Transit Fantasies

[jsbertram]

Originally Posted by MIPS

Shhhh. This whole thread is a place to dream.

My dream is the MkIII 4-car train set gliding over the Fraser River.

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by Sheba

An idea I had for a Skytrain route that would be a 'Hastings Line' starting at Waterfront, following the rail tracks with a stop at Main and then Glen Drive, and then drop down to Hastings with stops at Victoria, Renfrew*, Kootenay, Willingdon, Holdom, and Cliff Ave. After that I'm sure it would have to switch to bus or gondola to make it up Burnaby Mountain to SFU.

I marked Renfrew as I would have a spur come off there and follow the bridge to Phibbs Exchange. I don't know North Van well enough to plan a route beyond that.

My ideal would be to have stops about every 1.5k. Putting them closer together doesn't give the train much time to get up to speed and slows down the whole route. People can always step off at the stop closest to them and transfer to a bus for the last bit of their trip - it doesn't need to be door to door Skytrain service.

I've always wished for a Hastings Line (long as it's bored most of the way through East Van)
and always dreamed of it connecting in at Waterfront, then heading down Robson or Georgia, down Denman (....and here it's just a dream, sorry, but let me share it) ....
.....under False Creek to link up to become an Arbutus Line, going to 41st or 49th, wherever the major crosstown bus stop is.
The problem is getting it through to Kerrisdale and up the escarpment; some tunnelling would surely be vital in that district.
But a real Hastings Line, crosstown, yes!

[jsbertram]

Originally Posted by VancouverOfTheFuture

a mid-harbour crossing would be a good idea i think. you could run 6 lanes of traffic, extend expo-line with a station at Main+Hastings and then run it through the tunnel with the car traffic to the north shore. then the Lions Gate Bridge could be turned into 2 lanes, buses and emergency vehicles only. removing cars from Stanley Park and doubling the amount of pedestrian and bicycle space.

making the tunnel with 4 tunnel boring machines would be what i think could work. 2 larger ones for the 3 lanes of traffic each way, and 2 smaller ones for each direction of SkyTrain lines.

Once the traffic tunnels are opened between downtown and the north shore, Lions Gate Bridge can become a transit-only bridge for buses and LRT trains. One lane in each direction to make them wide enough for LRT cars.

I trust bus drivers are less likely to hit each other and LRT trains than regular drivers.

[jsbertram]

Originally Posted by trofirhen

I've always wished for a Hastings Line (long as it's bored most of the way through East Van)
and always dreamed of it connecting in at Waterfront, then heading down Robson or Goorgia, down Denman (....and here it's just a dream, sorry, but let me share it) ....
.....under False Creek to link up to become an Arbutus Line, going to 41st or 49th, wherever the major crosstown bus stop is.
The problem is getting it through to Kerrisdale and up the escarpment; some tunnelling would surely be vital in that district.
But a real Hastings Line, crosstown, yes!

The CPR Arbutus line already has that issue solved.

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by jsbertram

The CPR Arbutus line already has that issue solved.

Yes, I know there's a rail line down that escapment.
I guess what I was reall wondering was: how much of crosston subway, in this location can be underground, and how much would be surface?
((traffic crossings, etc etc: underground preferred)

[SOSS]

Originally Posted by jsbertram

Once the traffic tunnels are opened between downtown and the north shore, Lions Gate Bridge can become a transit-only bridge for buses and LRT trains. One lane in each direction to make them wide enough for LRT cars.

I trust bus drivers are less likely to hit each other and LRT trains than regular drivers.

The bus drives, along with Emergency Vehicles, seem to have it figured out in Calgary to share 7th Ave with the C-Trains. I think they still manage to smack more cars at the cross streets that busses or emergency vehicles.

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by trofirhen

I've always wished for a Hastings Line (long as it's bored most of the way through East Van)
and always dreamed of it connecting in at Waterfront, then heading down Robson or Georgia, down Denman (....and here it's just a dream, sorry, but let me share it) ....
.....under False Creek to link up to become an Arbutus Line, going to 41st or 49th, wherever the major crosstown bus stop is.
The problem is getting it through to Kerrisdale and up the escarpment; some tunnelling would surely be vital in that district.
But a real Hastings Line, crosstown, yes!

I think Vancouver gets too much love compared to the rest of the region, so of course I think of other areas for some Skytrain action. Like unhook the Millennium Line from the Expo Line. Keep Expo where it is and have Millennium run from Production Way (connection to SFU) over to Columbia Station and across the water to Surrey as far as Surrey Central and then have it split off and continue down King George to the new Newton Exchange (70th Ave), eventually down to 64th Ave.

