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Parliament Streetcar

gweed123 said:
My preference would be to install a streetcar service along Parliament from Castle Frank to King, and then have it cut westward along King, and then up Spadina to Spadina Station. Basically, you'd be forming a slightly wider and shallower U compared to the YUS U. With a hopeful King Transit Mall, it would mean 2 of the 3 legs of the route would be some form of ROW.

The current issue with the Parliament bus is that it doesn't really go anywhere where people want to go. Most travel is towards the core, which it doesn't really serve. Having it curve westward into downtown without a transfer would also take a fair bit of traffic off of the Carlton, Dundas, and Queen cars, as well as the Yonge Subway.
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The problem with Spadina is the terminus. As it is, the 510 Flexities are struggling to fit. But if the $ has been spent to create a C/Frank terminal I guess anything is possible at the other end :)
 
gweed123 said:
My preference would be to install a streetcar service along Parliament from Castle Frank to King, and then have it cut westward along King, and then up Spadina to Spadina Station. Basically, you'd be forming a slightly wider and shallower U compared to the YUS U. With a hopeful King Transit Mall, it would mean 2 of the 3 legs of the route would be some form of ROW.

The current issue with the Parliament bus is that it doesn't really go anywhere where people want to go. Most travel is towards the core, which it doesn't really serve. Having it curve westward into downtown without a transfer would also take a fair bit of traffic off of the Carlton, Dundas, and Queen cars, as well as the Yonge Subway.
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A Parliament-Bathurst/StClair Streetcar would do a lot to help relive congestion downtown.
 
dowlingm said:
How would you address the terminus issue though? Run it on surface and into the bus loop, or something else?
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It's tricky, because you can't run straight across from Parliament to the northside of Bloor due to the terrain.

Often when I walk up Parliament to the subway I skip Castlefrank and instead walk over to the Sherbourne entrance on Glen Rd. and Howard St.

Might be easier for the streetcar to turn left from Parliament to Howard, drop at the top of Glen Road.
 
denfromoakvillemilton said:
A Parliament-Bathurst/StClair Streetcar would do a lot to help relive congestion downtown.
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If so, I'd rather go for just Parliament-Bathurst, terminating at BD subway on both ends. Bathurst Stn has a very large streetcar loop and can easily accommodate more frequent service.

Bathurst north of Bloor is congested and tends to move slowly, probably because of cars parked in the outer lanes. It is typical for the #7 Bathurst bus to drive from Eglinton to St Clair (2 km) in 5 minutes, and then spend 15+ minutes getting to Bllor (another 2 km). If the this section is added to the streetcar route, it will hold back the whole route.
 
Rainforest said:
If so, I'd rather go for just Parliament-Bathurst, terminating at BD subway on both ends. Bathurst Stn has a very large streetcar loop and can easily accommodate more frequent service.

Bathurst north of Bloor is congested and tends to move slowly, probably because of cars parked in the outer lanes. It is typical for the #7 Bathurst bus to drive from Eglinton to St Clair (2 km) in 5 minutes, and then spend 15+ minutes getting to Bllor (another 2 km). If the this section is added to the streetcar route, it will hold back the whole route.
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We can solve that

1) ban on street parking from Bloor to St Clair
2) LRT only Lights.
3) Loop at St Clair
I feek this could be a busy route.
 
denfromoakvillemilton said:
We can solve that

1) ban on street parking from Bloor to St Clair
2) LRT only Lights.
3) Loop at St Clair
I feek this could be a busy route.
Click to expand...

Banning the parking on Bathurst would improve the transit flow, but it will be very difficult to do as the houses there have no parking slots or garages. Essentially, that would be like telling the residents that they cannot own cars.
 
Rainforest said:
Banning the parking on Bathurst would improve the transit flow, but it will be very difficult to do as the houses there have no parking slots or garages. Essentially, that would be like telling the residents that they cannot own cars.
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Toronto could ban all single-occupant automobiles within the old Toronto borders? By the 22nd century, maybe, if climate change turns out not to be a hoax.
 
Admiral Beez said:
It's mostly already done too, you just need to run the track 1.1 km from Carlton to Castlefrank.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Frank_(TTC)
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Yup!

dowlingm said:
How would you address the terminus issue though? Run it on surface and into the bus loop, or something else?
Click to expand...

I'd most likely run it on the south side of the Bloor viaduct, and then have it cross Bloor at the Castle Frank lights. Not ideal, but less costly than a short tunnel, which is of course another option.

And on the west end, I'd totally be fine with Bathurst too. I just picked Spadina because it had a ROW, which increases reliability.
 
There is a chance that the line to Castle Frank could surface in a long range Transit plan this year or in the coming years, depending who is in power both at Queen Park and Toronto.

The line was raised a number of times during the EA for Cherry St and Queens Quay E transit plan. TTC shot it down.
 
The bad news is that Castle Frank Station cannot handle streetcars (especially the Flexity Outlooks) within them because of their length. Same with the Coxwell Station. Major design work would have be considered and done before them can handle them.
 
Rainforest said:
Banning the parking on Bathurst would improve the transit flow, but it will be very difficult to do as the houses there have no parking slots or garages. Essentially, that would be like telling the residents that they cannot own cars.
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True. We would have to think of something because St Clair - Union - Castle Frank is the key to high ridership here.
gweed123 said:
Yup!



I'd most likely run it on the south side of the Bloor viaduct, and then have it cross Bloor at the Castle Frank lights. Not ideal, but less costly than a short tunnel, which is of course another option.

And on the west end, I'd totally be fine with Bathurst too. I just picked Spadina because it had a ROW, which increases reliability.
Click to expand...
drum118 said:
There is a chance that the line to Castle Frank could surface in a long range Transit plan this year or in the coming years, depending who is in power both at Queen Park and Toronto.

The line was raised a number of times during the EA for Cherry St and Queens Quay E transit plan. TTC shot it down.
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Bathurst/Bloor Castle frank is fine, but I think we should go st clair. TTC is so short sighted sometimes Drum. This would help the Yonge line.
 
There looks to be enough room on Howard to make it bi-directional for streetcars, and add a loop somewhere around Glen Rd. or alternatively do a one way loop from Howard->Bleeker->(St.James or Wellesley or even Carlton)

There are also probably ways you could get it over to Mt Pleasant and up to St Clair - either via Selby and Huntley

Alternatively by crossing to the north side of Bloor at Parliament and going west (basically overhanging the valley) to the Sherbourne bridge and then crossing the valley and going Elm to Mt Pleasant.
 
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