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Transit Fantasy Maps

Remember that currently, York Region doesn't run buses on steeles. Although it acts like a border, the city of toronto maintains and takes ownership of the road so fare integration will be necessary for the brt to work well

There are sections of some routes that run along Steeles, and they accept passengers normally on Steeles, but not TTC fares. I've occasionally used them to get from Brampton to some locations in North York without having to pay a second fare.
 
Presenting the South Scarborough BRT!

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So upon discovering that there were plans to create a BRT corridor along Ellesmere in Scarborough and east to Oshawa, I thought "well that's cool, but can it be extended so it doesn't end in the middle of absolutely nowhere"? And thus, this was born.

There are three different line proposals here.

*The Salmon+Pink line heads south from Scarborough Centre along McCowan, stopping at Brimorton and Lawrence before continuing on Danforth Road. From there it stops at Brimley/Eglinton, Midland, and (Birchmount and/or Warden) before turning on Danforth Avenue. From there it stops at Victoria Park Avenue, terminating either there or at Main Street to connect to the TTC and GO.
*The Salmon+Brown line follows McCowan/Danforth, stopping at the same places at and north of Eglinton. It does not stop at Midland, instead turning south onto Midland, stopping at St. Clair East, then turning west at Kingston. It then stops just before Danforth Avenue, and continues on Danforth to stop at Warden, Victoria Park, and Main Street.
*The Purple+Brown line takes a new route where the Line 3 SRT exists now. It turns south onto Midland, stopping at Ellesmere, Lawrence, Eglinton, and St. Clair, before following the Kingston/Danforth route to Old Toronto.

Buses would run in mixed traffic on Danforth Avenue west of Warden, but in dedicated bus-only lanes for as much of the rest of the route as possible. I think my favourite of these routes is Salmon+Brown, but I'm unfamiliar with Scarborough so I'm not sure if it would be ideal.
 
Hey guys, I was thinking... What if we weren't so quick to tear down the SRT's guideway?
66232122_10157472425442370_1659953732613308416_n.jpg

I've always believed something like this Is what gets built with the Crosstown-EELRT looping back across the City Centre to Ellesmere. Now that the subway fight is finally over this plan can slowly gain traction in the future.
 
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Hey guys, I was thinking... What if we weren't so quick to tear down the SRT's guideway?
66232122_10157472425442370_1659953732613308416_n.jpg
If this blue line is to be kept alive and extended, then it may as well go up to Sheppard and all the way to Fairview Mall (and to Yonge in a converted Sheppard subway. The money from not building the Sheppard line could be used to fund it.
 
If this blue line is to be kept alive and extended, then it may as well go up to Sheppard and all the way to Fairview Mall (and to Yonge in a converted Sheppard subway. The money from not building the Sheppard line could be used to fund it.

Or, now just hear me out, the Sheppard line goes along Sheppard west to connect with the other side of the U, then on to Pearson. The line could then go east towards Scarborough Town Centre and then keep going east into Pickering. This would make it staying a true subway line a necessity.
 
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I'm sure this has been proposed many times before, but I think that Line 4 should be extended west to "close the loop" and provide an alternate route to get to York U and Vaughan. Here I marked out a few potential stops that could work.

  • Lansing Station is located at Sheppard and Senlac, with the name Senlac being reserved for an eastward extension of the Finch Line. Senlac can draw traffic from the north side of the York Cemetery if that does not happen. This area contains a LOT of one-story post-war homes that can easily be redeveloped.
  • Balestown Station is located at Sheppard and Bathurst. The intersection doesn't have as much redevelopment potential, but Bathurst is a major corridor so it makes sense.
  • Goddard Station is located at Sheppard and Goddard/Gorman Park. This station is more to fill in the block like Bessarion, which means that it's also probably the least necessary and could be scrapped.
  • From here it connects with Line 1, either right below the existing Sheppard West station, or at a separate Allen Road station connected via a walkway. This is as far west as I can confidently justify an extension, but the other stations below are possible.
  • In the event of a redevelopment of the current Downsview Airport, this area hopefully can be developed into a high-density commercial, residential, and cultural hub. In that case, there could be a stop at an extension of either Ancaster Road or Maniza Road.
  • The route could also follow Sheppard to hit Downsview Park station, expanding on the existing transit hub, and then continuing south on Keele.
  • The route can also continue in its current direction without turning, stopping at William Baker Station at Keele, then at West Dells Station at Jane. I'm not a fan of this route, though, because then it just becomes a stub in the westbound direction as well (barring rapid transit along Jane).
The biggest obstacle to this route would definitely be zoning laws. Sheppard has the potential to be made into the second main street of North York, but the area around Sheppard mostly lies in the yellow belt, with Sheppard itself being fronted by a lot of bungalows. The alignment most likely would also rely on Downsview Airport closing, and will also involve crossing the Western Don River which opens up another can of worms.

