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YRT/Viva Construction Thread (Rapidways, Terminals)

https://twitter.com/x/status/1445542119754461187

Amir Khajepour, an engineering professor and researcher with the University of Waterloo’s Autonomous Vehicle Research and Intelligence Lab, says self-driving vehicles could save municipalities money down the road by allowing them to cut staff expenses — and potentiallyby operating on-demand, rather than continuously. “If the system is fully autonomous, as soon as there is a huge surge in terms of the number of passengers, you can run five of them right away, continuously, and then, as soon as it drops, you park two of them,” he says. “This is not something that you can do with a full-driver system, because what are you going to do with the other two drivers? They come for two hours, and then they go home?” But, for now, cost is a barrier. “Obviously these buses are more expensive,” says Khajepour.
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Although the tech is clearly not ready for widespread adoption yet, he says, the way in which Toronto and Whitby are piloting AVs does decrease risks. “For restricted routes or for very low-speed operation in uncluttered areas, they can be almost as reliable as humans or as much so.” At 20 kilometres an hour, he notes, a vehicle can stop on a dime, compared to, say, 50 kilometres an hour, which may require up to 40 metres stopping distance.
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Update:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1447232810570461189

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turini2 said:
Nice photo in a Metrolinx article that I haven't seen before - shows the remarkable change in York Region that BRT brings. Now they need more frequency! :)

View attachment 371037
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I'd forgotten that the suburbs used to be in black & white before the BRT!

They still don't look that great, but colour does soften them a bit.

Who knew colourization was so involved out there!

😂
 
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Let's say one small section of bus lanes were to receive funding, which of the following would be the best use of money?
  1. Connection in Downtown Markham between Birchmount Road and Unionville GO with underpass at Enterprise Boulevard.
  2. Connection between Richmond Hill Centre and Bayview Avenue along a new road (Garden Avenue Extension) between Highway 7 and High Tech Road.
  3. Connection on Highway 7 and Centre Street between Bowes Road and Dufferin Street with road widening at Barrie Line.
  4. Underground right of way on Yonge Street between Major Mackenzie Drive and Elgin Mills Road.
  5. Something else?
 
A more fun one further east where it was simply a road widening and urbanization without dedicated bus lanes:

2009:

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2021:

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turini2 said:
Nice photo in a Metrolinx article that I haven't seen before - shows the remarkable change in York Region that BRT brings. Now they need more frequency! :)

View attachment 371037
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This photo shows me how the whole Hwy 7 project, including the BRT, made it a worse street. It used to be a very reasonable (for a suburb) 6 lanes of traffic for a pedestrian to cross. Now look at it. 9 lanes of traffic plus bike lanes plus BRT medians. This thing is as wide as the 401 collector and express in one direction. Who wants to walk beside a street that is wider than most highways?
 
Mr Finish Line said:
This photo shows me how the whole Hwy 7 project, including the BRT, made it a worse street. It used to be a very reasonable (for a suburb) 6 lanes of traffic for a pedestrian to cross. Now look at it. 9 lanes of traffic plus bike lanes plus BRT medians. This thing is as wide as the 401 collector and express in one direction. Who wants to walk beside a street that is wider than most highways?
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As you mentioned, it used to be a suburb. Markham is growing beyond that. Hwy 7 is now considered part of downtown Markham. Thisbis called progress and urbam growth. The suburbs are now north of Elgin mills.
 
Mr Finish Line said:
This photo shows me how the whole Hwy 7 project, including the BRT, made it a worse street. It used to be a very reasonable (for a suburb) 6 lanes of traffic for a pedestrian to cross. Now look at it. 9 lanes of traffic plus bike lanes plus BRT medians. This thing is as wide as the 401 collector and express in one direction. Who wants to walk beside a street that is wider than most highways?
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But we can't give road space to transit users and lose space for cars, that would be sacrilege! \s

A road diet should have been implemented as part of the VIVA program.
 
DirectionNorth said:
But we can't give road space to transit users and lose space for cars, that would be sacrilege! \s

A road diet should have been implemented as part of the VIVA program.
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It's the suburbs. You need a car to get anything done or see family/friends. It's unfortunate but until the built form enables walking as a viable option of transport, they need those lanes.
 
TRONto said:
It's the suburbs. You need a car to get anything done or see family/friends. It's unfortunate but until the built form enables walking as a viable option of transport, they need those lanes.
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That's the point - they made the street less walkable. They seem to have forgotten that people actually need to *walk* to the bus.
 
cplchanb said:
As you mentioned, it used to be a suburb. Markham is growing beyond that. Hwy 7 is now considered part of downtown Markham. Thisbis called progress and urbam growth. The suburbs are now north of Elgin mills.
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I said it used to be 6 lanes, I didn't say Markham used to be a suburb. It 100% is a suburb, and downtown Markham isn't an actual downtown, it's a property development owned by Remington.

I don't think 9 lanes categorizes as urban growth under any definition, and it's the opposite of progress for congestion, and just about any other metric for a healthy city. Let's also remember that there's an Expressway just south of Hwy 7 so it's not like the area is lacking for car infrastructure.
 
Mr Finish Line said:
That's the point - they made the street less walkable. They seem to have forgotten that people actually need to *walk* to the bus.
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I found it much more walkable once the BRT upgrades were complete. My walks typically meant crossing highway 7 or walking along it. They upgraded the sidewalk (green barrier between the road and sidewalk) for parts of the walk. I don't consider crossing highway 7 a daunting task. It is wider and I would usually have to cross it twice an outing but it's only one road that size that I would need to cross.
 
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