Which would you choose: Sheppard Subway or Eglinton LRT?

[Prometheus The Supremo]

if you had to choose for the near future between extending the sheppard subway to STC or building the eglinton crosstown LRT* to the airport (with an underground section through the narrower part of eglinton and an at grade or in trench section in the richview ROW), which would you want built?

would you sacrifice sheppard for eglinton? or would you sacrifice eglinton for sheppard?



-->keep in mind this poll has to deal with the reality that the current mayor does not want LRTs in road centre median exclusive ROWs. because of limited funds, choosing sheppard subway would most likely leave no money for the eglinton LRT.<--

*though called the eglinton LRT, it would have a tunnelled section (like a subway) which is already the plan and a trenched or at-grade section in the richview ROW (which would be a modification of the original plan). it would not use a centre roadway median to comply with the mayor's demand.

 

[gweed123]

I'd go with Eglinton, with the condition that the funds from Sheppard be used to a) extend B-D to STC, and b) that the Eglinton LRT be extended west via the Richview corridor as far west as possible with the funds available.

 

[The Mad Navigator]

if you had to choose for the near future between extending the sheppard subway to STC or building the eglinton crosstown LRT to the airport (with an underground section through the narrower part of eglinton and an at grade or in trench section in the richview ROW), which would you want built?

would you sacrifice sheppard for eglinton? or would you sacrifice eglinton for sheppard?

This is a NO BRAINER.

Eglinton.

Sheppard can wait for years if necessary.

 

[Prometheus The Supremo]

I'd go with Eglinton, with the condition that the funds from Sheppard be used to a) extend B-D to STC, and b) that the Eglinton LRT be extended west via the Richview corridor as far west as possible with the funds available.

as indicated, for the western portion of eglinton, it will go to pearson airport at the very least via the richview corridor. and yes, not doing anything on sheppard east will free up the funds that were originally allocated for sheppard east LRT to be used elsewhere for TTC projects such as dealing with the SRT.

 

[W. K. Lis]

I went with the Eglinton Rapid Transit Line only because I would actually use it. The Sheppard line (whether it be heavy rail or light rail) would not be of use to me.

 

[Second_in_pie]

Eglinton LRT as it is vs. Sheppard Subway? Sheppard. Eglinton as a fully grade separated rapid transit line from Don Mills to Pearson vs. Sheppard subway? Eglinton. But spending a ton of money just to get LRT past Keele doesn't appeal to me. If Rob Ford cancelled the Sheppard LRT for a Pearson-Don Mills Eglinton subway (quite doable,) I'd support it. But if he cancelled the Eglinton LRT to build subway on Sheppard, I'd support that. Hopefully the next mayor will push to complete the other and get real transit rolling.

 

[Prometheus The Supremo]

Eglinton LRT as it is vs. Sheppard Subway? Sheppard. Eglinton as a fully grade separated rapid transit line from Don Mills to Pearson vs. Sheppard subway? Eglinton. But spending a ton of money just to get LRT past Keele doesn't appeal to me. If Rob Ford cancelled the Sheppard LRT for a Pearson-Don Mills Eglinton subway (quite doable,) I'd support it. But if he cancelled the Eglinton LRT to build subway on Sheppard, I'd support that. Hopefully the next mayor will push to complete the other and get real transit rolling.

keep in mind this poll has to deal with the reality that the current mayor does not want LRTs in road centre median exclusive ROWs.

so obviously, eglinton LRT would be tweaked to comply, specifically with regards to the western portion as i mentioned when the poll started:

an at grade or in trench section in the richview ROW

meaning not in the middle of eglinton ave.

 

[Dan416]

The answer here is clear. Kill the SELRT and extend the subway to STC. Leave Eglinton as is and/or tweak it to not run in the middle of the street.

Then if there's any money left over, extend Sheppard to its original terminus for which the EA exists, to Victoria Park.

 

[epcjay]

I would choose Eglinton with the condition of extending the B-D to STC, just cause the density along eglinton can support the LRT now, but the density over sheppard would take many 10s of years to support the subway

 

[Dan416]

I would choose Eglinton with the condition of extending the B-D to STC, just cause the density along eglinton can support the LRT now, but the density over sheppard would take many 10s of years to support the subway

I agree with the first part of your argument, but not the second. Sheppard supports a subway here and now! And you'd have to be extremely obstinate to argue that the Sheppard Subway is not a success, based on its very short length.

 

[SimonP]

Sheppard might not be a failure, but it is certainly overbuilt. It's short length has nothing to do with the low ridership numbers at most of its stations. As it goes further east, density only decreases and ridership numbers would be even lower. The current bus is the eighth most used, and that is about where it should rank in priority.

By contrast Eglinton has more density, and more people in income brackets that take transit. The current bus routes are at capacity, the people along it's route have no access to a major highway as an alternative for getting across town. An Eglinton LRT plan is partially funded and ready to go, while redesigning Sheppard for a subway has no guaranteed funding and would delay transit expansion by several years.

 

[lafard]

You can literally walk faster than the buses on Eglinton on the central stretches at some times of day. I dare anybody to take the 32 bus between the two subway stations during rush hour and tell me that something doesn't need to be done. If they're running in convoys, and they usually are, it's faster to go south and take the 512 across then back north again.

Find me a stretch of Sheppard - other than at the 404- that is anywhere near as gridlocked as Eglinton.

For that reason alone, Eglinton wins.

The passenger benefit per dollar spent is way higher for Eg too.

 

[nfitz]

As it goes further east, density only decreases and ridership numbers would be even lower.

Very good point.

If we were to extend 8 km further east, and 4 km further west, the approximately 6 km we've already built would see a moderate increase in riders. But both the new sections of subway we'd build (except perhaps from Don Mills to Victoria Park) would see less riders than the current section. So instead of 6 km with low ridership, we'd have 10 km with even lower ridereship, and 8 km of not quite as low ridership.

Making the white elephant longer is asinine. If a subway to Scarborough must be built, the 6 km Danforth extension is far more reasonable; at least the ridership of the actual piece constructed would be higher than either the Downsview to Yonge or Victoria Park to Scarborough Centre sections of Sheppard.

 

[ssiguy2]

I would build the Eglinton 13km tunnel as a subway section not an underground LRT. If it's further east or west extensions are not COMPLETE grade separation then I would use that money to finish the western part of the Sheppard line first not the eastern section. By extending the western section first it could create seem less transit from Don Mills to Spadina.

 

[Second_in_pie]

so obviously, eglinton LRT would be tweaked to comply, specifically with regards to the western portion as i mentioned when the poll started:


meaning not in the middle of eglinton ave.

In that case, I would support Eglinton for sure.