I think it's a well-documented consequence of any megaproject. Hospitals also have cost overruns, like the CHUM superhospital in Montreal. It's just that hospitals are generally less expensive (e.g. compared to the $9 billion Eglinton LRT) so the same percentage overrun is less in absolute...

AVs will help congestion by reducing/eliminating the collisions that cause the worst traffic jams. But volume-based traffic will get worse. This article outlines some of the scenarios. It's economics 101 that when you make something cheaper, people use more of it. AVs greatly reduce the cost of...

Their headway has improved but it still reaches 10-12 minutes according to the STM website. Rush hour is good, but when I'd be going home late from work/school it would be infrequent. More than a few times I've entered the metro only to immediately leave because the next departure screen...

This is gorgeous! But just an idea, why not through-run some of the lines instead of terminating them at Union/Summerhill and forcing a transfer? That seems to be the direction most commuter rail systems go when they turn into a regional metro. Another suggestion: "Réseau du Trains de Banlieue"...

I was never a fan of either interchange tbh. At Lionel-Groulx, there were too many occasions where I would be making an across-the-platform transfer to a train, just to have the driver slam the doors shut before transferring passengers could make it in. As an able-bodied person, the long wait...

Eastern Segment East Harbour is an essential station because it catalyzes redevelopment of the Unilever site, connects to a southward extension of the Broadview streetcar, and is a general focal point for redevelopment of the area. The Ontario Line has been optimized for transfers with GO at...

The "Relief Line"/Ontario Line dichotomy doesn't 100% make sense since what Metrolinx/the media is calling the "Relief Line" is only the short downtown segment of the line. The rest of the alignment (north of Danforth) wasn't established yet and was in Metrolinx's domain (the "Relief Line...

Are you referring to the Mont Royal tunnel built in 1918? The current REM plan doesn't involve any tunneling, except at the airport. As great as it would be to directly connect to downtown Ottawa, I think that the Confederation line does a good enough job of that (including with a tunnel) that...

I visited friends in Kitchener/Waterloo three weeks ago, and as a railfan I obviously rode it. Even though my friends live a block a block away from it, they find it's not that useful: It makes a lot of twists and turns, which makes it slow. I get the feeling that the tracks were spread out to...

I found that a bit disappointing too, the multi-level connection to Line 5. But with the extension of Line 2 to Sheppard (and considering that Line 5 will be street running east of Don Mills) I think that Line 2 is the more important transfer. It looks like the transfers to Line 1 and 2 have...

How about this, with branching?

I hope the final design would end up being something like this. The Ontario line should interchange with the planned GO RER station in Liberty Village, and it would be a shame not to service all the high density areas further west of Spadina.

These "legitimate" processes are responsible for the featureless glass boxes everywhere that Torontonians know and love. Meanwhile, almost every single building that Torontonians appreciate predates the establishment of these "legitimate processes", which we can thank for our lovely affordable...

I have to disagree: stopping the trains just short of their destination and forcing a transfer is an awful idea. European cities are spending billions of dollars to connect disjointed rail terminals across their downtowns (e.g. RER, Crossrail, Boston) and we would be spending hundreds of...

We have a shortage of all kinds of housing, subsidized or not. Metrolinx is full of bad ideas. The best part of Doug's announcement is we now have a new fantasy map.

My apologies if the material has been discussed before, but the discussion did not take part in this thread. My opinion is that the money spent on this (which will be substantial and will drag on over many years) could be better used expediting other projects. According to Metrolinx's Yonge...

This project seems inherently wasteful to me, unless it's a cynical ploy to show the costs associated with not building the DRL. We would be spending about a billion dollars on a transportation project that moves no one anywhere faster. Bloor/Yonge is a very constrained station, retrofitting it...

There have actually been many concerns raised about the capacity of the REM, especially on the northern end. They are replacing rush hour double-deckers with significantly smaller trains. And passengers from the Mascouche line (again, double decker commuter trains) will need to transfer into...

Just to be clear, the REM is definitely not an "integral part" of the new Champlain bridge. There was always a vision for some sort of public transit along the bridge, but the bridge needed to be urgently replaced, so those lanes were designed as bus lanes. The new bridge was not designed with...

It would double the length but probably add 10% to the ridership. I was near Chambly on Saturday, mostly because I missed my exit at Dix-Trente and needed to drive through 11 kilometers of farmland/wilderness before I could exit and u-turn, and I can't imagine any rationale other than flagrant...