The surface network isn't going anywhere any time soon...it sustains every subway line in the city and will sustain any subway expansion.
True but more subways, less buses. At least 30-40 routes could be slashed/reduced/combined.
Of course, they could bury the line here, or build road over/underpasses (even if it means razing 4 houses to get the wiggle room to do so). It might cost a bit more, but the value of a rapid transit line makes it worth it.
It couldn't be bridged, unless only for pedestrians. 59 Maple Leaf would have to be slashed or routed only along Oak, Church St branch gone. An underpass somewhere in the vinicity would work though.
I apologize if this seems heretical to those who adhere to the Steve Munro Bible, but how many more Bessarions do we need?
Great, now for the real question... how many suburban kms apart stations do we need, routing 10+ routes out of a single stop when in fact the line passes under said routes sooner? Not to sound like a broken record here but every concession road/artery with a bus route needs its own subway stop.
west-east:
(west mall/renforth, east mall, martin grove, kipling, islington, royal york, scarlett/prince edward, jane/south kingsway, weston/runnymede, black creek/high park, keele/parkside, caledonia/ronchesvalles, jameson, dufferin, dovercourt/oakwood, allen/shaw, niagara*/faywood, bathurst, spadina/chaplin/senlac, john/avenue, university, yonge, jarvis/mt pleasant/willowdale, parliament/bayview, river, broadview, carlaw/pape/laird/bessarion, jones/donlands/leslie, greenwood, coxwell/don mills, woodbine/wynford*, main/bermondsey/consumers, victoria park/pharmacy, warden, birchmount, kennedy, midland, brimley, danforth/mccowan, bellamy/shorting*/middlefield, markham, scarborough golf club/tapscott, livingston/nielson, galloway/brenyon*, morningside, manse/conlins/littles, beechgrove/morrish, meadowvale, centennial, port union,east).
south-north:
(lakeshore, horner, queens quay, front, king, queensway/queen, dundas, college, harbord/wellesley, bloor, burnhamthrope/annette/dupont/mortimer, rathburn/st clair/oconnor, eringate/davisville/overlea, eglinton, westway/glencairn/barber greene*, dixon/lawrence, belfields/oak/yorkdale/glen echo*/west hill*, rexdale/wilson/york mills/ellesmere, elmhurst/sheppard, finch, albion/drewry/cummer/mcnicoll, steeles).
It's probably too late to expect every warranted corridor will gets its own stop but at least acknowledge it's truly the best option and if $ were no object would be a reality, the hardest part's getting lines built to o.m.p (optimal maximum protocol)!
A Don Mills branch of the DRL wouldn't get built for the benefit of the very small number of people living beyond a 5 minute walk of either the Pape or Cosburn stations, it'll get built for the hundreds of thousands of people that live north and east of there.
Gosh are so dense (pun intended) to spend billions on a new subway line yet the mere mention a needed, warranted stop that amounts to peanuts in contrast makes you negate it to death? It would not be another Bessarion because it actually connects to surface routes, has a college campus nearby, feeder to the civic centre/hospital, the Pape Village at its door (the only selling point for a singular Cosburn stop, apts be damned!) and room for growth. Even 5 mins of walking along narrow, ice-covered sidewalks through a blizzard when it wasn't necessary cause a friggin subway lies underneath but inaccessible would make anyone hunt down the khatru that subjected them to that fate. I'd watch my back dude :lol !
The Queen line would need lots of stops close together to replace several local routes, but the Don Mills subway would need fewer stops if it's to replace multiple routes where people are travelling much longer distances
Like mad skittles dah :rolleyes ! Why the heck you do you think I put more stations on Queen than the same stretch of BD just a few kms north? It's the core! Dovercourt, Shaw and Niagara makes far more sense than just Ossington, Strachan. NYC and London are the cities they are today because everywhere one needs to be has a subway to get them there, not slow surface routes. DM DRL is just a rehash of the North Yonge line, km apart stops with sparse traffic at best til Sheppard northwards.
and this excludes the need to be fast to relieve Yonge. Your plans completely exclude travel times and their effect on ridership.
That might have been the case before but now I 've considered an adjacent rocket express line to the local lines getting the masses to point A-B in a hurry while placating the still valued, recognised 000s that rely on the minor stops. Seems like I just made ridership higher than ever since I've now catered to a wide cross-section of commuters and their specific travel needs. This even aids the suburbs since elimination of inter-416 GOs speeds up their commutes as well and minimises the needs for endless subways to their city centres at Hurontario, Hwy 7 or Liverpool
.