The Great Canadian Transit Thread

[Chadillaccc]

Speaking of Edmonton, got some great shots of some stations this weekend...


New Metro Line Stations...


MacEwan Station


MacEwan Station by Chadillaccc, on Flickr


Kingsway/Royal Alexandra Station


Kingsway by Chadillaccc, on Flickr

Royal Alex by Chadillaccc, on Flickr



and some of a couple of Edmonton's gorgeous subway stations...


Churchill Station


Churchill by Chadillaccc, on Flickr


Bay Enterprise Station


Bay Enterprise Station by Chadillaccc, on Flickr


Corona Station


Corona Station by Chadillaccc, on Flickr

[ssiguy]

I know the Metro line is finally open but I understand they still have a host of problems with lights/intersections...........is that fixed yet?

[milomilo]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

Speaking of Edmonton, got some great shots of some stations this weekend...


New Metro Line Stations...

Kingsway/Royal Alexandra Station


Kingsway by Chadillaccc, on Flickr

I hear this line of cars is standard now the line is installed. You'd think someone working in transit in Alberta would have ridden the CTrain and learnt that at grade crossings should be avoided, on busy crossings at least as a minimum - I guess not. Edmonton even had the wisdom where Calgary did not and built their LRT underground downtown, yet now all the planners seem to have ignored all the negative evidence we have and continue to build LRT lines with far too many road crossings. The Valley Line will be awful for this, and the Green Line not much better.

[manny_santos]

http://www.am980.ca/2015/11/04/64294/

The plan includes an underground section along Richmond Street. Overall it's a good plan but I have a couple minor criticisms:

- There doesn't appear to be provisions for park 'n' ride lots at the outer extremities of the network, though that could be a detail that we see come out later on. For commuters coming from St. Thomas, Strathroy, and other nearby communities this would be very useful.

- The "Strategic Corridor" routes (shown in green on the map) seem to miss large parts of the city where people live. Notable areas include Hyde Park, the entire SE quadrant of the city, Byron, and the Highbury north corridor. The "local" services from some of those areas are not adequate as it is (and there are currently plans to scale back service to Byron considerably), and people living in those areas are unlikely to use the rapid transit lines if they don't have reliable connections to the rapid transit stations.

[GreatTallNorth2]

Originally Posted by manny_santos

http://www.am980.ca/2015/11/04/64294/

The plan includes an underground section along Richmond Street. Overall it's a good plan but I have a couple minor criticisms:

- There doesn't appear to be provisions for park 'n' ride lots at the outer extremities of the network, though that could be a detail that we see come out later on. For commuters coming from St. Thomas, Strathroy, and other nearby communities this would be very useful.

- The "Strategic Corridor" routes (shown in green on the map) seem to miss large parts of the city where people live. Notable areas include Hyde Park, the entire SE quadrant of the city, Byron, and the Highbury north corridor. The "local" services from some of those areas are not adequate as it is (and there are currently plans to scale back service to Byron considerably), and people living in those areas are unlikely to use the rapid transit lines if they don't have reliable connections to the rapid transit stations.

Hey! It's Light Rail for London so I'm pretty excited.

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by manny_santos

http://www.am980.ca/2015/11/04/64294/

The plan includes an underground section along Richmond Street. Overall it's a good plan but I have a couple minor criticisms:

- There doesn't appear to be provisions for park 'n' ride lots at the outer extremities of the network, though that could be a detail that we see come out later on. For commuters coming from St. Thomas, Strathroy, and other nearby communities this would be very useful.

- The "Strategic Corridor" routes (shown in green on the map) seem to miss large parts of the city where people live. Notable areas include Hyde Park, the entire SE quadrant of the city, Byron, and the Highbury north corridor. The "local" services from some of those areas are not adequate as it is (and there are currently plans to scale back service to Byron considerably), and people living in those areas are unlikely to use the rapid transit lines if they don't have reliable connections to the rapid transit stations.

That looks good. Here is hoping the new Federal government will spend some of the infrastructure budget on this.

[go_leafs_go02]

Fantastic plan for my hometown. Think LRT will work in a really good context for London, ON.

[hipster duck]

Underground LRT through downtown London vs. at-grade for KW?

Sounds like KW and London are the Calgary and Edmonton of Southwestern Ontario. Their populations are about the same as Calgary and Edmonton were when they planned LRT back in the late '70s.

It would be funny to see if they face the same experiences that Calgary and Edmonton face now in 40 years' time.

