Regina Construction III

[HomeInMyShoes]

^That is a valid point, although Quebec and Winnipeg went the BRT route with their planning. Whether one services better or not I'm not sure, but Ottawa's transitway when I lived there worked quite well for me.

There is no reason -- other than priorities -- why we couldn't have the plans for what form mass transit might take in the city when we get to 500,000 people. Right now there are pretty obvious routes that could be chosen and those routes might get more difficult to integrate (thinking the railyards and Ring Road areas where there is space for lines.) Regina could make a splash with a couple of reasonably short lines and a few stations working as bus collector points. I don't think it is economically going to work, but transit in general is not economically working at Regina's density and population either so there's a cost comparison that could be done to see what the real value is or isn't.

[HomeInMyShoes]

Regina's total capital project budget is about $40 million dollars this year (apparently.)

[bomberjet]

Winnipeg doesn't have the balls to go for funding on a $1.7B project because a.) we'll get laughed out of Ottawa so fast, it would hurt; and b.) we can't afford to pay our share of that. Winnipeg hardly get's approved for basic grade separations, never mind a multi-billion dollar LRT system.

This has been discussed at nausea and the best chance of getting any type of RT system in Winnipeg is by bus. All the BRT design geometry allows for future conversion. Which will likely never happen, buts it possible.

[bomberjet]

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

Regina's total capital project budget is about $40 million dollars this year (apparently.)

How much was it last year? That is insanely low...

[HomeInMyShoes]

^Well that is capital projects. So new stuff. I think I read $32 million from the budget I was reading, but it is such a retarded budget. So much fluff. Just show me the numbers.

I get like that.

It should also be noted that that is general capital projects in which transit seems to lie. I don't believe it is all capital projects. Although I haven't been able to find that table in the budget which is like 220 pages long. So many gigagntic fluffy pictures. So unusable as a document.

[bomberjet]

Winnipeg's capital budget this year is approaching $1B. $40M seems waaaaay low.

[HomeInMyShoes]

Okay I found some more tables in the document. Good grief its a pretty document, but difficult to find any summary numbers.

Transit's general budget is about $36 million this year. There's some money to new scheduling sofware and fleet maintenance facility as well. Total of about $40 million.

[bomberjet]

Ahh, okay. Transit budget. Makes way more sense!! Thanks.

[Stormer]

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

Okay I found some more tables in the document. Good grief its a pretty document, but difficult to find any summary numbers.

Transit's general budget is about $36 million this year. There's some money to new scheduling sofware and fleet maintenance facility as well. Total of about $40 million.

This is the operating budget. As I said, the capital budget is likely well under $10 million, although they are spending $28 million over 5 years on a bus garage.

I agree that the budget document is ridiculous. It is all about obscuring information with their "message" rather than providing information. Expenditures are going up 5.4% despite a 1.9% inflation rate.

There appears to be no break out of transit capital costs. It looks like the fleet capital costs are lumped in with other City vehicles.

[HomeInMyShoes]

No I think they did lump out the transit. Page 157 shows General Expenditures for Transit which would be operating. Fleet is the city fleet vehicles and would not include buses, although who knows with the layout of this. They talk about stop improvements, but I haven't found any numbers for it. Just the fleet shed and some software so far.

[HomeInMyShoes]

The improvements to transit shelters are buried in the Maintenance Services category which includes operational and recreational buildings.

Ugh this budget makes me want to say "Hi!" to city council.

Originally Posted by Budget City of Regina

Key Deliverables in 2016
• A universal bus pass (U-Pass) will be launched in 2016. This will allow students at the University of Regina to have a
reduced rate when riding the bus and give them unlimited access to the bus service while attending school. This will
introduce some new services that will enhance the transit system.
• Stop announcements on buses will be installed allowing individuals with difficulties, including those with low vision, to
navigate the transit system with ease.
• There will be an addition of two buses to the Paratransit fleet to respond to increasing demands for use

Budget - City of Regina
the link to the document is on this page, it is from the city's FTP site

[Stormer]

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

No I think they did lump out the transit. Page 157 shows General Expenditures for Transit which would be operating. Fleet is the city fleet vehicles and would not include buses, although who knows with the layout of this. They talk about stop improvements, but I haven't found any numbers for it. Just the fleet shed and some software so far.

I read it as 'Fleet" costs includes civic, transit and fire.

