micheal_can
Senior Member
no phase 2
Why is giving a city better transit and access to more transportation options a waste of money?
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no phase 2
Because it's going to cost $1+ billion and serve probably 5-10,000 trips a day that would be faster and more frequent with an express bus that can use the 401.Why is giving a city better transit and access to more transportation options a waste of money?
Because it's going to cost $1+ billion and serve probably 5-10,000 trips a day that would be faster and more frequent with an express bus that can use the 401..
Gave thumbs up on the post, but your mention of 'DMU to Guelph' is a non-sequitur. I lived in Guelph for five + years up until two years ago, studied the Dillon Consulting Transit Report for Guelph, and know the spur being referred to very well.Prior to the election the liberals were studying a DMU GO service from cambridge to Guelph to connect to the GO mainline. Perhaps that is an option.
https://www.therecord.com/news-story/7984107-greyhound-cuts-put-commuters-jobs-at-risk/Greyhound cuts put commuters’ jobs at risk
NEWS Dec 07, 2017 by Chris Seto Waterloo Region Record
[...]
Reached on Wednesday, Guelph Mayor Cam Guthrie said he would eventually like to see municipalities working together to provide a more seamless transportation service throughout the region. Next year during the city's transit service review, Guthrie said he plans on discussing how Guelph Transit could better connect with Kitchener, Fergus, Rockwood, Cambridge and all other surrounding municipalities.
Ridesharing services like Uber and Lyft have disrupted the more traditional modes of transportation, and municipalities need to evolve too, he said.
"We need to start thinking bigger," he said, adding collaboration between municipalities is needed to best move people around.
[...]
Mayor: Guelph transit users would benefit from larger, inter-regional bus service[...]
Steve Petric, who sits on the city’s transit advisory committee, says he believes an agency like Superlinx would be too big for its own good.
“The proposal is a bit much. You lose local control with a big group like that,” he says.
“Merging with GRT would make more sense, in my opinion.”
The idea of merging the transit agencies for Guelph and Waterloo Region, or at least having a co-operating relationship is not a new one.
In the Transit Growth Strategy, released in 2010, Dillon Consulting recommended establishing inter-regional transit in the area, saying “a first stage to developing these higher order inter-regional services might involve linking conventional and paratransit services of Guelph Transit and Grand River Transit.” While the report recommended introducing this service in the second year of a five-year plan, it was not done.
Mayoral candidate Jason Blokhuis also pitched the idea during the 2014 municipal election.
Petric says Guelph Transit and its riders would stand to benefit by joining forces with Grand River Transit due to the latter’s size.
“GRT is a bigger organization, they have more resources, whereas Guelph Transit will never have those resources due to the size of our city and transit system,” he says.
[...]
Agreed, with the caveat that having a rough plan in place in order to protect the corridor is still a useful exercise to do now.
In 20 years if ridership increases, then build it.
The DMU to Guelph is a half decent option, but I have an even harder time seeing this government fund something entirely new than leaving the (technically in place) phase 2 funding alone. This is one that I hold out a little hope for purely in terms of how much swing there is in the ridings. If I had to guess there's quite a bit of wait and see how the opening goes from the minster; on the one hand they are some time from the funding committment being significant in terms of actual significant expenditure while on the other there is every possibility that either committing to or cancelling the project would go over well in a an election, and which is preferable is going to amount to how the wind blows in terms of Ions perception once it opens.
As far as justifying the project, I really do cringe at cancelling it. The ridership is dubious, but in terms of urban development this is how we guide the region. More importantly, linking Cambridge to the GO line (which, yes, could also be accomplished reasonably well with a DMU) is also what gets around all the issues with extending the Milton line. Ultimately Cambridge is going to demand this project in any case; delaying it serves no one.
I prefer the DMU idea. Cambridge would ideally be better served by an extended Milton line or even an extended Lakeshore west line (no matter how improbable that would be). The DMUs would only really serve a niche market of people traveling to Guelph and Brampton from Cambridge, people would still choose the 24 because it would be 30-50 minutes faster (maybe not as reliable, but definitely faster). Besides, if you extend those two trains to Kitchener instead of Cambridge, those few people that would end up having to take the GO train towards Brampton or Toronto would still have the option to while GO is able to more easily serve Kitchener residents, so service improves for everyone.I actually think after rethinking this that instead of a DMU from Cambridge to Guelph, Metrolinx should have 2 more GO Trains currently terminating at Mount Pleasant continue to Waterloo region but instead go to Cambridge from Guelph.
This way no new railcars need to be purchased, just an extension of 2 existing Kitchener Line trains.
I actually think after rethinking this that instead of a DMU from Cambridge to Guelph, Metrolinx should have 2 more GO Trains currently terminating at Mount Pleasant continue to Waterloo region but instead go to Cambridge from Guelph.
This way no new railcars need to be purchased, just an extension of 2 existing Kitchener Line trains.
A very good point! One is clearly do-able, one clearly not. The line to Cambridge from west end of Guelph (south end of the Fergus sub) is in abysmal shape even for 10 mph freight, but the GJR is in very good shape down to Campbellville. The concept is a complete non-starter as a way to get GO trains to Cambridge though.How do you get there? They are 2 different rail lines.
In the short-term perhaps, but in the long term the line from Guelph to Cambridge might be a better option to serving Cambridge - particularly Preston, than extending service on the CP-owned mainline from Milton.A very good point! One is clearly do-able, one clearly not. The line to Cambridge from west end of Guelph (south end of the Fergus sub) is in abysmal shape even for 10 mph freight, but the GJR is in very good shape down to Campbellville. The concept is a complete non-starter as a way to get GO trains to Cambridge though.