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Brampton Transit/Zum

It looks like Steeles is becoming another ridiculously busy industrial route like Dixie and Eglinton. It is overcrowded even on the weekends, in my experience.

Steeles is an anomaly, especially once entering Toronto. Why not have BOTH eastbound and westbound routed on Finch and avoid the Steeles-Albion-Humberline area? Doesn't 50 Gore Rd not already duplicate this service? I'm totally in agreeance that Queen needs a LRT line though the logistics of it might be complicated.

I also agree with the poster who dislike the South and Central Industrial routes' loopings. To further that, I think they should be replaced by new Rutherford and West Dr routes. The former running from Kennedy/First Gulf through upto Williams Pkwy (altering 8 Centre), then continuing via Richvale S and Somerset to Heart Lake Terminal. Similarly 8 Centre could route to Heart Lake via Conestega. As for West Dr, the industrial looping would remain but the route could continue upto Laurelcrest, Vodden, Howden and North Park to Contrelle/Airport Rd.
 
Steeles is an anomaly, especially once entering Toronto. Why not have BOTH eastbound and westbound routed on Finch and avoid the Steeles-Albion-Humberline area? Doesn't 50 Gore Rd not already duplicate this service? I'm totally in agreeance that Queen needs a LRT line though the logistics of it might be complicated.

I also agree with the poster who dislike the South and Central Industrial routes' loopings. To further that, I think they should be replaced by new Rutherford and West Dr routes. The former running from Kennedy/First Gulf through upto Williams Pkwy (altering 8 Centre), then continuing via Richvale S and Somerset to Heart Lake Terminal. Similarly 8 Centre could route to Heart Lake via Conestega. As for West Dr, the industrial looping would remain but the route could continue upto Laurelcrest, Vodden, Howden and North Park to Contrelle/Airport Rd.

If I recall correctly, there was fierce opposition when they proposed changing the 11's routing west of Airport Road. The 8 hasn't changed in almost 15 years if I remember correctly, so something must be working right. We should only change the 8 if the routes you propose result in better service. Brampton needs better service through neighbourhoods, and your proposal does that, but i fear they would run it at ridiculous frequencies.
 
Brampton Transit had an Open House tonight, the panels (in PDF) are now posted on-line. There's also a comment sheet.

http://brampton.ca/transit/2008proposals.tml

Some of the highlights (all to be implemented for September):

Northeast: The elimination of Route 6 MacKay, the rerouting of Route 12 to Torbram and Australia Drive via Sunny Meadow and Route 14 to Countryside Drive, while 22 takes over the Mountainash section in a bidirectional loop. There's an Option 2 that involves less change.

Southwest: Changes to routes 4, 52 and 53. Route 4 will likely run direct via Steeles to Chinguacousy, 53 would become a bi-directional route and add Charolais and James Potter, and take over the Moffat/Duggan Routing. Route 52 would get longer as well in the southwest.

Bramalea Road Corridor: Replace Route 91 with a new 15A between the GO Station and the Civic Hospital. Also, a new Route 101 Pearson Airport Express between BCC and Terminal 1 via Bramalea Road and Derry. The route would have very limited stops.

More minor route and schedule changes. There's a proposal for a change in route 24's routing. There might be a new rush hour 77 branch from BCC to Keele Street and into York University. Route 7 and 11 are supposed to see weekday schedule changes (unspecified) and new accessible routes.

While these are proposed changes (not everything will make it, and depends on feedback), almost all changes in the 2007 Open House were implemented in the Fall.

Not much new on the Acceleride front, except the timelines have changed. Queen (Downtown-York Region) will start in 2010. Main (Mississauga-Sandalwood) in 2011, and Steeles from Main to Humber College in 2012. Steeles has been bumped up, and Main's northern section is also bumped up.

Still no confirmation on the York Region and Mississauga Terminals, I hope for a seamless service south to Square One and east to York U, but they might still terminate at 407 or Derry on Main, and Highway 50 or 27 in Woodbridge. The planners that I talked to want to see that too.

The planners and staff there were really good in answering questions, they seem to know what they are talking about, and they do the passenger counts on many of the routes. Really nice people I find.

Downtown Brampton is busy with construction. There's also now a great coffee joint that was quite busy (Coffee Culture). I had a light dinner there, I was impressed. I'll post some pics tomorrow or Friday.
 
I like the direction they are going on Bramalea Road. The city centre and the GO station needed better connecting service, and I'm glad they're getting it. Hopefully it will help reduce some of the parking strain on Bramalea station.

I'm very happy that the northern end of Acceleride is being fast-tracked. I'll be out of school by then, and hopefully not still living up here - but maybe people in Valleywood will start to think twice about their stance if there's a premium service so close.

