The Great Canadian Transit Thread

[SFUVancouver]

Originally Posted by SteelTown

Passed! Bus only lanes are coming to Hamilton.

Great news. Thanks for keeping us updated.

[SteelTown]

They'll start the construction of the amenities and bus only lanes during the summer and have the system up and ready before the start of Labour Day.

[Chadillaccc]

This year? wow that is great. So is this BRT?

[SteelTown]

Yea, more so BRT lite. The bus only lane goes through the most congested part of Hamilton, Mary to Dundurn St all along King St. Basically the bus only lane will go from the Eastern edge of downtown Hamilton to the 403, before Westdale.

Yes, this year. All of the money must be spent by the end of 2013.

After the first year, after Labour Day 2014, council will review how the bus only lane went and City staff have suggested they may ask for expansion of the bus only lane.

Eventually the bus only lane will have to go from Westdale to McMaster University. On the other side it'll have to go from Eastern edge of downtown Hamilton to Eastgate Mall.

[Chadillaccc]

will it be converted to the LRT? or what is happening with that?

[matt602]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

will it be converted to the LRT? or what is happening with that?

The funding for LRT is still a big question mark as of now but if the LRT plan went ahead, the bus only lanes and bus stop amenities are indeed part of a "soft conversion" ahead of LRT to get motorists used to dedicated lanes and such. When it comes to public transit in Hamilton, things happen very slowly and reluctantly...

[whiteford]

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

Are all the stations on the line that large and elaborate? That one resembles a full metro station.

you need to know that the system supports up to and over 270,000 rider trips per day. that is by far the highest number for any lrt system in north america. so ya they resemble full sized metro stations for a good reason.

[SteelTown]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

will it be converted to the LRT? or what is happening with that?

Eventually, yes. Hamilton has to start somewhere and having bus only lanes now will help people get used to the idea of dedicated transit lanes. Plus it helps people to imagine what it would look like.

In June Metrolinx is suppose to reveal how it'll get the necessary fund to build the B-Line LRT. Hamilton council is expecting that the province will pay for the entire cost of the LRT. So if Metrolinx comes back saying "Hamilton you need to pay so and so", it'll be an extremely hard battle to get LRT funding.

It was hard enough to pull money from Hamilton to build a rinky dinky stadium so it'll be even harder to pull money from Hamilton towards LRT.

[Innsertnamehere]

May 27th is the reveal day for the taxes, only 4 days away.

[SteelTown]

Bus-lane pilot project gets green light

http://www.thespec.com/news-story/2883176-bus-lane-pilot-project-gets-green-light/
By Emma Reilly

It's full speed ahead for a bus-only lane on King Street.

At Wednesday night's council meeting, city councillors voted to move forward with the $300,000 pilot project.

The move reverses a decision to scrap the proposal made at last Thursday's public works committee meeting.

The go-ahead means a bus-only lane of King will be enforced between Mary Street to just east of Dundurn Street during peak hours. According to city transit director Don Hull, the move is "an absolute fundamental requirement" for the city's future rapid-transit plans.

Hull said other municipalities have been forced to make weighty transit decisions "with a gun to their head" to try to resolve pressing gridlock problems. This project gives Hamilton the opportunity to experiment with moving toward streets that are friendlier to all forms of transportation without making rash decisions on quick fixes for traffic woes.

"We have a unique opportunity to take baby steps and take the journey over time in a controlled time frame," Hull told councillors.
.....

The project is set to begin in September.

[Chadillaccc]

Originally Posted by whiteford

you need to know that the system supports up to and over 270,000 rider trips per day. that is by far the highest number for any lrt system in north america. so ya they resemble full sized metro stations for a good reason.

Actually the Monterrey Metro has a higher daily ridership. But yes, between Canadian and American LRT systems, Calgary's is by far the highest average daily ridership.

... and just an update on your 270 000 rides per day number, the updated figure is over 285 000

http://www.apta.com/resources/statistics/Documents/Ridership/2012-q4-ridership-APTA.pdf

[Innsertnamehere]

For a city of 1,000,000 that is impressive!

[Chadillaccc]

The municipality is closer to 1.2 million now, and I'd imagine the metro area could be rounded to 1.4 million as I'm sure it's now past 1 350 000. But yeah, nearly a quarter of the entire population riding the Rapid Transit every day is pretty awesome. But that's what happens when you have the most expensive downtown parking on the continent and 3 major educational institutions in two different quadrants.

[Chadillaccc]

Found some pics of Winnipeg's (actually quite nice) BRT line!


Osborne Station






Fort Rouge Station





Harkness Station




Sources: http://www.tradesync.ca/bus-rapid-transit-on-its-way-in-winnipeg/
http://winnipegtransit.com/en/southwest-transitway/stations



There are also I think 2 more stations on the line, but no decent pics.

[P. Alouishous]

Originally Posted by bartlebooth

Would love to see a photo tour!

Some Ottawa related transit news; major road reconfigurations began today in anticipation of tunneling for our LRT line. We should expect construction on the underground portion of the Confederation Line to start in July. Should be a hectic summer of construction in Ottawa

Is it construction of the launch shafts that begins in July? I imagine actual tunneling will start later.

[Innsertnamehere]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

The municipality is closer to 1.2 million now, and I'd imagine the metro area could be rounded to 1.4 million as I'm sure it's now past 1 350 000. But yeah, nearly a quarter of the entire population riding the Rapid Transit every day is pretty awesome. But that's what happens when you have the most expensive downtown parking on the continent and 3 major educational institutions in two different quadrants.

and a heavily downtown based office market, more so than any other city in North America.

[Chadillaccc]

Yeah that is right. However, there's a lot of businesses and office towers (mid-rise) along Macleoud Trail (probably why the South Line was the first one built), and a lot of businesses(such as Imperial Oil) starting to look at the Southeast (namely Seton) to set up shop, which will hopefully force a quicker timeline for the Southeast LRT line.

[vid]

One of the stations on Winnipeg's BRT line is just a bus stop sign and some benches. It's southern terminus is a sign on an off-ramp.

[caltrane74]

Union Station Renovation - New High Capacity Entrances for the connection between the Subway and Commuter Stations.

Still to come: New Underground Entrances from new Mall/Retail Concourse Underneath this entrance to the new platform. Should make moving between the two terminals a little easier.

[MTLskyline]

Expansion of Saint-Hubert—Longueuil AMT commuter train station is making a lot of progress. It will have stairs under the tracks when complete.

http://www.rivesudexpress.ca/Actualites/...t-Hubert%3A-les-travaux-vont-bon-train/1