News   Aug 09, 2024
Cladding Rises on Topped Off Reina Condos in South Etobicoke
 662     2 
News   Aug 09, 2024
UrbanToronto Industry Updates: New Partnerships, Cooling Markets, Advances in Affordable Housing
 602     0 
News   Aug 09, 2024
High-Rise Community Proposed at 401 and Brock in Pickering
 2.3K     2 

YRT/Viva Construction Thread (Rapidways, Terminals)

Leo_Chan said:
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"?
Click to expand...
Yes I believe it was a bad choice to build Bayview station at curbside. With this station the buses have to change multiple lanes to get into and out of those lanes instead of staying in the centre of the road. It will require a rebuilt if ever converted to LRT.
 
Cool. Looks nice. Will it have any direct stairs or escalator to the subway of will patrons need to cross Hwy 7 to get to the entrance?
 
lead82 said:
It will require a rebuilt if ever converted to LRT.
Click to expand...

I'd bet that the station and bridge will both need to be rebuilt due to age before the BRT is converted to LRT. It made no sense to rebuild a bridge that's barely 20 years old, just to widen a highway so that buses can avoid traffic congestion that's never there because it's a six-lane, limited-access road.
 
lead82 said:
Is that going to be the Viva BRT station @ VMC?
Click to expand...
Yes, that is the Viva Rapidway Station at VMC. It is a really wide structure that will have 2 bus lanes, 2 sets of staircases and elevators that head down to the Subway Concourse. IMO, its pretty overbuilt for the time being.
 
amnesiajune said:
Why? It makes sense to have a direct and sheltered connection to the subway station instead of forcing people to walk across the street.
Click to expand...
I mean having 2 elevators, one on each platform, when 1 elevator and 2 sets of stairs/escalators would suffice.

2.PNG


Even though I love symmetry, having the Viva Station so accessible probably won't have such a high demand.
 
Leo_Chan said:
I mean having 2 elevators, one on each platform, when 1 elevator and 2 sets of stairs/escalators would suffice.

2.PNG


Even though I love symmetry, having the Viva Station so accessible probably won't have such a high demand.
Click to expand...

well if your only qualm is with 1 elevator, I dont think there can be much savings in the grand scheme of things. They are already cutting underground and pouring for a staircase, they might as just do 2.
Besides I'm sure AODA would have a say into it since couldnt they technically argue that its on a different side of the road hence 2 separate entrances? Now the hwy 407 stn and the overhangs for Pioneer village stn...THATS overbuilt....
 
Leo_Chan said:
I mean having 2 elevators, one on each platform, when 1 elevator and 2 sets of stairs/escalators would suffice.

Even though I love symmetry, having the Viva Station so accessible probably won't have such a high demand.
Click to expand...

Lessons learned from the TTC would have us believe at any given moment one elevator must be down for repairs. Two elevators will provide some redundancy. Although, to be fair if one elevator is down they could just cross over to the other platform and take it there...not ideal but if we're going to penny pinch...
 
the real cost is that gigantic roof - no need for it to cover the entire bus lanes. Just have it as a shelter like in the regular VIVA stops.
 
innsertnamehere said:
the real cost is that gigantic roof - no need for it to cover the entire bus lanes. Just have it as a shelter like in the regular VIVA stops.
Click to expand...

It probably costs virtually nothing compared to the billion dollar cost of all the rapidways or York Region's $600 million contribution to the TYSSE.
 
innsertnamehere said:
the real cost is that gigantic roof - no need for it to cover the entire bus lanes. Just have it as a shelter like in the regular VIVA stops.
Click to expand...
That's a good thought, but when you consider the following, this complete roof is the best option.

1. The first principle of Viva station design is to maintain overhead cover for pedestrians as they board.
2. You cannot risk having this structure's support columns located anywhere close to the curb, therefore the structure must be a cantilever design.
3. The platforms for this station are extra wide to accommodate vertical movement to the subway concourse level. The designers wanted the whole pedestrian platform covered, especially taking into consideration that this is a flagship station.
4. A cantilever design for such a wide platform is cost and space prohibitive. The foundations and columns would take a lot of space forcing Highway 7 to be constructed even wider than it is now. The one option they could have considered is placing heavy columns in the middle of the platform and balancing a platform-only roof above. Not knowing anything about the original design decision process, I can guess, if they did consider that option, they had concerns about pedestrian traffic flow due to the centre columns or about the structure not looking enough like a standard Viva station.

With all that in mind, about the only thing left for them to decide was how to skin the structure. I guess they could save some money by not putting any skin above the bus lanes leaving that part of the structure exposed to the elements.
 
The Davis Drive rapidway has failed.

Frequency will be scaled back to 23 minutes in the evening. Service will end sometime around 10:30pm

Not surprised at all actually. This route is like a stub. It doesn't really go anywhere. Should have been an extension of the Viva Blue.
 
wilson_wu said:
The Davis Drive rapidway has failed.

Frequency will be scaled back to 23 minutes in the evening. Service will end sometime around 10:30pm

Not surprised at all actually. This route is like a stub. It doesn't really go anywhere. Should have been an extension of the Viva Blue.
Click to expand...
They could have just built the Viva Curbside Stations on Davis Drive instead. Before the Rapidway on Davis Drive was built, there was no Viva service there at all.

There was decent ridership on the YRT routes, but they overestimated the demand and introduced a Viva Rapidway in the corridor before even having Curbside Stations.
 
You must log in or register to post here.

Back
Top