I live in Barrie— I think maybe one day a Barrie West station could be feasible, they’re planning a massive development by Essa/400 interchange, but I think that’s too close to Allandale Waterfront.
However, this idea makes more sense to me… with the “rail trail” they’re making on the old BCRW line— it’s only supposed to go up to 5th Line, and I think that’s by design, technically if Angus gets big enough, they could theoretically put a station off of 5th line and build a transit community around that!
With the whole “housing targets” thing, this makes total sense. Not only could people commute from Angus to Toronto, they could also commute from Angus to Barrie without a car. It’s a win win for everyone involved!
Essa Township is forecasted to hit 31.000 people by 2041, for context, Bradford WG township had a mere 28,000 in 2011.
(Though, I think New Tecumseths needs are more important as they’re supposed to hit 70,000 by 2041, but the BCRW line doesn’t help unless you’re going onto the main line through Baxter— but you’re just backtracking and making the trip longer at that point)
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