With some of the Expo trains short turned (at the maintenance yard past Edmonds Station?) there could be just as many trains on this side of the Fraser, while on the south side it would be branched between Millennium on King George and Expo on Fraser Hwy. Have Expo Line continue down Fraser Hwy with stops at 140th St (outpatient centre), 148th St (the other side of Green Timbers) and 152nd St (new Fleetwood Exchange - a bunch of buses already travel through there).

I don't even want to think how much work Columbia Station would need to support that...

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

Originally Posted by jsbertram

Once the traffic tunnels are opened between downtown and the north shore, Lions Gate Bridge can become a transit-only bridge for buses and LRT trains. One lane in each direction to make them wide enough for LRT cars.

I trust bus drivers are less likely to hit each other and LRT trains than regular drivers.

if SkyTrain is going to the North-Shore, why waste all that money with LRT over the LGB when you can just use buses? seems like a waste. LRT would just take up more bridge space then 2 lanes for buses.

[Kisai]

Originally Posted by VancouverOfTheFuture

if SkyTrain is going to the North-Shore, why waste all that money with LRT over the LGB when you can just use buses? seems like a waste. LRT would just take up more bridge space then 2 lanes for buses.

I think the argument being made here is using the LGB as a rail option, as modification of the LGB would have to come at great expense. So this means either making it a transit-only bridge, or a rail-only bridge. The latter requires replacing the deck again.

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by Kisai

I think the argument being made here is using the LGB as a rail option, as modification of the LGB would have to come at great expense. So this means either making it a transit-only bridge, or a rail-only bridge. The latter requires replacing the deck again.

If you're going to convert the LGB to transit only / rail only, that would seem to imperatively raise the need for a third crossing, would it not? I can see no way around that, given this scenario.

[SOSS]

Any major changes to the LGB should include it being raised to allow the newer classes of cruise ships to enter the port.

[jsbertram]

Originally Posted by SOSS

Any major changes to the LGB should include it being raised to allow the newer classes of cruise ships to enter the port.

easier than lowering the water level....

[SOSS]

Originally Posted by jsbertram

easier than lowering the water level....

haha, I see the sarcasm. In an article in the Vancouver Sun back a couple of years ago it was mentioned that it is technically feasible to raise the bridge but proportionally cheaper to modify the mast or funnels on cruise ships.

[trofirhen]

My attempts at starting new ideas tend to quickly go down in flames, and I rather expect the same thing here.

Nevertheless, given that the Viaducts are de facto removed, perhaps it's time to think about the next road, and in particular, the Georgia intersection.

I saw on Youtube, and also on a thread here, a "diamond" interchange, and was wondering if that could be used in some size- reduced manner.

The future will soon be the now, and I ask that people give this isue some thoughts and ideas, if at all possible.

I hope this might be the correct thread, this time with a specific focus.

Thank you for your time.

[CanSpice]

Originally Posted by trofirhen

Nevertheless, given that the Viaducts are de facto removed, perhaps it's time to think about the next road, and in particular, the Georgia intersection.

Georgia Street is pretty long with a lot of intersections.

I hope this might be the correct thread, this time with a specific focus.

Given this is the "Transit Fantasies" thread and an intersection has very little to do with transit, I think it's not the right thread.

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by CanSpice

Georgia Street is pretty long with a lot of intersections.



Given this is the "Transit Fantasies" thread and an intersection has very little to do with transit, I think it's not the right thread.

Of course!!! I goofed up again.
Anyway, I hope that the design of the new connecting road and interchange that will replace the function of the Viauducts be examined closeup, in the right thread.
This one's gonna be a biggie. I sign-off this thread. Watch it plunge to 55th place

[JordanBerndt]

This is a fantasy Calagry CTrain Map that I created last October, with news that the Green Line will begin construction in 2017, I felt it was an appropriate time to dig this up again, what do you guys think?




Trivia:

- 207.3 Kilometers (128.8 Miles) of track, or about as many miles as the entire Paris Métro
- 121 Stations, almost as many as the city of Osaka.
- The largest Light Rail Transit system in the world

[logan5]

Nice interlude.

[ssiguy]

Calgary has, like all cities, made some urban planning blunders but there is not a city in the country that can tell Calgary how to develop and create a great transit system. Considering Calgary's size, Calgary is light years ahead of most Canadian cities.

[Jebby]

I don't see what Calgary talk and transit maps have to do with this thread...