I think OL North should be a higher priority. Victoria Park LRT is a long shot. The reason I am talking about Victoria Park LRT at all, is that the City appears to tailor the light rail projects more towards supporting local density growth, and less towards getting fast travel. Nothing wrong...

It is interesting to note that the stop spacing on the Phase 1 of Finch West LRT (Keele to Humber College) closely resembles that on the Bloor-Danforth subway (excluding the diagonal Vic Park - Kennedy segment). Finch West LRT: 11 km / 17 stop intervals, 647 m average spacing. Bloor - Danforth...

Speaking of Eglinton LRT, we have to take into account its design and funding history. The original concept was to get a long crosstown rail line built all at once. At ~ 30 km, it was to be a lot longer than the original Yonge subway (Eglinton to Union), or the original BD subway. In order to...

That's right. Cars capable of operating as LRT are more advanced, and therefore more expensive, than those operating in full separation. LRVs have to be street-safe (no dangerous high-voltage parts anywhere), they need the right/left turn signals etc. Furthermore, their cross-section is...

I think the point of kalis0490 wasn't that the riders will go on a detour just to avoid the LRT. If someone is already on Eglinton and wants to go in the direction where the LRT goes, obviously they will board the LRT. Rather, the concern is that people will not go out of their way to use the...

I think the guideway design is the key here. Instead of an ugly grey concrete slab (= the Gardiner), should find a more impressive form. White stone finish, or a metal structure, with sleek curves etc. It would help if more agile trains are used on the Sheppard line, then the guideway will have...

If the Gardiner is our primary source of inspiration, then for sure. On the other hand, if we look at Paris Line 6 or Line 2 - they are not bad at all.

Probably not. The LRT stops on Finch are close by, typically 500 - 600 m apart. No real market for a parallel bus. Even if an infrequent bus was running and making twice as many stops, it would be faster to walk the extra 200 m to the LRT stop, rather than wait 15/20/30 min for the bus.

Only the final ~ 200 m, between Beecroft and Yonge, are too narrow for 6 lanes and need a tunel. Plus, the interchange with Yonge line should be underground anyway, due to the volume. The rest, from the Finch/Keele portal all the way to Beecroft, can use the street median.

Once Phase 1, Keele to Humber College, opens; residents will be asking to extend it both ways. They will want a one-seat ride to Pearson Airport, as well as a direct access to Yonge without transferring to bus at Keele.

I am comparing to other places on the planet. In Europe, train is the preferred mode for intercity trips 100 km to 500 km long; flying is not much faster when the time to get to / from the airport is taken into account, while driving is tiresome. For distances > 500 km, flying is faster but...

Basically, trying to figure out where trains can be (somewhat) competitive. Wherever buses can do the job, and there isn't enough demand for a train, let it be handled by buses. However: 1) An overnight trip in the sleeper train car is a lot more comfortable than an overnight bus trip. Say, a...

Obviously, riders that travel all the way across prefer a train that goes all the way across. My idea is that there exist other potential markets: riders who want to travel 300, 600, 1000 km or so by train. And, it might be easier to serve those with shorter train routes. In addition to the...

For local customers, that should be the most convenient.

Of course. I am not saying "cancel The Canadian"; let it operate and serve its existing market. However, when planning additional services, shorter routes could work better for a number of reasons: 1) Departure and arrival times. Trips up to ~ 7 h long could be scheduled to run during daytime...

The Canadian, or any transcontinental service, might never again achieve high ridership. It is just impractical. The one way trip from Toronto to Vancouver takes 4 days. I remember that back in the late 199x, it was running faster and taking 3 days. Still - you can take a 7-days vacation...

I think that's only doable if Sheppard is converted to a lighter train type, something similar to the OL trains. And even then, that would be a long-shot project, not the immediate priority.

I guess you are right. I was not sure if "peak hour" is the literal 1-hour period when 7,400 riders are expected, or a synonym of "peak period". If so, then they forecast an unusually high peak ridership for a surface corridor with few feeder routes. No other street service in Toronto gets...

We do not know if that 7,400 demand forecast is per hour, or per the whole morning rush period (~ 3 hours). The report isn't clear on that. The required train type / size / frequency needed for 7,400 per hour is quite different from what's needed for 2,500 per hour. For 7,400, a street-median...

That would increase the cost, for sure. But less likely to happen? nobody knows. Eglinton West had a lower ridership forecast than Eglinton East. However, Ford needed a subway-like project in the West, to match SSE in the East. And, voila - Eglinton West is getting a tunneled line. In the next...