[scarberiankhatru]

Transit City:

How will the growth of our transit system affect the streetscape development of urban space?

How will it? It won't. Transit lines themselves will do absolutely nothing, not without rewriting most of the official plan and rezoning half the city. And even if half of Malvern is rezoned to spur Avenues-style redevelopment of the backyards fronting Morningside and Sheppard, it's up to Tridel to actually build it, master-planned piece by master-planned piece. King East and King West prove that the city can trigger very positive urban changes even while criminally ignoring transit. Sheppard West is Avenueizing even without a transit line (and while the new development is better than a 50s-70s suburban wasteland, it ain't anything like the European boulevards the city enjoys using as Avenues examples in planning reports). Even the intersection of Kennedy & McNicoll has two examples of good urban redevelopment (one corner is under construction), even though the area has nothing but bad bus service. Transit City has nothing to do with moving people and investing in Toronto and everything to do with the wonderfulness of streetcars...light rail is the mode of our future! We can't afford *not* to spend $8 or $9 billion on Transit City!

 

[ShonTron]

That sounds like a fair and balanced panel. No love-in there.

 

[buschic]

a thought

I have been on the SRT, from Kennedy to STC, enough times to hate, hate with a unbridled passion, the SRT, it NEEDS to die, someone on this thread mentioned how it is a no brainer to replace it with a subway, I have got to agree, I've been on the SRT at all different times of the day and it is the same almost all the time, over-crowded and crush loaded, it is noisy, nasty, and just a horrible experience to anyone with sensitive hearing..

 

[RedRocket191]

Progress appears to be being made

 

[down on the upside]

I have been on the SRT, from Kennedy to STC, enough times to hate, hate with a unbridled passion, the SRT, it NEEDS to die, someone on this thread mentioned how it is a no brainer to replace it with a subway, I have got to agree, I've been on the SRT at all different times of the day and it is the same almost all the time, over-crowded and crush loaded, it is noisy, nasty, and just a horrible experience to anyone with sensitive hearing..

LOL I think its a great way for tourists to get introduced to all the scarborough has to offer!

 

[scarberiankhatru]

I have been on the SRT, from Kennedy to STC, enough times to hate, hate with a unbridled passion, the SRT, it NEEDS to die, someone on this thread mentioned how it is a no brainer to replace it with a subway, I have got to agree, I've been on the SRT at all different times of the day and it is the same almost all the time, over-crowded and crush loaded, it is noisy, nasty, and just a horrible experience to anyone with sensitive hearing..

Not only that, but a subway extension to STC and LRT from there to Malvern would also be cheaper than the reno + extension of the RT. The city's on its way to choosing an option that is both more expensive and offers an inferior service. Bravo!

 

[drum118]

Word is the next round of public meetings for the Sheppard LRT will start on Tuesday June 3 and Thursday June 5.

 

[drum118]

Sheppard LRT

Tues. June 3, 2008
6:30pm to 9:00pm
Agincourt Collegiate
2621 Midland Avenue (just north of Sheppard)

Wed. June 4, 2008 (Joint Open House with the Scarborough Rapid Transit study)
6:30pm to 9:00pm
Malvern Community Centre Gymnasium
30 Sewells Road (east of Neilson Rd)

SRT:
Thursday, June 5, 2008
4:30pm - 7:00pm Open House
Scarborough Centre Station
Mezzanine (Middle Level)
Scarborough Town Centre
300 Borough Drive

 

[ShonTron]

I got the same email as Drum. This is the second and final EA open house (no formal presentation or question and answer period). The EA has now been extended east to Meadowvale, and the planned subway/LRT connection will be unveiled as well.

 

[drum118]

I got the same email as Drum. This is the second and final EA open house (no formal presentation or question and answer period). The EA has now been extended east to Meadowvale, and the planned subway/LRT connection will be unveiled as well.

Based on what has taken place on the Western Waterfront EA's as well at TTC for the CNE approval by the commissioner on Wednesday, most of this is a smoke screen as the decision has already been made as to what is going to happen and not for the good.

Unless we gang up as a mob at a TTC meeting, the report will be rubber stamp.

2 years to start of the election campaign. There is a need to show something to show the public as to why the councilors and the mayor need to be reelected for another 4 years to make sure TC happens on their watch.

This would be a great time for Metrolinx to have a real say as to what is really going to happen regardless what TTC wants.

SRT converted to subway up to Sheppard, not Mark II or LRT. Mark II should die period.

I still support LRT on Sheppard and convert the subway to LRT. All stops must be built for 2 mu LRT's from day one with provision to add a 3rd unite at a later date.

 

[unimaginative2]

I completely agree with you, drum. You're absolutely right about converting the SRT to the subway. It's a complete waste to spend hundreds of millions to retain an orphan technology and an inconvenient connection at Kennedy. Replacing the SRT would save everybody in Scarborough significant time, compared with the small percentage would would benefit from a Malvern extension.

