TTC: Jane (LRT) RapidTO

[micheal_can]

Yes, most people are going Downtown. Not a majority, but most. And yes, most of the growth in terms of employment in total numbers is also Downtown.

The YorkU extension, Line 5 Eglinton, Line 7 Finch West, Scarborough Subway, and the Yonge extension will all increase the burden on already overcapacity Downtown bound subway lines.

If GO electrification doesn't materialize in a significant way, even with the Ontario Line, the capacity issues into downtown will persist. IMHO the biggest priority for Toronto in terms of transit is increasing capacity into downtown.

So, build LRTs that are grids and build subways to funnel them downtown. The DRL should be a subway, and it should work well. Dumping the Jane LRT onto Eglinton to get to a subway doesn't make much sense.

 

[Midtown Urbanist]

If the route is compromised by hills and ROW to such a high degree, I wonder if this is a route to consider BRT on.

A proper BRT could have the capacity to deal with Jane or Dufferin's ridership quite easily.

 

[Rainforest]

If the route is compromised by hills and ROW to such a high degree, I wonder if this is a route to consider BRT on.

A proper BRT could have the capacity to deal with Jane or Dufferin's ridership quite easily.

Probably enough capacity, but the street width problem remains, especially for Dufferin south of Eglinton and all the way to the Ex.

 

[KevinT]

Probably enough capacity, but the street width problem remains, especially for Dufferin south of Eglinton and all the way to the Ex.

I wonder if anyone will start giving consideration to tunneling bus routes for a few km here and there now that there are electric options?

 

[M II A II R II K]

A Dufferin LRT should be a continuous route like Eglinton with underground and on street section north of Eglinton.

And a brief above ground section at Davenport to make that a street stop to cheap out since a Davenport stop would never be busy.

 

[afransen]

I wonder if anyone will start giving consideration to tunneling bus routes for a few km here and there now that there are electric options?

Getting dangerously close to Musk's idea of 'loop'. Why not make the tunnel small and use EV vans/microbuses?

 

[Towered]

Ford's government has set the precedent that they are determined to build the Eglinton West LRT in an underground tunnel even though it could be easily done on the surface at a fraction of the cost. Under these circumstances, there is absolutely no debate that a much narrower and far busier corridor such as Dufferin would justify the same infrastructure. Same with Jane. The municipal government should be pushing hard for fully grade separated LRT's along multiple routes now that the province is on record as willing to fund excessive infrastructure!

 

[Rainforest]

Ford's government has set the precedent that they are determined to build the Eglinton West LRT in an underground tunnel even though it could be easily done on the surface at a fraction of the cost. Under these circumstances, there is absolutely no debate that a much narrower and far busier corridor such as Dufferin would justify the same infrastructure. Same with Jane. The municipal government should be pushing hard for fully grade separated LRT's along multiple routes now that the province is on record as willing to fund excessive infrastructure!

Or at least one of them. Probably Jane will go first because it is already on the books and got some studies completed. Dufferin can be considered for one of the future phases.

 

[Rainforest]

Getting dangerously close to Musk's idea of 'loop'. Why not make the tunnel small and use EV vans/microbuses?

Maybe, but the practical capacity of Musk's loop is still a bit uncertain.

 

[Rainforest]

A Dufferin LRT should be a continuous route like Eglinton with underground and on street section north of Eglinton.

And a brief above ground section at Davenport to make that a street stop to cheap out since a Davenport stop would never be busy.

As follows from the Crosstown / Leslie studies, a short surface section between two tunnels is not necessarily cheaper than a single continuous tunnel.

We like to use costs per km as a measure, and that certainly has tunnel more expensive than surface. But the real-life costs include portals etc, making per-km costs inaccurate for short sections.

 

[anb]

Probably enough capacity, but the street width problem remains, especially for Dufferin south of Eglinton and all the way to the Ex.

Imagine a subway or lrt between wilson/yorkdale and exhibition. The way this could help not only Toronto but the whole region thanks to the exhibition go connection. Same with Jane LRT if it connected with 407

 

[CapitalSeven]

Probably enough capacity, but the street width problem remains, especially for Dufferin south of Eglinton and all the way to the Ex.

This won't go over well, but .... I explored that stretch of Jane one day and concluded that the discredited practice of buying up the properties on a road, demolishing the buildings, and widening the road ought to be brought back.

 

[afransen]

This won't go over well, but .... I explored that stretch of Jane one day and concluded that the discredited practice of buying up the properties on a road, demolishing the buildings, and widening the road ought to be brought back.

Especially when it is just a bunch of single family residential or strip malls with not much historical significance. The west side of Dufferin in that stretch is a bunch of forgettable single family dwellings. I counted about 45 dwellings per km between Goodwood and just north of Rosecliffe. Even at 2M per door, it could be a heck of a lot cheaper than tunneling. And it would pave the way for Avenue-ization of the street, with some of the development offsetting the cost of land acquisition. Might have to buy the properties that back onto it as well so they could be assembled into plots for mid-rises. Looks like you could do it for much of the stretch south to about the railway underpass, where it might be simpler to just tunnel down to the Ex.

 

[CapitalSeven]

Due to cerebral flatulence, I was thinking of Jane not Dufferin. Oops. Interesting that my comment made sense to someone referring to Dufferin.

 

[afransen]

Oh, I think it would be a tougher sell on Jane.

However, Jane is in the Metrolinx 2041 RTP as a BRT/LRT corridor, but Dufferin as a bus/streetcar priority corridor, because it is a touch narrower. But widening Dufferin may not be such a terrible idea.