[valvenis]

According to CBC, Toronto will have to pay at least $49 million for cancelling parts of Transit City.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2011/03/31/toronto-lrt-penalties524.html

 

[nfitz]

I don't know how he think's he is going to commit the city to pay for this, and yet not have to put this in front of council.

Is he going to pay it himself?

If he really thinks he doesn't need to put this in front of council, he should be imprisoned for corruption!

 

[SP!RE]

I honestly don't know much about transit stuff but won't it be really expensive to build so many underground stations for the LRT? Considering it will stop in a lot more places than a subway would. Surely building underground platforms and elevators and stairwells is really expensive, no?

And why/how is underground LRT cheaper than an underground subway? I honestly am just curious .

Anyways, I've grown tired of all this city's diddle-daddling on transit so I'm just happy and really excited, admittedly, that we're getting something on Eglinton.

 

[gweed123]

I don't know how he think's he is going to commit the city to pay for this, and yet not have to put this in front of council.

Is he going to pay it himself?

If he really thinks he doesn't need to put this in front of council, he should be imprisoned for corruption!

And the thing is, unlike Transit City, this is only one project, so he can't really split the vote up into the project's separate 'elements'. With Transit City, Miller was able to have several votes on different elements of Transit City, but never a vote on the entire plan itself. Being only one line, Ford can't do that. He'll have to face council head on with his proposal.

 

[nfitz]

I honestly don't know much about transit stuff but won't it be really expensive to build so many underground stations for the LRT? Considering it will stop in a lot more places than a subway would. Surely building underground platforms and elevators and stairwells is really expensive, no?

Not a lot more, but there's no indication that all of the stations will be underground (Leslie comes to mind); and about 20% of the route will be elevated through Scarborough ... it would be a lot more expensive to put that underground.

 

[gweed123]

I honestly don't know much about transit stuff but won't it be really expensive to build so many underground stations for the LRT? Considering it will stop in a lot more places than a subway would. Surely building underground platforms and elevators and stairwells is really expensive, no?

Stop spacing is about the same as the Bloor-Danforth subway over much of the Eglinton line.

And why/how is underground LRT cheaper than an underground subway? I honestly am just curious .

Smaller station boxes, but that's about it. The savings with underground LRT vs underground HRT is negligible.

Anyways, I've grown tired of all this city's diddle-daddling on transit so I'm just happy and really excited, admittedly, that we're getting something on Eglinton.

Hopefully they're able to get their butts in gear and get a big enough hole in the ground by the time the election rolls around that it'll make it a much harder target to cancel.

 

[nfitz]

Being only one line, Ford can't do that. He'll have to face council head on with his proposal.

I'd think so, but both Stintz and Ford have said that they only have to put the Sheppard subway to council; and that they don't have to put anything else to council. But how do they authorize this new spending to pay out the cancelled contracts (the previous spending was coming from Metrolinx)?

If they don't get council approval, aren't Ford and Stintz guilty of the same things that got the management of Toronto Housing fired?

 

[Filip]

I honestly don't know much about transit stuff but won't it be really expensive to build so many underground stations for the LRT? Considering it will stop in a lot more places than a subway would. Surely building underground platforms and elevators and stairwells is really expensive, no?

And why/how is underground LRT cheaper than an underground subway? I honestly am just curious .

Anyways, I've grown tired of all this city's diddle-daddling on transit so I'm just happy and really excited, admittedly, that we're getting something on Eglinton.

I agree.. If we're building an underground transit line then it seems short sighted to make it as a streetcar.

Although I'm just happy to see some semblance of a subway plan coming to fruition.

 

[Thoughtless Miscreant]

Stop spacing is about the same as the Bloor-Danforth subway over much of the Eglinton line.

It's wider on the whole. Eglinton will be 26 stops over 25km, Bloor is 31 over 26km.

 

[Monarch Butterfly]

Since the current EA for the Eglinton Crosstown is already underground for the portion between Keele and Laird, the powers that be can continue with the construction in place for that portion between Keele and Laird. Any other parts that need to go underground will have to undergo another EA. When that EA is completed, hopefully the tunneling for the original section will be completed enough to do the construction for the remaining underground sections without having to wait.

 

[Dan416]

I agree.. If we're building an underground transit line then it seems short sighted to make it as a streetcar.

Although I'm just happy to see some semblance of a subway plan coming to fruition.

It basically IS a subway since it's virtually all underground, as far as I can tell from the press release except for Black Creek Drive and the SRT alignment.

The different is that it's low-floor and LRVs cost more than subway trains. But we save because the stations don't suffer from the overbuilding present in our subway stations.

 

[gweed123]

It's wider on the whole. Eglinton will be 26 stops over 25km, Bloor is 31 over 26km.

A lot of that wider stop spacing though comes from the section between Vic Park and Kennedy, those stops are all really far apart. My point was that they're generally about equal, and they're certainly not Yonge's Eglinton to Finch spacing.

 

[doady]

It basically IS a subway since it's virtually all underground, as far as I can tell from the press release except for Black Creek Drive and the SRT alignment.

The TTC's subway system is defined by its grade-separated crossings and its fare-paid zones, not by being underground. After all, the current system already has several above ground sections.

Any LRT, even if it is entirely underground, cannot be considered subway by Toronto standards.

Personally, I did not like original Eglinton LRT because of it extensive underground section, and I like it even less now.The only merit of the Eglinton LRT is that it removes the transfer at Kennedy. But if doesn't have fare-paid zones like the rest of the subway system, I think it is just a waste of money. Building a huge transit line underground that does not fit in with the existing system makes no sense to me.

Toronto went from one folly (Transit City) to another (completely underground LRTs). Sad.

 

[Eug]

The TTC's subway system is defined by its grade-separated crossings and its fare-paid zones, not by being underground. After all, the current system already has several above ground sections.

Any LRT, even if it is entirely underground, cannot be considered subway by Toronto standards.

That's just semantics. To everyone else in Toronto who isn't a transit geek, the new line along the Eglinton corridor is a subway...

Personally, I did not like original Eglinton LRT because of it extensive underground section, and I like it even less now.The only merit of the Eglinton LRT is that it removes the transfer at Kennedy. But if doesn't have fare-paid zones like the rest of the subway system, I think it is just a waste of money. Building a huge transit line underground that does not fit in with the existing system makes no sense to me.

Meanwhile those on/near the line who need public transit will be overjoyed to have close subway access.

 

[doady]

That's just semantics. To everyone else who isn't a transit geek, it's a subway.

Different fare policies, different functions is just sematics?

Anyone who has actually used the TTC subway would have known that the TTC is not all underground. Therefore, semantics is saying that subway is defined by being underground.

A system is a system because of shared elements, and for the TTC subway, it's fare policy and the grade separation. It isn't transit-geekery, it's branding and function.

Meanwhile those on/near the line who need public transit will be overjoyed to have close subway access.

And all those people living around Rosedale and Davisville stations and along Allen Rd are still clamouring for close subway access.