To be very bunt, the loop is a joke and have oppose it since day one and still do for a number of reasons. Moving the line from Duke of York to Confederation is the right choice as it will service Parkside Village that is still 10-15 years from completion as well M City that maybe 10-15 years from completion depending on the market. Then you have the large development where the YMCA is current is that moving to Square One Mall West end that is under construction.
Any idea of an elevate ;line in DOA as the elevated section is already ramp to Rathburn.
The biggest mistake for CCTT that it was built in the wrong location as the city wasn't willing to pay the price for the land where it should be just like they did for the The Paramount Fine Foods Centre, formerly the Hershey Centre. A new CCTT/GO Station is to be built across the street underground and hope it is design to handle 150,000 riders daily when open in 2030's,
If the LRT stay on City Centre and then shifted to Hurontario at Square One Drive to Hurontario, that block plaza would house the new CCTT with with 2 levels of service bay below ground with one being for the Transitway and future connection by X. You would have 2-3 levels above ground to service everyone. You could have put development on top of the new terminal which is not been plan for.
The loop is a city thing since they fail to understand transit in the first place and thinks the city revolves around the city core when it not the case in the first place.
The loop will add extra travelling time for riders who have no need to go to CCTT in the first place as well keep people using the car to the Cooksville or Port Credit GO Stions just like the old route 19 did. On a good day, the 19 added 15 minutes going to/from CCTT with the the 103 saving 14 minutes bypassing CCTT. The LRT will do the same thing. When 19 was cancel due to poor service north of CCTT, route 2 handle the south end like it did before 2000 that used to run every 6 minutes with the 19 doing Port Credit-CCTT-Brampton every 18 minutes. Today, the 17 does the north end only to Hwy 407 about every 20+ minutes and the 2 about 8-14 minutes making the in/out of CCTT about a 25 minutes.
Eglinton has been Mississauga Uptown area since 2012 with 5 huge developments on the books for close to 50,000 residential units with more to come.
It has been stated since 2019 that that the LRT service was to be every 8 minute with the possibility of the line split in two like today with each section having either the same headway or two different headway. If the line is split in two, most of those new residents for the Eglinton Uptown area will drive to the GO stations as it will be faster than using the LRT. MiWay is supposed to have a parallel bus service to deal with the stops between the LRT Station with an unknown headway and no idea if it will stay 100% on Hurontario at all times. A few years ago, Metrolinx and Mobilinx stated that there is a possibility of having service that will bypass CCTT and the loop but with the current mess it could be DOA.
Very little work is taking place this winter compared to pass winter since its more colder with way more snow. Various projects with an April timeframe before the winter will most likely be miss from weeks to months that 2029 opening will be the new 2028 and that is subject to the loop.
It has been stated that those who live in Parkside Village and M City that Route 28 would be faster to get to/from Cooksville Go Station or Dundas than use the LRT.
The walking time from the Rathbun station to Sq One is equal to the same time if the LRT station was on City Centre
Having talked with a number of transit planners in the US as well in Europe, it has said the current layout is wrong for Hurontario with or without a loop. If the line stay on Hurontario like it should in the first place, you could have a separate interlining loop service or a loop only service. Single seat rides are expensive.
Metrolinx has yet to appear before any council like they were to in November so far to give an update on the line, let alone the loop. With Ford making the rehashed comment on the loop from January 2024, maybe something will take place in the next month or two for council presentation. The loop needs to have the EA updated for the extension and that is an six month process follow by design work and a tender process before construction can take place since Mobilinx is out of the picture to do the work. Rebuilding the Burnhamthorpe intersection is a six months project with major traffic and transit issues for Hurontario and shifting single lane of traffic on Burnhamthorpe.