Quote:
Originally Posted by Horus
Taking the land development revenues out of the MOOSE model would make a similar rail network purely dependent on ridership revenue. I'm not sure how that would be feasible in this area as there are not any large population centres near Ottawa that could or should be reasonably served by commuter rail.
I had posted this some time ago in this thread comparing the proposed MOOSE-serviced centres to some of those served by GO.
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I don't see how my suggestion takes away from that business model, though?
The idea is to create a VIA subsidiary that operates and manages the track. After all, at least two of these routes would run through what are already VIA Rail routes (Smiths Falls and Alexandria). If Casselman and other villages/towns want to create their own station, that's still their prerogative. TOD can still occur around stations wherever they may be.
You also seem to have forgotten that it won't just be people from outside the city limits who would ride this; it would also be people from the suburbs who will use it as an affordable means of rapid transit to key parts of the city. This would efficiently bring in people from Kanata, Barrhaven, and Bells Corners. This would also apply to a line or two on the Quebec side of the river.
Sure, the small towns may be the terminus, but they aren't strictly the sole target. This would collect a lot of suburban traffic as well. Why be a suburbanite in Kanata or Barrhaven and have to waste 40+ minutes in traffic each direction when a single transfer reliably gets you reliably to where you need to go in half that time? The towns are the terminus, but the suburbs are the actual target.
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