[officedweller]

... Or, half of OL trains can short-turn at the Exhibition to provide capacity for the transfers from GO, but then the western extension will be limited to half the capacity.

Is there a track map showing where crossovers are located?
I would expect tat there would be crossovers next to East Harbour so that OL trains could short-turn in the east (as well as at Exhibition in the west) so they can run a "GO to downtown" shuttle.
It needn't be half the trains.
They could do it as 1 or 2 trains that are interlined with regular service just to relieve the load.

 

[Allandale25]

Public virtual events coming up.

Good afternoon,

You are receiving this message because you previously contacted the Ontario Line project by email. Thank you for reaching out to us!

We invite you to our upcoming Ontario Line Virtual Open Houses for a project-wide overview and year-end review on either Tuesday, November 23 or Thursday, November 25 at 6:30pm. (Note that we are offering two separate sessions so that community members can attend on the date most convenient to them, but both dates will feature the same project presentation.)

Please join us to ask questions and learn about the work completed this past year to bring you better, faster and easier transit with the Ontario Line. You can submit questions for the Q&A now at metrolinxengage.com/ontarioline/live. Please also share this link with your neighbours, colleagues, and community members.

You can stay in touch with us at 416-202-5100 or OntarioLine@Metrolinx.com, and learn more about the Ontario Line through our website, news blog, and e-newsletter.

Thank you,

Community Relations & Issues Team – Ontario Line

416-202-5100

ontarioline@metrolinx.com

 

[11th]

I’d love to see an elevated OL extension along Jane Street. That route would get you from northern Etobicoke to Downtown in 30 minutes, which would be revolutionary for area residents.

I’m skeptical that the Ontario Line has the requisite capacity to run on Jane Street while also reliving the western RER lines, but it’s a concept I would still support even if it were over capacity. Alternative measures would need to be taken to reduce LSW and Union crowding.

The northwest end of the city is a transit desert, and the Ontario Line represents a massive opportunity to fix both problems. Building the Spadina Subway so close to the Yonge Line was one of the biggest mistakes we’ve made with transit in Toronto, and the OL is our opportunity to fix that error.

Seeing the amount on Yonge line closures, that may actually be a blessing in disguise.

 

[Undead]

Building the Spadina Subway so close to the Yonge Line was one of the biggest mistakes we’ve made with transit in Toronto, and the OL is our opportunity to fix that error.

It was intentional to double capacity south of Bloor.

 

[TRONto]

View attachment 363785

.. not that great at gimp .. however appears the station box is 175m in length. Source - https://www.metrolinxengage.com/sit...l_lsejc_draft_60611173_optimized_unlocked.pdf .. page 20.

We have a Strange street in Toronto? Didn't know that. Now I want to go take a picture there

 

[Nate_theUrbanist]

I’d love to see an elevated OL extension along Jane Street. That route would get you from northern Etobicoke to Downtown in 30 minutes, which would be revolutionary for area residents.

I’m skeptical that the Ontario Line has the requisite capacity to run on Jane Street while also reliving the western RER lines, but it’s a concept I would still support even if it were over capacity. Alternative measures would need to be taken to reduce LSW and Union crowding.

The northwest end of the city is a transit desert, and the Ontario Line represents a massive opportunity to fix both problems. Building the Spadina Subway so close to the Yonge Line was one of the biggest mistakes we’ve made with transit in Toronto, and the OL is our opportunity to fix that error.

The Finch West LRT + GO RER on Kitchener and UPX is enough and shouldn't need relief. BRT would be far more cost effective on Jane anyway; hopefullly we'll get RapidTO lanes sooner than later.

If you really want to extend OL west, extend it past the rail corridor to Sunnyside to relive the 501 and quicken journey times from Humber Bay. Anything beyond that is uneccessary and likely too expensive. Extensions on the east end are of higher priority.

 

[Rainforest]

BRT would be far more cost effective on Jane anyway; hopefullly we'll get RapidTO lanes sooner than later.

Jane doesn't have the width for a surface BRT or LRT all the way. The northern section is wide, but south of Eglinton and especially south of Dundas it gets very narrow.

There are ways to deal with Jane transit, one of them is running an LRT nortrh of Eglinton and as a branch of Eglinton.

Anyway, while the local demand on Jane doesn't warrant a fully grade-separate line, TTC / Metrolinx might want a new north-western trunk line at some point. If they do, that new line might provide some service along Jane en route to Rexdale etc.

 

[Rainforest]

I’d love to see an elevated OL extension along Jane Street. That route would get you from northern Etobicoke to Downtown in 30 minutes, which would be revolutionary for area residents.

I’m skeptical that the Ontario Line has the requisite capacity to run on Jane Street while also reliving the western RER lines, but it’s a concept I would still support even if it were over capacity.

