[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.

 

[tsm1072]

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'd expect confederation to take more ridership from Burlington as opposed to Aldershot. From East Hamilton and the south shore of the lake(Stoney Creek, Grimsby,etc.), it is faster to cross the skyway and go direct to Burlington rather than West Harbour or Aldershot. Improved service to West Harbour (and improved HSR service), will reduce demand at Aldershot as you so have a lot of ridership coming from Hamilton Mountain, Ancaster, Dundas, and out towards Brantford. The Mountain and Dundas riders will potentially shift to West Harbour with more consistent service and better HSR connections.

 

[Jonny5]

I'd expect confederation to take more ridership from Burlington as opposed to Aldershot. From East Hamilton and the south shore of the lake(Stoney Creek, Grimsby,etc.), it is faster to cross the skyway and go direct to Burlington rather than West Harbour or Aldershot. Improved service to West Harbour (and improved HSR service), will reduce demand at Aldershot as you so have a lot of ridership coming from Hamilton Mountain, Ancaster, Dundas, and out towards Brantford. The Mountain and Dundas riders will potentially shift to West Harbour with more consistent service and better HSR connections.

This is exactly correct. No one in East Hamilton will go to West Harbour with the aggravating drive through the City when they can take the same time to get to Burlington, and also don't forget that the cost to travel to Toronto is lower from there too, saving some money.
In fact, a lot of people in West Hamilton who commute to Toronto have always zipped past Aldershot on the 403 to use Burlington GO station because it's generally free flowing traffic at 130 kp/h for the morning commuters getting those 6:00 to 7:00 a.m. trains , but mostly because of the garage. Not having to clean snow off your car or walk through the rain on your home commute is a big motivator to do that, even if the exit from the Burlington parking lot to the 403 is so much more heavily congested.

 

[duffo]

This is exactly correct. No one in East Hamilton will go to West Harbour with the aggravating drive through the City when they can take the same time to get to Burlington, and also don't forget that the cost to travel to Toronto is lower from there too, saving some money.
In fact, a lot of people in West Hamilton who commute to Toronto have always zipped past Aldershot on the 403 to go to Burlington instead because it's generally free flowing traffic at 130 kp/h for the morning commuters getting 6:00 to 7:00 a.m. trains, but mostly because of the garage. Not having to clean snow off your car or walk through the rain is a big motivator to do that.

The drive between Eastgate and Burlington GO is conservatively 20 mins, and the current GO travel time between West Harbour and Burlington GO is already 20 mins. So it will still be faster to do that drive instead of using Confederation GO unless there are major changes to track speeds between Burlington and West Harbour! (I know this segment is CN-owned so not sure if they are planning to do much here?)

 

[Jonny5]

The drive between Eastgate and Burlington GO is conservatively 20 mins, and the current GO travel time between West Harbour and Burlington GO is already 20 mins. So it will still be faster to do that drive instead of using Confederation GO unless there are major changes to track speeds between Burlington and West Harbour! (I know this segment is CN-owned so not sure if they are planning to do much here?)

Yeah, some people who let's say literally live across the street from Confederation GO would still choose to drive to Burlington GO because of this.

 

[Bordercollie]

The drive between Eastgate and Burlington GO is conservatively 20 mins, and the current GO travel time between West Harbour and Burlington GO is already 20 mins. So it will still be faster to do that drive instead of using Confederation GO unless there are major changes to track speeds between Burlington and West Harbour! (I know this segment is CN-owned so not sure if they are planning to do much here?)

The skyway bridge is packed during rush hour so anyway to avoid it should be welcome.

 

[Civdis]

I hope the Hamilton downtown grows north toward West Harbour. I also hope they extend LRT to West Harbour sooner rather than later. If those two things happen, the best way downtown will be using GO from Confederation, Grimsby, even Aldershot. With the amount of downtown development going on, arena upgrade etc etc, imagine a future where Hamilton becomes a significant draw for Go transit. And one last little thought, imagine if they had actually made the correct decision to build the football stadium at West Harbour. Great connectivity for sports and major concert events.