[innsertnamehere]

The station will be fairly underused until the 407 transit way opens.

 

[AlbertHWagstaff]

Building a new, beautified subway line

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/building-a-new-beautified-subway-line-1.2693480?cmp=rss

.....

Each of the new station designs is dramatically different from the rest, a principle established with the original Spadina line in the 1970s.

Downsview Park Station
Finch West Station
York University Station
Pioneer Village Station
407 Station
Vaughan Metropolitan Centre Station

.....

...and 40 years from now people will be posting on this site or its descendant about how dated the stations look and how tired and dilapidated they've become from poor maintenance of all the different finishes, as in "why did they take out that _______ and replace it with plain grey concrete?" and "Why did they let that ________ fall apart? It was a key part of the art in the station."

 

[junctionist]

The TTC will learn to maintain its stations well.

 

[salsa]

The station will be fairly underused until the 407 transit way opens.

On the contrary,

GO Transit's highly successful and profitable 407 Express route already runs past this location, so passenger traffic at this station is anticipated to be high as soon as the station opens.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highway_407_(TTC)

 

[M II A II R II K]

Maybe 407 Station will be so big that the station itself wouldn't be pedestrian friendly.

 

[nfitz]

On the contrary,

GO Transit's highly successful and profitable 407 Express route already runs past this location, so passenger traffic at this station is anticipated to be high as soon as the station opens.

Hang on. Reality check time. The GO bus network ENTIRE ridership is about 50,000 a day (which would equate to 25,000 different passengers, if they take 2 trips a day). That's pretty similar to the TTC Finch West bus. I doubt only a small fraction of the GO Bus entire ridership is going to be using the 407 bus - let alone embarking or disembarking at 407 Station.

Looking at the Highway 407 bus schedules, at the peak hour, there's only 15 buses arriving at York. Assuming they are all full and all 80-seat double-deckers, that's only 1,200 passengers an hour.

Personally, I have arrived at York on a GO Bus, and not only was the bus surprisingly empty (more got off at Richmond Hill Centre than stayed on to go to York), it wasn't a double decker.

It might be high for GO, but it's pretty trivial compared to a TTC route. It's kind of like saying that the Downsview Park station is going to be high because of the existing Downview Park route.

 

[ehlow]

Maybe 407 Station will be so big that the station itself wouldn't be pedestrian friendly.

It's so big we need an LRT to travel around the station.

 

[EnviroTO]

Hang on. Reality check time. The GO bus network ENTIRE ridership is about 50,000 a day (which would equate to 25,000 different passengers, if they take 2 trips a day). That's pretty similar to the TTC Finch West bus. I doubt only a small fraction of the GO Bus entire ridership is going to be using the 407 bus - let alone embarking or disembarking at 407 Station.

No! Not reality check time. I hate reality check time. Can't we go back to the quote from Wikipedia, the second best source for all things true after reading posts in the Transportation forum on this site, which says passenger traffic will be high because of a profitable bus route and just accept that? Anecdotally it makes sense because Metrolinx must be getting the big move funding from somewhere and here is a highly profitable bus leading to a huge station. I wouldn't be surprised if the bus route and station combo is referred to as "Operation Money Rake" in classified documents.

 

[salsa]

No! Not reality check time. I hate reality check time. Can't we go back to the quote from Wikipedia, the second best source for all things true after reading posts in the Transportation forum on this site, which says passenger traffic will be high because of a profitable bus route and just accept that? Anecdotally it makes sense because Metrolinx must be getting the big move funding from somewhere and here is a highly profitable bus leading to a huge station. I wouldn't be surprised if the bus route and station combo is referred to as "Operation Money Rake" in classified documents.

You seem to be under the impression that it's only one bus route that will stop there, when there's actually 25 different routes on the 407 corridor, mostly double decker buses. You conveniently skipped the part of my quote that said "highly successful", which means high and growing ridership, and is consistent with what I've seen in the news. You've also never seen GO Transit's system map, which labels the 407 corridor with a thick line indicating "frequent service Monday to Friday". Nor have you looked at the proposed bus terminal that will have 13 bus bays just for GO, plus five more for YRT. With that combined with the park and ride people, is it unreasonable to suggest that this station might have decent ridership when it opens?

 

[TOareaFan]

proposed bus terminal that will have 13 bus bays just for GO, plus five more for YRT.

Won't BRT go there too....or have YRT and GO spoken for all the bus bays?

 

[nfitz]

You seem to be under the impression that it's only one bus route that will stop there, when there's actually 25 different routes on the 407 corridor, mostly double decker buses.

Despite your "25 routes", there's only 15 arrivals during the peak hour. Some of these "routes" run only once a day. Some don't come within miles of either the City of Toronto or the Region of York.

Holy exaggeration Batman ...

Sure, it will get some use. But let's remember that the entire GO Transit Bus service carries less riders in a single day than a single busy TTC route. And most GO Transit buses don't come anywhere near York.

And with that in mind - the size of that bus terminal is absolutely frigging absurd. Much of it could be left unbuilt for years.

 

[salsa]

Won't BRT go there too....or have YRT and GO spoken for all the bus bays?

BRT will get an underground stop that will be roughed in for now, if it's the 407 transitway that you're referring to.

 

[innsertnamehere]

A lot of those bus bays are for growth, of the 13 maybe 8 will be used opening day from my understanding.


In other news, some photos from the TTC:

highway 407 station, rebar for the second level concourse:

Downsview Park station, Ventilation fan ready for installation at Downsview Park Station west fan room.

Finch West station, Welding of supports for smoke canopy at trainway.

York University station:

Finch West Station:

Downsview Park station:

more photos here:

http://www.ttc.ca/Spadina/About_the_Project/Photo_Gallery/index.jsp

 

[salsa]

Despite your "25 routes", there's only 15 arrivals during the peak hour. Some of these "routes" run only once a day. Some don't come within miles of either the City of Toronto or the Region of York.

Holy exaggeration Batman ...

Sure, it will get some use. But let's remember that the entire GO Transit Bus service carries less riders in a single day than a single busy TTC route. And most GO Transit buses don't come anywhere near York.

And with that in mind - the size of that bus terminal is absolutely frigging absurd. Much of it could be left unbuilt for years.

Fair enough. I suppose the ridership will be similar to minor stations like Glencairn, Museum, Rosedale, Castle Frank, Old Mill. And yet the terminal, actually the whole station, it looks like pearson airport based on the renderings. Downsview station will look tiny in comparison. What's up with that?

 

[TOareaFan]

BRT will get an underground stop that will be roughed in for now, if it's the 407 transitway that you're referring to.

No...meant the subway station under discussion here......was referring to the 501A bus that already runs on the 407 to York U......was under the impression that the 501A would go to this station while the 501 (which does not run on the 407) would go to another station on the extension.