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York Region Transit: Viva service thread

I'd be surprised - but little point debating - we'll just see what the ridership estimates in the EA are.

The EA can conjure up any numbers it wants to justify anything.

Hardly anybody on Sheppard would continue west of where it hits the stupid RT extension, and not very many people live along Sheppard between Markham and Agincourt...ridership on this stretch could be extremely low. It's a given that Steeles would be busier - the other two depend on removing the double fare, which I already said.
 
Because it can go to Beaver Creek...Markham Centre's employment targets may never be reached. Choosing any alignment means bypassing some other place, and choosing the unbuilt place that's already at a GO station is not at all more logical than continuing up Leslie.

The alternative is the Stouffville line...or the Richmond Hill line.

Agreed... a Don Mills line that stops at red lights shouldn't be seen as an alternative to Yonge. At Sheppard east speeds it would take over an hour to get from downtown Markham to the B-D subway, then you still have to transfer twice and get downtown. Improving GO is much better as an alternative.
 
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Hardly anybody on Sheppard would continue west of where it hits the stupid RT extension, and not very many people live along Sheppard between Markham and Agincourt...ridership on this stretch could be extremely low.
I don't disagree ... I simply note that I'd be surprised if an LRT on Warden in Markham would give more passengers. My point wasn't that Sheppard East was high; merely that a Warden in Markham LRT would be very low.
 
Agreed... a Don Mills line that stops at red lights shouldn't be seen as an alternative to Yonge. At Sheppard east speeds it would take over an hour to get from downtown Markham to the B-D subway, then you still have to transfer twice and get downtown. Improving GO is much better as an alternative.

I certainly agree that improving GO is the best option, and should be of the highest priority. But I'm still not convinced that Leslie & Hwy 7 is any better a terminus than Markham Downtown.
 
The best terminus for Don Mills is Seneca College...it'd be the terminus of the DRL, though.
I think that in the long term, it would make sense to extend the DRL up Don Mills, but LRT would do the job right for a good 20 or 25 years, then we could start thinking about a Subway extension.

I'd just like to see projects such as the DRL and Eglinton just get started. As long as we get a couple kilometers of subway done on all of them, we can extend them later, right? I think that's what a lot of Transit City should be.
 
Instead of curving the Don Mills LRT east on Steeles, north on Warden to Downtown Markham.

How about extending the Finch LRT east from Don Mills, then north on Warden or Kennedy to Downtown Markham?

I find it odd that the Finch LRT abruptly ends at Don Mills. This arrangement makes it more of a seamless crosstown route.
 
Instead of curving the Don Mills LRT east on Steeles, north on Warden to Downtown Markham.

How about extending the Finch LRT east from Don Mills, then north on Warden or Kennedy to Downtown Markham?

I find it odd that the Finch LRT abruptly ends at Don Mills. This arrangement makes it more of a seamless crosstown route.
I have a better idea -- no LRT on Finch anywhere east of Yonge.
 
I personally find Viva green t be a very ackward route, it really passes by some random business park near the 404, and the major trip generators are either Seneca (finch), Don mills subway, or in the future Downtown Markham. I personally believe that the best rapid expansion option open for them to connect Markham centre with the rapid transit network, is the expanded SRT. I would leave Don Mills LRT as is all the way up to Leslie and 7, if you've ever driven on highway 7 between bayview and woodbine, you knwo that it is constantly congested throughout the day, I don't know but this sort of leads me to believe that maybe lots of people actually want to go to this area.

On another note I think Viva service should be expanded to some new East-west routes, the one route I would love to see is 16th ave. This route has soooo much potential it could maybe go from vaughan mills to just past buttonvile airport or further, it alos serves hillcrest :p, I would suggest Major mackenzie, but in all honesty there isn't much on major mack except for wonderland and the Yokr central hopsital and apart from those it is pretty muhc just empty land or low density housing.

I deffinitly think, though, that some form of transit improvement shoudl be put on steeles, maybe a Viva style BRT, or a full blown BRT with ROW's I think Steeles warrants it. Driving by Bathurst and steels you will never see a bus stop shelter empty, as well as with other bus stops closer to young like Hilda or that random stop at the plaza by st pascual baylon church, it is allways packed, seriously the grass around the stop has stopped growig in a 5 metre radius from all the people waiting at the stop.
 
That sentence confused me as it is. haha

Finch West is seeing its buses replaced primarily because a few people think LRT is awesome, but one route being more important than another had nothing to do with the planning...the chosen routes were basically pulled out of a hat, or drawn onto a Ride Guide with a marker after 5 seconds of deliberation.

They didn't pick the routes with the highest total ridership, or the highest peak ridership, or those with the most congested traffic, or those corridors most feasible for the infrastructure required, or those designated for higher order transit, or those where redevelopment is permitted, they don't even run to every ward or every priority neighbourhood, or anything. They just kinda got picked.

The only apparent pattern of importantness is, perhaps, that they picked Finch West so that Jane & Finch could get two lines (along with Flemingdon Park and Malvern). And that can't even be proven unless one of the six or so people that had influence on the plan come out and say it. Exclude that, and there's no rational or systematic way to compare why some routes are seeing their buses replaced and others are not.
 

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