Uh ... we've done this, haven't we? Go back to the RGS. LRT was proposed because the predicted increase in traffic on suburban arteries will bring the city to gridlock, so we need to build a network of LRT and BRT on these arteries to keep the current transit system working.
This whole thing wasn't as much driven by the current situation, but what happens when you add 1-million people to Toronto.
So after adding a million people, subways become less feasible?
I can get why they were so concerned about arterial traffic. But all this has to be taken in context. How many people are being added to Sheppard, east of Agincourt?
Yes, I do use it ... it's a good stop if your heading to Sheridan Nurseries. The stop is the better used than Midland and Ellesmere, heck it's better used than Bessarion. But if one was to build a subway that stopped at SC, I certainly wouldn't advocate extending to McCowan.
What are you talking about? The current SRT alignment is not economically (or maybe even technically) feasible for a subway extension. That inevitably means that the subway will be going north on McCowan. The STC stop will be in the theatre parking lot and it'll serve both the current McCowan and STC catchment areas.
Ellesmere, Midland and McCowan are all glorified kiss n rides. And they are all ridiculously close to STC. Ridership from all those stations could easily be consolidated at STC. That's obvious to anyone who spends more than 5 mins in central parts of Scarborough.
I wouldn't have called McCowan station outer-416. Woudn't call it inner either. Besides, it already has rapid transit ...
So you come up with your own definiteions instead of using accepted conventions? STC is geographically closer to Pickering and Marham than it is to Yonge/Bloor. I am certain that makes the area, the outer 416.
As for it having rapid transit. So what? Does that mean we don't upgrade at all? Heck, York has BRT to Downsview now. Should we scrap the TYSSE?
Yonge and Steeles is an odd-duck ... I suppose it's technically outer-416, but not particularily difficult to get to.
Amazing, how accessible places become when they have subways running to them.
I do have a problem seeing why this would be preferable to extending rapid transit to Sheppard/Markham.
...because as opposed to helping people solely at Markham Station, it'll help all of Scaroborough, and work particularly well to support STC's growth as a provincially designated urban growth centre and transit hub.
What's at Sheppard and Markham anyway? Markham station has a good weekend brunch, but does it really need a subway station? If you are going that far, you should be going to Malvern, where a bus terminal for Malvern can be built. Sheppard/Markham is a more random place to stop than even Don Mills was years ago.
By the way, even the proposed SRT extension does not run to Sheppard/Markham. It runs to Sheppard/Progress. Nor does it have a stop on Markham Road (one of my earlier criticisms of the plan)....apparently because the planners don't consider a fairly steep 300m hill as an obstacle to transferees from Markham, being forced to use the Centennial college station. So if you are concerned about serving Markham Road, you're supporting the wrong effort.
How have you managed to forget the other two LRT lines Scarborough has already been guaranteed? Eglinton from Victoria Park to Kennedy, and the SRT extension to Sheppard, and ultimately to Malvern Centre.
The first one isn't exclusive to Scarborough. The latter is pretty useless. It's an upgrade on bus service. Not going to help anybody but those who are within 500m of Sheppard. Does squat for you if you are on Finch or Ellesmere or Lawrence. Eglinton's at least, a lot more useful than that (that's why I am far less critical of that line).
Scarborough seems to have come out particularily well in this project. Heck, the only line NOT serving in Scarborough is the Finch West line. I think the other parts of the city have a lot more to complain about!
Colour me skeptical. The folks who gave Scarborough the SRT said the same thing too. "ART is the future!"
