The Great Canadian Transit Thread

[1overcosc]

There's also the VIVA rapidways the first phases of which have been completed in the past two years. Plus all the GO improvements with Lakeshore now at 30 minute frequency, although that isn't any new lines so to speak.

[SkahHigh]

Originally Posted by caltrane74

Sad but true, the Spadina extension has been pushed back to 2016.

Unbelieveable.

UPX up and running by Spring of 2015 though. So that will be the first in 13 years.

At least the Spadina extension is being built lol.

BTW we're jealous of the UPX!

[Nouvellecosse]

Congrats on the new train guys!

[GreaterMontréal]

Montréal will upgrade(revamp) their Métro system starting this year. invest about 11 billion to maintain the infrastructure of the metro . 2030

it is the right choice.

[ssiguy]

If Montreal is jealous of the UPX then things in Montreal must be pretty bad.

UPX is NOT a transit service but a luxury liner for tourists and business people which Metrolinx has even acknowledged. It will be no good for 99% of Torontonians. Vancouver's Canada Line is a subway to the airport, UPX is not comparable.

Of that money for the Metro, will there be any extensions?

[GreaterMontréal]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

If Montreal is jealous of the UPX then things in Montreal must be pretty bad.

UPX is NOT a transit service but a luxury liner for tourists and business people which Metrolinx has even acknowledged. It will be no good for 99% of Torontonians. Vancouver's Canada Line is a subway to the airport, UPX is not comparable.

Of that money for the Metro, will there be any extensions?

No.



we are not jealous of the UPX. The new Turcot interchange was designed to protect:
- rights of way for the establishment of an airport service between Montreal-Trudeau International Airport and downtown Montreal;

+ maybe a LRT someday, reaching the West-Island

[SkahHigh]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

If Montreal is jealous of the UPX then things in Montreal must be pretty bad.

UPX is NOT a transit service but a luxury liner for tourists and business people which Metrolinx has even acknowledged. It will be no good for 99% of Torontonians. Vancouver's Canada Line is a subway to the airport, UPX is not comparable.

Of that money for the Metro, will there be any extensions?

I know it's only a shuttle service for YYZ. What I meant was, there is a light rail shuttle planned for Montreal but nothing is really happening. The latest news (from September 2014) say that it would end at Fairview Mall in Pointe-Claire and have a station at YUL just like the Canada Line, and that it would be funded by public-private partnership. Let's hope it works, people in the West Island would benefit a lot from that.

[osmo]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

One of the reasons why GO stations have so much parking and why so many people drive there is because of the way pricing works. GO is seperately run from local transit authorities in the GTA, so you don't have free transfers like you do within a single system. You have to pay to take your local bus, then pay again to take GO. I believe most transit agencies have a discount system of sorts that reduces the transfer cost, but it's still a cost. Whereas with parking, you get it for free at the station.

I've heard that Metrolinx is planning on 'decoupling the cost of parking from GO fares', which I assume means that they'll start charging for parking and then reduce GO fares to offset it, so as to change the economics to make taking local transit to GO more desirable while avoiding angering those who currently drive and want to keep doing so.

It would of been best in retrospect for GO to use the old core stations present on many of the lines versus constructing suburban stations in the sticks. On one point you offer incentives to drive to cut down on middle man costs but the other is blowing the chance at TOD and other intensification strategies.

[BretttheRiderFan]

I really wish Edmonton would build an underground LRT line down Whyte Ave like we have with Jasper.

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by BretttheRiderFan

I really wish Edmonton would build an underground LRT line down Whyte Ave like we have with Jasper.

Likewise, here in Ottawa, without the limitations of money, there is an increasing need for a Bank Street subway between Billings Bridge and downtown.

[caltrane74]

I've been seeing testing of more new streetcars in the downtown core.

Can't wait to see them in fair-paid action!

[SteelTown]

Ontario Moving Forward With High-Speed Rail

http://news.ontario.ca/mto/en/2014/12/ontario-moving-forward-with-high-speed-rail.html

Ontario is taking the next step to build a high-speed rail line that will connect Windsor, London, Kitchener-Waterloo, and Toronto, which will improve travel options, reduce travel time and create jobs by getting people moving.

The start of an environmental assessment (EA) marks the next phase of the project, which includes identifying the most appropriate route, examining state-of-the-art transportation technology options and an environmental impact evaluation.

The EA will be guided by consultations in early 2015 with municipal and business groups, as well as with First Nation and Métis communities.

