The_Cat
Senior Member
I could also mention construction in some locations, like paving and crosswalks.
This just reminds me of how incredibly slow these trains are going to be running in some areas...LRT train testing in Mill Woods:
They have had all winter to do it without interruption and in warmth. Just saying ...At least the work on the tunnel won’t interefere with traffic, so there’s the opportunity to get a lot done.
On the other hand, I heard from someone who owns a house along the Valley Line that he was very pleased with how well it integrates with the surrounding neighbourhood (Avonmore). Hopefully peoples' perception of the speed is balanced out by how it fits as a part of their neighbourhoods, rather than being something separate that cuts their communities in half.This just reminds me of how incredibly slow these trains are going to be running in some areas...
I really do hope these trains in the end will be worth the billions despite ending up going slower than a bus on some stretches of road.
I worry people are expecting an experience similar to the Capital and Metro lines that run at about the same speed as the Toronto subway and will be discouraged from supporting further LRT expansion and invest ment if this new line underperforms in their view.
I am one of the "some people" and think if we do another complete line it should be on elevated tracks or underground tracks (yes the fricken big dig) with heated stations. Do it right, do it once and do it for the next 100 years or don't do it at all. The Valley line is nothing more than a street car but somewhat faster in some parts of the line. It is not a metro or subway or designed for mass transit. I do not know if the track needs to upgraded for higher speed trains, but do know infrastructure will need to be added if the line is upgraded to accommodate faster and more frequent trains to get through intersections. I think they added too many stops to pander to communities along the route.This just reminds me of how incredibly slow these trains are going to be running in some areas...
I really do hope these trains in the end will be worth the billions despite ending up going slower than a bus on some stretches of road.
I worry people are expecting an experience similar to the Capital and Metro lines that run at about the same speed as the Toronto subway and will be discouraged from supporting further LRT expansion and invest ment if this new line underperforms in their view.
I'm sure that aspect is appreciated, but the same could be said of increased electric bus service and would cost a fraction of the LRT.On the other hand, I heard from someone who owns a house along the Valley Line that he was very pleased with how well it integrates with the surrounding neighbourhood (Avonmore). Hopefully peoples' perception of the speed is balanced out by how it fits as a part of their neighbourhoods, rather than being something separate that cuts their communities in half.
I'm sure that aspect is appreciated, but the same could be said of increased electric bus service and would cost a fraction of the LRT.
Ultimately we'll have to see how the ridership numbers play out, but I really worry this could sour a lot of people on the concept of LRT as a whole.
It'll take 30 minutes they say, with some variability caused by the fact that the train stops at some traffic lights. A drive from Mill Woods Town Centre to City Centre mall is 23 min without much traffic to about 35 min with traffic, factor in the fact that you actually have to get to the station itself and during off-peak potentially wait as much as 10 min for a train to even leave the use case for the line is already looking kind of unfavourable in my view. Especially when the existing buses on this route make the trip in 34 min and for much less than $1.8b could have simply had their frequency increased.
Or ideally for some more money we could have just built a transit line that would actually outcompete a car in much more use cases (as the capital line already does).