Why Scarborough Will Never Have a Rapid Transit Network
The TTC has finally delivered up a report in reply to my deputation last August on the question of why the RT should not be converted to LRT in the context of (a) a larger Scarborough LRT network and (b) the request from the Scarborough Caucus to extend the line into Malvern. No big surprise. The TTC really doesn’t want to convert the line.
The report can be found at:
www.ttc.ca/postings/gso-c.../_conv.htm
The argument in brief is that there is no customer benefit of a conversion, that it would require a prolonged closure of the line and that the Malvern extension cost would be equal no matter what technology was chosen.
The TTC claims that the RT is the most reliable service they operate, an easy claim given that it’s a captive line totally on its own right-of-way. They assume that an LRT extension would be in some sort of mixed traffic and that this would contribute to unreliable headways on the existing section of the line and loss of capacity. Conversely, if the line were extended on a completely segregated right-of-way, then the cost of the infrastructure would be comparable to that of an extended RT.
This ignores the possibility that an extended RT line might branch and feed service from different parts of northeast Scarborough into the common exclusive corridor down to Kennedy Station. That’s part of what I implied in looking at the network context. Indeed, the TTC is so paranoid about non-exclusive services that they state that an RT-replacement-LRT would still be operated as a separate line to preserve operational integrity. Obviously if you force people to transfer, you lose the benefit of service integration and your analysis leads exactly to the conclusion you were seeking.
The claim that a three-year period would be needed to complete the conversion also strikes me as taking the worst possible scenario to produce the desired conclusion. Among the major construction tasks are the replacement of the tunnel at Ellesmere and the fact that the station structure at Midland does not lend itself easily to conversion as an LRT station with low platforms.
The TTC has not looked at alternate alignments for the new LRT line that would move the tunnel (and possibly some other parts of the line) and allow construction to take place while the RT was still in operation. The presence of a large City works yard northeast of Ellesmere Station provides the opportunity to move the Ellesmere Station and remain at grade including a new Midland Station. Options east of there include a new station at Brimley which is much easier to build if at grade than on the existing elevated structure.
One notable point in the TTC’s analysis is the absence of a cost estimate for the extension by any mode beyond McCowan Station. The entire premise of the “deal†proposed to Scarborough Caucus was that the “savings†of an RT upgrade compared to a subway would be ploughed back into a network of lines in Scarborough. However, as RT, an extension to Malvern may eat up all of that saving.
I am not going to pretend that my proposal has much hope of being adopted because the pressure for retention of the RT technology and the foot-dragging on any implementation of LRT is too strong. What we will probably see is continued pressure for extension of the Sheppard Subway, an extension of the RT to Finch, and a network of bus lanes. What we will get is some of the bus lanes. Period.
stevemunro.ca/
Pretty dismal report if you ask me even if I suspected as much it'd take 36 months to convert the SRT.
. What's tacky is that you'd bring this up now when I've and countless others have regularly used emoticons in their replies, you know to express emotion and shit like that! And what's kewl (nice spelling there Adema/Enema/Adam/Asthma/Ass-mouth :lol !) wannabe 90s is the constant non-transit related dreck you spew solely at me in a vain attempt to scare me off. Well until this city has more east-west lines and connections to the borders and beyond, it'll never f-cking work! (again only two emoticons were necessary to dispell your antagonistic rant).