High-speed rail service connecting Windsor, London, Kitchener-Waterloo, and Toronto is part of the government's long-term transit and infrastructure plan, Moving Ontario Forward. This plan will make nearly $29 billion available over the next 10 years for investments in priority infrastructure projects across the province, including public transit, roads, bridges and highways.

[Beedok]

I thought it was only going to London?

[caltrane74]

Why is Windsor being included?

IMO, even London is pushing it, as I don't see how many people there will benefit from the easy connection to Toronto via rail versus driving. But Kitchener makes the most sense, seeing as that is the hi-tech hub of the province, and a lot of the potential work force resides in Downtown Toronto.

[Innsertnamehere]

Originally Posted by caltrane74

I've been seeing testing of more new streetcars in the downtown core.

Can't wait to see them in fair-paid action!

lol the new streetcars have been in service since the end of August. there are 3 of them right now in active service on spadina.

I meant rail based mass transportation when I said no new transit since 2002. We have had plenty of large GO transit improvements since then (30 minute lakeshore service, for example), as well as a couple of bus lines (VIVA in Markham, York University busway, Mississauga Transitway), but nothing really, really significant.

UPx is a mixed rail service much like GO transit and isn't really on the same level as a subway or LRT for obvious reasons.



The government is doing the environmental assessment for HSR to Windsor, but only plans to construct the line to London in the initial phase. the EA to Windsor is presumably being done to ensure land can be set aside and slowly purchased by MTO for the eventual extension.

What I am interested in seeing is how the project is handled. I presume it will be done by MTO and not Metrolinx, as it travels significantly outside of Metrolinx's coverage area. Thing is, MTO has never really done a lot of rail related things, its really a highway agency. Will be interesting to see.

The HSR to London is going to be where it will be really fast, half of the trip to Kitchener is going to be restricted to 145km/h, until it gets out of Brampton. It'll only get up to 320km/h around Guelph, and out from Kitchener to London.

Ohhh I'm getting giddy just thinking about riding it lol. A 2025 completion of the project would make it one of the first true HSR projects in North America, too. It would be opening right around the time that California's HSR will be opening.

[1overcosc]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

The government is doing the environmental assessment for HSR to Windsor, but only plans to construct the line to London in the initial phase. the EA to Windsor is presumably being done to ensure land can be set aside and slowly purchased by MTO for the eventual extension.

In my opinion the EA should be from Windsor all the way to the QC border to reserve the corridor, and Toronto-London could be the first phase of that. As HSR east of Toronto means having to reserve enough space along the Lakeshore East rail corridor, and it means having to secure a completely new ROW from Oshawa pretty much all the way to Ottawa, this is important.

Another reason is for possible downtown service in Ottawa & Kingston. Right now, it's also quite feasible to build spurs allowing downtown HSR stations in these cities (in the case of Ottawa, a little pricy but still feasible, in the case of Kingston dirt cheap as it could be done entirely on the surface with only one expropriation needed). In both cities there's roadway projects on the books that use up all the easy options, meaning that the window for easy downtown stations in these two cities is going to close soon.

[le calmar]

Originally Posted by caltrane74

Why is Windsor being included?

It could be a way to help the economy of Windsor who is struggling and with no light at the end of the tunnel. HSR can do miracles. The city I live in right now in France was in the same situation as Windsor, very post-industrial, weak economy, loss of population, until the 1980s when they brought HSR over here. Then the city revived.

[caltrane74]

I've been seeing testing of more new streetcars in the downtown core.

Can't wait to see them in fair-paid action!

[Mikemike]

Originally Posted by BretttheRiderFan

I really wish Edmonton would build an underground LRT line down Whyte Ave like we have with Jasper.

We need to start with proper frequent bus service on whyte. The current bus is never better than every 15 minutes. That's not even close to good enough, and not even close to where you start thinking rail.

[ciudad_del_norte]

Originally Posted by Mikemike

We need to start with proper frequent bus service on whyte. The current bus is never better than every 15 minutes. That's not even close to good enough, and not even close to where you start thinking rail.

Well they have been thinking about rail along Whyte all the way out to Sherwood Park for a while. Just haven't been thinking about it to any serious extent as the Valley Line is the big lrt project for now. The general alignment is in the council approved plan, but they didn't want to put any money towards even conceptual design yet because it's some time away still. Would be very suprised to see it end up underground, but it will be a tough corridor to deal with.

The bus service frequency is a larger issue with the system right now anyways, I don't know if that is a good way to judge viability of rail. But I would agree that if the overall transit review goes ahead whyte should (and will) be one of the high frequency routes.