407 Transitway plan has already missed the bus, Markham councillors say
The proposed 407 Transitway, still in the planning stages, is already outdated, say several Markham councillors who argued light rail is the better way for the region.
“This is typical Ontario government,” Councillor Colin Campbell said of the province’s plan for bus rapid transit (BRT) along the south side of Hwy. 407.
The transitway will span 150 km from Burlington to Oshawa with up to 50 bus stations along the route.
“It’s 50 years behind,” Campbell said. “The province is playing catch-up instead of planning ahead.”
During a recent city committee meeting, councillors heard from a transportation consultant, Khaled El-Dalati, on the state of the 407 Transitway plans.
The eastern portion stretches 19 km from east of Kennedy Road in Markham to Brock Road near Pickering.
There are eight possible station locations, five of which are confirmed: Markham Road, Ninth Line, Donald Cousens Parkway, Whites Road and Brock Road. The province is also protecting land for a station at McCowan Road, York-Durham Line and Rossland Road.
The environmental assessment for the central portion of the Transitway, which cuts across York Region with seven stops betwen Hwy. 400 in Vaughan to Kennedy Road, was approved by the province in 2012.
But Transitway construction is close to two decades away – something Markham council wants cut by five to 10 years.
It also falls near the bottom of the province’s transit priority list – after the Spadina and Yonge subway expansions into York, all-day, two-way GO train service and a proposed downtown relief subway line.
That’s why it’s important to protect for these projects today, El-Dalati said during the committee meeting.
“Think of the 401 and where it was 30 years ago and where it is today,” he said. “The 407 will follow that trend.”
Ridership going westbound between Brock Road to east of Kennedy Road is expected to be about 5,000 passengers during the peak morning rush, which builds to about 14,500 through to the Yonge Street station.
Eastbound to Brock Road ridership is expected to be around 1,500.
That’s about one bus of 50 passengers every two minutes travelling on average about 65 km/hr, El-Dalati said.
That’s where the plan veers off the track for some Markham councillors who argued the province should be planning a light rail transit (LRT) system from the get-go.
“Electrified trains put us 50 years ahead not 50 years behind like buses,” argued Campbell. “This is old-fashioned thinking.”
Regional Councillor Jim Jones agreed, calling the bus option ‘obsolete’.
There is no cost analysis for the project as a whole, for each proposed station or a cost comparison between LRT and BRT, he added.
“How can we come up with solutions if we don’t know how much this costs?” Jones said. “We have to know the cost so we can come up with alternatives.”
The proposed station at Markham Road would have 800 parking spaces, a bus loop and a passenger drop off area as well as a storm water management plan.
Stations at Ninth Line and Donald Cousens Parkway are similarly designed but with about 400 parking spots.
The plan is to build the stations first and have buses travel along Hwy. 407 then construct the grade separated BRT lanes that can be converted to LRT lanes as ridership increases.
Markham councillors had several criticisms of the plan, including traffic impacts on major roads such as Markham Road, lack of bird or butterfly friendly designs, lack of tree planting initiatives, the high cost of maintaining storm water management ponds, the lack of a station at McCowan Road as well as the long time frame.
“This is already out of date,” Councillor Valerie Burke said. “We should be seeing more leading edge ideas. There isn’t a good feeling of confidence.”
The city put forward several amendments to the plan: including a McCowan Road station in the environmental assessment; restricting cars passing through local residential neighbourhoods; moving the Donald Cousens Parkway station to the east side of Reesor Road in anticipation of future GO Train service on the Havelock rail line; using leading edge sustainability solutions; and constructing a pedestrian crossing between the Rouge Valley and Ninth Line.
Markham also wants the province and the federal government, to consider a high speed train from Windsor to Montreal using the 407 alignment.
There is public information meeting for the Transitway plan between Kennedy Road and Brock Road planned for later in June, with the environmental project report expected to be complete by the fall.
