Toronto Ontario Line 3 | ?m | ?s | Metrolinx

If they had stuck with the RELIEF LINE south of Danforth Line, and the DON MILLS LRT as envisioned by Transit City, we could have had a better starting point.

The Don Mills LRT was planned as...
A line running along Don Mills Road from Steeles Avenue, then through Don Mills station (today's Science Centre Station), then through East York Centre (Overlea Boulevard), where it would then follow the Leaside Bridge to Pape Avenue, and tunnel under Pape for about 2 km to Danforth (presumably at Pape station). As of 2019, the part of the line south of Eglinton Avenue is planned to be part of the Ontario Line
From link.

Basically, the Ontario Line combined the Relief Line and Don Mills LRT (south of Eglinton). They extended the south terminal of the Relief Line from Osgoode to the Exhibition, to show that it was "different".
 
If they had stuck with the RELIEF LINE south of Danforth Line, and the DON MILLS LRT as envisioned by Transit City, we could have had a better starting point.

The Don Mills LRT was planned as...
From link.

Basically, the Ontario Line combined the Relief Line and Don Mills LRT (south of Eglinton). They extended the south terminal of the Relief Line from Osgoode to the Exhibition, to show that it was "different".
Eh, extending OL/RL to sheppard, and then extending the Leslie Viva Rapidway down to Don Mills Station sounds like a better idea to me.
 
I think most of them were fine, but Queen/Osgoode were a joke. Designed entirely to give as much access to City Hall as possible, without any thought to how well they worked for actually helping people transfer. Queen was especially absurd, given it didn't even overlap the existing station, just so it could have an entrance at NPS. That said, I'd take those bad station designs if it meant we got a better subway overall.

I've heard this argument a few times. The downtown RL stations were never intended to be transfer stations, because very few people would actually be transferring at them. This isn't a Bloor-Yonge scenario. Downtown Queen is a destination, not a gateway. As such, the station entrances and exits should be designed to provide maximum coverage of the downtown area, not necessarily to provide the most convenient transfer between lines.

If people will be looking to transfer to the Yonge Line to head south to Union, that transfer could also be done at East Harbour, which would probably be a faster trip overall anyway. If people are looking to head to the upper parts of the Yonge or University lines, then they're probably best to use Line 2 and then transfer to Line 1 southbound like they do today. If their destination lines on Dundas or on King, it's probably more convenient to walk the couple blocks than it would be to transfer, even if the station box locations were optimized for that.
 
I am relieved to see that mention of 100m trains. I think I'd cry if we end up with 40m trains like Montreal is getting.

REM-A (the 4 western branches) all have platforms built to 80 m, with the option to expand to 100 m in the future including underground stations.

REM-B (the 2 western branches) is 40 m, but with higher frequency and extendable platforms due to majority of the 20+ stations being elevated. REM B also runs parallel to Metro Green Line and has 3 interchange stations with Green and Blue Lines in the east and northeast Montreal. CDPQi projects that this redundancy and abundance of interchange stations with existing metro lines will offset some demand during peak hours and avoid creating a situation where capacity quickly runs out, unlike Canada Line in Vancouver which is a single line with no parallel redundancy with any other existing rapid transit lines. Personally, I still hope that the REM-B stations are built to 80 m like REM-A, or at least with provisions for future expansion, though having 40-m stations going through lower-density areas is not unprecedented - the current Grand Paris Express also has a similar branch (Line 18) which will use driverless trains at 45-m long and frequency of 3 minutes (REM-B will offer 2 min peak frequency, and 4 min off peak).

As for rolling-stock, REM is taking a similar approach to Sydney Metro. The new REM-B branches to the east will not be interchanging directly with any REM-A branches, therefore opening up the possibility that there will already be different rollingstock within the REM system itself. Not so hard to imagine the Ontario Line doing the same.

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I want to see how GO-RER changes commuter patterns first before talk of western extension occurs.

This 100%

After Barrie and Kitchener lines have 7-15 minute electrified GO-RER, with stations at Mount Dennis, Liberty, Bloor, St.Clair, Weston, Sheppard, etc etc that will drastically change service patterns in the West end.

Throw in fare integration and even more so.

So I would be hesitant to implement a subway line over there until after the dust from all of that settles.

Id rather see an extension of the current Ontario Line to Sheppard in the East end first.
 
Eh, extending OL/RL to sheppard, and then extending the Leslie Viva Rapidway down to Don Mills Station sounds like a better idea to me.

Yeah there was a reason I called Transit City "Transfer City" when it was unveiled.

Transfer from Sheppard Subway to LRT. Transfer from DRL to Don Mills LRT. Transfer from Bloor subway to Scarborough LRT.

Transfer City!
 
