[muller877]

From http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/1...de-for-john-torys-fledgling-mayoral-campaign/
The Tory campaign unveiled SmartTrack — a regional, two-way, electrified rail line — on May 27, in the middle of the provincial election. The plan originated in provincial Liberal circles. Both Tom Allison and John Duffy, the campaign’s policy chair, had seen a version of it more than 10 years earlier in then minister Glen Murray’s office. It was, on one level, a significant gamble. Kathleen Wynne was campaigning at the time on a pledge to electrify some Go Train lines. But Tim Hudak and the Progressive Conservatives had made no such promise. If Hudak had won, the Tory camp knew they might be in trouble.

I read this article and when huh?

Glen Murray was in various political positions in Winnipeg until 2004 (including Mayor). He then tried (and failed) to win his riding in Manitiba for the federal liberals.

He then moved to Toronto and held various NFP roles from 2004 to 2009. At that point he wanted to run for mayor of Toronto (but didn't have the Liberal support for his run....Smitherman ran instead).

As almost a thank you the the provincial liberals let him run in a safe seat in 2010. In 2010 he became a Minister and in 2011 he was given Transportation. In 2014 he was shuffled to Evironment. Almost right after that he has said he will resign (rumour is he was not happy with the change after supporting Wynne in the leadership battle).

So how did they see it in his office 10 years ago? In Winnipeg or as part of a NPO? Was it someone else or was it a different date? It makes a good news clip that they took Murray (a progressive) idea and used it but was it really his or from the MTO 10 years ago?

These facts are very well known....and should have been spotted by the writers/editors of the paper.

 

[gweed123]

So with 15-minute frequency, then one train every 30 minutes goes to Agincourt and Markham. And one train every 30 minutes goes to Scarborough Centre?

I don't think this will satisfy anyone currently using the SRT.

15 minutes is the minimum frequency. Theoretically what you can do is have 4 lines along the southern portion of the Stouffville corridor:

1) To Lincolnville or Mt. Joy.
2) To Unionville.
3) To Malvern or Seaton (depending on the terminus).
4) To Scarborough Town Centre.

That means 7.5 min frequencies to Unionville and STC, and 15 min frequencies beyond that. Off-peak, that should be more than sufficient to handle the demand. Lakeshore East would have a similar setup as well for that stretch, which means 2.5 min frequencies on Lakeshore west of Scarborough Junction.

 

[Rainforest]

Is the BD extension still planned till Sheppard?

The way I see it, with Smart Track, the BD extension can be a 2-stop extension: Lawrence and STC. That should consolidate ridership a fair bit.

And then you use Smart Track at Agincourt for another Scarborough hub, fed by the SELRT, which can even use a spur to Malvern along the Progress hydro corridor.

It doesn't feel right to leave a 1.7 km gap between the subway terminus at STC and the Sheppard transit line.

IMO, BD extension to Sheppard is preferable.

If the subway has to end at STC due to the shortage of funding, then perhaps the Sheppard line should divert south and connect to the subway.

 

[Rainforest]

15 minutes is the minimum frequency. Theoretically what you can do is have 4 lines along the southern portion of the Stouffville corridor:

1) To Lincolnville or Mt. Joy.
2) To Unionville.
3) To Malvern or Seaton (depending on the terminus).
4) To Scarborough Town Centre.

That means 7.5 min frequencies to Unionville and STC, and 15 min frequencies beyond that. Off-peak, that should be more than sufficient to handle the demand. Lakeshore East would have a similar setup as well for that stretch, which means 2.5 min frequencies on Lakeshore west of Scarborough Junction.

For 7.5 min frequencies to both Unionville and STC, the combined frequency south of Ellesmere must be 3.75 min; that's not easy to sustain.

And once the Uxbridge service joins Lakeshore East en route to Union, the combined frequency must be even higher.

 

[nfitz]

15 minutes is the minimum frequency. Theoretically what you can do is have 4 lines along the southern portion of the Stouffville corridor:

1) To Lincolnville or Mt. Joy.
2) To Unionville.
3) To Malvern or Seaton (depending on the terminus).
4) To Scarborough Town Centre.

