Hang on - your comparing the piece of Woodroffe where they DID build a Transitway, to the piece of Sheppard, where they decided they couldn't put the LRT on surface, and are tunelling it? Move further south on Woodroffe, and east on Sheppard.
That's the only traffic count I could find.
Visually, just doesn't look the same. Around Majestic and Knoxdale, I just see low density. The best I see is a single 3-story small office building. And not a pedestrian in site walking along Woodroffe. Looking at Sheppard East near Pharmacy, I see high-rises, pedestrians, etc. Ditto near Birchmount.
Perhaps it's more similiar to east of McCowan and especially east of Markham. But that's not really why we are building the LRT, is it.
Yes, Sheppard has more density, but the traffic volumes are about the same, both in terms of traffic volume and transit ridership.
I also cited the Baseline Road project, which has a lot more condos and general residential on it.
My overall point is that BRT is suitable for Sheppard East, even without 'bypass lanes'. Full shoulder BRT lanes are only needed from Don Mills to McCowan, with queue jump lanes being enough after that. Point is that this would be significantly less expensive than the LRT, and would be all that Sheppard East needs for the foreseeable future.