Here's hoping they don't turn the buses back at the border come 2010.
 
One coach (2365) has had one installed and has been in testing for quite some time.
 
The Hurontario corridor should definitely be LRT in my opinion. BRT just won't cut it. And it should go all the way from Port Credit to downtown Brampton.

I would think it should (either right away or as a second phase) go at least as far north as Bovaird in Brampton. While the traditional "4-Corners" is considered the heart of downtown Brampton, intersection of Bovaird (Highway 7) and Main St/Hurontario (Highway 10) is rapidly becoming a key commercial corner/area. There are, mostly, traditional suburban shopping centres there now but there are a couple of mid-rise office projects in the plans and there will, likely, be some condo-development there too.

In addition, the Bovaird bus route (#5) is one of BT's busiest routes, especially now with the Mount Pleasant GO train being on that road. If there was some sort of LRT along Main that connected with the Lakeshore GO line it would alleviate, at least partially, the pressure on GO to provide more off peak service. Bramptonians that took the GO in to work in the morning but missed the "late" trains home, could take the Lakeshore W line to PC, jump on the new PeelRegionLRT trasf to BT either at Steeles (if your car was parked at Bramalea) or Bovaird (for Mt. Pleasant) or just walk (if at the Downtown Brampton Station).

Who would run it, though, if it were, roughly, equally in Brampton and Mississauga? That would, likely, force a merger of MT and BT....no?
 
Main St is simply not that busy a transit corridor, nor will it ever be. It is not even really a corridor, at least not in the same way as Queen, Steeles, and Kennedy, or the "avenues" of Toronto, ALL of which are busier bus routes and a better choice for LRT conversion.

Main St should not be a priority even for Brampton, let alone a priority for Peel, the 905, or the GTA.
 
Main is certainly a major corridor, at least from Downtown south. What you may forget is that a lot of that north-south traffic is not on Main, but practically next door on the 52 McMurchy. This is the way transit patterns were established as the 52 used to part of the main 1 Queen east-west route, and had the higher ridership. Route 2 suffers a bit for being in the Etobicoke Creek ravine between Shoppers and Brampton Mall.

Anyway, rush hour service on 2 Main is 10 minutes, on 52, it's 15 minutes (which is now all midday). Don't kid yourself - combined, it's a lot of riders (and people will walk further to get to LRT).

Also consider that Downtown Brampton is on the cusp of a building boom. The 407 is a really, really dumb place to end a transit service. Shoppers World would make some sense, but you might as well get as far as that Places to Grow major growth node 3 kilometres to the north.

Expand your mind beyond the Mississauga border.
 
Main is certainly a major corridor, at least from Downtown south. What you may forget is that a lot of that north-south traffic is not on Main, but practically next door on the 52 McMurchy. This is the way transit patterns were established as the 52 used to part of the main 1 Queen east-west route, and had the higher ridership. Route 2 suffers a bit for being in the Etobicoke Creek ravine between Shoppers and Brampton Mall.

Anyway, rush hour service on 2 Main is 10 minutes, on 52, it's 15 minutes (which is now all midday). Don't kid yourself - combined, it's a lot of riders (and people will walk further to get to LRT).

Also consider that Downtown Brampton is on the cusp of a building boom. The 407 is a really, really dumb place to end a transit service. Shoppers World would make some sense, but you might as well get as far as that Places to Grow major growth node 3 kilometres to the north.

Expand your mind beyond the Mississauga border.

You think Mississauga bias has anything to do with this? What the hell is your problem? The boundaries have nothing to do with my position on transit. MCC is major node as well, but that doesn't mean I would support an LRT along Burnhamthorpe. And Burnhamthorpe has much higher ridership than Main. Burnhamthorpe or Main, I treat them the same.
 
I'm just wondering why you seem hostile in your last post to the idea of LRT into downtown Brampton and how Main Street should not be a priority. Queen is getting "BRT" within 2 years, which is the way to go for now along Brampton's busiest corridor because it allows them to immediately hook into York U, where they want the service to stop. Main Street is the 3rd busiest route after Queen and Steeles, and has been a priority for years, particuarly with Acceleride, as BT wants to address the inter-municipal connections.

If Mississauga wants to go LRT along Hurontario, and Brampton, the province and Metrolinx want a seemless higher-order route, of course the LRT needs to go into downtown Brampton and connect with a intensification node, GO, VIA and local services. Brampton's paying its share, in a cooperative effort that's a credit to both municipalities.

So yes, Main Street, as part of the Hurontario Corridor, should be a priority for Brampton, for Peel and for the GTA.

Or do you want to see the LRT end at Britannia?
 

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