unimaginative2
Senior Member
The Sheppard East EA has been completed.
http://www.toronto.ca/involved/projects/sheppard_east_lrt/index.htm
Comments:
Unsurprisingly, it's geared to making the case for LRT. There are few surprises. They recommended close (~400m) stop spacing.
They cite peak point ridership projections to make their case. Apparently they're expecting 3,000 per hour to ride the streetcar. 5,000 per hour would ride the route if it used subway technology. There's a catch, though: the forecast is for their insane route out to Rouge Park and the agricultural preserve. If they actually build the subway the way it's supposed to be built, to Scarborough Centre, thousands more riders per peak hour would certainly be attracted and it would benefit from major destinations at both ends.
They trot out their little chart to claim that subway only "works" above 10,000 per hour. Of course, they never look at ridership at places other than the peak point (i.e. out near Rouge Park), which I guarantee would fall well below the minimum for LRT on the chart.
They haven't come to a conclusion about whether to extend the LRT in a tunnel west from Consumers to Don Mills, or to extend the subway east one stop to Consumers. Intriguingly, they have this to say about a subway extension: "Option 3b is a much more effective 'catalyst' for denser, transit-oriented development in this development node." Perhaps it might be an interesting idea to consider just how much development could be catalyzed if the subway were extended more than just one stop.
Apparently they've also determined that single vehicles would require a headway of under 3 minutes, and the TTC apparently claims that it can't manage a route that frequent. Instead, they're going to couple them into trains to get closer to a five minute headway.
http://www.toronto.ca/involved/projects/sheppard_east_lrt/index.htm
Comments:
Unsurprisingly, it's geared to making the case for LRT. There are few surprises. They recommended close (~400m) stop spacing.
They cite peak point ridership projections to make their case. Apparently they're expecting 3,000 per hour to ride the streetcar. 5,000 per hour would ride the route if it used subway technology. There's a catch, though: the forecast is for their insane route out to Rouge Park and the agricultural preserve. If they actually build the subway the way it's supposed to be built, to Scarborough Centre, thousands more riders per peak hour would certainly be attracted and it would benefit from major destinations at both ends.
They trot out their little chart to claim that subway only "works" above 10,000 per hour. Of course, they never look at ridership at places other than the peak point (i.e. out near Rouge Park), which I guarantee would fall well below the minimum for LRT on the chart.
They haven't come to a conclusion about whether to extend the LRT in a tunnel west from Consumers to Don Mills, or to extend the subway east one stop to Consumers. Intriguingly, they have this to say about a subway extension: "Option 3b is a much more effective 'catalyst' for denser, transit-oriented development in this development node." Perhaps it might be an interesting idea to consider just how much development could be catalyzed if the subway were extended more than just one stop.
Apparently they've also determined that single vehicles would require a headway of under 3 minutes, and the TTC apparently claims that it can't manage a route that frequent. Instead, they're going to couple them into trains to get closer to a five minute headway.
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