If a new trunk line serving the north-west is built, it might be preferable to give it a new route through the downtown, rather than making it an extension of the OL. For example, it could run along Dundas to Yonge and beyond.

The new line will presumably interchange with the Bloor subway at Keele, Dundas West, Lansdowne, or Dufferin. From either of those spots, the route to Dundas & Yonge isn't much longer than the route to the Exhibition. While the former would be better for capacity, and make a shorter trip for many riders who don't need a jog south all the way to Lakeshore.

 

[W. K. Lis]

With a GO Midtown train line, there are former passenger stations along the midtown corridor, like the North Toronto Station (Yonge Street near the Summerhill Station on Line 1), that could get resurrected with a GO Midtown train.

There was a Leaside Station in use until 1982, for example.

From link.

The Leaside Station in 2002. Could it be reused again as a GO Station?

From link.

---

Wonder if they could adjust the location of the Thorncliffe Station on the Ontario Line for a future connection with the Leaside GO Station on the GO Midtown Line?

From link.

The negative is that the old CPR Leslie Station is located on the north side of the train line, while the propsed Thorncliffe Park Station is located on the side of the train line. Either way, the neighbourhood could become a transit hub and a busy destination.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Jane doesn't have the width for a surface BRT or LRT all the way. The northern section is wide, but south of Eglinton and especially south of Dundas it gets very narrow.

There are ways to deal with Jane transit, one of them is running an LRT nortrh of Eglinton and as a branch of Eglinton.

Anyway, while the local demand on Jane doesn't warrant a fully grade-separate line, TTC / Metrolinx might want a new north-western trunk line at some point. If they do, that new line might provide some service along Jane en route to Rexdale etc.

Wrong!

Jane Street is one of the busiest bus routes in Toronto.

From link, dated 2014, before COVID-19.

2) 32 EGLINTON WEST, 35 JANE, 36 FINCH WEST


At nearly 49,000 riders for every day of the work week, the 32 is the TTC’s busiest bus route, running west from Eglinton, through Forest Hill, past Mount Dennis and into Etobicoke. That’s virtually identical to the amount of people who rely on Sheppard subway in a typical work day. Both the 35 Jane and 36 Finch West have similar ridership levels placing them second and third respectively among the busiest bus routes.

If the 32 Eglinton West and 36 Finch West are getting LRT's, why shouldn't the 35 Jane? That's also why the 35/935 Jane will be part of the RapidTO bus lanes (and future surface LRT) north of Eglinton. While too narrow south of Eglinton, that section could be part of an underground LRT, sometime in the future.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

The Finch West LRT + GO RER on Kitchener and UPX is enough

The Kitchener line is not enough to serve Etobicoke. Etobickoke North (Kiping @ 401) and Weston (Jane and Lawrence) are the only two stations serving Etobicoke. Passengers would be faced with very long bus rides just to access those stations.

An Ontario Line extension northwest through Etobicoke would have several more stations. I really don't want to suggest a specific alignment other than something vaguely northwest, but such an extension would likely have stops spaced less than 2 km apart, with stations at least at Finch, Sheppard, Wilson, Lawrence and Eglinton. Looking at Google Maps, it looks like just about anywhere in northern Etobicoke would be less than a 20 minute bus ride away from an OL station. That's a huge upgrade from the status quo, where Etobicoke commuters often have a 40 minute bus ride to access the Spadina Line, which is itself slower than the Ontario Line would be.

If you really want to extend OL west, extend it past the rail corridor to Sunnyside to relive the 501 and quicken journey times from Humber Bay. Anything beyond that is uneccessary and likely too expensive. Extensions on the east end are of higher priority.

I completely support an Ontario Line extension to Sunnyside, with an interchange station with the Waterfront West LRT. That would dramatically improve trips between South Etobicoke and the Downtown.

However I must strongly disagree with you assertion that any extension beyond Sunnyside are unnecessary. The census tracts with the longest transit communtes in the City of Toronto are concentrated in northern Etobicoke. On the contrary, I'd say that servicing northern Etobicoke with higher order transit (not LRT) needs to be a top priority of any western OL extension.

A primarily elevated OL extension through the area would not be outrageously expensive.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

If a new trunk line serving the north-west is built, it might be preferable to give it a new route through the downtown, rather than making it an extension of the OL. For example, it could run along Dundas to Yonge and beyond.

The new line will presumably interchange with the Bloor subway at Keele, Dundas West, Lansdowne, or Dufferin. From either of those spots, the route to Dundas & Yonge isn't much longer than the route to the Exhibition. While the former would be better for capacity, and make a shorter trip for many riders who don't need a jog south all the way to Lakeshore.

It's an unorthodox idea, but I think I like it. This line would be physically close to the OL, but would serve very different trip patterns.

1. Dundas Station is the second most used station on Line 1 south of Bloor, so routing this hypothetical line through Yonge/Dundas would probably get more people closer to their destinations that the other options.

