YRT/Viva Construction Thread (Rapidways, Terminals)

[BMO]

Yeah it doesn't make much sense, particularly when considering the double standard of those supporting subways in Vaughan but vehemently opposed to them in threads like the SRT or Sheppard. It's pretty confusing to see ppl flip-flopping and contradicting their opinions and doing contortionist 180s, 540s, or 1260deg turns.

Right on cue as per usually

 

[TJ O'Pootertoot]

If you are talking about the subway.Vagn wanted it to go further that one stop in the city itself but the TTC wanted them to pay half the renovation cost for Bloor station if they did it. Plus Vaughn would have to foot more of the bill for it as well.

Nothing here is correct. At all.

Yeah it doesn't make much sense, particularly when considering the double standard of those supporting subways in Vaughan but vehemently opposed to them in threads like the SRT or Sheppard. It's pretty confusing to see ppl flip-flopping and contradicting their opinions and doing contortionist 180s, 540s, or 1260deg turns.

Welcome back, to remind us that all transit lines are created equal, except for their proximity to Union Station, upon which they should therefore be judged.

As for the idea floated above by @MisterF that the Price Chopper at Steeles and Bathurst is in an "inner suburb" while the FreshCo at Steeles and Bathurst is in an "outer suburb" (and therefore, they should be served by different modes of transit) ....OK, then.

For what it's worth, it's not true that there is no "real definition" of inner/out suburbs. The Growth Plan explicitly and legally defines them, and Vaughan is decidedly the former.

 

[narduch]

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.

Doesn't the ROW end just a bit past VMC station?

Are there plans to eventually extend it to Islington?

Edit: Yes. They are supposed to extend to before Islington by 2019.

 

[BMO]

Doesn't the ROW end just a bit past VMC station?

Are there plans to eventually extend it to Islington?

Edit: Yes. They are supposed to extend to before Islington by 2019.

ROW to Islington then it's mixed until Kipling (due to the Rail overpass) and I believe it will eventually extend to Hwy 50 at a future transit terminal.

 

[narduch]

Wonder if there are plans to ever widen Hwy 7 at that rail overpass.

 

[Zach6668]

Wonder if there are plans to ever widen Hwy 7 at that rail overpass.

It was included in the most recent TMP update.

http://www.york.ca/wps/portal/yorkh...qpI/dl5/d5/L2dBISEvZ0FBIS9nQSEh/#.WD9An7IrJ9M

Go to Background Report E, Appendix A, Part 4. It's project number 2115 (page 27 of that PDF). It's a TMP, so it's high level, but widening under the rail overpass is mentioned.

 

[Zach6668]

It's also mentioned under Background Report E, Appendix B - Transit Projects, page B-21 (22 in the PDF, project number 1006).

Again, high level, but mentions eliminating the constraint between Kipling and Helen St.

 

[BMO]

It was included in the most recent TMP update.

http://www.york.ca/wps/portal/yorkh...qpI/dl5/d5/L2dBISEvZ0FBIS9nQSEh/#.WD9An7IrJ9M

Go to Background Report E, Appendix A, Part 4. It's project number 2115 (page 27 of that PDF). It's a TMP, so it's high level, but widening under the rail overpass is mentioned.

Good find. Although I suspect since the Transit EA has been completed and the road widening EA hasn't they may bundle in the transit ROW into the road widening EA (I assume the transit EA did not include an ROW under the rail).

 

[Leo_Chan]

Are the Viva Stations on Highway 7 easy to move? I ask this because of the Bayview Ave Viva Stations being on the outer curbs of Hwy 7. I know they were built there in order to save money from rebuilding the Bayview Ave overpass at Hwy 7. When (if) the Rapidways are converted to LRT, they'll probably have to do it anyways unless they want the LRVs to go through 3 lanes of traffic.

