The Great Canadian Transit Thread

[SkahHigh]

The AMT will build a new commuter rail station in Mirabel (Saint-Jérôme line) next year, according to this article (in french, sorry):

http://www.journaldemontreal.com/2015/06/16/un-agriculteur-exproprie-pour-une-gare-de-train

800 park-and-ride spaces. Good thing considering the population of Mirabel is over 40K.

[TorontoDrew]

I was in Hamilton this weekend and everybody I spoke to were anti LRT. Yes they all lived in the city not up the hill. Apparently they still remember and hate the old ROW bus lanes. I hope it goes through. The downtown core is hurting and an LRT is what it needs. If they think things are fine they don't see the potential. For Christ sake Hamilton is Canada's 7th or 8th largest city and moving up fast.


On a side note I see it moving past Ottawa Quebec City and Winnipeg in size soon but it still acts like a mid size town.

[matt602]

Yeah, this is Hamilton's idea of "traffic chaos" when the King Street bus lane was still around. I took that on a weekday at rush hour at one of the busiest sections of King Street through downtown.

• Video Link

Hamilton has had wide, free flowing one way streets for so long that people have forgotten what actual traffic congestion is and that's why things such as bike lanes, bus lanes, LRT, traffic calming are met with very stiff opposition.

[Beedok]

Originally Posted by TorontoDrew

I was in Hamilton this weekend and everybody I spoke to were anti LRT. Yes they all lived in the city not up the hill. Apparently they still remember and hate the old ROW bus lanes. I hope it goes through. The downtown core is hurting and an LRT is what it needs. If they think things are fine they don't see the potential. For Christ sake Hamilton is Canada's 7th or 8th largest city and moving up fast.


On a side note I see it moving past Ottawa Quebec City and Winnipeg in size soon but it still acts like a mid size town.

Hamilton isn't really moving up fast. It's still growing below the national average (let alone the CMA average).

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by TorontoDrew

On a side note I see it moving past Ottawa Quebec City and Winnipeg in size soon but it still acts like a mid size town.

Hamilton is several hundred thousand people behind Ottawa and so to catch up to it and pass it is highly unlikely unless it gets an unprecedented growth spurt and Ottawa totally collapses.

As for Winnipeg and Quebec City, well Hamilton is virtually tied with them so any given year any one of the three can be ahead, and then the next year it could be another.

[esquire]

I can vouch for the fact that Winnipeg still likes to act like a big town, particularly in relation to transit. I don't know if a city starts to shed those tendencies once it hits a million, or what.

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by TorontoDrew

I was in Hamilton this weekend and everybody I spoke to were anti LRT. Yes they all lived in the city not up the hill. Apparently they still remember and hate the old ROW bus lanes. I hope it goes through. The downtown core is hurting and an LRT is what it needs. If they think things are fine they don't see the potential. For Christ sake Hamilton is Canada's 7th or 8th largest city and moving up fast.

Many people in Hamilton do have skewed perceptions about what "congestion" means. Having to wait an extra cycle at a traffic light is a major problem for some, for example. For others the difference between free-flow at 60 km/h and flowing but denser traffic at 50 km/h is too much to get over.

Someone noted the issue of negativity in local attitudes in another thread... Hamilton is one of those kinds of places. The economic restructuring of the past few decades and loss of so many manufacturing jobs is one good reason for that. But what's funny is while some people love to complain that nothing good happens in the city, don't anyone dare suggest to them ideas about making changes for improvement.

The other funny thing - there are many people who say they never go downtown or rarely visit the lower city, but then they'll argue against making any changes to the one-way street system or improvements to transit.

[TorontoDrew]

Originally Posted by Beedok

Hamilton isn't really moving up fast. It's still growing below the national average (let alone the CMA average).

It's about to boom off of the successes of the GTA. If you look at Canada's fastest growing cities Toronto satellite towns/cities always rank high. Hamilton offers so much more then places like Oshawa and Barrie and people are starting to notice. All day train service between Toronto and Hamilton and an LRT may just be the catalyst it needs.