That means 7.5 min frequencies to Unionville and STC, and 15 min frequencies beyond that. Off-peak, that should be more than sufficient to handle the demand. Lakeshore East would have a similar setup as well for that stretch, which means 2.5 min frequencies on Lakeshore west of Scarborough Junction.

It strikes me that those that are supporting SmartTrack seem to be putting a lot of faith that it includes a heck of a lot of stuff that wasn't in the promise!

 

[gweed123]

For 7.5 min frequencies to both Unionville and STC, the combined frequency south of Ellesmere must be 3.75 min; that's not easy to sustain.

And once the Uxbridge service joins Lakeshore East en route to Union, the combined frequency must be even higher.

Yup, acknowledged. The signalling system, and perhaps the laws, would need to be adjusted in order to allow it. But it is possible. During peak BART runs trains through the central portion every 2 minutes or so.

It strikes me that those that are supporting SmartTrack seem to be putting a lot of faith that it includes a heck of a lot of stuff that wasn't in the promise!

I'm not supporting SmartTrack per se, I'm supporting GO RER. The details are scarce at this point, but I'm just putting out there what I hope will be included.

 

[44 North]

It doesn't feel right to leave a 1.7 km gap between the subway terminus at STC and the Sheppard transit line.

IMO, BD extension to Sheppard is preferable.

But it would be completely redundant to do so with smarttrack in place, because there'd be a station at Sheppard regardless (Agincourt). If southbound riders wanted to go downtown or across town, they can use SmartTrack all the way. Or transfer at Kennedy.

If the subway has to end at STC due to the shortage of funding, then perhaps the Sheppard line should divert south and connect to the subway.

Seems logical to do so. Or rather than diverting any Sheppard line south, consider extending the SRT west on Ellesmere and north on Kennedy (or Warden or Vic Park) to Sheppard. Thereby creating one line: SRT-SELRT. Makes good use of the grade-separate SRT line.

 

[kEiThZ]

They could build a McCowan spur to STC.

The way I see it, the SELRT would be three branched: McCowan/STC, Progress/Malvern, main branch to the zoo (eventually).

With Smart Track, there's no need to extend Bloor-Danforth till Sheppard. And with the branches, there's no gaps.

They could even run a sort of express service from Malvern to STC using the McCowan and Progress branches if need warrants, which would cover several of the original LRT service stops.

 

[innsertnamehere]

smart track is a different kind of service, its really not a subway despite the advertising. 15 minute frequencies are nice, but not incredible.

I can see the Scarborough subway still being justified to go to the sheppard LRT personally.

and a STC spur is a nice thought, but extremely unlikely in reality. What we will likely get is the Scarborough subway to Sheppard and GO RER with integrated fares from Mount Joy down to Union.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

smart track is a different kind of service, its really not a subway despite the advertising. 15 minute frequencies are nice, but not incredible.

Like GO RER, wasn't SmartTrack advertised as at least 15 minute?

 

[nfitz]

Like GO RER, wasn't SmartTrack advertised as at least 15 minute?

One would expect it would have to be a more frequent at peak. There's already some 15-minute peak service up the Georgetown line already.

 

[gweed123]

Like GO RER, wasn't SmartTrack advertised as at least 15 minute?

Yes. I would imagine that 15 minutes was the minimum frequency that it would operate at. Certainly higher during peak, and possibly slightly higher during mid-day as well. Although from a sales standpoint, I think it would have made more sense to have gone with the "as frequent as 3 minutes" (or pick a number for peak frequency), as opposed to "at least 15 minutes".

 

[ehlow]

Like GO RER, wasn't SmartTrack advertised as at least 15 minute?

Yes! Because SmartTrack is a rebranding of GO RER. They got the 15 min frequency from GO RER, and Metrolinx has stated 15 min is minimum frequency during their board meetings.

From the National Post article earlier in the thread, the Tory campaign team saw early versions of GO RER and created "SmartTrack" from that.

If anyone on the Tory team claimed that it would be 15 min only, then that person probably misunderstood the plan that they piggy backed off of.

 

[innsertnamehere]

We still don't know if GO will go more than every 15 minutes during rush hour, they may just upgrade to larger trains and keep the same frequency.

 

[ehlow]

Yeah, I think it's probably safe to say that it's too early to know what service level there will be