sixrings
Senior Member
Good work Scarborough
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- Thread starter W. K. Lis
- Start date
Coolstar
Senior Member
No problem
toronto647
Active Member
No problem
It's honestly such a sad day for Scarborough. Sheppard East LRT has been scrapped and now hearing Eglinton East LRT is pretty much scrapped for at least 15 years. It makes me wonder whether Scarborough Subway Expansion will even be built as thats probably next on the chopping block if the Feds don't provide enough funding. (Ontario Line, Eg West take priority followed by Yonge North / SSE) I can envision Ford winning the next election and then announcing hes going to scarp SSE. I guess only time will tell. Sorry Scarborough
syn
Senior Member
It's very sad. Over on the SSE thread there are people convinced the SSE is just the beginning.
This cancellation should make it very clear that isn't the case.
Too bad the Scarborough LRT wasn't finished, as this LRT East extension would've probably already been under construction.
So much sacrificed just to eliminate a transfer.
Rainforest
Senior Member
it would be very strange to give Eglinton West priority over SSE.
SSE replaces the SRT line, that runs on its last leg and can't last for much longer. If SRT fails and there is no replacement, carrying the riders to Kennedy will require a lot of additional buses.
Eglinton West, on the other hand, has just one bus route, that isn't even very busy west of Jane.
Rainforest
Senior Member
BRT is not a bad option for Eglinton East. It can be set very quckly, and will result in a travel speed improvement similart to LRT.
After that, if the demand grows so much that BRT struggles to handle it, upgrading to LRT is always a possibility.
After that, if the demand grows so much that BRT struggles to handle it, upgrading to LRT is always a possibility.
toronto647
Active Member
It comes down to politics as well. Scarborough will not vote anything but Liberal/NDP. Ford has nothing to lose if cancels SSE on the other hand Ford has a chance to capture a lot of votes in Etobicoke and swing some seats. Plus EGW will connect to Pearson which is a major plus for the city as a whole. Lastly lets not forget EGW will be passing Fords house. There is no political benefits of building the SSE at all.
JSF-1
Active Member
I don't think we should be calling whats happening on Eglinton East "BRT". Seems they will just be painting the lanes red and hoping drivers stay out. BRT would be what is one Highway 7, dedicated lanes separate from normal traffic with signal priority. That's not what is happening since that would cost to much money and take to long to implement. On the other hand though the Highway 7 style BRT would be the best option since it would take the buses out of mixed traffic, and also make eventual conversion to LRT far easier and cheaper. What is happening on Eglinton East now isn't going to make conversion to LRT any cheaper or easier since none of the infrastructure for it is being built.
toronto647
Active Member
If only Eglinton East could get a Highway 7 BRT style like system.... Wishful thinking considering this is Scarborough :/
JSF-1
Active Member
As nice as it would be, beyond costs and time it would run into 2 problems. First being the car-centric councillors and drivers would be up in arms over permanently loosing 2 lanes on Eglinton. The lanes in the current plan aren't being permanently separated from traffic and we all know enforcement of the rules will be non-existent and based solely on hoping drivers don't drive in them. The other problem is if you're going to invest all the money and time into placing a dedicated row with stations down Eglinton East then why not just extend the Crosstown? This is different from say the proposed BRT line along Ellesemere, while it may still draw the ire of drivers and their political benefactors, at least it doesn't have an easily extendable LRT line at one end bringing into question the justification of the project when a better solution is right there.
To me while I welcome the attempt at making travel on Eglinton East better, all it really is is a stop-gap solution to a problem with a very obvious solution. Even if the city had proposed full BRT it would still be pretty silly since then it creates a forced transfer at Kennedy for people wanting to continue travelling on Eglinton. This is the same forced transfer issue SSE proponents bring up when discussing why the subway should be built to STC instead of the SSE. Just as SSE proponents will say anything less than an extension of the subway to STC is silliness, I will say to anything less than an extension of the Crosstown along Eglinton East.
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Rainforest
Senior Member
Got it. If it is BRT Lite only, then it is of limited use. Still better than nothing, but a marginal improvement only in the travel time.
Then, the city should keep this route in the transit shopping list. Eventually the Liberals will flip back into power provincially, then Eglinton East LRT should be submitted as one of the first candidates for funding.
daniel_kryz
Active Member
I highly doubt that the Liberals will be in power soon, they have been horrible with transit investment (yet made endless promises and plans) and are very unpopular now. Honestly, the PCs are doing good with transit and are becoming (finally) more popular, so I don't see the Liberals coming back anytime soon. However, it is sad that the Eglinton East LRT wasn't part of the province's plans, but I hope it gets funded by Infrastructure Canada's $180 billion program.
Coolstar
Senior Member
I agree. Except for the way they handled the Hamilton LRT. But even then, the task force is reconsidering the line in a different version.
Bureaucromancer
Active Member
This is one of the biggest issues that is genuinely on the City of Toronto in my view; we don't have a list of projects, and we don't stick with it when funding changes. Every time the province turns up its nose at a proejct it disappears entirely and is, at best, restarted from scratch when we think funding might be available. This was at least a decent part of what happened under the Liberals, during that lost decade it wasn't JUST Harris refusing to do anything for us, the city refused to have a vision in place for what it even wanted funded beyond a vague statement that Eglinton and/or Sheppard were the priorities.
syn
Senior Member
I think it's too early to say the Conservatives are doing 'good' with transit. Until there's actually shovel's in the ground it's just another set of plans.
The Eglinton Crosstown, Finch, Hurontario...all of these projects were under construction or moving forward when the Liberals were in power.
The Eglinton Crosstown, Finch, Hurontario...all of these projects were under construction or moving forward when the Liberals were in power.