I would have loved if there was a subway line along York Mills/Wilson instead, but I think we need to work with what we have first.
 
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Based on the above comments about routing Line 4 along the Line 3 right of way, this is what I came up with.

The Maryvale stop could be shifted slightly west to eliminate Terraview and possibly save cost, but I think this would otherwise be the best way to make that happen. Although, personally, I would just prefer that it continue along Sheppard to Agincourt GO if it was to extend eastwards.
 
The entire Sheppard West corridor east of Allen Road is part of Toronto's Avenues plan. City already has redevelopment in mind. Sheppard Subway to Allen could also provide some relief to Yonge line. No point building further than that.

Wilson is featured prominently in the Avenues plan. I think Wilson LRT would be a better choice than Sheppard for a line that continues west of Allen. Sheppard East is Avenues, York Mills/Ellesmere is not. Keep the subway on Sheppard.

In Scarborough, Lawrence East and Kingston are probably the corridors that they should focus on instead of York Mills/Ellesmere, if you look at the Avenues. Lawrence East LRT can reunite the corridor. Kingston LRT could be in collaboration with Durham.
 
The entire Sheppard West corridor east of Allen Road is part of Toronto's Avenues plan. City already has redevelopment in mind. Sheppard Subway to Allen could also provide some relief to Yonge line. No point building further than that.

Wilson is featured prominently in the Avenues plan. I think Wilson LRT would be a better choice than Sheppard for a line that continues west of Allen. Sheppard East is Avenues, York Mills/Ellesmere is not. Keep the subway on Sheppard.

In Scarborough, Lawrence East and Kingston are probably the corridors that they should focus on instead of York Mills/Ellesmere, if you look at the Avenues. Lawrence East LRT can reunite the corridor. Kingston LRT could be in collaboration with Durham.
I agree with all of your points, if you're coming from a realistic perspective. Although I do think that if there's an LRT on Wilson, building both Wilson and Finch West out to Yonge would be wasteful in the short term, since neither corridor has incredible development potential inside the loop but having at least one might be necessaery as a relief alignment.

I definitely think Lawrence East should be a priority between Don Mills and Markham Road, maybe even as far as Leslie and Kingston. Kingston I'm less sure about, as I think for crossing the regional boundary a BRT might be sufficient, given a high enough frequency.

...so I ended up making a mockup for both.

Lawreast.png


This is the Lawrence East line. It has interchanges with other lines at Don Mills Station (now conveniently located in Don Mills) and at South Creek Station (a Stouffville GO connection). I struggled with naming stops in this area because so many of the neighbourhoods span greater distances west-east, and I'm very unfamiliar with this area. The line between Don Mills (an established hub) and Woburn (an area ripe for redevelopment) is the main corridor, with optional extensions towards Banbury and Kingston Road.

Wilson LRT.png


This is the Wilson line. No interchanges with existing lines except Line 1, but Wendell could theoretically intersect with GO service to Woodbridge/Bolton/Alliston. Though I do doubt the usefulness of such a connection. Again, naming stations was difficult between the two rail lines because pretty much the entire neighbourhood is just "Downsview". The station at Keele I am totally stumped with, and I don't like "Sinai" because it reminds me of the Mount Sinai hospital downtown.
 
I agree with all of your points, if you're coming from a realistic perspective. Although I do think that if there's an LRT on Wilson, building both Wilson and Finch West out to Yonge would be wasteful in the short term, since neither corridor has incredible development potential inside the loop but having at least one might be necessaery as a relief alignment.

I definitely think Lawrence East should be a priority between Don Mills and Markham Road, maybe even as far as Leslie and Kingston. Kingston I'm less sure about, as I think for crossing the regional boundary a BRT might be sufficient, given a high enough frequency.

...so I ended up making a mockup for both.

View attachment 195779

This is the Lawrence East line. It has interchanges with other lines at Don Mills Station (now conveniently located in Don Mills) and at South Creek Station (a Stouffville GO connection). I struggled with naming stops in this area because so many of the neighbourhoods span greater distances west-east, and I'm very unfamiliar with this area. The line between Don Mills (an established hub) and Woburn (an area ripe for redevelopment) is the main corridor, with optional extensions towards Banbury and Kingston Road.

View attachment 195780

This is the Wilson line. No interchanges with existing lines except Line 1, but Wendell could theoretically intersect with GO service to Woodbridge/Bolton/Alliston. Though I do doubt the usefulness of such a connection. Again, naming stations was difficult between the two rail lines because pretty much the entire neighbourhood is just "Downsview". The station at Keele I am totally stumped with, and I don't like "Sinai" because it reminds me of the Mount Sinai hospital downtown.
Nice. Extend the Wilson Line one stop west to end at Islington/Rexdale Blvd. The Humber River valley is a massive barrier to travel in the area. Call the new station The Elms (since that's where The Elms neighbourhood actually is), and rename the station at Weston Road "Walsh" or "Humberlea".
 
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