|
|
|
YRT/Viva Construction Thread (Rapidways, Terminals)
- Thread starter waterloowarrior
- Start date
Leo_Chan
Senior Member
The VIVA Vaughan Metropolitan Centre Subway Station is so incredibly large in the middle of Highway 7. If you thought the normal VIVA stations were huge, you'll be amazed by how grand this station is. I think that an underground bus station would be better than a large station above ground with elevators and stairs (bus lanes that go under the roadway). It would be similar to what the original plan for the Yonge Street Rapidway.
TOareaFan
Superstar
I dont know.....I like visible transit (particularly in the suburbs)....something that makes people look at it and say what is that and where does it go or get me too. underground or hidden transit (especially in the suburbs) can be out of sight....out of view......out of mind!
Leo_Chan
Senior Member
I agree with you that transit has to be visible, but making a road that is literally 12 lanes wide is a waste of space and takes a lot of time to cross.
TOareaFan
Superstar
Over time it will likely be seen/felt more like two separate crossings with a stop/gap in the middle.....is there a significant amount of foot traffic crossing 7 at that point now anyway? I would have thought not.
wilson_wu
Active Member
I find the bus lanes and busway in the middle of the road acts as a sort of buffer that makes the street feel narrower than it actually is.
TOareaFan
Superstar
Sometimes, however, you wonder if there is any hope.....just showed that graphic above to a co-worker who lives on Wigwoss...just north of 7....pointed out how, soon, he will be able to walk to the end of his street...hop on a VIVA bus that will run in its own ROW and be whisked to the subway where he can get a seat and ride all the way into the office.
Now, to be clear, this is not the most "anti" transit person I know and he does, ocassionally, drive to York GO and take the GO....but he is very much a car/motorcyle enthusiast.
Rather than be excited about the prospect.....his first two comments (in quick succession) were "that's gonna mean a lot of construction around me.....and that will be a long ride to work".
Now, to be clear, this is not the most "anti" transit person I know and he does, ocassionally, drive to York GO and take the GO....but he is very much a car/motorcyle enthusiast.
Rather than be excited about the prospect.....his first two comments (in quick succession) were "that's gonna mean a lot of construction around me.....and that will be a long ride to work".
Markster
Senior Member
He'll be singing a different tune when it's complete, and he sees buses speeding down the rapidway past his car stuck on a congested highway 7!
(That different tune will be "they should have just widened the road, and not wasted space on buses")
Leo_Chan
Senior Member
A 6 lane road is already a pedestrian nightmare. A 10-12 lane road would be hell.
(More lanes is never the solution, even though it MAY relieve some congestion.)
MisterF
Senior Member
To be fair to him, it is a pretty long subway ride from Highway 7 all the way downtown. A GO train really is the ideal mode to go that kind of distance, especially when the RER upgrades are done. I've never been a big fan of the subway pushing farther and farther into the suburbs for that reason.Sometimes, however, you wonder if there is any hope.....just showed that graphic above to a co-worker who lives on Wigwoss...just north of 7....pointed out how, soon, he will be able to walk to the end of his street...hop on a VIVA bus that will run in its own ROW and be whisked to the subway where he can get a seat and ride all the way into the office.
Now, to be clear, this is not the most "anti" transit person I know and he does, ocassionally, drive to York GO and take the GO....but he is very much a car/motorcyle enthusiast.
Rather than be excited about the prospect.....his first two comments (in quick succession) were "that's gonna mean a lot of construction around me.....and that will be a long ride to work".
TOareaFan
Superstar
Total travel time....for him....would be much the same......the subway is closer to his home.....and subway delivers him right to our building.....not a station a ten minute walk from our building......but, yes it is a long subway ride.
Megaton327
Senior Member
Also, while 15-minute headways once RER is live are very impressive, they're still way higher than the TTC's subway headways. You'll likely have to wait about 2-3 minutes on average at VMC for a subway vs 7.5 minutes on average at a GO station. And, also, that's once RER goes live, and who knows when that'll be--TYSSE opens late 2017/early 2018. RER is at least 5 more years off, probably 7+.
TJ O'Pootertoot
Senior Member
I don't know why we, over and over again, in these threads see people saying "it take the same time to travel by GO to your job downtown, so there's no point building subways further out." Not everyone works at Union Station! If his friend works at Bloor, now he won't have to take GO to Union and double back north on the subway, for example. Or if he works at St. Clair or Eglinton or anywhere else in the central city that's north of Queen Street.
Someone who works "downtown" will take the mode that best serves their needs in terms of their actual Point A and Point B, the cost and the schedule. What'd be nicer than anything else, I'm guessing is having an OPTION. So if (for example) he normally takes the subway and (as if this could ever happen!) service is out from say St. Clair West to Spadina, he can take RER instead, so the whole city isn't paralyzed because we have no redundancy built in to our network when part of the subway goes down.
(And all that's putting aside that a 45-minute subway ride is hardly unprecedented in major centres like New York City and London.)
So, yeah.
Someone who works "downtown" will take the mode that best serves their needs in terms of their actual Point A and Point B, the cost and the schedule. What'd be nicer than anything else, I'm guessing is having an OPTION. So if (for example) he normally takes the subway and (as if this could ever happen!) service is out from say St. Clair West to Spadina, he can take RER instead, so the whole city isn't paralyzed because we have no redundancy built in to our network when part of the subway goes down.
(And all that's putting aside that a 45-minute subway ride is hardly unprecedented in major centres like New York City and London.)
So, yeah.
Woodbridge_Heights
Senior Member
Trains will be short turning at Steeles w IIRC so the wait time at VMC station will be closer to 5-6 minues
Leo_Chan
Senior Member
When the Yonge North Subway Extension is built to Richmond Hill Centre, it will create a great link. However, there is a proposal to extend the subway North to 16th Avenue or even Major Mackenzie Drive later. Won't the overlap between Subway and Viva Rapidway be kind of a waste? Even though this is a situation we'll face in 20+ years.
Last edited: