The Great Canadian Transit Thread

[rike5]

Originally Posted by Ramako

I can't help but notice that in the map above almost all the new lines will run laterally. This would concentrate even more people onto the already-crowded Yonge-University-Spadina line in order move vertically (relative to this map) towards or away from the core.

When are they planning to complete the signalling upgrade to the Yonge-University-Spadina Line? I'm sure the current setup will not be able to cope with the congestion brought upon by these extensions.

[ToxiK]

Originally Posted by Ramako

In light of the recent announcement regarding the Scarborough subway, I thought I'd share my map of Toronto's future Subway/LRT system to help provide an overview of what's going on in Toronto.

The extension of the western portion of the Yonge-University-Spadina Line (yellow) from Sheppard West to Vaughan Centre is well under construction and will be open in 2016.

The Eglinton Crosstown (blue) is also under construction, however they just started boring the tunnels. We're looking at completion around 2020.

The extension of the Bloor-Danforth Line (green) from Kennedy to McCowan was the subject of the recent announcement. The alignment shown here is what the city, the TTC and the Feds prefer, whereas the province prefers one less station and a slightly different alignment. Regardless of which way they ultimately go, the funding is now secure.

The Sheppard East LRT (orange) and Finch West LRT (grey) have both been approved and funded. I haven't included station names because they haven't been determined yet. There is fear among proponents of the Sheppard East LRT that the funding reserved for it will be shifted to other projects, as Mayor Ford opposes the line. He'd rather see the extension of the Sheppard Line (purple) east.

The Wellington-Front Line, as I call it, aka the Downtown Relief Line (red), is the only line on this map that is hypothetical and unfunded, but it gives a sense of the kind of line that will eventually be proposed. According to the TTC and the provincial transportation agency, it's the next priority after the already planned lines.

After that, we can probably expect to see an extension of the eastern portion of the Yonge-University-Spadina Line (yellow) north to Richmond Hill, an extension of the Sheppard Line (purple) west to connect with the western portion of the Yonge-University-Spadina Line, an extension of the Eglinton Crosstown (blue) west to Pearson Airport, and an extension of the Downtown Relief Line north to the Eglinton Crosstown. I haven't included these extensions in this map, as they are a ways off at the moment.

Thanks for the map, I was having difficulties following all the extensions on the Toronto subway. Do you know if the hypothetical Downtown Relief Line is suppose to be a subway or a lightrail (or is in undetermined yet)?

[caltrane74]

Originally Posted by rike5

I can't help but notice that in the map above almost all the new lines will run laterally. This would concentrate even more people onto the already-crowded Yonge-University-Spadina line in order move vertically (relative to this map) towards or away from the core.

When are they planning to complete the signalling upgrade to the Yonge-University-Spadina Line? I'm sure the current setup will not be able to cope with the congestion brought upon by these extensions.

Don't worry about the signalling, the TTC has to replace the track bed (ballast/gravel) between St. Clair and Eglinton. This is a two year project, and the Yonge Line will be shut down between those segments. The ballast on the track there is 60 years old...

Yikes..

[Innsertnamehere]

it won't be shut down for the entire 2 years haha.. just on a couple of weekends.

ATC comes in 2018.

[Ramako]

Originally Posted by ToxiK

Thanks for the map, I was having difficulties following all the extensions on the Toronto subway. Do you know if the hypothetical Downtown Relief Line is suppose to be a subway or a lightrail (or is in undetermined yet)?

Subway

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

The DRL's planned alignment seems to change every week. I just hope the one pictured above in no way resembles what might eventually be built. Terrible alignment and station spacing - only 11 stations for a 12 km line through the core? Plus the single transfer point to the YUS being at one of the most already overburdened stations?

I really hope there are more stations on the DRL, but I figure that we're going to ultimately be short changed due to high costs and cheap politicians. I figure we'll end up with fewer stations to save money - the justification being that it's main purpose is to provide relief to the Yonge line, rather than to expand the size of the system.

[SFUVancouver]

^ They could rough-in future stations. That would be a prudent move for the future while still being very cost conscious in the short-run. A similar approach was taken in Vancouver for the SkyTrain Canada Line. Five future stations were planned but one station, Olympic Village, was actually built for the system's opening day as a result of the City of Vancouver contributing about $30 million to the project.

[Chadillaccc]

Tuscany Station - Calgary

[ssiguy]

When does Tuscany open?

[Chadillaccc]

By about this time next year, the same day they bring 4-car trains online.

[Chadillaccc]

Great news for Montreal!


Montreal to get more reserved bus lanes
By BRENDAN KELLY, THE GAZETTE

MONTREAL - The Parti Québécois government announced Sunday it will add 208 kilometres of reserved bus lanes in the greater Montreal area, at a cost of $84 million. Provincial Transport Minister Sylvain Gaudreault also said that the provincial government will up its financing of these reserved bus lanes from 75 per cent to 100 per cent of the cost.

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Montreal+more+reserved+lanes/8975125/story.html

[SkahHigh]

For the Greater Montreal area, AMT's new Mascouche Line is 75% completed and due for late 2014. Anjou Station is completed, and 9 of the remaining 10 stations are now under construction, with Pointe-aux-Trembles Station starting construction this fall.

Ahuntsic Station under construction, workers are planting supports for the future platform:

[miketoronto]

Rapibus is opening soon in Gatineau.

I have some reservations about the system. While the plan is good, I think the whole plan to make people transfer between neighbourhood bus routes and the Rapibus could be an issue, due to the low frequency of service on most of the planned local routes.

Where riders currently take a direct bus in rush hours from their neighbourhood to downtown Hull or Ottawa. With Rapibus they will now have to transfer. But these transfers won't be easy with neighbourhood bus routes operating in most cases every 30 minutes at rush hours.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by miketoronto

Rapibus is opening soon in Gatineau.

I have some reservations about the system. While the plan is good, I think the whole plan to make people transfer between neighbourhood bus routes and the Rapibus could be an issue, due to the low frequency of service on most of the planned local routes.

Where riders currently take a direct bus in rush hours from their neighbourhood to downtown Hull or Ottawa. With Rapibus they will now have to transfer. But these transfers won't be easy with neighbourhood bus routes operating in most cases every 30 minutes at rush hours.

The problem will be worse in the PM when people will arrive at stations from super-frequent routes from downtown, and a minute difference will mean they could end up waiting 30 minutes for their local route.

In the morning it won't be a problem because they'll go their stop according to the schedule, and then transfer to a super-frequent route so the arrival time at the station doesn't matter much.

[Chadillaccc]

20130908_162833 by Chadillaccc, on Flickr

[miketoronto]

Grand River Transit has had to add four buses to its newest IXPRESS route, the 202, due to crowding.
Ridership in the first month of operation has already suprpassed 2016 projections.

[Chadillaccc]

Wow that is awesome! So transit ridership is growing really fast in KW? That's great news, considering construction on the LRT is imminent!

[shreddog]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

Tuscany Station - Calgary

This is a very interesting photo ... you can see the country in the background ... 12 Mile Coulee which is the western edge of the city and beyond which the city can't really expand (exurb estates). So the city has built RT right to very edge to facilitate transit into the core and reduce car traffic ... yet also encouraging the commuters from far flung locations to drive to the edge of the city and "train" in.

In the end, is this a good thing??

[Rico Rommheim]

Originally Posted by SkahHigh

For the Greater Montreal area, AMT's new Mascouche Line is 75% completed and due for late 2014. Anjou Station is completed, and 9 of the remaining 10 stations are now under construction, with Pointe-aux-Trembles Station starting construction this fall.

Ahuntsic Station under construction, workers are planting supports for the future platform:

Our commuter rail transport will become quite impressive. 6 lines going to all parts of the island and beyond, with an additional 11,000 daily riders once the Mascouche line will be completed. The 6 lines will 85,000 daily users come 2014.

[Chadillaccc]

That's impressive! It will be cool once other cities other than Van, MTL, and TO have suburbs large enough to warrant commuter rail. That won't be for a long time though, I'd imagine!

Originally Posted by shreddog

This is a very interesting photo ... you can see the country in the background ... 12 Mile Coulee which is the western edge of the city and beyond which the city can't really expand (exurb estates). So the city has built RT right to very edge to facilitate transit into the core and reduce car traffic ... yet also encouraging the commuters from far flung locations to drive to the edge of the city and "train" in.

In the end, is this a good thing??

I definitely think it's a good thing. By next year, 3 of our 4 lines will be built out to within a kilometer of the edge of the suburbs, that is impressive and shows Calgary's dedication to the largest per-capita RT system in the country. I don't know why it wouldn't be a good thing, less people using cars, less time spent in cars, less traffic on roads, more foot traffic downtown, more revenues for Ctrain to fund the new lines and the expansion of the South Line... I'm sure there are more benefits, but it's 10:30 and I need to go shave

[ssiguy]

Good for Montreal on the bus-only lanes.

Buses can be incredible effective rapid/mass transit if they are given the ROW like other rapid transit systems. These lanes make the buses more reliable, faster, and with fewer jolts more comfortable. They can be just as effective as any street at grade ROW LRT but at a fraction of the cost and much faster to implement and expand just don't tell that to Toronto.

Curious, will all these lanes be bus-only or will some also allow carpools?