[one_brick_at_a_time]

What do you think the next big construction project downtown will be?

[Stormer]

Originally Posted by one_brick_at_a_time

What do you think the next big construction project downtown will be?

Cornwall Centre expansion/reno including a new main entrance...or maybe the Namerind towers on Lorne and 11th.

[BrutallyDishonest2]

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

^That is a valid point, although Quebec and Winnipeg went the BRT route with their planning. Whether one services better or not I'm not sure, but Ottawa's transitway when I lived there worked quite well for me.

There is no reason -- other than priorities -- why we couldn't have the plans for what form mass transit might take in the city when we get to 500,000 people. Right now there are pretty obvious routes that could be chosen and those routes might get more difficult to integrate (thinking the railyards and Ring Road areas where there is space for lines.) Regina could make a splash with a couple of reasonably short lines and a few stations working as bus collector points. I don't think it is economically going to work, but transit in general is not economically working at Regina's density and population either so there's a cost comparison that could be done to see what the real value is or isn't.

The best thing that could happen to Regina would be for all of the train lines to be forced out of the city. Then all of that space converted to BRT/LRT.

Or in other words, ain't ever gonna happen.

[BrutallyDishonest2]

Originally Posted by Stormer

Cornwall Centre expansion/reno including a new main entrance...or maybe the Namerind towers on Lorne and 11th.

I'd almost bet on SGI being more likely than Namerind.

The bigger change is when Sears abandons Regina in the near future...

[Nathan]

Originally Posted by BrutallyDishonest2

I'd almost bet on SGI being more likely than Namerind.

The bigger change is when Sears abandons Regina in the near future...

I could be wrong, but I thought I remembered hearing that Regina is one of the few markets they are actually profitable in. They're cutting down other non-retail operations of course, but the retail could last for a while as long as the parent company doesn't go under (if I am remembering what I read correctly).

And yes... wouldn't be too surprised for the SGI possibility to be resurrected following the election. That building still need a lot of work regardless.

Namerind could happen sooner rather than later as well though. Depending on how the federal government approaches their housing/infrastructure spending initiatives, Namerind could end up getting some help where none was really available before. Very up in the air though.



And I'd still count Capital Pointe progressing all the way through to construction as a possible "next big construction project" as well... Still sceptical enough that if it actually finished, I would be just as happy as if there was some other new announcement. That corner/side of downtown needs it.

[BrutallyDishonest2]

Originally Posted by Nathan

I could be wrong, but I thought I remembered hearing that Regina is one of the few markets they are actually profitable in. They're cutting down other non-retail operations of course, but the retail could last for a while as long as the parent company doesn't go under (if I am remembering what I read correctly).

All I'll say is that you should expect at least one Sears retail location to disappear in 2016, if not more.

[Drofmab]

Originally Posted by BrutallyDishonest2

The best thing that could happen to Regina would be for all of the train lines to be forced out of the city. Then all of that space converted to BRT/LRT.

Or in other words, ain't ever gonna happen.

Agree with both points. Bus Rapid Transit makes way more sense for Regina (locking the city into specific LRT routes is problematic)... BRT is a flexible option that works really well... As previously mentioned, Ottawa's BRT (the Transitway) works ridiculously well. It is used by every demographic from working poor, to students, to executives. No stigma to transit use whatsoever in Ottawa.

In Regina? Bigtime stigmas - partially because transit definitely takes more time for 95% of users than driving would. In Ottawa, transit is quicker than cars for at least 60-80% of users. Going from the east end of the city to west, might be quicker by car - but anyone going downtown, or north/south will save time.

[Drofmab]

Originally Posted by bugsey

Bank of Nova Scotia Main Branch at 11th and Hamilton has been telling employees that they will be relocating one block south on Hamilton. At one point in time, there were 50 employees in Main Branch. Now they are down to less than two dozen.

Is there enough space for a relocated and downsized Scotiabank Main Branch?

Makes sense. Feds have been consolidating to the (federally-owned) Alvin Hamilton Building over the past two years. The building is quite full right now. Still some vacancy, but it would only take a couple additional Depts/Agencies to fill it up.

The 1st floor Scotiabank space would benefit from a federal tenant which directly serves clients - for example Passport Canada (which now reports to Service Canada... Alvin Hamilton's primary tenant).