Indeed. Metrolinx is only projecting a 15% reduction in crowding on Line 1 with the Ontario Line. This is completely inadequate over the long term.
That's 15% on the first phase. If it's eventually extended to Sheppard or beyond, which it should be as it would be a fairly affordable elevated extension, it would likely increase. I could see it going up to Steeles with ease.

I imagine a western extension going to Humber Bay as a first phase, and potentially eventually travelling along the Queensway.
 
The further the OL goes from Eglinton, the better it will be for Line 1. The OL will simply intercept all the bus passengers coming from the east of Don Mills and heading towards downtown. Travelling all the way to Yonge on any east-west bus route will be a lot slower than getting off at Don Mills and hopping on to the OL.

This is something that University line is already doing. It intercepts people coming from the west so that they don't have to travel all the way to Yonge line.

Building OL up to Steeles will not be a bad idea if we still face overcrowding on Yonge line 20 years later. There are tons of people using Finch East and Steeles East buses to reach the Yonge line and a lot of that traffic can be siphoned off to OL.
 
If people will be looking to transfer to the Yonge Line to head south to Union, that transfer could also be done at East Harbour, which would probably be a faster trip overall anyway.
Solid point, very dependant on fare integration though, almost no one is going to pay an extra fare just to save a couple minutes. But hopefully we figure that out by the time this line is opened.
 
Yeah there was a reason I called Transit City "Transfer City" when it was unveiled.

Transfer from Sheppard Subway to LRT. Transfer from DRL to Don Mills LRT. Transfer from Bloor subway to Scarborough LRT.

Transfer City!
Sad but accurate.
 
Sad but accurate.

Ill say it repeatedly; we shed all of the bad ideas and kept all the good ones from Transit City. I am absolutely not sour grapes how things turned out in that regard at all. Finch, Eglinton (and technically Malvern) and the Waterfront LRT were the best lines from that plan imo.

I'm not too keen on Eglinton West being buried, but thats more about economic waste, not a bad plan per say.

Sheppard LRT was bonkers, to transfer to an LRT from an existing subway. The best plan for the Scarborough RT was to refurbish it and extend it to Malvern TC using the existing ICTS system with new Mark 3 trains as the 2006 TTC plan suggested. It was the best bang for the buck, there was no reason to convert it to LRT.

Don Mills makes more sense as the Ontario Line/DRL, and Jane LRT is not a bad idea per say, just the lowest ridership and last in line.
 
Ill say it repeatedly; we shed all of the bad ideas and kept all the good ones from Transit City. I am absolutely not sour grapes how things turned out in that regard at all. Finch, Eglinton (and technically Malvern) and the Waterfront LRT were the best lines from that plan imo.

I'm not too keen on Eglinton West being buried, but thats more about economic waste, not a bad plan per say.

Sheppard LRT was bonkers, to transfer to an LRT from an existing subway. The best plan for the Scarborough RT was to refurbish it and extend it to Malvern TC using the existing ICTS system with new Mark 3 trains as the 2006 TTC plan suggested. It was the best bang for the buck, there was no reason to convert it to LRT.

Don Mills makes more sense as the Ontario Line/DRL, and Jane LRT is not a bad idea per say, just the lowest ridership and last in line.
^ This so much.
 
Ill say it repeatedly; we shed all of the bad ideas and kept all the good ones from Transit City. I am absolutely not sour grapes how things turned out in that regard at all. Finch, Eglinton (and technically Malvern) and the Waterfront LRT were the best lines from that plan imo.

I'm not too keen on Eglinton West being buried, but thats more about economic waste, not a bad plan per say.

Sheppard LRT was bonkers, to transfer to an LRT from an existing subway. The best plan for the Scarborough RT was to refurbish it and extend it to Malvern TC using the existing ICTS system with new Mark 3 trains as the 2006 TTC plan suggested. It was the best bang for the buck, there was no reason to convert it to LRT.

Don Mills makes more sense as the Ontario Line/DRL, and Jane LRT is not a bad idea per say, just the lowest ridership and last in line.

What about Eglinton East?
 
With an elevated alignment, OL should be possible to extend the 6 km to Don Mills Station for a couple billion dollars, even with the absurd cost of transit in Ontario.

It's less clear to me what the western extension should look like, without duplicating GO expansion enhancements. Maybe head to Humber Bay Shores and up Islington (provided Islington could be intensified significantly north of Bloor)? Going from the Ex to Mt Dennis would just be duplicating GO expansion.
Even cheaper if they can find ways to utilize the rail corridor from north of Lawrence to Leslie station. The Lesmill area is a a better station location than York Mills/Don Mills anyways. Extension further north would mean a station at Finch, and then the line can turn east to Seneca College along the hydro corridor.
This is assuming line 4 is extended east which eliminates the point of making everything ends at Don Mills station.
 

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