M II A II R II K
Senior Member
I think some stations on it are overkill. Like the Wilson and Lawrence West station on the Barrie Line close to the Spadina Line, and if people wanted to go there they could transfer at Downsview Park going south.
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The CityRail Concept: Real Regional Rail for the GTA
- Thread starter M II A II R II K
- Start date
ssiguy2
Senior Member
Well another "grand plan" for Greater Toronto and it makes perfect sense.
The problem of course is that they left out one very important point.........fare integration. If this plan is enacted Torontonians will go from have diesel trains that they can't afford to take to electric trains they can't afford to take. All those different colours make for very pretty maps but mean nothing to the overwhelming majority of the citizenry. It will make the enviornmentalists feel all warm and fuzzy and will certainly make for great ribbon cutting ceremonies but when it's all said and done it will mean little to the travelling public. Instead of waiting in the rain for yet another packed bus looking at all the diesel trains go by, they will be able to look forward to waiting in the rain for yet another packed bus looking at all the electric trains go by. Not a very appealing prospect.
The idea of CityRail, GO REX or whatever the hell they are calling it this week is a very good one but only if people can afford to take it. Fare integration {ie deducting the price of your TTC ticket from your GO fare} is a good first step but even that simply won't be good enough. For it to be a true alternative to the car or just taking that packed bus to get to the packed subway it should be run as part of the standard local service meaning that your local bus pass gets you anywhere in your city regardless of the technology you are using............bus, GO buses streetcar, LRT, subway, or commuter rail. Same should go for the other cities where they can use any service within their transit area. That also might encourage cities to amalgamate their systems such as a Peel-wide system instead of Miss/Bram/Cale.
In the last election Smitherman proved himself to be rather incompetent in so many files but he did have one useful idea..........he wanted anyone who had a TTC pass to be able to use that pass for the travel of 2 GO rail stations.........ie no extra fare for someone going from Union to Weston. It would have been a logistical nightmare and impossible to govern but his idea of being able to use the GO system with your TTC pass was a sound one. It is also not novel as it is already the case in Oshawa/Durham.
Toronto is always worrying about building rapid transit while the truth of the matter is that they already have a big one but most can't afford to take it.
The problem of course is that they left out one very important point.........fare integration. If this plan is enacted Torontonians will go from have diesel trains that they can't afford to take to electric trains they can't afford to take. All those different colours make for very pretty maps but mean nothing to the overwhelming majority of the citizenry. It will make the enviornmentalists feel all warm and fuzzy and will certainly make for great ribbon cutting ceremonies but when it's all said and done it will mean little to the travelling public. Instead of waiting in the rain for yet another packed bus looking at all the diesel trains go by, they will be able to look forward to waiting in the rain for yet another packed bus looking at all the electric trains go by. Not a very appealing prospect.
The idea of CityRail, GO REX or whatever the hell they are calling it this week is a very good one but only if people can afford to take it. Fare integration {ie deducting the price of your TTC ticket from your GO fare} is a good first step but even that simply won't be good enough. For it to be a true alternative to the car or just taking that packed bus to get to the packed subway it should be run as part of the standard local service meaning that your local bus pass gets you anywhere in your city regardless of the technology you are using............bus, GO buses streetcar, LRT, subway, or commuter rail. Same should go for the other cities where they can use any service within their transit area. That also might encourage cities to amalgamate their systems such as a Peel-wide system instead of Miss/Bram/Cale.
In the last election Smitherman proved himself to be rather incompetent in so many files but he did have one useful idea..........he wanted anyone who had a TTC pass to be able to use that pass for the travel of 2 GO rail stations.........ie no extra fare for someone going from Union to Weston. It would have been a logistical nightmare and impossible to govern but his idea of being able to use the GO system with your TTC pass was a sound one. It is also not novel as it is already the case in Oshawa/Durham.
Toronto is always worrying about building rapid transit while the truth of the matter is that they already have a big one but most can't afford to take it.
See 2-3 pages ago when I described to you in detail what a region-wide fare zone network could look like...
Woodbridge_Heights
Senior Member
I've thought about this, but really it just illustrates that we in Toronto have the bones/structure to build a proper multi-modal transit system and that it is a lack of political will that prevents it from materializing. Think about it, overlay any of these plans with the other and the 'bones' start to come to light. The major concession roads, the rail right of ways, the pockets of density, all drive any of these plans into a similar structure. What is different is the technology used and small modifications in routes and scheduling.
We have the basis for a pretty decent transit system, we just need to build it.
dowlingm
Senior Member
Can't compare infrastructure in China with Canada. An attempt to impose top down infrastructure on Canada will be in the courts faster than a blink, with the "Taxpayer Protection" groups egging on the NIMBYs.