In the year 2012-2013 97,460 people used finch station each week day on average.
Source pdf
So it isn't just Viva blue that's taking all the riders there, you forgot Viva pink, Yrt routes 88, 23, 99, 2, and 91. People in york who live near steeles will often just walk to steeles and take the TTC (53 Steeles East, 60 Steeles West) to Finch in order to only have to pay once. [/URL]
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I don't know how many make it all the way to finch for each route.
I think this is second best subway expansion in terms of ridership, the first being the DRL.
Thanks for this. I guess it’s a bit of a stacked or biased argument for me to focus on '
just the Yonge corridor, and
only b/n Steeles and Hwy 7'. Obviously a lot of bus routes would be diverted (gerrymandered?) were there to be a subway along that stretch. But I’m still of the opinion that
existing ridership on the N/S Yonge corridor between Steeles and Hwy 7 isn’t significantly busy, as far as "busy" surface corridors go in the GTA.
If we were to extend the Yonge section of Line 1, I think Steeles would be an optimal terminus and ridership on the new section would definitely be subway-level and very high. I do not doubt that (although I strongly believe any extension should wait until we have a proper parallel line in operation). The section I am sceptical of is north of Steeles to the proposed centre at Yonge/7.
As for the info you posted. My source is slightly different than yours, and might be more up to date. From Dec 2013: E.g Viva Blue: 16,600 (seemingly ~20% lower than 2012); 99 + 99E: 2,300,.. etc.
http://www.york.ca/wps/wcm/connect/...-06377528e99d/feb+6+ridership.pdf?MOD=AJPERES
I'm not the biggest fan of the Yonge North extension, but I don't understand why there's so much argument about it. Nor do I comprehend the anti-Scarborough sentiment. We are so far behind on transit that people are turning against each other rather than supporting all the transit that we need.
I don’t think I’ll fully grasp the anti-Scarboro sentiment. Or how anyone can support extending Line 1 to VMC or RHC, but flat-out be against extending Line 2 to STC. Scarboro’s transit usage, density, ridership, etc…it’s all there. North of Steeles? It’s not currently all there, and what may exist is mostly theoretical.
Now, I used to be staunchly against extending subways to STC (via Sheppard, and even Line 2 to an extent) – and in many ways I still am. But after brushing up on my TO history, and taking a step back to really gauge the situation and what’s going on here – I can’t see why more don’t notice that we’re essentially repeating our history.
-Planning fancy new satellite suburban "centres": check
-Relying on (iffy?) projections for population, jobs, and mode share in said "centres": check
-Spending a king’s ransom to bring subways to said "centres": check
-Continuing to ignore the DRL: check
Etobicoke City Centre, North York City Centre, Scarborough City Centre, Vaughan Metropolitan Centre, Richmond Hill Centre...Eglinton West, Sheppard East, Yonge North… there
are similarities.
And people are turning against each other because funds are finite. Everyone wants their pet project, but there’s not enough money for that to happen. Yonge North is a bit different IMO because of the Yonge capacity situation. Had that not been a problem, it’d probably be finishing up by now (much to my chagrin).
And then, all due respect, there's people who just don't know the facts. They think "the suburbs" can't support subways on principle and even if they can, it's on the other side of a line so not their problem, or they drew a fantasy map once and are convinced it's The Big Move 3.0 or they're well-intentioned but totally wrong about things as basic as how active the ongoing process is. Most people are well-intentioned, I think, but they're not the ones who grab the spotlight.
Not to mention those who continue to bandy about preliminary renders dating back to 2009, seemingly unaware that plans: a) can change, b) will change, and c)
have changed.