[Taeolas]

I may be wrong (It's been a long time since I've been to KW or London, and I've never been to Calgary or Edmonton), but I suspect the main difference is that KW is more spread out compared to London; it effectively has 2 Downtowns to handle, while London is concentrated on its one core.

I'm sure in a few decades, KW will regret not burying their line right off the bat; but there do seem to be legit considerations for not doing so.

[MalcolmTucker]

The tunnel isn't downtown, it is on Richmond Street under the railways and near the hospital. Looks like one underground station:


Hybrid system $900 million


Full LRT system: $1.2 billion


London Employment Map


Evaluation Matrix

hosted: http://imgur.com/a/D3Jy4/all
from: https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/sh...6/2015-11-09_Staff_Report.PDF?1446664366

[MalcolmTucker]

Looking at the comparison chart, is it really worth $600 million to save 90 seconds? (Base BRT vs. Hybrid LRT), around 800,000 commuting hours a year. That is valuing all user time as capturable at $25 an hour.

[eemy]

Perhaps if you're only looking at LRT as a means of commuting.

[MalcolmTucker]

$600 million could buy a whole lot of non LRT urban regeneration and would have just as high if not higher immediate economic impact.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by manny_santos

http://www.am980.ca/2015/11/04/64294/

The plan includes an underground section along Richmond Street. Overall it's a good plan but I have a couple minor criticisms:

- There doesn't appear to be provisions for park 'n' ride lots at the outer extremities of the network, though that could be a detail that we see come out later on. For commuters coming from St. Thomas, Strathroy, and other nearby communities this would be very useful.

- The "Strategic Corridor" routes (shown in green on the map) seem to miss large parts of the city where people live. Notable areas include Hyde Park, the entire SE quadrant of the city, Byron, and the Highbury north corridor. The "local" services from some of those areas are not adequate as it is (and there are currently plans to scale back service to Byron considerably), and people living in those areas are unlikely to use the rapid transit lines if they don't have reliable connections to the rapid transit stations.

That report seems to understate both the likely cost and the likely contribution required of the City.

[GreatTallNorth2]

The tunnel in London's proposal goes from Victoria Park north past Richmond. For those who know the area, this street can be very congested, especially with freight trains criss crossing and holding up traffic.

To me this is a game changing plan for London. London has dithered for so many years, but now with a pro-transit city council, provincial and federal gov't, the time to build is now. The province and feds will not always be there supporting transit, but right now they are and so London is asking for it's fair share just like every other Ontario city has asked for and received. For once, I can say I am proud to be a Londoner.

[rbt]

Originally Posted by manny_santos

- There doesn't appear to be provisions for park 'n' ride lots at the outer extremities of the network, though that could be a detail that we see come out later on. For commuters coming from St. Thomas, Strathroy, and other nearby communities this would be very useful.

Congestion in London isn't really a thing yet. What takes 15 minutes off-peak probably takes 17 minutes during peak through the core.

Nobody is transferring out of their car for LRT/Bus for a few more decades.

[Nouvellecosse]

^ Must be nice!

[Beedok]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

Underground LRT through downtown London vs. at-grade for KW?

Sounds like KW and London are the Calgary and Edmonton of Southwestern Ontario. Their populations are about the same as Calgary and Edmonton were when they planned LRT back in the late '70s.

It would be funny to see if they face the same experiences that Calgary and Edmonton face now in 40 years' time.

I wish Hamilton had had the foresight of Calgary and Edmonton and built something all those years ago.

[GreatTallNorth2]

Originally Posted by MalcolmTucker

$600 million could buy a whole lot of non LRT urban regeneration and would have just as high if not higher immediate economic impact.

The province & feds are giving money to municipalities for transit so that is why London came to the table with this plan. ShiftLondon is the name of the city's rapid transit planning department and they have held multiple public sessions and meetings to get the public's input.

So to answer your comment, I don't think there is an option for some random non specific "urban generation". As a Londoner, I am very happy that this is the proposal.

As far as what the city's investment will be, there has been constant communication between the city and province regarding London's plan so it's not pie in the sky. And when Trudeau campaigned in London, he mentioned that his government would be investing in rapid transit in London.

[jigglysquishy]

London becomes the 10th CMA to have firm RT plans. Quebec not having anything planned is looking odder and odder.

Saskatoon is likely to join with 18 months and Victoria always seems to be a year away.

After that Niagara Falls and Halifax are the biggest metros without RT plans.