I am sorry for the people who are demanding the funding from the LRT be invested in all day service on the KW line, but there is a bigger picture and world out there that doesn't revolved around the core of Toronto.
I am not saying spend the LRT money on all day GO trains on the KW line....I am saying run all day GO trains on the KW line in 2015 as a pre-requisite for moving forward. If this line is about interconnectivity, it would seem that having all day GO trains will contribute to its success. Moving all day GO service out a decade or so and pushing this is a failure in priority setting.
The bulk of the money for Phase 1 of the Big Move money is being spent on GO that carries a faction of ridership than all the transit systems in the area, most of all TTC. These transit systems are seeing next to nothing being spent on them today or 25 years from now. It has been all about GO from day one.
A large chunk of the phase 1 money was spent on the KW line. It now (now=2015 post construction) has the capacity to run hourly GO trains off peak 7 days a week.
Sure York getting their BRT because of backroom deals just like TTC.
The "plan" seems very malleable for political reasons.....why you can even get a stop put back on the Crosstown at Leslie that next to no one sees as valuable if you make a bit of a squawk....I just think that Brampton should squawk about all day GO.
There is currently no network in the area to move people to where they want to go to without being funnel to an area/spot because transit is setup that way today before they can get to where they want to go in the first place.
There are some people here who lack the vision what a true network should look like based on what is here today, not down the road.
If you are implying that this LRT creates a "true network" how is that possible if two of the major components of the network have such limited service and, as such, have very little ability to feed this part of the network.
As for the comment in the BramptonGuardianMay 9, better look at the tape of council meeting, as that what not said, unless of was after the meeting. I was at Council meeting and never heard it other than what I posted above.
I hope you are not denying she said it? Here is the article, it is a direct quote of her answer to a post meeting media question.
http://www.bramptonguardian.com/news/article/1615544--mccallion-opposes-fennell-s-zum-bus-plan
City Staff supports the LRT along with Brampton Staff regardless the areas where ridership will be low, as there empty fields there or low density now. Any route in any transit systems will have low density along it and should those lines not have the same service as rest of the line.
For those who bitch about ridership for the LRT, better check with Brampton Transit to see what the numbers are today for 502 with 1 campus of Sheridan College in place at SQ One and you will be surprise at those number. I know I am. MT carries over 28,000 riders along on Hurontario today. Once the other 3 campus get built, what do you think will happen to ridership?? At the same time, how many residents from each city work in the other city and what will it look like when more employment gets built???
Sure there are people in Brampton that work in Mississauga, but they don't all work on/just off Hurontario and they certainly don't all live near main street south of Nelson....so this LRT will have very little (I suggest very close to zero) impact on the commutes of people living in Brampton and working somewhere in Mississauga. While more mississauga residents will live closer to the LRT their commutes to Brampton will be similarly lowly impacted unless they work at the Courthouse, Peel Regional Police or Brampton City Hall.
Again it it "ALL about ME" and I don't care about others that is coming out clear to me or NIMBY thinking related to this LRT by a few people here.
I am going to take that as directed at me. I don't see my viewpoint as "all about me" at all. I think I am espousing a position which I honestly feel is best for a) Brampton and b) the regional spending priorities. We are moving into a new phase/reality.....one where, once the revenue tools are in place, we are all spending each others money...and mis-spending (as I believe this LRT to be) in one area affects the ability to spend in other areas. Gone are the days when we might have said "who cares if extending the subway into Vaughan is not the best thing...it is York Regions money and if they want it they should have it".....we are in the area where gas taxes/tolls/parking levies/whatever in Pickering are going to contribute to a $1.6B LRT which, by all admission, runs through some pretty low density areas and, at least for the Brampton portion, is gonna be an expensive pain to build and generate very little ridership....all so that we can say we are spreading the BigMove2 monies around?
I refer to all day GO to Brampton a lot (I get that) but that is just because that is where I live.....all day GO service on the KW line serves more than just Brampton.....it serves Etobicoke North, Malton, Weston and with a bit of creativity/imagination stations at Eglinton/Black Creek and Liberty Village you have a line that can be a real regional spine....it is not a NIMBY attitude to suggest that this line getting full service should have a much higher priority than the LRT we are discussing.
I will be calling for the city to go alone in getting this line built starting in 2016 if Metrolinx is not prepared to fund this line by then or before 2020, as we cannot wait for Metrolinx anymore. This will require the city to go to the Bond market as well doing a full P3 plan. Talking is over and time for doing it. The line cannot get built until 2016 due to trunk-line work on Hurontario to start next year that will have a major impact on traffic and transit for a few years. Could start building some sections before then, but the yard would be a good starting point.
By going alone, I presume this will mean the region going alone...and that is when my opposition develops into more than just posting here and enjoying the intellectual discourse that goes with being annoying. It is bad enough, to me, that on a regional basis we are frivolously prioritizing this project that, as I stated, has very little value to the city I live in....but if I am asked to take on bond debt to build locally/regionally my opposition will become much more vocal and serious.