember that almost nobody was aware of these plans when meetings and the like were being held (not that different or more public input would have been the slightest difference). Most people still have no idea what's going on, though some might become aware due to construction. Others may have heard about transit projects but were either unaware of details/realities or just assumed this was another plan that would go nowhere. I'd be very, very surprised if more than 20% of the city was currently aware of these projects with full knowledge of details and what's getting built...inflammatory newspaper articles will probably raise that % higher than anything else. Real people just aren't aware of these things and some still won't be aware of them until after they start running.
She was not actually quoted saying that in that article...she could have been referring to the "Scarborough" RT or the part of the "Scarborough"-Malvern LRT that is not on Morningside (and it is critical that whatever's on Eglinton runs east of Kennedy).
Yeah, but that's not really part of Transit City. Though it does seem like the SRT will be replaced with LRT.
I always thought the "Transfer City" mock-name was kind of lame considering the only unnecessary transfer they're adding is the one between the Sheppard LRT and the Sheppard Subway. Am I missing something?
Are you Keith L on Steve Munro's site? He just responded to one of your comments with a pretty good cost breakdown of subway extensions versus TC.
Really, it is part of Transit City, being the only proposed rapid transit project retained by the plan and being featured right alongside the other lines.
There's other reasons it was called Transfer City, not just Sheppard and the RT - Finch ended at Yonge, Sheppard West had nothing, the Eglinton corridor was split at Kennedy (how much through-service will there be?), Morningside originally had a stub north of Sheppard. The plan, amazingly, did absolutely nothing to decrease transfers for those getting around North York and Scarborough. There's also the very serious question of what happens to bus routes that overlap these lines, like along Sheppard or Eglinton...terminating the Pharmacy or Lawrence East bus at an LRT line = Transfer City. We'll see what happens to each route.
Keep in mind that Steve Munro's site is a pretty one-way conversation...he always gets the last word and can control what makes it to the page. No one is saying subways cost the same as LRT, but there's precious little discussion over why costs are what they are and what we're really paying for. Have the LRT lines had 26% contingency added? That's what was added to Spadina. Yonge is expensive in no small part to stuff like the ridiculously oversized Steeles station, which will cost over $300M and require tens of millions of dollars of property acquisitions to build a silly 3 access ramps. There isn't the slightest concern for containing costs - and this will surely impact the final pricetag of the LRT lines, especially if they have underground segments.
Also, no one ever really talks about places where LRT is overkill, in places like Sheppard & Morningside. Sure, LRT is cheaper than two subways to Sheppard & Morningside, but we'd never ever build subways there...is even LRT necessary when it'll likely never use more than 10% of the mode's capacity? At the same time that busier routes like Dufferin, Finch East, and Weston/Wilson get nothing? Cheaper than subway - but still a waste!
