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Sheppard Line 4 Subway Extension (Proposed)

My take in this project is simply, just build something. We have been talking about this for an entire generation.

LRT, subway, elevated metro, monorail. Anything is better than what it is now.
 
My take in this project is simply, just build something. We have been talking about this for an entire generation.

LRT, subway, elevated metro, monorail. Anything is better than what it is now.
Uhh...no. Building 'simply anything' would not be a good idea. Building an LRT would just force a linear transfer and piss a lot of people off who wanted a subway because then the LRT would be along with a linear transfer would be around for decades. I'd rather build a subway, since it's a catch 22. If you extend the length, then it will get more ridership. And quite frankly, a Sheppard Subway extension will actually get several cars off the road from North York and Scarborough, including my own, as it will make commuting fasting, more reliable, and more direct. And, by the time it is built, there will be sufficient demand for it. One more thing to consider, we don't build LRTs in Toronto like most European cities do, with transit signal priority and 1 km or more stop distances. We build them like slow, constantly stopping streetcars (every 400m and far side stops so it stops twice, once at a traffic light and then again at a stop) with a right of way. Not worth building an LRT on Sheppard the way I see it. If we're building something on Sheppard, build a subway. If the funds for a subway aren't there, then build nothing, because it still isn't a good idea to spend less money on an LRT, because it still cost a lot of money either way.
 
Far side stops are actually best practice for transit signal priority as it is difficult to predict when a LRV will leave a stop, but much easier to predict when it will arrive at an intersection in order to coordinate with signals.
 
Personally I think that any extensions, especially west until Sheppard west, should be subway. I think that a high volume, fast crosstown route will eventually prove useful, and it would be silly not to take full advantage of the subway that's already there. It doesn't necessarily need to be done everywhere but it would make a good transportation spine for the northern side of the city.
 
Far side stops are actually best practice for transit signal priority as it is difficult to predict when a LRV will leave a stop, but much easier to predict when it will arrive at an intersection in order to coordinate with signals.
Dude.....We don't do proper TSP in Toronto with LRTs....did you not read what I said? Metrolinx changed it's mind on TSP with the Eglinton LRT and it is unlikely that any Sheppard LRT would have transit signal priority.
 
Dude.....We don't do proper TSP in Toronto with LRTs....did you not read what I said? Metrolinx changed its mind on TSP with the Eglinton LRT and it is unlikely that any Sheppard LRT would have transit signal priority.
You would think it should be easier to change our lights to give transit priority than spending billions of dollars extra on a subway.

Just because the leafs lost every year since 2004 didn’t mean the leafs could never win or will never win.

Just because we haven’t done transit priority well doesn’t mean we are forever doomed to fail at transit priority.
 
You would think it should be easier to change our lights to give transit priority than spending billions of dollars extra on a subway.

Just because the leafs lost every year since 2004 didn’t mean the leafs could never win or will never win.

Just because we haven’t done transit priority well doesn’t mean we are forever doomed to fail at transit priority.
But it is equally just as easy for a bad politician to come in and turn it off. What you can easily get is a political situation where the quality of the LRT line flip flops depending on which mayor/council is in charge.
 
You would think it should be easier to change our lights to give transit priority than spending billions of dollars extra on a subway.

Just because the leafs lost every year since 2004 didn’t mean the leafs could never win or will never win.

Just because we haven’t done transit priority well doesn’t mean we are forever doomed to fail at transit priority.

Since 1967, the Leafs haven't won anything. But it's not mutually exclusive, transit priority is needed, we do need more subways and/or other transit being built...
 
You would think it should be easier to change our lights to give transit priority than spending billions of dollars extra on a subway.

Just because the leafs lost every year since 2004 didn’t mean the leafs could never win or will never win.

Just because we haven’t done transit priority well doesn’t mean we are forever doomed to fail at transit priority.
I'll believe transit priority is possible in Toronto when the streetcar routes get it. The Crosstown transit priority plan was made in bad-faith.
 
An example of how the current traffic signals are designed for the single-occupant motorist is in this tweet. With four way flashing red signals, the streetcars get through faster.
I think your heart's in the right place, and having one person in a car is worse than more than one, or using public transit, but I think it's important to know why people use single-occupancy vehicles.

Personally, I don't think it's because of lack of awareness, but of convenience. There are people that will just never take transit, but I think the vast majority of people take what they believe is their best option available under their own circumstances.


I should add; I'm in favour of signal priority, but I don't like when it's used as a means to an end that isn't making transit better.
 
When no one has priority, the biggest vehicle gets priority. :p
Haha, perhaps. Though, from another school of thought, the smallest brain gets traffic priority.

Tangential, but seemingly every time I'm downtown there are numerous cases of people driving through an intersection when there isn't space and end up blocking traffic the other way.
 

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