We can discuss this again in a few years.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by TorontoDrew

It's about to boom off of the successes of the GTA. If you look at Canada's fastest growing cities Toronto satellite towns/cities always rank high. Hamilton offers so much more then places like Oshawa and Barrie and people are starting to notice. All day train service between Toronto and Hamilton and an LRT may just be the catalyst it needs.

We can discuss this again in a few years.

Perhaps this will allow it to outdistance Winnipeg and Quebec City in the near future. That's entirely plausible.

But overtaking Ottawa? Not likely. Look at the numbers and do the math.

[WhipperSnapper]

Hard to say really. People have been saying that about Hamilton for years. Think it's just too far to become a hub for Toronto bound commuters. It will continue to attract those that value square footage over all else. I've met more than a few monster home types that live out there over the years.

[caltrane74]

Hamilton in particular Ancaster, is good for monster homes.

$1 million will get you a decent sized monster home in Hamilton/Ancaster, it will get you a shack in Toronto.

[TorontoDrew]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

Hard to say really. People have been saying that about Hamilton for years. Think it's just too far to become a hub for Toronto bound commuters. It will continue to attract those that value square footage over all else. I've met more than a few monster home types that live out there over the years.

It's closer then Barrie and has better Go service and Barrie is a hub for Toronto bound commuters.

[Beedok]

My guess is those Torontonians are still a bit skittish about moving to Hamilton, while Hamilton workers are going to Toronto less and less as the city gets back on its feet. Despite their suburbs inter-meshing and better transit I believe Hamilton and Toronto are going to become more separate in the near future.

[TorontoDrew]

I've had 3 friends move there in the past 2 years. It's all about the housing prices and quality of stock. Unfortunately for Hamilton it does need to do a better job of branding itself. Most people only know what they see from the QEW which is not a pretty picture.

[TorontoDrew]

Stephen Harper promises funding for Toronto's SmartTrack transit line



image from and full article : http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/stephen-...onto-s-smarttrack-transit-line-1.3118782

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has announced the federal government will provide funding for up to one-third of the cost for Toronto's SmartTrack transit line.

Harper highlighted the funding for Toronto's transit system, which was outlined in April's federal budget, alongside Finance Minister Joe Oliver and Toronto Mayor John Tory today.

The trio made the announcement at the Toronto Transit Commission's Hillcrest Complex in midtown Toronto.

Oliver said the funding is all about making Toronto a liveable place for citizens and efficient place for job-creating businesses.

"We are an engine of the Canadian economy, the heart of the Canadian advantage," he said.

"If we can't get people moving in the GTA, our engine will splutter."

A grinning Tory said: "What a great day for the city of Toronto."

[hipster duck]

^That election promise is as empty as a Scarborough subway car on Christmas morning.

[1overcosc]

Election time clearly! Harper seems to have finally clued in and realized that he's gotta deliver the goods on GTA transit to be competitive in the polls there.

That said, kinda funny there's funding for a project that doesn't even have its cost and scope defined (it remains unclear to what extent SmartTrack is any different from GO RER which is 100% provincially funded). Will the funding actually apply to the province's RER scheme? Or to the add on costs of adding things like an Eglinton West spur that are SmartTrack-exclusive?

[TorontoDrew]

I really hope Munclaire and Trudeau come through with similar promises. I'd hate to see Harper get votes with this carrot.

[1overcosc]

Well, when Kathleen Wynne called for the federal government to commit to increasing infrastructure spending to 2% of GDP (meaning an eight-fold increase over today) over time, Trudeau agreed and said his party would do so if elected.

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by TorontoDrew

It's closer then Barrie and has better Go service and Barrie is a hub for Toronto bound commuters.

People do commute from Barrie. People do commute from Peterborough too. I struggle with Barrie being a hub though.