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Does anyone know if they ever considered a connection at the mezzanine level for passengers arriving at Dundas West from the streetcars or buses who want to transfer to GO/UPX a vice versa? It always seemed strange to me that you'd have to walk all the way down to the subway platform level and then the entire length of the platform to get from one station building to the other. Maybe it's too expensive for the number of people it would serve or not possible from an engineering point of view, but I wonder if it was studied at all.
 
There are P2 Concourse faregates, which means passengers could "transfer" using the 2-hours available to do so. However, they may have to jaywalk across Dundas Street West to do so, and get some anger from the motorists doing so.

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Does anyone know if they ever considered a connection at the mezzanine level for passengers arriving at Dundas West from the streetcars or buses who want to transfer to GO/UPX a vice versa? It always seemed strange to me that you'd have to walk all the way down to the subway platform level and then the entire length of the platform to get from one station building to the other. Maybe it's too expensive for the number of people it would serve or not possible from an engineering point of view, but I wonder if it was studied at all.
Extending the concourse would also become a safety issue, too. More areas for people to hide in, more cameras to have to watch......

There are lots of stations where the subway platforms are used as a means to connect from one part of the station to the other, so it's not like this idea here is breaking any new ground.

But was it actually ever considered? Not in any of the plans that I've ever seen. Remember that the concourse at Dundas West is quite shallow, so doing so would require excavating Dundas Street to start. And then require expropriating an even larger share of the parking level at The Crossways.

Dan
 
Looking at the drawing….so no escalators? This seems to be the trend with all the mobility hubs…like Kipling GO bus terminal where they only put a single staircase to handle all the passenger traffic. It doesn’t feel like any of these facilities are designed to handle anything more than current passenger volume.
 
Looking at the drawing….so no escalators? This seems to be the trend with all the mobility hubs…like Kipling GO bus terminal where they only put a single staircase to handle all the passenger traffic. It doesn’t feel like any of these facilities are designed to handle anything more than current passenger volume.

Fair point.

Mx has a strong anti-escalator bias; and truthfully the TTC is only marginally better in the sense that they are removing the escalators at Spadina Station (Line 1) to make room for the elevators.

A design choice that borders on the criminal to me.

Its not merely a matter of convenience; (I hear the engineers and PR flacks saying.....but there's an elevator).......

The elevator cannot and will not replicate the passenger volume of an escalator, anymore than an escalator is a wise/safe choice for someone in a wheelchair.

Different technologies with a with different principle focus.
 
Fair point.

Mx has a strong anti-escalator bias; and truthfully the TTC is only marginally better in the sense that they are removing the escalators at Spadina Station (Line 1) to make room for the elevators.

A design choice that borders on the criminal to me.

Its not merely a matter of convenience; (I hear the engineers and PR flacks saying.....but there's an elevator).......

The elevator cannot and will not replicate the passenger volume of an escalator, anymore than an escalator is a wise/safe choice for someone in a wheelchair.

Different technologies with a with different principle focus.
In fairness at Spadina.....I'm not sure that I would draw a line that connects "anti-escalator" to them with that project. The ridership volumes have always been far lower at the north end of the station, and the space constraints with the facility being directly underneath Spadina Rd. probably don't really lend themselves to expanding concourse in any direction to allow them to keep both the escalators and install elevators. If there was ever one location in the system where removing the escalators would be the least harmful, it is likely that location.

And keep in mind too that they have seemingly gone out of their way to maintain escalators at other stations when elevators have been installed. Look at the installations at Lawrence West and York Mills to name just two.

All that said........I totally agree with you about Metrolinx.

Dan
 
Does anyone know if they ever considered a connection at the mezzanine level for passengers arriving at Dundas West from the streetcars or buses who want to transfer to GO/UPX a vice versa? It always seemed strange to me that you'd have to walk all the way down to the subway platform level and then the entire length of the platform to get from one station building to the other. Maybe it's too expensive for the number of people it would serve or not possible from an engineering point of view, but I wonder if it was studied at all.
I doubt having any other underground pedestrian connection would be practical, because the GO/UPX station and the TTC streetcar area are so far apart, slightly beyond the opposite ends of the subway station platforms. A pedestrian looking to board GO/UPX (from the street, not after getting off a TTC vehicle) will presumably still have to walk at street level to an entrance near the train tracks, as walking there along the subway platform would require pointlessly paying a TTC fare.
Similarly Kipling has TTC and GO stations (and Mississauga buses), but the easternmost entrance is solely for TTC access.
 
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Maybe a short pedestrian tunnel under the road, similar to the one at Dufferin station, might be a good idea?
How about traffic lights at Edna Avenue and Dundas Street West? Then the streetcars, buses, and pedestrians will not have to wait 3 minutes for a break in the traffic on Dundas. Would help with reducing the bunching of transit vehicles. Better yet "real transit priority" traffic lights.

Similar problem at Broadview Station.
 
They should at the very least mark some No Stopping / Don't Block the Intersection zones in front of Dundas West and other stations. At a minimum:

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Sometimes people are pretty decent about letting the transit vehicles through, but far too often they are blocked.
 

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