crs1026
Superstar
Have you read the disclaimer in my post? It's the second sentence where I talk about ridership potential.
Unless the built form of that entire area changes dramatically, the ridership potential will never be there. Adding some development along main arterials won’t raise the density to subway levels.
The biggest deterrent to use of transit, and the attribute that gives the car the advantage, in a cityscape such as Mississauga is the need to penetrate into the single family residentail areas with their circuitous, non-linear backstreets. Walking so far to a subway station is no more appealing than walking to a bus stop on the main street.
The built form is such that LRT does have the ability to compete with subway, because stop spacing can be wide, tied to the mainstreet grid, and with proper separation from roads can cover the distance between stops almost as fast as a subway.
But in a city where the big debate is whether LRT is even needed, with BRT possibly just as effective for the next decade or two, building subways is pretty fanciful.
- Paul