Quote:
Originally Posted by Truenorth00
Acela has the luxury of using existing stations in downtown cores. Ottawa does not. So we're asking the project to take on billions in liabilities (that we would never accept on our own as local ratepayers and did not for our own transit system when we had the chance) for marginal gain. Sure, none of the Acela stations are as far from City Hall as Tremblay. But 5 km is not the struggle you're making it out to be either.
Would there be a marginal gain in ridership at Union. Maybe. But I seriously doubt it would be worth the cost increase and loss in ridership between Toronto and Montreal from slower service.
Also, as a transit user, Union would probably be worse connecting to the LRT than Tremblay. There's no way that tunnelling to the LRT will be easy and won't involve multiple level changes.
Either way. Alto saying they want international standard 400m platforms should tell you where this is going. Tremblay actually has a 500m platform today.
|
I actually think that the cost of reaching Union is less of a consideration than the risk that massive underground infrastructure would add to the project. This isn't one we can afford to mess up, so risk mitigation should be very top of mind in the decision-making process.
In terms of transit connections, I think Union without a direct connection to the LRT is already better than Tremblay. The connection at Tremblay includes level changes and quite a long walk outside without shelter. At Union you just pop across the street and you are inside on an escalator going down to the station. It wouldn't be a huge risk to leave it as is. Now that said, hopefully a HSR renovation of Tremblay would include a better connection to the station.
As for making a big deal of the 5km to Tremblay, it's not just the distance, although that adds to the time, and the cost of a cab or uber. It's also the fact that arriving passengers are sent out into a car-centric wasteland on the side of the highway. It's a terrible gateway to the city, and one that isn't going to appreciably change any time in the foreseeable future. If we do go all in on a transportation hub there, it should be accompanied by far more amenities, pedestrian-friendly places for people to wait, and connections to the surrounding area.
Threaded Mode