[ShonTron]

The south side of Aldershot Station is indeed good residential development land. I wonder what the cost-benefit would be of building the garage (which are very expensive to build) and developing the south side with some medium density TOD.

 

[reaperexpress]

That’s a surprising example. Didn’t think Aldershot was down that much. Did they consider a garage?

Aldershot is effectively ‘Hamilton North’. Perhaps it would be well-suited for BRT or express buses coming from Waterdown and along York/Plains to deal with local users. But, there is a lot of traffic well outside any sort of transit catchment that uses it heavily, too. So you certainly can’t cut parking.

All-day train service to Hamilton West Harbour station wasn't introduced until 2021 so pre-pandemic the 'Hamilton North' function of Aldershot was much more significant than it is nowadays.

Just because some people drive from beyond transit catchment areas doesn't mean you need to maintain all 1639 parking spaces at Aldershot, it just means that we shouldn't get rid of the lot entirely. It's highly unlikely that all 1639 spaces are used by people who are outside of transit catchement areas. Those within transit catchment areas can be encouraged to take transit by improving the competitiveness of transit service and pricing.

 

[Bojaxs]

Aldershot is busy because it's more or less the terminus station for Lakeshore West, and thus captures drivers coming from further outside of the LSW's traditional catchment area. It's a hugely important station for parking as a result, and would likely always have substantial parking demand as a lot of it's ridership comes from areas outside where public transit can easily serve.

It has not been contemplated for a garage as Metrolinx owns enough land around the station to add something like 900 spaces in a surface lot still.

Most of that parking is on the south side of the corridor, which is not as convenient however. I think Metrolinx would be better off building a garage on the north side of the corridor and redeveloping the south lots personally, but that's not the current plan.

The pattern of reduced parking demand is present at most stations from my understanding, though it has shrunk over the last 2 years with return to office, but most stations which were operating over capacity pre-pandemic are still not doing so, at least from my understanding.

A lot of people who live further west in areas like Stoney Creek drive past West Harbour to get to Aldershot. The culprit being lack of parking at West Harbour. This is why it's good that Confederation station is getting built. But I have a feeling it won't be long before Confederation's parking lot gets full. This station is going to attract riders as far as Grimsby and Beamsville. Then we'll probably have riders driving past both Confederation and West Harbour to get to Aldershot.

I like the idea of adding garages to GO stations to increase parking spots, because they're a more efficient use of land vs just expanding a surface parking lot. I would even support consolidating huge surface parking lots by constructing a garage. Once constructed, MX can sell off the land the surface parking used to sit on to developers to construct buildings closer to the stations.

MX should incorporate sheltered/ indoor bike parking in every garage they construct. So as to make the garages beneficial to both car drivers and bike riders.

Not every garage MX builds has to be massive like the one at Bramalea. They could build smaller garages such as the ones at Aurora or Centennial.

 

[just east of the creek]

A lot of people who live further west in areas like Stoney Creek drive past West Harbour to get to Aldershot. The culprit being lack of parking at West Harbour. This is why it's good that Confederation station is getting built. But I have a feeling it won't be long before Confederation's parking lot gets full. This station is going to attract riders as far as Grimsby and Beamsville. Then we'll probably have riders driving past both Confederation and West Harbour to get to Aldershot.

I like the idea of adding garages to GO stations to increase parking spots, because they're a more efficient use of land vs just expanding a surface parking lot. I would even support consolidating huge surface parking lots by constructing a garage. Once constructed, MX can sell off the land the surface parking used to sit on to developers to construct buildings closer to the stations.

MX should incorporate sheltered/ indoor bike parking in every garage they construct. So as to make the garages beneficial to both car drivers and bike riders.

Not every garage MX builds has to be massive like the one at Bramalea. They could build smaller garages such as the ones at Aurora or Centennial.

I like the idea of replacing surface parking with vertical parking and transforming the surface into housing and connecting transit facilities. Mimico was an imperfect example. (Which has crashed and burned and will remain so for some time I think), Port Credit has minimal parking , but a strong central location with strong and improving transit connections, Clarkson has an immense garage now, with substantial surface parking that could see 50 % redeveloped, Oakville has both an immense garage, and acres of surface parking which is just begging for repurposing as Oakville midtown gets off the ground, Brontë has acres of surface parking in the middle of an industrial area, and so probably remains untouched for some time, Appleby the same, except for the neighbouring proposed Developement which would add adjacent towers, Appelby has large parking areas to the south ( more residentail side) and north ( industrial), and so in the future you could see the southern surface parking being largely repurposed. Burlington Fairview has both a garage and surface parking on the north industrial side, and minimal parking on the southern, more residential ( with more building and proposed) and commercial very adjacent to the station, and that southern parking could probably be reduced.

And then you have Aldershot, which is a real commuters park, although is the Bayview Junction speed and frequency issues are solved, could see its role for Hamilton and Penninsula reduced. However, the connections to Waterdown may continue to get stronger and the need for parking increase as well.

And you need connection to separated bike lanes as well to these stations. (Along with the ‘bike’ garage as you have pointed out)

Going eastbound from Union most likely reveals much of the same pattern, but I am not as familiar with those stations, and some of their proximity to the 401 may inhibit any use but parking.

As for the north, one can point to Bloomington and smile.

I am conducting a personal experiment in Montreal again and have to report that I may be a chicken at heart, but comparing bike lanes separated by paint vs bike lanes seperated by permanent concrete barriers, is like comparing apples and oranges. And the sense of security is so much further enhanced with the latter option.

 

[duffo]

The culprit being lack of parking at West Harbour. This is why it's good that Confederation station is getting built.

Is this still the case? I've heard anecdotally the lot at West Harbour is never full, and especially post-covid.

 

[nfitz]

Is this still the case? I've heard anecdotally the lot at West Harbour is never full, and especially post-covid.

Looking in Google Earth, it's a lot fuller on Wednesday March 6, 2024 than Wednesday February 2, 2023! So it's trending the right way.

 

[Sauga89]

I like the idea of replacing surface parking with vertical parking and transforming the surface into housing and connecting transit facilities.

I like parking garages too, and I agree with you about the potential for housing development. However, I'd note that the cost of building them can take away from improving service to a station. Cooksville GO and Erindale GO on the Milton line both had parking garages built in the last decade that probably cost hundreds of millions of dollars, but neither has all-day service.

Port Credit has minimal parking , but a strong central location with strong and improving transit connections

A lot of people go to Port Credit over Cooksville, because Port Credit has all day service (Though Cooksville has more frequent rush-hour service).

 

[Bojaxs]

However, I'd note that the cost of building them can take away from improving service to a station. Cooksville GO and Erindale GO on the Milton line both had parking garages built in the last decade that probably cost hundreds of millions of dollars, but neither has all-day service.

The lack of service on the Milton line has nothing to do with parking garages, and everything to do with CPKC owning the tracks.

 

[Sauga89]

The lack of service on the Milton line has nothing to do with parking garages, and everything to do with CPKC owning the tracks.

I meant that the money spent on the parking garages could have been contributed towards the $1 billion the feds have said it will take to expand service to Milton by upgrading CP's line.

Edit: I want to note that that I'm not suggesting the parking garages cost anywhere near $1 billion to build, or that the feds cost projections are right, just that the money for parking garages could have been better spent.