I think so. The garage won't be there for PanAm. I read somewhere it can also be expanded to 600 cars eventually, not sure what's the absolute maximum limit for parking expansion, but West Harbour is an unusual in that it's simultaneously very pedestrian-walkable while still having enough land for a reasonable free parking garage. No GO station within walking distance of Toronto downtown, even has free parking available.
I am really confused over this fascination you have with comparing GO service in downtown Toronto with Hamilton is.....it really is apples and oranges. But how many GO stations are there at all within walking distance to downtown Toronto? Union..sure, but what value to the network would free parking at Union provide? I guess you could say Bloor is within walking distance of downtown Toronto (depending on your personal definition of Downtown Toronto) no parking at all there....but again (like Union) it is right by those trains that run underground.....there is no need for free parking at the DT stations...none at all.....Hamilton and Toronto (particularly Downtown) are totally separate things.....one is the location the vast majority of GO riders have been/are/will be trying to get to....the other is one of the outlying areas looking for a connection to Toronto.
You're missing my point...
_____
I was trying to talk about the unique situation of Hamilton's simultaneous need for pedestrian/transit-friendly GO stations simultaneously with parking-friendly GO stations. West Harbour is a great opportunity to capitalize on this. This is the angle when I said "No GO station within walking distance of Toronto downtown, even has free parking available." because we are lucky enough to find a have Lower City GO station plots big enough for parking, including at the new station (West Harbour) within walking distance of Hamilton downtown (the CBD). So it can simultaneously be a pedestrian GO Hub for the Lower City, as well as a parking garage GO hub for the Mountain. This can make West Harbour a valuable GO station for all of Hamilton, considering the Hamiltionians that drive to both Aldershot and Burlington today. As will Confederation, especially when Burlington parking overflows.
Look at the geometry of Toronto and the GO lines into it, and the geometry of Hamilton. Also the fact there's few good transit options on both sides of the escarpement (a bigger city-divider than River Thames or River Siene). It's literally a massive cliff that horizontally cuts Hamilton in half -- which is why we call the high altitude southern Hamilton area up there "The Mountain" versus the northern lake-touching area, the "Lower City" (which is where all three current/planned Hamilton GO stations are). It divides Mountain from anything Toronto-directionly. So lots of car users as a result. And lots of drivers go to the nearest station with free parking. Bam. It's Aldershot. We need more GO stations closer to Hamilton's car-using population.
What alternatives do you suggest, considering the unique geometrical situation? Build several new railroad routes up the mountain? Expensive ramp tunnel megaprojects? Time-consuming S-curves like our existing Jolley Cut? Yes, A-Line (as a tunneled ramp) could help greatly, GO parking are still a lesser sprawl evil than widening freeways, and bringing the parking closer to them is even better (aka Confederation GO and West Harbour GO). But the clifflike escarpment is tens of kilometers wide, so we have to poke an awful lots of routes into it, to make rapid transit convenient; you see; in many ways, Hamilton Mountain is more stuck with the Car as God, alas, than even Toronto is. And explains part of why many Hamiltonians think BRT is better than LRT. But some of them commute to Toronto by GO, and that presents a challenge for point A to B. Frequently, the word "access" (As in access between Lower City and Mountain) is a hot button Hamilton political issue for many decades.
FWIW, I live in the Lower City, and I would prefer to take transit.
But I'm not a "anti-Mountain Lower City resident" like an "anti-905 snob 416'er".... I lived in both downtown and in Riverdale areas of Toronto before.
I do understand their situation up on their cliff; and I support parking garages at GO stations on the CN route, as a result. So that they don't need to clog the 403 or QEW trying to reach the massive GO parking lots at Aldershot and Burlington. Some of them do, however, need to respect that we build the LRT in the Lower City and not sabotage it, though.
As you can see, I essentially totally agreed with you that Hamilton vs Toronto is oranges versus apples (agreed with you). Toronto is not getting brand new downtown GO stations built with a parking garage. They simultaneously are unable to (which is what I said) but don't need it (agreed with you). I'm merely pointing it out that it's luckily possible to do in Hamilton (and more necessary for Hamilton's situation), unlike for Toronto where there's no room for new downtown GO stations that include a parking garage, though they fortunately don't need such a beast (agreed with you).
Eventually, all will probably be paid GO parking within my lifetime, and/or there'll be a lot more rapid transit ramp tunnels up to the Mountain and/or far more local offices/businesses to prevent long commutes to Toronto and/or countercommuters (GTA residents with jobs in Hamilton) with AD2W GO service eventually reaching Hamilton, and a much more densified GTHA corridor (lakeshore corridor). By that era, the parking (charged or not) could matter a lot less when there are many other options. But right now, for the next twenty years, they are critical for Hamilton Mountain residents who choose to commute on GO, and consume space on freeways getting to more distant GO stations.
