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Finch West Line 6 LRT

turbanplanner said:
TBH the part of brussels I visited wasn't insanely far off from some of finch west (Yes, I know Danmark isn't Belgium)

maps.app.goo.gl

Street View of Av. des Olympiades 6 · Google Maps

Av. des Olympiades 6, 1140 Evere, Belgium
maps.app.goo.gl maps.app.goo.gl
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What you'll notice here is that not only is the intersection's curb-to-curb width wider than a typical one on Finch West, but the building setbacks and boulevards (road verges) are much larger as well. This Belgian 'stroad' is effectively much wider here. About 11 lanes wide compared to 8 lanes curb-to-curb. There is this pervasive myth that Europe's tram lined roads are always narrower than those in Toronto, but that simply is not true. The overall right-of-way from property line to property line can often be wider in Europe. In turn, these wider corridors often have longer gaps between traffic lights. Just because you wandered down a narrow Tuscan cobblestone street all starry-eyed on your honeymoon doesn't mean all European road right-of-ways are narrower than ones in Toronto (with comparable importance and traffic volumes).

This urban morphology difference partly explains why some European trams run faster than Line 6.

Note the slip / frontage road running alongside the main road in the second Belgian screenshot. There is one on both sides.

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Road verge aka boulevard: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_verge#:~:text=[14]-,Boulevard:,-Detroit, Michigan;
 

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Some creative solutions if Finch LRT removes Stevenson, Duncanwoods, and Driftwood station but locals still want some locals bus transit.

1. Stevenson: the 118 bus currently terminates at thistletown. Theoretically bus line can be extended to Terminate at Albion mall and provide service to stevenson, rather than the LRT.
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2.Duncawood: 84A bus could be expanded and turn north on Weston, Run along Finch to Peardale station, and make its way towards Steeles and Islington
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3.Driftwood:108 could be rerouted to Tobermory station.
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So eventhough stations are removed there could still be some local service that could feed into other stations on Finch
 
turbanplanner said:
I feel like the average European behaves differently than the average Canadian and people here ignore that fact!
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Street View might disagree! (but I would agree with you)
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[this at-grade 3.0km (5 stations, avg. speed ~20-25km/h) stretch along Frankfurt's main N-S axis was originally intended to be tunneled like the sections south of it in the city's core, but the financial struggles of the 1970s meant that the city had to save money. I've talked about this before as I think it is an interesting comparable to learn a few things from; and actually, I'm impressed that it only results in the death of ~1 person/year. Given it essentially operates on <2-3 minute frequencies, you would unfortunately expect more]
 
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a2z said:
Street View might disagree! (but I would agree with you)
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[this at-grade 3.0km (5 stations, avg. speed ~20-25km/h) stretch along Frankfurt's main N-S axis, I've talked about before; actually, I'm impressed that it only results in the death of ~1 person/year. Given it essentially operates on <2 minute frequencies, you would unfortunately expect more]
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Good find, the building setbacks and the overall corridor are definitely narrower than the Brussels example. Unfortunately, that Frankfurt section is still a bit wider curb-to-curb than the narrowest sections of Line 6's corridor. That's 2 car lanes in each direction (4 total), but Frankfurt has a notably wider median tram ROW. Just a few metres away Eschersheimer becomes 3 lanes in each direction, about 8 car lanes wide (if there were no tram ROW).

I've driven down Finch West and was genuinely surprised at how uncomfortably tight the left through lanes were in many areas. Especially where the left lane narrows near the stops.
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hawc said:
Amazing. My taxes paid for a new multi billion dollar Line that doesn’t work in Toronto winters. What a joke.
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FFS, it’s snow, in Canada. It’s not even a ton of snow like we used to regularly get. Other wintery places run their trams, seemingly without issue.


Look, the Finns even stick a plow on their trams to clear a way.


As do the Swiss.


Why must we suck at everything to do with city railed transit? Is there anything Toronto does well?
 
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I honestly feel that the value of LRT and Streetcars are at this point an ideologically held belief in Toronto and like most ideologies, they're glorious in theory, but absolutely disastrous in practice.

There's this silly romance about them which never pans out. My tax dollars wasted.

We all want great public transit. I use it all the time. Even car drivers should be for it, as it takes more cars off the road. But LRTs and Streetcars are not working. They're just slowing everyone down.

Prove me wrong Line 5!!!
 
This is actually pathetic.

So the rest of the TTC streetcar network can operate (to whatever constraints) today, but yet Finch West cannot?

This is actually an inexcusable, laughable joke. Yes there's a significant amount of snow today, but if this line cant operate in inclement conditions than people have every right to be frustrated with how billions were spent for a line that's kneecapped.

Metrolinx and Mosaic just keep digging a bigger hole as to why people will likely be increasingly against LRTs going forward.
 
Amare said:
This is actually pathetic.

So the rest of the TTC streetcar network can operate (to whatever constraints) today, but yet Finch West cannot?

This is actually an inexcusable, laughable joke. Yes there's a significant amount of snow today, but if this line cant operate in inclement conditions than people have every right to be frustrated with how billions were spent for a line that's kneecapped.

Metrolinx and Mosaic just keep digging a bigger hole as to why people will likely be increasingly against LRTs going forward.
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All this talk of the delays are to prevent Ottawa 2.0 and we got exactly Ottawa 2.0...
 
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