So wouldn't it have been better to spend more upfront to widen the Bayview Ave overpass now and built the stations at the centre of Hwy 7 rather than changing it up later. Not to mention the two towers on the north and south side of Hwy 7 that allow riders to walk up to Bayview. It SO overbuilt having 1 in the centre would've been better.

 

[lead82]

This station was surely over-built. In general the Viva stations are way overbuilt for the level of service they provide. They will get more useful over the years as Highway 7 densifies. I don't see the Viva routes being converted to LRT any time soon. They barely justify BRT at the moment. The ridership will take decades to build up. Buses can handle the volume likely for the foreseeable future. When time comes to upgrade to LRT, we would need to rebuild the rapidways due to age and new technology.

YRT should focus on keeping fares frozen and building up ridership by increasing service, especially feeders to VIVA lines.

 

[Leo_Chan]

This station was surely over-built. In general the Viva stations are way overbuilt for the level of service they provide. They will get more useful over the years as Highway 7 densifies. I don't see the Viva routes being converted to LRT any time soon. They barely justify BRT at the moment. The ridership will take decades to build up. Buses can handle the volume likely for the foreseeable future. When time comes to upgrade to LRT, we would need to rebuild the rapidways due to age and new technology.

YRT should focus on keeping fares frozen and building up ridership by increasing service, especially feeders to VIVA lines.

Of course the Rapidways are over built, but you haven't stated anything about having the stations on the curbside rather than the median. Was it a "bad" choice to save money in the "short term"?

 

[innsertnamehere]

7 is likely looking at an lrt well after that building reaches end of life. I wouldn't be too concerned.

The Yonge BRT is more likely to be converted as it actually has solid ridership already. I can see it making lrt levels of ridership in 20-30 years.

 

[MisterF]

North York was very much outer suburb when the subway came to Finch Station. Pretty much everything north of Steeles west of Yonge was still farmland back in 1974.

True but the subway doesn't serve the area North of Steeles and west of Yonge so I'm not sure why you're bringing it up in the context of suburban city centres. North York Centre is still much more central to the GTA than Vaughan Centre and a significantly shorter subway ride to downtown. The trip goes through an area that's nearly continuously built up in an urban, dense, pedestrian-oriented way. That's not the case with Vaughan.

Of course, as I said, that ship has sailed. Since the city has developed the way it has and Vaughan's centre is being developed where it is, it probably makes sense to extend the subway that far. But again repeating my original point, if rapid transit can be developed on existing rail lines, it just makes sense to develop suburban centres on those rail lines. I'm not sure why so many people here are taking exception to that basic concept.

As for the idea floated above by @MisterF that the Price Chopper at Steeles and Bathurst is in an "inner suburb" while the FreshCo at Steeles and Bathurst is in an "outer suburb" (and therefore, they should be served by different modes of transit) ....OK, then.

For what it's worth, it's not true that there is no "real definition" of inner/out suburbs. The Growth Plan explicitly and legally defines them, and Vaughan is decidedly the former.

You might want to work on your reading comprehension because I never suggested anything of the sort. You quite literally made up my supposed idea.

As for the Growth Plan, it doesn't define inner suburbs and outer suburbs in the way that we were using the terms. I think you're confusing that for the inner ring and outer ring of the Greater Golden Horseshoe. The inner ring consists of what we traditionally think of as the GTA plus Hamilton and includes all of Durham, York, Peel, and Halton. In other words, well beyond what pretty much anyone would consider an inner suburb. Unless of course you consider Binbrook and Beaverton inner suburbs.

In any case, I think too much is being made of the inner vs outer suburbs thing. Scarborough, for example, is one of the suburban city centres would have been a lot easier to serve by rapid transit if it were located on the Stouffville GO line. But it wasn't so the question of how to serve it with transit is still being debated to this day.

 

[drum118]

I post these in the Spadina Subway Thread and should be here as well since its part of the Hwy 7 BRT Vaughan section
Shot Nov 4

 

[lead82]

Is that going to be the Viva BRT station @ VMC?