howl
Active Member
Where are these pedestrians coming from? The biggest issue (from a purely Brampton perspective) with the LRT is that it touches so few in Brampton it has no chance of improving Bramptonians' access to the DT. It is, like our current GO service, purely a way of taking Bramptonians out of Brampton.
Within 500m of Main and Queen there are lots of people living and working; and there is lots of potential new development. The downtown core, being a pre-1940 street grid (e.g. pre-car), is pedestrian-oriented so people can walk easily throughout the whole core. One or two stops can serve the whole area. In addition, there is the bus terminal which both already bring hundreds of pedestrian into and out of the core every day. The GO line could bring thousands of people into the core everyday once two-way all-day service is implemented. That's why downtown Brampton has been designated a mobility hub.
The alternative presented takes the LRT through a non-pedestrian-friendly area, so if you're going to get any additional ridership from that segment the City is going to have to undertake some massive infrastructure upgrade to make the area pedestrian friendly, and you're going to have to massively increase the levels of development. I suspect the residents in the low-density neighbourhoods surrounding the alternative route aren't going to be very happy with Mr. Freeman when Mattamy and Greenpark start pressuring the City for approval of 40 storey condos all along McLaughlin Road.
So to recap the proposed alternative makes the system less effective by adding to it's length, which affects both it's service level and increases capital and operating costs; it's will require ripple infrastructure costs to the City taxpayers; and it just shifts/changes the problems away from a group of people that are complaining now to a place where people will start complaining if this proposal is taken seriously. To me it looks like a lose-lose-lose situation.
Last edited: