The Great Canadian Transit Thread

[hipster duck]

Scarborough: Canada's graveyard of experimental rail technologies.

[Daveography]

MacEwan Station - Edmonton's newest downtown LRT station, located right beside the new Roger's Place arena - ready for trains and passengers, though opening is frustratingly still delayed...

[red-paladin]

Looks great. Too bad the cheapos/nimbies/CTF kept demanding that the Evergreen Line stations 'tone it down' compared to the Millennium line, but they'll still be almost as nice.

[1overcosc]

Some pictures I took today of the Confederation Line construction in Ottawa.

First off, the east tunnel portal:
This is where the trains will descend into the downtown tunnel from the east.


Next I headed west to the area around the future Pimisi station, just west of where the underground tunnel starts/ends.

This is the excavation for the future Pimisi station.



I took this picture standing directly atop the not-yet-built tracks. This is looking east, from just east of the future Pimisi Station towards the tunnel portal, which is a few hundred metres ahead.

[DizzyEdge]

Originally Posted by Daveography

MacEwan Station - Edmonton's newest downtown LRT station, located right beside the new Roger's Place arena - ready for trains and passengers, though opening is frustratingly still delayed...

I see Edmonton has followed Calgary's practice of stylish lrt stations. I have to wonder though, if all of our stations were purely functional, how much further ahead could we be with the extensions of our lrt lines with the savings?

[esquire]

Originally Posted by DizzyEdge

I see Edmonton has followed Calgary's practice of stylish lrt stations. I have to wonder though, if all of our stations were purely functional, how much further ahead could we be with the extensions of our lrt lines with the savings?

I'd say that Edmonton has found a reasonable balance... the stations are stylish in terms of the materials and finish, etc., but I doubt that really pushes the cost up very much. Even a super-threadbare underground station like University is still going to cost far more to build and outfit than the nicest open-air, non-enclosed station ever will... simply deciding to put the station on the surface probably saves a ton of money on its own.

If anything, there might be some benefit to splurging on new stations to make them enclosed like Belvedere or Clareview.

[1overcosc]

Given Edmonton's winters, sheltering is very important.

[Coldrsx]

To a certain degree yes, but protection from the wind is more important.

[SkahHigh]

It's always nice to have a certain level of design... It's an investment over time. Yes, it may cost more, but given that transit stations are here to stay and will be used by thousands of people every year, they should be visually appealing. Plus I believe it convinces more people to use public transit.

[Daveography]

It's also important that if the city expects developers to step up their architecture and design game (Mandel's "No More Crap" proclamation), then it makes sense that the city should lead by example.

The cost of building a station is more in the infrastructure itself than the design of the human elements anyway.

[TorontoDrew]

Originally Posted by Daveography

It's also important that if the city expects developers to step up their architecture and design game (Mandel's "No More Crap" proclamation), then it makes sense that the city should lead by example.

The cost of building a station is more in the infrastructure itself than the design of the human elements anyway.

Very good point

[miketoronto]

Originally Posted by DizzyEdge

I see Edmonton has followed Calgary's practice of stylish lrt stations. I have to wonder though, if all of our stations were purely functional, how much further ahead could we be with the extensions of our lrt lines with the savings?

Easy. Edmonton would be no further ahead. Building nice stations does not really cost that much more money.

We really have to get away fro this idea in North America, that transit infrastructure has to be basic, and can't have style, because it costs money.

You want a transit system people are going to use, like using, and is a valued part of the city. Then start designing some nice spaces .

[mistercorporate]

Originally Posted by miketoronto

Easy. Edmonton would be no further ahead. Building nice stations does not really cost that much more money.

We really have to get away fro this idea in North America, that transit infrastructure has to be basic, and can't have style, because it costs money.

You want a transit system people are going to use, like using, and is a valued part of the city. Then start designing some nice spaces .

Exactly, Toronto's cheap-ass design/planning culture makes me want to pull my hair out

[Innsertnamehere]

just wait until the spadina extension opens!

[Nouvellecosse]

The Spadina extension station renders look good but it makes me frustrated that they'll be out in BF nowhere while the stations in town are so utilitarian. It should be just the opposite.

[SkahHigh]

Just found this cool diagram about the processing of future transit projects in Montreal (the two LRT lines):


https://www.lacaisse.com/en/agreement/an-innovative-model

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

The Spadina extension station renders look good but it makes me frustrated that they'll be out in BF nowhere while the stations in town are so utilitarian. It should be just the opposite.

Toronto's suburban subway stations are built for a ridership that will never materialize, while Toronto's downtown subway stations are built for an expansion that will never happen.

[Innsertnamehere]

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

The Spadina extension station renders look good but it makes me frustrated that they'll be out in BF nowhere while the stations in town are so utilitarian. It should be just the opposite.

alas, that is the function of designing and building most of our subway system in the 1940's and 1950's, and funding it entirely from fares.

[1overcosc]

As insertnamehere said, the fancy design of Spadina vs. the bare-bones design of the downtown stations stems from age. Most (all?) of the subway network in the central area of Toronto was built in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s when nobody really cared much for good looking design.

[SkahHigh]

The contract for the new Champlain Bridge was awarded to SNC-Lavalin.