I respect your opinion and others' opinion about converting the subway to LRT. Useless transfers are really my pet peeve. In the context of Sheppard, however, it's just not worth it. It would cost hundreds of millions and require a long shutdown to convert Sheppard to LRT operation, a lower capacity mode. Rapid transit service isn't really needed east of Kennedy. Sheppard should operate from Don Mills to STC, as originally planned, connecting the city's two major suburban growth centres, rather than the woods and farmland out at Meadowvale. With that significantly shorter distance, the cost of a subway would likely be comparable to converting the subway to LRT. It could even be significantly lower, if a surface alignment is used east of Kennedy as I have shown is possible in earlier posts.

 

[Prometheus The Supremo]

City's transit tab rising TheStar.com - GTA - City's transit tab rising
May 22, 2008
Tess Kalinowski
Transportation Reporter

A track has not yet been laid, but the tab for Toronto's Transit City vision to stretch seven light rail lines to city limits has risen by a third.

The original $6 billion price tag is now around $8 billion, including $1.1 billion to build five streetcar garages and acquire more vehicles.

"We've done a year's more work. We need more cars than we thought we needed to properly get those lines up and running, and we need the carhouses," said TTC chief general manager Gary Webster.

The carhouses weren't included in the original $6 billion estimate.

The latest plan, presented to commissioners yesterday, includes a new $330 million carhouse in the Portlands to provide storage and maintenance for a 204-vehicle streetcar fleet to begin running in about 2012, with the existing Russell and Roncesvalles carhouses. Other potential carhouse sites are near Finch Ave. W. and Jane St.; Eglinton Ave. near Jane; Don Mills Rd. near Sheppard East and the Scarborough Malvern area. It's possible one of the carhouses would also serve streetcars for Mississauga, which is planning a light rail line down Hurontario St.

Original estimates suggested the Transit City plan required 250 new low-floor light rail cars. Now it's expected to need 114 more than that, to serve lines to carry about 175 million riders a year.

The TTC is still waiting for the province and Metrolinx to come up with a Transit City funding plan, TTC chair Adam Giambrone said.


http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/428660

 

[Dan416]

I completely agree with you, drum. You're absolutely right about converting the SRT to the subway. It's a complete waste to spend hundreds of millions to retain an orphan technology and an inconvenient connection at Kennedy. Replacing the SRT would save everybody in Scarborough significant time, compared with the small percentage would would benefit from a Malvern extension.

I respect your opinion and others' opinion about converting the subway to LRT. Useless transfers are really my pet peeve. In the context of Sheppard, however, it's just not worth it. It would cost hundreds of millions and require a long shutdown to convert Sheppard to LRT operation, a lower capacity mode. Rapid transit service isn't really needed east of Kennedy. Sheppard should operate from Don Mills to STC, as originally planned, connecting the city's two major suburban growth centres, rather than the woods and farmland out at Meadowvale. With that significantly shorter distance, the cost of a subway would likely be comparable to converting the subway to LRT. It could even be significantly lower, if a surface alignment is used east of Kennedy as I have shown is possible in earlier posts.

I completely agree with you, unimaginative, and I think this option is BY FAR the most logical and rational one.

 

[drum118]

I completely agree with you, drum. You're absolutely right about converting the SRT to the subway. It's a complete waste to spend hundreds of millions to retain an orphan technology and an inconvenient connection at Kennedy. Replacing the SRT would save everybody in Scarborough significant time, compared with the small percentage would would benefit from a Malvern extension.

I respect your opinion and others' opinion about converting the subway to LRT. Useless transfers are really my pet peeve. In the context of Sheppard, however, it's just not worth it. It would cost hundreds of millions and require a long shutdown to convert Sheppard to LRT operation, a lower capacity mode. Rapid transit service isn't really needed east of Kennedy. Sheppard should operate from Don Mills to STC, as originally planned, connecting the city's two major suburban growth centres, rather than the woods and farmland out at Meadowvale. With that significantly shorter distance, the cost of a subway would likely be comparable to converting the subway to LRT. It could even be significantly lower, if a surface alignment is used east of Kennedy as I have shown is possible in earlier posts.

To convert the subway to an SRT should take between 6 months to a year at best. Will not cost hundreds of millions and well under a hundred.

Saw cutting the platforms will take time and only haft of it has to be done.

You slop the lower new level up to the existing level leaving the stairs, elevators and escalators alone. The LRT's will only require 200' of the existing 500' platform.

At a later date once there is a need for a subway, you add to that new lower level to bring it backup to the existing level.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Don Mills LRT Open House

The Don Mills Road Light Rail Class Environment Assessment has an Open House in June. In the newsletter it shows a conceptual corridor for the Don Mills route between the Danforth and downtown. This could be a second stage for the Don Mills route to extend it as a Downtown Relief Line. The public notice shows three possible routes to the Bloor-Danforth Subway.