I am talking solely about the conversion of the current SRT, and not any extensions. But let's play the cost-neutral game. For 1.2 Billion,you are extending the S(L)RT to Malvern, and will serve Centennial College, essentially allowing riders the option of not having to transfer at STC. What are you getting with the subway? Still the same annoying transfer at STC to slow buses. I fail to see the benefit at this point in time.
Again, where's your numbers coming from? It's at least 452 million to convert to ART Mk II and a fair bit more to convert to LRTs. That's not even the extension. That' just conversion.
And I am from Malvern. I can vouch for the fact that there's too little ridership spread out over too many routes to effectively pack that extension. The 134 Progress bus (which I took for years) already gets you to Centennial in minutes. And it's reliable and has good frequency. If Centennial is the concern then simply add a few more buses on the 134.
What I disagree with is the concept. The underbuilt the STC-Kennedy link which should have been a subway. And overbuilt the Malvern-STC link which could have been BRT or at-grade Transit City style LRT (yes, I actually see a role for LRT). Instead they are going to mess up both. By their own numbers, STC-Kennedy will be decently close to capacity on opening day. So we stand the risk of this thing maxing out in the lifetime of this line, giving us overcrowding yet again in a few years. But, by deploying grade separation on the Malvern-STC link they were forced to cut out stops at Markham (one of the busiest routes in Scarborough) and Milner (a huge employment node/corridor for Malvern and eastern Scarborough). Great for Centennial college students, sucks for everybody else.
By the way, have a look at a map and see how many bus routes intersect the proposed line. Cutting it short at Sheppard means the Milner, Nugget and Neilson buses (which carry the bulk of Malvern riders to STC) will all bypass the line and keep going to STC. And of course, it won't be picking up passengers from Markham, unless the planners expect transferees to walk 400m uphill to transfer (just drive out there and have a look at the intersection of Markham/Progress). Their calculations on demand from Malvern fail to take into account the SELRT, the SMLRT and possible start-up of GO service which will have a station across the street from Malvern Town Centre. So that LRT will be fairly empty coming from Malvern and get rammed at STC....in part with Malvern riders who rode right past the thing.
This is why they would have been better off extending the subway. It's not always about how many kms of you build. That kind of infantile measuring contest is only worth so much when it comes to transit. They could have extended the subway and gotten rid of one extra transfer for all eastern Scarborough riders. Down the road, if demand warranted an at-grade LRT on Progress from STC to Malvern would have sufficed. It would have been cheaper to do and had more stops, allowing for service at Markham and at Milner.
And finally how is transferring to a bus any less annoying then transferring to a LRT? Transfers of any sort are an inconvience. Calling buses slow and annoying is just your bias. Give a bus its own lane like they do for LRTs and you can get buses going as fast or faster than LRTs. Better yet, buses can get on and off the ROW. Don't believe me? Go to Ottawa and watch them move a city of 800 000 (more than the population of Scarborough) almost exclusively using buses (the near useless O-Train being the exception). And amazingly nobody in Ottawa complains about how slow and annoying the buses are. The only reason they are building LRT now has to do with capacity. Or maybe you should tell people in Curitiba about how slow and annoying buses are. Do you find them slow and annoying on York-Downsview BRT (which according to the TTC runs faster than the subway)? If you are going to make such comparisons, do them on an equal footing. Let's talk about buses in their own ROWs. Beyond STC and really east of McCowan, there isn't a single route which has demand that can't be taken care of with buses using bus lanes. LRT just isn't a necessity. It's not like the Home Depot on Morningside and Sheppard is going to generate 10 000 riders a day.
The LRT is going to be mostly grade-separated, and larger vehicles. Capacity will be doubled. Tell me why a technology derided by so many citizens is preferable? The last time I rode the SRT, I remember I could barely hear my Ipod due to the noise. Has that issue been addressed yet?
Ever seen the Mk II version of the ART? Now, coming from Scarborough, I am no fan of the current ART Mk I. But if the line was going to be grade separated the whole way there's absolutely no need to use heavier and more expensive vehicles. And basing opinions on the current ART Mk I is like suggesting we shouldn't buy any more streetcars because the current ones give us trouble. I am sure if you ask most riders on Queen or King today if they would prefer to ditch the streetcar and get a new TTC bus, they'd say yes. Does that make them right?
They could have converted to ART Mk IIs for less money and in a shorter timeframe. Or do you think axing transit service for two years from a node that has near subway levels of demand (by the TTC's own admission) is a good idea? And don't forget, they are planning on ripping up Sheppard at the same time as well. Don't be too surprised if lots of Malvernites re-discover the joys of driving again.
