Rainforest
Senior Member
Don Mills has rather low immediate surrounding density, but massive development potential (especially with a subway) and humongous feeder route ridership. Plus the additional benefit of intercepting ridership that is otherwise bound for the over-capacity Yonge subway. Just so we are clear why Don Mills is priority.
Just because feeder routes contribute substantially more to ridership than local density doesn't mean that density should be discounted. Density is a good predicator of transit-amiable local population, transit-friendly built form, and aligns with our goals of city building.
A Don Mills line will have good ridership, no doubts about that.
Generally speaking, local density shouldn't be discounted, but the modern way of transit planing places too much emphasis on local density and sometimes that has negative impact on the transit network as a whole. IMO, the balance should be restored.
First of all, the majority of subway riders use local feeder routes for a part of their trip, and this situation will persist. Interests of the majority should be taken into account.
Secondly, Toronto already has multiple transit-friendly locations that are under-used. Presumably such spots can be filled in the future, but there is no immediate shortage of them. That means, even when transit-oriented development happens near a new transit line, only a fraction of it can be attributed to the new line itself; the rest probably gets shifted from another transit-friendly location where it would have happened anyway.
That means:
- OK to design Eglinton West LRT with wide stop spacing to provide a faster connection to the airport and its employment cluster.
- OK to place a section of the Relief line in the 404 corridor if it results in substantial cost savings and allows to push the line further north. I would stay under Don Mills up to at least Lawrence, but would evaluate all options north of Lawrence (Don Mills, 404 corridor, Vic Park, or the Bala sub / RH GO corridor).
- If the Sheppard subway is absorbed into a cross-town mini-subway or LRT line, OK to place some of that line in the 401 corridor. I am thinking of the sections west of Dufferin, or perhaps only west of Jane up to the airport, as well as east of UTSC up to one of the Lakeshore East GO stations.
- OK not to add Willowdale station on the Sheppard line, if the locals are not eager to get it. It saves money that can be used elsewhere, and results in a slightly shorter travel times for the existing riders.