Waterloo Region Transit Developments (ION LRT, new terminal, GRT buses)

[ehlow]

Thanks for the photos but doesn't really deserve the term BRT it seems. I'd think more the Viva Highway 7 or Mississauga Transitway or Ottawa Transitway for BRT.

 

[P0per]

Thanks for the photos but doesn't really deserve the term BRT it seems. I'd think more the Viva Highway 7 or Mississauga Transitway or Ottawa Transitway for BRT.

I completely agree. BRT, or sometimes "adapted BRT", whatever that is supposed to be, is the term used by the project. See: http://rideion.ca/abrt.html

 

[ShonTron]

It's BRT-lite, like the original sections of Viva or Zum.

 

[gweed123]

It's BRT-lite, like the original sections of Viva or Zum.

Yup, BRT-Lite or Pre-BRT seem to be appropriate terms to describe it. The definition that I use for those types of services are a BRT-like service pattern, but minimal to no associated infrastructure improvements to go along with it.

I'd put services like Zum, some sections of VIVA, Pulse, and TTC Rocket routes into that same category. It's a slow, incremental improvement. You put the service pattern in place first, and then gradually upgrade the infrastructure (queue jump lanes here, shoulder bus lanes there) to bring it up to a full BRT standard.

 

[Markster]

That's why they called it "aBRT" ("adapted BRT", a term that the Region came up with, I've not seen it ever used elsewhere.). It's not really BRT, but they don't want to say that to Cambridge. It's still better than a regular bus.

 

[gweed123]

That's why they called it "aBRT" ("adapted BRT", a term that the Region came up with, I've not seen it ever used elsewhere.). It's not really BRT, but they don't want to say that to Cambridge. It's still better than a regular bus.

That's good marketing speak to not make it sound inferior, haha.

 

[W. K. Lis]

New and Improved. Now with Clear-Air Diesel. Coming soon to a specially selected transit agency near you.

Sounds like a marketing scheme or info-commercial. They couldn't get rid of the diesel, so they call it something "special".

 

[DKsan]

Had to do something to stop Cambridge from whining too hard.

They're still overdoing it by studying the LRT extension to Galt and asking money for it, when the 200 ridership south of Fairview Park Mall is totally crap.

 

[Duck]

Here are some photos of the future Cedar stop:

Work at Charles/Queen:

Lots of track work is happening right now along Charles, close to the existing transit terminal.

 

[mpd618]

They're still overdoing it by studying the LRT extension to Galt and asking money for it, when the 200 ridership south of Fairview Park Mall is totally crap.

The project is about guiding land development much more than it is about current ridership, and there's a lot of developable land along Hespeler Road. Arguably they are overdoing it, by exploring alignments for Phase 2 that are so keen on development impacts that they're ridiculous for getting somewhere - I'm thinking in particular of the deviations north of the 401.

 

[dunkalunk]

Perhaps not directly related to the project, but there are ION station wall buttons now!

Find out more here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ion-station-buttons-by-tritag#/

 

[mdrejhon]

A temporary shelter is being constructed at King and Victoria, to cover the grade separation work and allow crews to keep working through the winter.

Oh wow, that is a big Rent-A-Shed!

Ah, thanks for that. I'm interested because that article about the Edmonton LRTs has caused some of the anti-LRT people in other cities to try and claim what happened in Edmonton will happen in those cities. I think in this case, the LRT is following the existing railway so it's not really a new crossing gate. As Duck pointed out though, on this section, "They will operate just like any other railway crossing, where the train 100% gets priority and will fly through at 70 km/h on the two spur lines."

Ugh, crossing gates. No fun. It should be converted into a standard intersection but I guess that is complicated for sections that freight trains run over. Existing or not, crossing gates would be unwelcome for advocating continued LRT expansions, so if they need to keep these gates, then they need to run them at really, really short durations. How far in advance does this crossing close?

 

[gweed123]

Perhaps not directly related to the project, but there are ION station wall buttons now!

Find out more here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ion-station-buttons-by-tritag#/

Wow, some of those are pretty hard to read. I get the "unique design" aspect of it, but some of those are pretty harsh on the eyes (Conestoga in particular you can barely make out).

Also, what font is that?

 

[Duck]

The font hasn't been chosen yet (or released) for the ion stops, so these buttons are just a "best guess".

T-shirts would have been nice!

 

[dunkalunk]

I can confirm that the ION station font has been defined. I can assure you there is a non-public style guide floating around. However, since I didn't design the buttons, I'm not sure whether the font is the same or similar.