Transit City Plan

[Tulse]

Is there any news on when the special council meeting will happen?

It's required to happen on Wednesday, 48 hours after notice has been given.

Will the councillors finally be voting for or against the Ford Crosstown or will that happen at a later date?

My understanding is that this will be a debate and vote on the original MOU which involved Transit City. Ford's plan is not up for debate.

 

[Palma]

I'm hoping that in reality whatever gets pushed through ends up being a compromise of the two, but if it came down to one of these, which would you pick.

Transit City
Sheppard LRT - surface - Don Mills to Morningside - 500m stop spacing
Finch LRT - surface - Humber College to Finch West - 600m stop spacing
Eglinton LRT - surface - Jane to Black Creek and Leslie to Kennedy - 600m stop spacing - underground - Keele to Laird - 800m stop spacing
Possibility of Don Mills, Malvern, Scarborough, Jane, and Waterfront West LRT lines

Ford City
Eglinton-Scarborough subway - grade separated - Keele to McCowan - 1000m stop spacing
Possibility of Sheppard subway and Finch BRT

Personally, I have to reluctantly take Ford's. While Transit City would serve more people, the stop spacing is too close to actually meet the travel needs of the city. Ford's plan does lack quantity, but has more quality than Transit City.

Really, I hope that some compromise is made, preferably surface run but with wider stops. But if I had to choose between one or the other, I'd go with Ford's.

With Ford, Eglinton is not a subway. Its an LRT so the option should be stated as is stated for Transit City except that the middle portion only is underground. You cannot show that one version (Ford;s) will have subway along Eglinton and that the other version (Transit City) will have LRT. They both have LRT - the difference is whether all or partly underground.

 

[sixrings]

Wednesday 9:30 AM.

The agenda is on the city website: http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewPublishedReport.do?function=getCouncilAgendaReport&meetingId=6146

As is the petition: http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2012/cc/bgrd/backgroundfile-45035.pdf

Letter from Metrolinx to Ford/Stintz: http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2012/cc/bgrd/backgroundfile-45036.pdf

Today's letter from Stintz to Metrolinx: http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2012/cc/bgrd/backgroundfile-45037.pdf

As you can see, the majority of councillors have signed the petition, and the intent is to confirm the 2009 MOU with Metrolinx to build the Sheppard East LRT, Finch West LRT, Eglinton LRT, and upgrade the SRT to LRT (and presumably extend to Sheppard/Markham).

MEETING Opened to the public???????

 

[TheTigerMaster]

Wednesday 9:30 AM.

The agenda is on the city website: http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewPublishedReport.do?function=getCouncilAgendaReport&meetingId=6146

As is the petition: http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2012/cc/bgrd/backgroundfile-45035.pdf

Letter from Metrolinx to Ford/Stintz: http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2012/cc/bgrd/backgroundfile-45036.pdf

Today's letter from Stintz to Metrolinx: http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2012/cc/bgrd/backgroundfile-45037.pdf

As you can see, the majority of councillors have signed the petition, and the intent is to confirm the 2009 MOU with Metrolinx to build the Sheppard East LRT, Finch West LRT, Eglinton LRT, and upgrade the SRT to LRT (and presumably extend to Sheppard/Markham).

What about the other Transit City projects like Don Mills and Waterfront? Are they dead?

 

[Palma]

The travel needs of whom, exactly? The whole point of the closer spacing on the suburban stretches is that it more closely matches the travel patterns of people on those corridors.

Exactly, What is it with people wanting fewer spacing? The spacing needs to be at major stops and thats where they appear they will be. Its a no brainer. It needs to meet the needs of the people traveling along Eglinton not to get someone from Yonge to Keele and to hell with everyone in between. Then you will no longer need the Eglinton bus. But I am talking about the middle portion from Keele to Larid. East of Larid I have no idea what traffic patterns are like and how far major streets are. From what i have read on here the spacing canl be further apart since there is not much out there with some stops

 

[sixrings]

Exactly, What is it with people wanting fewer spacing? The spacing needs to be at major stops and thats where they appear they will be. Its a no brainer. It needs to meet the needs of the people traveling along Eglinton not to get someone from Yonge to Keele and to hell with everyone in between. Then you will no longer need the Eglinton bus

the stop spacing though isnt ONLY at major stops. It was and then people demanded more and stops were added.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Not part of the original MOU, so they are "inactive". Besides, Don Mills would logically be the extension of a DRL anyways.

AoD

 

[JoeParez]

What about the other Transit City projects like Don Mills and Waterfront? Are they dead?

They were proposed but not funded.
These are the projects that were approved and funded by the Province.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

Not part of the original MOU, so they are "inactive". Besides, Don Mills would logically be the extension of a DRL anyways.

AoD

I doubt Don Mills LRT will be part of the DRL. The DRL needs to be a compete subway. An LRT won't carry enough people.

 

[Palma]

But surface routes arent as finate as you are making them. It is much more difficult to close a underused station like glencarin or bessarion the it would be to close a under used TC stop. One stop costs 100 million so closing it would come under a scrutiny of questions. The other stop at say 10 million would never raise the amount of eye brows that it couldnt be closed.

How does it even cost 10M? Just don;t have the LRT make that one stop. Bypassing a stop costs 10M. Can you imagine all the stops that buses bypass when they short-turn or are too full?

 

[nfitz]

MEETING Opened to the public???????

As always!

What about the other Transit City projects like Don Mills and Waterfront? Are they dead?

Presumably they are just waiting for Metrolinx to fund, once they come up with the funding plan.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

Looks like the next 48 hours will be very exciting. This time Wednesday Transit City will once again become Toronto's transit strategy for the future.

 

[Palma]

the stop spacing though isnt ONLY at major stops. It was and then people demanded more and stops were added.

Well in the west I consider Keele, Caledonia, Dufferin. Oakwood, Bathurst, Chaplin, (don;t remember the next one), Yonge to be major stops. There are bus routes on those roads going south or north

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

I think Metrolinx and Council need to sit down and have a chat to come up with a modified plan to maximize the benefits of an LRT based plan over the original TC - there are clearly room for improvements.

AoD

 

[TheTigerMaster]

I think Metrolinx and Council need to sit down and have a chat to come up with a modified plan to maximize the benefits of an LRT based plan over the original TC - there are clearly room for improvements.

AoD

I absolutely agree with you. Metrolinx needs to get rid of all the minor stops on the new LRT lines (plural) so they can be true rapid transit.