2. The Ontario Line's route doesn't do anything to improve access to the west end of the Old City of Toronto. And by "west end", I mean the areas of the city roughly south of Bloor, west of Bathurst and east of High Park. Even with the OL, the people in these areas are stuck with overcrowded streetcars operating in slow, mixed traffic. A trip from Dundas/Lansdowne to Yonge/Dundas is a very unreliable 35 minute trip, which is quite slow to only travel 5 kms.

With a Dundas subway line in place, that same trip would be reduced to just 10 minutes, and would clearly be a lot more reliable than the streetcars. This line would be a huge quality of life improvement for hundreds of thousands of commuters in the west end of the city in the areas around College Street, Dundas Street and Queen Street West.

3. Any western extension of the OL would impede the ability of the OL to relieve LSW RER and Union Station. Building a "west end" line along Dundas would negate this issue.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

Jane doesn't have the width for a surface BRT or LRT all the way. The northern section is wide, but south of Eglinton and especially south of Dundas it gets very narrow.

There are ways to deal with Jane transit, one of them is running an LRT nortrh of Eglinton and as a branch of Eglinton.

Anyway, while the local demand on Jane doesn't warrant a fully grade-separate line, TTC / Metrolinx might want a new north-western trunk line at some point. If they do, that new line might provide some service along Jane en route to Rexdale etc.

Wrong!

Jane Street is one of the busiest bus routes in Toronto.

From link, dated 2014, before COVID-19.


If the 32 Eglinton West and 36 Finch West are getting LRT's, why shouldn't the 35 Jane? That's also why the 35/935 Jane will be part of the RapidTO bus lanes (and future surface LRT) north of Eglinton. While too narrow south of Eglinton, that section could be part of an underground LRT, sometime in the future.

Jane Street is one of the densest corridors in suburban Toronto, and as you've pointed out it has amongst the highest bus ridership. If we're building a northwest subway line to serve the most people, straight up Jane Street is where it should go. Jane would also be the easiest route to intensity with transit oriented development However as we get closer to Steeles, we'll see increasing route duplication with the TYSSE, when we could have otherwise spread out transit coverage around northern Etobicoke.

Another option would be to have the line travel towards Rexdale. However that area of the city is lower density, and would likely generate less ridership than a line on Jane street. This would also leave large parts of Jane Street (again, one of the busiest bus corridors) without higher order transit.

Or we could take a page out of Vancouver's playbook, and build this elevated line with branches. One branch on Jane towards Steeles, and the other towards Rexdale. Northern Etobicoke would go from having some of the worst transit coverage in the city, to having some of the best.

 

[denfromoakvillemilton]

There might be a western extension, but there exist some issues with that:

1. Metrolinx wants OL to relief Union station by transferring the GO riders to OL at East Harbor and at the Exhibition. They are going to fail at East Harbor; why would you want to transfer if the OL trains are quite full by the time they get there. Exhibition should work as long as it is the terminus.

But once the line is extended past the Exhibition, it will be the same problem as at East Harbor. Or, half of OL trains can short-turn at the Exhibition to provide capacity for the transfers from GO, but then the western extension will be limited to half the capacity.

2. The way OL is designed, running along Queen and then swinging south to the Exhibition, will make it harder to swing back north. Maybe it is doable with the agile OL trains, not sure.

If there is a western extension, it probably will not follow the Georgetown rail corridor. No point duplicating the service, and not that much space in the corridor to make that option cheaper.

I am guessing, a western extension will either follow the Lakeshore and serve the southern Etobicoke, or it will swing sharply north and run somewhere between the Georgetown GO corridor and the Spadina subway line.

1) Thanks for pointing this out and that's an issue within itself. I mean, who says their going to succeed at Exhibition? I don't think that's the best terminus at all. The station itself is already small and the streetcar loop is there. Not really sure it does much for Liberty Village being so far south. It makes it seem like these is being built to relive Union Station as you said and 905 commuters. swinging back up to Queen or staying on king to Roncesvalles would actually do more. I don't think Exhibtion will be the terminus in the end, it will get extended due to public pressure.

2) That's what I thinki too. They would have to cut across Liberty Village to stop at Queen and Dufferin, for example. Tough ask. It's not too late to make changes.

For the record, I don't think going to Dundas West and Mount Dennis is duplication. RER will be every 15 minutes during the best of times, the subway will be 5-7 minutes in headway.

 

[Rainforest]

Wrong!

Jane Street is one of the busiest bus routes in Toronto.

From link, dated 2014, before COVID-19.


If the 32 Eglinton West and 36 Finch West are getting LRT's, why shouldn't the 35 Jane? That's also why the 35/935 Jane will be part of the RapidTO bus lanes (and future surface LRT) north of Eglinton. While too narrow south of Eglinton, that section could be part of an underground LRT, sometime in the future.

LRT on Jane is probably reasonable, no dispute.