When Bloor-Danforth subway line was built in 1960's, Yonge & Bloor subway interchange station was close to centre of Toronto based on population density,.... today, Yonge & Sheppard T-shaped subway interchange station is close to centre of GTA based on population density. Keeping in mind, 4800 Yonge is at southwest corner of Yonge & Sheppard,... subway transit is vital for office development,... this site is zoned for office only with no residential,... should Sheppard STUBway be extended westward to Downsview? Should folks buy into 4800 Yonge thinking it'll be a Yonge-Bloor?
3.4km of subway needed from current end of Tailtrack (Senlac) to Downsview,.... $350 million per km of subway (based on cost of Spadina Extension BEFORE the over-runs!),.. Thus, about $1 BILLION - give or take a few million,.... probably a bit less since they only need one new station at Bathurst,... and that's part of the problem, big chunk of money but only a few additional people at Bathurst will benefit from Subway service.
Oh, and then there's crossing the West Don Valley between Senlac & Bathurst,... either tunnel straight down under the Don Valley West River,... or reinforce the current Sheppard Ave West Bridge (half way down valley) over the West Don Valley and build double decker bridge with one deck dedicated for subway,.... likely cheaper to start from scratch and build new ridge-to-ridge double decker bridge... this alone could add another $1 Billion!
I usually hear about $1 Billion to $1.5 Billion total,....
A Sheppard West STUBway would definitely NOT be the best bang for the buck! Not at $1 Billion to $1.5 Billion to add one subway station at Sheppard-Bathurst.
From a subway network engineering viewpoint, yes it makes sense to interconnect Yonge subway line with Spadina subway line via Sheppard West STUBway line, especially since these high ridership subway lines are so critical and unreliable,...... but your arguement that it could possibly relieve pressure from the 100% full capacity Yonge subway line by diverting passengers onto the 70% capacity Spadina subway line, might be wrong since it's really a double edge sword, since people who will use the new Spadina north subway extension could also use this Sheppard West STUBway extension to ride on the already 100% full capacity Yonge Subway line to downtown since Yonge Street is Toronto's main artery,... and it'll make the Yonge subway line even more uncomfortable though midtown,..... I suspect this is what's going to happen anyways once Eglinton Crosstown opens.
Metrolinx & City of Toronto,... Sheppard West STUBway is NOT a priority, basically $1 Billion to $1.5 Billion to service people at one new local subway station at Bathurst & Sheppard,.... that type of money is better spent on surface Right-Of-Way LRT that serve more people in more neighbourhoods,... That said, a Sheppard West LRT had been looked at but the number of transfer from between subway and LRT for long distance east-west commuter was taken into consideration,.... Metrolinx and North York City Planning are currently working on $1.2 Billion 11km Finch West LRT from Humber to Finch WEST station (@ Keele on new Spadina Subway extension),.... construction starts in 2017,... Currently, NO plan to extend Finch West LRT to Finch Subway station on Yonge Subway line (as per original Transit City plans),.... So they're considering whether to make Sheppard STUBway a strong east-west route by adding expensive Sheppard West STUBway,... but not likely due to cost-benefit analysis,... that money would be better spent closing the LRT gap along Finch West between Keele and Yonge,... which will likely cost about $400-500 million,... no timetable for this yet, but likely get done in about 20 years (once MetroLinx finishes all the other various LRT projects around GTA and this gets to top of their to-do list).
Thus, 4800 Yonge residents shouldn't expect to be travelling West on a Sheppard West STUBway,.... anytime soon,...
If a Sheppard East LRT goes in east of DonMills, the terminus for Sheppard STUBway,... Metrolinx was looking at converting the Sheppard STUBway to LRT line,... problem is with height clearance needed for electrical infrastructure of LRT wiring. In which case it might be more viable to put in Sheppard West LRT to Downsview,.... city is already accumulating land for Sheppard widening from development. But again, a Sheppard West STUBway or LRT isn't on MetroLinx's radar. Realistically, this is the only way I can see any transit happening along this stretch of SheppardWest,.... and that's only if Sheppard East get LRT vs expensive money draining subway AND they convert current Sheppard STUBway line to LRT,.... AND both projects came in under-budget such that there was enough money for Sheppard West LRT to Downsview station. And all this has to happen before Finch West LRT between Keele and Yonge gets approved. Thus, there's a whole lot of IFs,... Anyways, I'll be betting on the Finch West LRT between Keele & Yonge getting approval.
Of course not, maybe in 50 years
