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Originally Posted by Lakeofthewood
I get where you're coming from, but the 88 (and new 68) should have as little diversion as possible from Baseline / Hazeldean as possible, besides through Algonquin College. The current 88 is one of the busiest routes in the city, and is shockingly unreliable given how important it is. Splitting it into the 68 and 88 should have a huge benefit to its reliability, and we shouldn't be doing anything that might negatively impact that.
To your point, I would argue that they should extend the 84 from Baseline Station to Bayshore Station. One more route on Baseline can only be beneficial in the long run, especially with Baseline BRT coming in... 2090?
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With all due respect, I can not agree with your argument. Absolutely, I can agree, though, that the current # 88 is a very busy route that suffers from unreliability.
Baseline bus routes have been ‘my route’ since early days. I’m going back to the OLD 53 that ran Baseline to Clyde/Maitland, to Carlingwood. I have been on the routes as they were extended along Baseline, and beyond. The 78, 117, 118, 88 routes were all mine. All this is to point out that I am aware of Baseline being a major transit corridor.
But back to your argument:
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I get where you're coming from, but the 88 (and new 68) should have as little diversion as possible from Baseline / Hazeldean as possible, besides through Algonquin College. (sic)
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I remember when ‘The Baseline Bus’ actually DID stay on Baseline. People used to walk from Baseline through the old Shopper’s City West mall to get to Algonquin College. Later, the Baseline Station opened on the Transitway, and the bus was diverted from Baseline to service it. The turns between Baseline and Woodroffe were terrible because of the traffic; thus, the diversion along Navaho. By looping around the Baseline-Woodroffe intersection, reliability was improved. It also better serviced the college. It was a win-win – but it added time to the route. The benefit was that it was fairly predictable time.
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Splitting it (the current # 88 route) into the 68 and 88 should have a huge benefit to its reliability, and we shouldn't be doing anything that might negatively impact that.
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Reliability penalties come from unpredictability. While it is true that increasing the length of a route might add in additional randomness, it needn’t necessarily do so.
The majority of the disruption to the schedule of the current 88 is due to traffic along Baseline Road. In the morning, it can take ‘forever’ to travel from Richmond Road to Baseline Station; and in the afternoon, going from the Heron Road Workers Memorial Bridge to Baseline Station can seem to take an ‘eon’. Yes, there are also some delays west of Richmond Road, but they are relatively minor, compared with those along Baseline. Alas, splitting the 88 so that it continues to travel the entire length of Baseline will do little to increase reliability in that critical segment. And adding a relatively predictable loop around Centre Pointe will have minimal effect – except increasing the functionality of transit for those in the Centre Pointe area.
I will point out that the 68 will be subject to the Baseline congestion in the mornings, too. There will also be the lesser congestion through Bells Corners and Kanata in the afternoons.
Your comment is also interesting because the future 88 will deviate through the Queensway-Carleton Hospital instead of staying on Baseline and turning directly onto Richmond Road. This is a new deke for the route, and appears to necessitate that the new 68 also deviate through the hospital. This will add extra time to both routes.
I also note that the 68 will continue to deviate from Hazeldean down to the Hazeldean Mall. If it is important to minimize straying from the main roads, why was this loop kept? Because it serves a function. It connects people to their local stores without making them transfer. I am suggesting that the same is true for taking the 88 around Centre Pointe.
Your argument seems based on the current ridership pattern of the 88. I suggest that things will change once the route is split. For example, Carleton students will no longer have a single-seat (single-stand, more like it) ride to Kanata. They will need to transfer to the 68. Anyone who is not directly destined for a stop along the western portion of Baseline (or the future destination of the Bayshore Mall) will need to transfer. I suggest that there are going to be a large number of people transferring from the 88 to the 68. If they do that transfer at Baseline Station, then they are unaffected by looping the 88 around Centre Pointe.
Because the 88 will no longer perform the same function west of Baseline Station, I don’t think that it is valid to try to use the argument that it needs to remain as it is. The western end of the future 88 will act more like a Local route, bringing people to their homes along that stretch of Baseline, or to the hospital or the mall. The 68 will be taking over the cross-regional function west of Baseline Station. That is why I suggest that the 68 continue to access Baseline Road quickly.
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