But if you live in the city at Y and E for example, what reason do you have to go to YR anyway? It looks like according to the most recent reports the province is not that keen on extending yonge anyway, even that golden report had it stopping at steeles. I don't agree with that, they should leave it that way it is when GO service goes to 15 minutes system wide. Bring the DRL to Don Mills Finch, BD to McCowan Finch, and call it a day.
This is really absurd. You think people who live in midtown or downtown don't work in Markham and Vaughan? Besides which, this is about building a long-term network. If it was 1970 you'd be arguing Finch is all farmer's fields and "Who from Yorkville goes up to North York?"
The Golden Report did not shoot down Yonge. Toronto pointed out (understandably) that the DRL was needed first to resolve capacity issues, as we all know. And now that's become the hip, new line and so, understandably, they said it should be built first. I have several issues with how the Golden Report framed things, and that would be on the list, but it doesn't look like the premier took it as holy writ anyway.
Even if we're talking about building transit lines to empty fields and hoping developers build condos there and people move in, we already have a place for that: the Vaughan-York U Spadina extension. Plenty of space to build at Downsview Park and in Vaughan along the new subway there which is almost complete at this point. The bonus is that it's not a subway that's already at-capacity like Yonge is (or will be).
First of all, there are probably more existing riders between Finch and 7 (or Major Mac even) then on any planned extension of any kind in the Big Move, save the DRL. Secondly, you are missing the entire point of Places to Grow. There are 25 urban growth centres in the region and the one with the densest planning and best location, quite arguably in the entire Golden Horseshoe, is at Yonge and 7. To treat something like that as just some empty field is like....if you're not going to try to intensify THERE, you might as well scrap the whole plan and just let development and transit go wherever. But don't require municipalities to intensify and then go, "Oh, we're already building transit to empty fields, so nothing for you!" You should look at the population projections the province set out and then try to calculate how many of those people are going to Downsview or VMC.
And so we're clear, this is provincial policy. So that means some developer can announce something huge for there and if council votes it down, the OMB will approve it; because of the policy. And then you'll have highrises in a constrained suburban site, directly adjacent to transit, 2 km away. (Kind of like is already starting to happen, with the World on Yonge towers.)
With all due respect I do commute to Finch all the time, from north of steeles. I absolutely know what the area is like. To simply disregard me as not knowledgeable of the area despite making the trip down the entire route of the proposed extension at least once a week is disingenuous, and you should never make assumptions like that.
I was generalizing somewhat but mea culpa.
That said, the previous plans had both the GO and the subway going to RHC, yes. But they also had the GO line running once an hour, I.E. at a frequency that is not really useful. The new announcement that it will be every 15 minutes changes things, as suddenly bus connections are much easier. As Gweed mentioned, it wouldn't be that much lower off peak than the subway.
I don't recall if they had specific GO frequencies beyond "All-day, two-way" but even if that's so, it STILL doesn't make sense to have a multi-modal transit hub and to stop a subway 2km away. And unless I'm mistaken, most of that line is owned by CNR so electrification isn't happening any time soon. And, as I and others have already pointed out, that still only helps you get to Union. Really, I don't see how this is any different than if you decided, going the other way, to stop the subway at Queen Street since, hey, GO goes into Union any way and you can take streetcars and walk to the financial district. Seems to me rather basic (so basic it's in The Big Move) that if you want a seamless transit network, you put all your modes in one place where it makes sense to, no?
And if you travel that area regularly you surely know that better bus connections are not the problem; the problem is too many bus connections. All you have to do is stand at Yonge/Steeles for 15 minutes and watch the buses - hundreds each hour - going south and north across the border to see the need for a subway north of there. I can't fathom why you'd stop a subway and TTC buses at Steeles instead of integrating that with the GO/YRT/VIVA/Transitway terminal just to the north.
Then you get to the point of the built form not changing north of Steeles. Sure, but it sure as hell changes north of Clark. North of Clark it changes to run through a valley and then through low density housing before reaching Langstaff. The subway would go 2.8km without a stop, only to reach a location (RHC / Langstaff) which is already well served by 15 Minute GO service. Thus I determined that as Clark would be a low use station and not worthy of extending simply to reach that location (it only really makes sense if the subway is going by it anyway)
And how is that different than the far more substantial valley at Hogg's Hollow which I guess they had to go through to get to the empty fields at Finch? Today there is plenty of stuff in between and while Clark isn't going to be Yonge and Sheppard it's an easy bet they will get more mid-rise at that corner (at minimum) and you will, without a doubt, get more World on Yonge-scale developments between Steeles and Clark. Stop the subway at Steeles, and you won't. By your own logic, Clark makes about as much sense as a natural terminal as Steeles, which goes to show how un-natural both really are.
Because Yonge is Yonge, it should be looked at as a singular, contiguous main street even if it's diving into valleys or crossing borders.
I understand the gist of your arguments but when you look at the larger network Places to Grow and the Big Move envision, it doesn't make sense. If I live in RH and want to go to Eglinton, you'd have me transfer three times and if I live at Eglinton and work in Markham, you'd have me transferring more too; and we haven't even gotten into the 407 Transitway that will be stopping 2 km north of your "sensible" subway terminus. Obviously it's not happening tomorrow but unlike the DRL and most of the other Big Move projects (except the Yonge extension!) the EA for it is already done.
It makes more sense to keep the subway at Finch than to only bring it up to Steeles, unless your goal is to throw up a wall at the 416/905 border and only help people to the south of it.