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Transit Fantasy Maps

hw621 said:
And nothing much changed.
Click to expand...

Yes, it should be the same map, I don't think I updated anything, if that's what you're saying.

Or were you saying it is too similar to the current system? It wasn't meant to be long term otherwise the LRT would be on there. And keep in mind, this map was made years ago, before the "MiWay Five" thing. Within 5 years, they just need to have more direct routes and unified corridors for better grid connections. McLaughlin + Confederation, Southdown + Erin Mills, Creditview to Derry, and so on.
 
I've had another idea bouncing around in my head recently that I wanted to put down, but couldn't find the energy to actually make into a visual or a diagram. So I'll describe it the best I can in words.

The Lawrence Rapid Transit Corridor

I think Lawrence Avenue is a great place to either have a mostly on-street LRT like Finch West or a BRT route with dedicated lanes for as long as possible. This is the routing I envision it taking, from east to west:

Rouge Hill Terminal
Charlottetown at Centennial Road
crosses Highland Creek
Beechgrove Drive
Manse Road
Kingston-Morningside
Galloway Road
crosses Highland Creek
Mossbank Drive
Markham Green at Markham Road
Bellamy Road
McCowan Road
Gatineau Trail at Brimley Road
Brockley Drive
Dorset Park - Stouffville GO Connection
Birchmount Road
Warden Avenue
Townley Avenue
Curlew Drive
crosses East Don and Don Valley Parkway
Don Mills Road - Relief Line North Connection
Spur Trail at Leslie Street
Bridle Path
Glendon Campus at Bayview
exclusive right-of-way from York University campus to Mildenhall-Lawrence
Wanless Avenue
Yonge Street - Line 1 Connection
Avenue Road
Bathurst Street
Marlee Avenue - Line 1 Connection
Dufferin Street
Caledonia Road (potential Barrie GO connection)
Keele Street
Culford Road
crosses Black Creek
Jane Street
Weston Centre - Kitchener GO Connection
crosses Humber River
Scarlett-Lawrence
route turns northwest onto or near Scarlett
St. Phillips Road
Islington Avenue
Kipling Avenue
Toronto Congress Centre
potential interlining with Finch West extension if LRT
Attwell Drive
Carlingview Drive
Pearson Airport
 
north-of-anything said:
I've had another idea bouncing around in my head recently that I wanted to put down, but couldn't find the energy to actually make into a visual or a diagram. So I'll describe it the best I can in words.

The Lawrence Rapid Transit Corridor

I think Lawrence Avenue is a great place to either have a mostly on-street LRT like Finch West or a BRT route with dedicated lanes for as long as possible. This is the routing I envision it taking, from east to west:
Click to expand...
I've definitely thought about the potential of BRT on Lawrence before too. I wonder how important crossing Bridle Path is for such a corridor though.

The eastern portion could intersect with a Relief Line station at Don Mills, and then head down Leslie to terminate at Leslie Station.
And the western portion could cross Yonge Street and terminate at Sunnybrook Hospital where they should be able to turn around and head back westbound. (I am hesitant to send it down to Eglinton to intersect with the Crosstown because the traffic at Bayview is atrocious near Eglinton, and I don't know how the buses would turn around).
 
WislaHD said:
I've definitely thought about the potential of BRT on Lawrence before too. I wonder how important crossing Bridle Path is for such a corridor though.

The eastern portion could intersect with a Relief Line station at Don Mills, and then head down Leslie to terminate at Leslie Station.
And the western portion could cross Yonge Street and terminate at Sunnybrook Hospital where they should be able to turn around and head back westbound. (I am hesitant to send it down to Eglinton to intersect with the Crosstown because the traffic at Bayview is atrocious near Eglinton, and I don't know how the buses would turn around).
Click to expand...
I think maintaining a single corridor across the entire city is crucial to the feasibility of the line. I don't see a reason to break it in the Bridle Path neighbourhood because of property values or whatever else. This isn't the Spadina Expressway where we would be splitting a community in twain, and this isn't opening up the area to more private vehicles either.
 
north-of-anything said:
I think maintaining a single corridor across the entire city is crucial to the feasibility of the line. I don't see a reason to break it in the Bridle Path neighbourhood because of property values or whatever else. This isn't the Spadina Expressway where we would be splitting a community in twain, and this isn't opening up the area to more private vehicles either.
Click to expand...
I'm not concerned about the Bridle Path's property values, just that it represents a significant obstacle (which means $$$ to overcome). (However, since you bring it up, neighbourhood opposition will be a factor if something is attempted here).

The question then becomes two-fold: (a) How are commute patterns enhanced by a connection through Bridle Path that aren't already resolved by the parallel Eglinton Crosstown route, and (b) what destinations are reached by this connection?

On the former point, I would imagine that most west-bound commuters will alight at Don Mills to head downtown. So I imagine that the number of passengers who would continue their journey crosstown would be fairly small between Don Mills and Lawrence Park. Of those remainder passengers, how many would be better convenienced by a direct connection to the Eglinton Crosstown and to Yonge-Eglinton?

On the latter point, your alignment stops at Glendon Campus, but misses Sunnybrook Hospital which is the main trip generator in the area. The Bayview bus actually stops there for 5 minutes during it's journey due to its importance. For servicing the area, that is why I suggested the western half terminating there.

Finally, there are actually benefits to having shorter routes. Run times can be more reliable throughout the corridor than compared to a longer route. I wouldn't say there is a "correct" answer here, just various pros and cons that should be weighed against each other.
 
I think the solution to through running on Lawrence might be to turn south on Leslie, build a new transit only Wilket Creek crossing, use the existing road/trail system to cross Sunnybrook park. It definitely makes more sense to me than missing Sunnybrook and building some new ravine crossing near Bridle Path. The real question is how much we want to spend on this thing. My inclination would be to build it quick and dirty with a western branch from Leaside station (or possibly extended east to the bus terminal as Don Mills station) and the eastern running Yonge/Eglinton turning north on Bayview. The TTC will moan about duplicating the crosstown, and obviously these branches could be truncated or through routed, but the duplication doesn't seem to fall on the wrong side of unconscionable given the infrastructure we're working with and better connectivity it West hits the Relief line directly and East Yonge directly.
 
IMO, a continuous Lawrence Crosstown route is only possible if a sizeable underground section (and its cost) is accepted. Both the Bridle Path area and the narrow section from Bayview to Bathurst would be blockers otherwise.

It might be best to start with the eastern section first, Rouge Hill to Don Mills / DRL interchange. Once it is in place, deal with the challenging central section.
 
If the route has to be divided halfway through, I think it might make sense for the eastern stretch to be continuous from Leslie Street (Toronto Botanical Gardens) to Rouge Hill. If the western stretch ends at Bayview, then I would also have it keep going southbound to at least Eglinton. This could draw more people to/from Sunnybrook Hospital via the Eglinton Crosstown. (If it's an LRT it miiight be able to contninue down Bayview, then swing west after the Davisville cemetery to join up with the 512, though that's probably a stretch.)
 
Johnny Au said:
There better be a branch of the 124 Sunnybrook that serves CNIB, Holland Bloorview, and Toronto Rehab if the Lawrence LRT were to be constructed.
Click to expand...

You just as well could extend the 124 south to serve the soon-to-be-completed Leaside LRT station at Bayview and Eglinton and still serve all those nodes.
 
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