Let's address the points now, shall we?
First - riders, depending on their access patterns, could very well have to cross busy streets to access transit even if it is a subway line; properly implemented LRT lines will have signal priority that would minimize stopping at intersections - which they would have to do anyways for on/off loading purposes depending on the location of the stop; and under the current plan no traffic lanes are sacrificed for the proposed lines.
If an intersection with a subway stop has one subway entrance, this reduces the pedestrian street crossings by a quarter, with two entrances, by half etc etc. Surely you can understand that having underground subways DOES reduce the amount of required street crossing to get to the transit?
How many times have the Spadina "LRT" been torn up and replaced since 95?
He said Queen, King and College have been torn up multiple times. Why do you pick just one streetcar line when there are so many others to consider? BTW Spadina streetcar line is the newest one so it has had to be torn up less, just wait til it gets older (closer to the age of Queen, King etc) and then see the chaos and how many times it'll be torn up.
The Central Corridor under construction in Minneapolis is 18km; Denver has 63km of light rail lines; Calgary C-Train has 48km. All have climates that are harsh, if not harsher than ours.
And if you add those three metros together, their populations might come close to the GTAs. Those places had no choice, they HAD to go for LRT in spite of the fact that their climate makes it non ideal .. they had no choice cuz they are too small for subways.
And where are the dense areas in London and Paris, what densities are we talking about relative to where are the subways located, and what's the linkage between said lines with the suburban hinterland, and their prioritization of the construction of said lines?
Umm, who cares?? They built a large and adequate subway network first, then deployed some LRT. And the amt of LRT deployed is far less than the size of their subway network. Bottom line is: build a large subway network first then consider possible small LRT additions (maybe! Madrid has all subway and no LRT, so LRT is often not even necessary, I happen to disagree with even the small Paris LRT and prefer Madrid's all-subway solution).
And yet there is no discussion on converting an underused stub subway into LRT in order to eliminate that transfer.
Of course there isn't. We spent billions on a hi capacity subway, now we should go backwards and convert it into an LRT? And waste all that spent money? You do know that building a big tunnel and full featured stations for subway trains is much more expensive than a smaller tunnel for an LRT, right? What craziness! Better to extend the subway to busier areas and boost the subway ridership.
Note the equating of "transit" with "subways" - is subway the only valid way to serve that need? And is the said individual comparing the ridership of Yonge line to downtown to even the most optimistic projections for Sheppard?
How does Finch LRT not satisfy Etobicoke riders, who had to contend with a) buses and b) nothing else for the forseeable future?
It doesn't satisfy because as mentioned, the LRT will means spending billions to deliver a marginal (if any) improvement. Like using a hammer to kill an ant. Better to wait for a real solution down the road. Leftists enjoy spending money for solutions that dont work, cuz after all it is just public money and it WILL employ unions .. which is all the radical left cares about.
Numbers please.
As if Bloor and Yonge lines aren't streetcars (not even LRT) lines to begin with. Where the need arises, transportation infrastructure will be upgraded.
SO because we had the finanical wherewithal and political will in those days to tear up the Yonge streetcar and build a subway, you think we will be able to do it again??? You know full well (or I hope you do) that once we build an LRT and spend billions on that, that LRT will not be torn up and replaced with subway... NOT GONNA HAPPEN. Once they get LRT, they are stuck with that forever, whether it serves their needs or not.
AoD
