Small extensions make a lot of sense for Hamilton imo. The James spur made/makes a lot of sense given the importance of the corridor and cements it as LRT—at least in the lower city— instead of BRT. I actually think there’s a lot of places where small extensions/spurs could be introduced...

6TPH is not gonna happen- least of all here with the track use challenges. The demand also definetely does not exist, and that’s as a massive Hamilton booster. Making the city a secondary GO hub is not a bad idea, if not solely because Hamilton’s railways were built to go to Hamilton, not...

Great points. I would characterize the cities that have been recovering as finding a means to do so. KW has tech, Hamilton it’s GTA proximity (and soon industrial rebirth), etc. They have been given an economic impetus to do things right this time, which is the missing component sadly for some...

It’s hard not to admire the “Wild West” feeling downtown has nowadays. It’s like you can feel the interest and anticipation of countless entities in the air, each vying for a piece of the pie. It’s not some meticulously planned thing, so lots of shlock has appeared, but it’s charming in it’s...

Sometimes I can live with just a box. As you know, I’ll cut a lot of slack for things if it’s executed well ;) A powerful thing about UT is that it’s clear to me now there are builders that care about quality in the entire region- many more than just your Core Urbans or MacMaster’s. I’ve always...

I liken what’s happened to Brantford to what’s taken place in many mid sized cities in Ontario- when decline or stagnation looms; they gravitate to “big” but uninformed ideas of how to “fix” the city. Often as a result they neglect the real issues festering and only ruin whatever they touch...

It certainly looks nice. Almost too nice for Brantford, but I don’t want to jinx it. I do worry if this project will come to fruition, however; I don’t know where the demand for living in Brantford is coming from (other than the usual regional factors) but even as a commuter town it’s pretty far...

I think it’s solely on the “sprawl” front. They definitely aren’t going to roll back anything they’ve done on the density file for instance. Clearly the public’s palate for more sprawl at the expense of the greenbelt isn’t really there- and maybe the PCs didn’t count on that. On conflation...

Reality is not so kind that planning just didn’t exist. No, it was just completely infatuated with cars to the point that I doubt it crossed anyone’s mind that people would want a railway near their town. And to be fair, as a freight only corridor I don’t blame them- this wasn’t going to ever...

Generally I agree with this- the missing link is a rail line along the 407 for the RRs, while the new 407 RT is rail along the 407, but for transit. Of course they aren’t apples to apples in terms of what we get out of it, but the bang for buck is quite high on the latter proposal. The missing...

I agree quite heavily actually. Most cities I’ve been to in southern Ontario have desire paths mostly sorted out. It’s one of the saving graces that our suburbs usually have. I’ve encountered countless areas in Hamilton where there is no desire path simply because it seems no one planned for...

Could this be a new standard? Kind of like how the 407 is built to (I don’t know what exactly) specs that allow for upwards of 140-150km/h regularly.

I'm curious how you would determine such a number for potential ridership. I too think there are places where higher-order transit is more appropriate than what we are building, but It's quite hard to present this. I have conducted reports on it before, but this was mostly an exercise in...

This is looking really good.

I get the sense that the implication is this is for small, independent businesses only- franchises aren’t really in that vein, somewhat “independent” as they might be. If condo residents have to pay for upkeep is an interesting question, but I think if they are involved then it gives them say...

I'm curious if the existence of this project has been factored into the City/province's job projections for the next few decades. The most recent estimates seem to have been made just as this project was being revealed. It would certainly be nice to see how this bumps citywide growth if not yet...

0 Honestly there's no way they can't just add a '5' in a circle to indicate Line 5. Maybe throw in a little tram icon or something to indicate it's a rapid transit/rail service. Assuming that top half is a digital display, of course.

This is coming from someone with no experience or knowledge about this, but… generally it does seem engineers leave provisions for basically any potential future projects if they can. At least, that’s best practice AFAIK. It’s always something that gets “caught” during the engineering design...

Ah. So it seems once non-decision strikes, you appeal, and either you come to an agreement with the city from an advantageous position or it goes to a hearing and you (likely) get what you want. Coupled with the fact that the entire OLT process is faster now without external appeals being...

Bold idea. I think the general idea of moving alot of building amenities to the ground floor and making that your 'common spaces' for businesses to occupy at a cheap rate makes sense. Making it free doesn't sound like its particularly feasible in the real world, but I guess I wouldn't know...