The Great Canadian Transit Thread

[Alexcaban]

Originally Posted by harls

Doesn't the blue line use only 4-car trains still? I know they have room, but I didn't think they upped the capacity yet.

These days the Blue line has become a lot busier then how it was when it first opened. Before they use to run 3 car trains but now they run 6 car trains. When the future extension passed St. Michel is complete the STM will be using 9 car trains.

[MolsonExport]

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2009/09/16/montreal-metro-extension.html

Any news on the above?

[MTLskyline]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2009/09/16/montreal-metro-extension.html

Any news on the above?

I think we can forget about the yellow line extension seeing as the pro-Metro-expansion party in Longueuil lost the municipal election.

IMO, the Blue Line should also be extended west from Snowdon, as was proposed by Projet Montreal:

[The Chemist]

Originally Posted by Alexcaban

Platforms and trains are both 152,4 meters.

We need those new trains now!!! The metro seems to be crowed at ever hour of the day.

Here is today Rush Hour Montreal Metro's Berri-UQAM station

Honestly, those don't look THAT busy to me. Then again, I'm used to the Shanghai Metro where two individual LINES have more ridership than the entire Montreal Metro, so I guess that explains it.

If you want craziness at rush hour, try People's Square on the Shanghai Metro - 3 of Shanghai's busiest lines (1 - 1.34 million people per day, 2 - 1.35 million people per day, and 8 - 870,000 people per day) all coming together. Now that's nuts.

[Darkoshvilli]

So what you're saying is, Shanghai has more people than Montreal?

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by The Chemist

Honestly, those don't look THAT busy to me. Then again, I'm used to the Shanghai Metro where two individual LINES have more ridership than the entire Montreal Metro, so I guess that explains it.

If you want craziness at rush hour, try People's Square on the Shanghai Metro - 3 of Shanghai's busiest lines (1 - 1.34 million people per day, 2 - 1.35 million people per day, and 8 - 870,000 people per day) all coming together. Now that's nuts.

I'll raise you. Shinjuku station (Tokyo) sees 3.64 million users per day (a bit of cheating, since it combines heavy rail and subway)

[feepa]

What do you think of Edmonton's long term LRT Expansion plans?


http://www.edmonton.ca/transportation/November_2010_LRT_Network_Plan.pdf

Current LRT Project
Downtown Downtown LRT Connector
North Downtown to NAIT
Northeast Clareview to Gorman
Northwest NAIT to North City Limits
Southeast Mill Woods to Downtown
South Century Park to Heritage Valley
West Lewis Estates to Downtown


Some history and other information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmonton_Light_Rail_Transit

[Pavlov]

^ Very ambitious. Is there a timeline?

[feepa]

Downtown to NAIT - 2014 and to St Albert after (bet 10-15 years from now)
WLRT + SELRT to millwoods by 2016 supposedly.

anything else is still really early in planning stages

[PoscStudent]

St. John's bus strike looming

People who depend on buses to get around the St. John's area could be stranded this week if talks between Metrobus and its unionized workers fail.

Both sides are scheduled to meet Monday. Drivers and maintenance workers could be in position to strike this week if they can't reach an agreement.

Metrobus said last week that it doesn't have the resources to keep buses on the road if there is a strike or a lockout.

In 2004, unionized Metrobus workers went on strike for two weeks.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-la...metrobus-dispute-1101.html#ixzz142pcGYg1

[caltrane74]

Edmonton has a ring road!! I didn't know that. So interesting.

Plus the LRT is ok too, can't complain.

[Coldrsx]

As Feepa mentioned, about 50-60% of that should be done by 2016.

[Pavlov]

^ Really? Complete build out of 3 or 4 brand new lines in the next 5 years? That seems impossibly optimistic.

[Coldrsx]

Edmonton's downtown 'connector' plan:

http://edmonton.ca/transportation/CoE_DT_LRT_(f)web.pdf

[Coldrsx]

Originally Posted by Reesonov

^ Really? Complete build out of 3 or 4 brand new lines in the next 5 years? That seems impossibly optimistic.

Yup, but administration seems bullish as does council.

NLRT - downtown to NAIT is approved with preliminary work being done now and WILL be done in 3.5yrs.

SELRT and WLRT low floor embedded (along with the downtown connector) could be done in 5-6 yrs as it is far less construction and infrastructure than LRT.

I am optimistic, but cautiously and as you hint at, this would be VERY aggressive.

[Mikemike]

NLRT to NAIT is funded. Costs were over-estimated, it now looks like it will be at least 100m less than originally expected. That's money that will go to the other lines. The estimates for the other lines have gone down too. Mayor Mandel tells us that SELRT (presumably including the bulk of the "downtown connector") can be done by 2016 with very little debt, and I don't see any reason to doubt that. He's said that some other capital projects (mostly roads) will be deferred to pay for it.

WLRT is a bit more politically contentious, but it's coming soon. Best case, if Edmonton gets the Expo or if council decides to fund it with debt it will be done 2017. Worst reasonably likely case is no debt, no expo, no federal provincial support and it will take till 2020 to get to meadowlark and another couple years to complete. After Millwoods get a line it would be politically difficult to deny the west end.

It's a lot, but it's only really one full line and one 3 station branch for this decade.

[Jarrod]

Originally Posted by caltrane74

Edmonton has a ring road!! I didn't know that. So interesting.

Plus the LRT is ok too, can't complain.

It's still underconstruction. I'm not sure when it's done.

I can't wait until we get those lines! Travelling the city on bus can be a nightmare.

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by feepa

What do you think of Edmonton's long term LRT Expansion plans?

I have to wonder if it's really feasible. I can see something like this being viable in Calgary, which has an extremely concentrated and dominant central employment hub, paired with limited and expensive parking. But does Edmonton really have the same special conditions? I mean, that looks like a very ambitious plan, and it is not a very large metro area.

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

I have to wonder if it's really feasible. I can see something like this being viable in Calgary, which has an extremely concentrated and dominant central employment hub, paired with limited and expensive parking. But does Edmonton really have the same special conditions? I mean, that looks like a very ambitious plan, and it is not a very large metro area.

Edmonton's metropolitan population is practically the same as Calgary's. Calgary only recently passed Edmonton in size. Despite this, Edmonton still grows at quite a fast clip. (Edmonton has a faster growth rate than Toronto and has for decades!)

2006 Census:

Calgary 1,079,310
Edmonton 1,034,945

[esquire]

Originally Posted by feepa

What do you think of Edmonton's long term LRT Expansion plans?

Impressive! Edmonton has made great strides with LRT in recent years, and that's great to see.

Personally, I think the focus should be on expanding inner-city routes...I would think that the 82nd Av line would be a huge hit given how many students live in the area and given how urban in nature the neighbourhoods along it are. Something like that would seem to make more sense as a logical next step than extending lines out to Mill Woods or the Airport.

(On the latter note, you can read about the inanity of airport connectors here)