Yes, obviously more subways are better, and in a world of truly unlimited funds, it'd be great to have them running all over downtown. Unfortunately, there are other parts of thet the GTA which need rapid transit as well, and while a Paris-style network would be great downtown, a DRL is a great way to serve current and emerging high-density parts of downtown. It strings together all the areas where the city wants to encourage growth, and also provides much-needed relief to the Yonge-University loop.
Your idea, while I'm not exactly clear on the specifics, appears to put a lot of subways through areas which are designated for stable neighbourhoods. The last thing the city would want to do is plunk a subway station down on a part of Queen that they're trying to preserve as a low-rise community.
I'm curious. You don't like the DRL because stops are too infrequent. Where would you put more stops? Also, have you read up on the West Don Lands and East Bayfront yet?
Dentrobate, you just move Oriole station. It should have been done in time for the subway opening.
Vast swaths of BD, YUS, SRT remain relatively unchanged and unaffected by subway expansion. Whatever change there is occurs at such a gradual pace the community hardly flinches when it does.
DRL should be run like the BD line, with stations every 450-700m. A compromise line I suppose would be running it along Queen Street between Dufferin and Broadview, however what I was considering was keeping the waterfront section in addition to Queen/King (possibly Dundas) in a continuous loop that wouldn't leave the downtown core. Feeder BRT lines along Dundas/Jane and Broadview/Overlea/Don Mills in effect save $$ for not having to build either Transit City nor DRL along those corridors, with relatively the same level of service as high-order rapid transit vehicles and dedicated rights-of-way.
I did research East Bayfront and West Don Lands and I'd implement far better service than what's detailed in Network 2011. Specifically for the central waterfront stops would exist at:
Shaw/King- King West Village
Strachan/Lakeshore (note I avoid traditional conceptions of where an Exhibition stop should go, since this is the best access both for the Main Entrance-Prince's Gate and East Entrance of Ontario Place [alot of Exhibition riders would likely also want OP]),
Fort York (between Queens Quay and Front). This is done specifically for new condo community, Metronome (uc) and future rapid service to the Toronto Islands. In absence of a land bridge, an underground monorail could run between this stn. and the airport.
Spadina unlikely will get its own stop, but John certainly will. This is the most viable of all waterfront stops with Skydome, CN Tower, Convention Centre and within walking distance of Metro Hall, Roy Thompson, Royal Alexandra, Princess of Wales, CBC.
Union/CBD
St Lawrence Market
King East- for Geogre Brown College, Design Strip, Toronto Star
Distillery- bordered by Trinity, Mill, Front and Cherry
Commissioners/Don Roadway-Port of Toronto, Rochester Ferry
Studio District-Carlaw/Lakeshore vincinity
Leslieville-Leslie/Lakeshore
Queen East/Coxwell-gateway for Toronto Beaches area, Kingston tripper.
See if DRL is done, alot of those stops would not be possible. My idea from there would be to complete the loop via 'old' downtown arteries, mirroring Queen proposals but not exactly replicating it.
As for Oriole/Leslie-Sheppard, this reminds of another thread where either Cooksville or Erindale would be relocated for the sake of getting a direct MCC station on the Milton line. Given how infrequent GO runs in that corridor, a shuttle service could easily be timed to meet trains and take riders to the subway.
And how would a "co-aligned" Eglinton line serve skyscrapers next to Union station?
All I'm saying is Eglinton COULD just run in a straight line and be relatively close to but not accessible to nearby nodes. BUT given that there's zero density between Leslie and Don Mills and Don Mills and Swift, why not take a short detour through Overlea-Don Mills? Like you said many Eglinton riders will want to transfer at Don Mills, this saves them the interchange hassles. For Don Mills riders it's just Leslie, Laird, Bayview, Mt Pleasant... then bamm, right in the action of Yonge-Eglinton and a more direct route to downtown. Why am I the only one to see that conventional wisdom? TC makes no mention of extending past BD yet so I'll believe DRL is a sure thing when I see it.