Looking at the Website for the Baseline Station Secondary Plan (
https://ehq-production-canada.s3.ca-cent...77d212f749084ecffbd30652cdb52294635b0392) I noticed this excellent example of craziness:
When first developed, the planned Baseline BRT route moved the line south to Navaho so that it would better serve the transit-rider-rich Algonquin College. But that was only a part of the reason. The intersection of Baseline and Woodroffe is VERY busy. Running the Transitway through that intersection would have introduced big delays. Therefore, a route across Woodroffe, on Navaho, ensured that the delay to buses was minimized.
This resulted in the station being planned for Navaho, just west of Woodroffe. This was to be a transfer station, with the train stopping under the buses on Navaho. Buses from the south were planned to go through the tunnel (beside the train) to the station. Algonquin College bought into the planned station location and designed their ACCE building to connect to the proposed transit station.
Alas, as Robbie Burns said “The best laid schemes o’mice an’ men gang aft a-gley”. For some reason, the City moved the big transfer station further away from Baseline Road, to sit just south of College Avenue. There was talk of the move freeing up land for development, but it simply meant that, instead, land a bit further south was used for the bus loop – and that land would never be released when the train was extended to Barrhaven because it is for cross buses to go around the station.
The result of that change of plan was that Algonquin College had to reverse its building; the bus-only Navaho bridge was built wider than required; and the tunnel configuration had bus lanes that were no longer needed. All a waste of money, but perhaps the worst outcome was that the Baseline BRT buses now had to travel along a very busy Woodroffe, instead of simply crossing it.
Check out the blue line in the image, above. The buses were to go straight across Woodroffe, on Navaho. Now they get to turn onto Woodroffe to travel up to College Avenue; circle the station house (which is on the south side of College, not exactly in the position shown on the map); and then return to Navaho.
This is but one example of the money-wasting, NEGATIVE-planning that has left me so disillusioned with the City’s ability to do anything sensibly. The sooner the Province transfers ALL transit infrastructure planning to Metrolinx the better, in my opinion. It might arrive late and over budget, but at least it might be sensibly designed.
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