micheal_can
Senior Member
If this airport is to serve east of Toronto travelers, why has there not been a push to expand airports in that area, up to and a including the Kingston Airport?
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Pickering Airport (Transport Canada/GTAA, Proposed)
- Thread starter wyliepoon
- Start date
Coolibop
Active Member
micheal_can
Senior Member
I did not watch it, but looking at the list of 'chapters' not one says 'Do we need it?' I guess that is not really a point they want to discuss.
Coolibop
Active Member
... sorry couldn't find the troll emoji
micheal_can
Senior Member
The thing is, when talking about a project that can be so controversial, having a section that clearly identifies whether it is even needed and why would help.
north-of-anything
Active Member
Peterborough Airport could be even easier to reach and expand if there was rail service to the city from Toronto. Perhaps there should be passenger service reinstated between Toronto and Peterborough? I wonder if there are any plans for something like that.
micheal_can
Senior Member
You mean the HFR/HSR proposal by Via?
EnviroTO
Senior Member
I think you need to eliminate the naysayers where the push back is about flying over their neighbourhood or the environment because if that is the argument we should close Pearson! Converting Pearson to a major park would have huge environmental benefits. Pearson is surrounded by an urban environment, I hear flights coming in front the south over midtown all the time, in Vaughan and Brampton they hear the north and west arrivals, and all the air pollution and greenhouse gases don't care where the airport is located... only that there is an airport at all. The "do we need it" and "what problem are we trying to solve" are the relevant questions. Pearson is not at capacity. A job at Pickering is a job that could have been at Pearson. A dollar spent in Pickering is a dollar that could be spent in Pearson. The questions really come down to use cases for the GTA and how to best solve for those use cases without the east vs west arguments... any airport is going to be near somewhere and further from somewhere else and Pearson is centrally located in the urban area. The use cases Pearson has a problem solving are around night activities... but is building in Pickering is far enough from neighbourhoods to avoid all night restrictions? Would existing airports like Hamilton, Peterborough, and maybe a north gateway like a rebuilt Borden be more suitable for freight? Pickering is a known solution to a problem which is not significant, not well defined, or both.
lenaitch
Senior Member
Where the heck did Borden come from in the discussion? Is anybody is considering a 'freight only' airport? Does such a thing exist?
north-of-anything
Active Member
Yes. I nearly added something about being able to access Ottawa and Montreal on the same line, but felt that was a bit too on-the-nose. I suppose it wasn't.
The idea, of course, is that by making domestic travel more appealing by train, we can free up runway capacity for international flights.
afransen
Senior Member
afransen
Senior Member
I was thinking the same thing, but are the flights to Ottawa and Montreal really that numerous to make a significant dent in air movements at Pearson?
north-of-anything
Active Member
It may be enough to postpone/avoid an expansion. At the very least, time and space can be saved by changing one small flight at each of Toronto/Ottawa/Montreal into one large flight at one of those cities.
micheal_can
Senior Member
If HSR becomes a reality, and not the NA version, but the world version, the flying/train times start to get close enough that the hassle of flying may become too much for most.
afransen
Senior Member
Even if we converted 100% of flights to Ottawa and Montreal to rail, that's what--a few dozen per day?
I thought the real target for HSR was driving.