The Great Canadian Transit Thread

[megadude]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Popular place for 18-wheelers.

That's about as industrial as a major intersection can get. Not far up Dixie at Steeles I once missed my GO train to work at Bramalea station because one of those trucks stalled right in the middle of the intersection.

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by megadude

I'm not a rail geek and don't care much about the actual VIA, GO or TTC trains I see everyday. But for some reason, I am interested in the GO stations. Not the station house itself as most are boring, but rather the size and number of parking lots (north, south, overflow), surroundings (industrial, residential, town, forest) and features unique to each station.

I've been taking the GO for 10 years now from four different home stations, being Bramalea, Port Credit, Appleby and Oakville. But I've also taken the train from or to a total of 23 stations for various reasons (car work, visiting people, work purposes, checking houses with realtor, TFC games, fell asleep and missed my stop, train operator didn't open doors on our coach and then left before doing so).

I'm sure there are rail geeks that have gotten off at every stop, whether it's the GO, TTC or whatever transit system. I'm not at that level but I recently thought of jotting down the stations I've been to and putting it on a map. Has anyone else done the same? How many stations have you been to?

This map I used is an old one so a few stations are missing (Acton, Guelph, Kitchener St. Catharines, Niagara, Allendale). This version just looks better.

There are other stations I've been to to pick up or drop someone off or just happened to pass by. My favourite stations are:

Port Credit, Oakville, Streetsville, Acton, Markham and Brampton for their town like settings. Though some can run out of parking due to size constraints.

Appleby, Bronte, Meadowvale, Rutherford for having huge lots surrounded by more modern industrial. First two in particular there's never a danger of not getting a space. Same with Bramalea.

Long Branch and Erindale for being along the woods and rivers.

Pickering I just find interesting because of the pedestrian bridge as seen in pic below.

I dislike:

Bramealea, Malton, Etobicoke North (especially this one) and Clarkson for uglier industrial surroundings.

I'm curious about the number of parking spaces for each station too and how many multi-storey parking garages have been built now. A number of them max out at 6 storey and cover quite a few acres.

[megadude]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

I'm curious about the number of parking spaces for each station too and how many multi-storey parking garages have been built now. A number of them max out at 6 storey and cover quite a few acres.

Some small stations like King City, Long Branch, Mimico, Markham, etc. are completely full by like 8am if not earlier.

I drove to King City early in the morning once so that I could take that line in to Union so after work I could come back up to King and hit the cottage straight after. Save at least an hour during the cottage rush. I got the very last spot available.

Port Credit's lot is not small but it's not big either. It has that narrow lot as well at the bottom left of this map:

https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.5555408,-79.5864971,590m/data=!3m1!1e3

There is basically no chance to expand. And it's full by 8am I'd guess. It's surrounded by nice and well maintained apt. buildings and by million dollar homes.

A parking garage would have been ideal for this location but nowhere to put it. And a new one would basically take up the entire main lot.

I remember the sh*t people had to go through when garages were being built and Erindale and Clarkson. All that parking temporarily gone meant tonnes of people had to use the next station over for a long time.

And the one at Burlington has apparently been a debacle.


Milton is in need of a garage too. Fast growing community and only one station. And it's surrounded by grocery store and industrial. I could potentially see Metrolinx buying out some of that industrial property to expand.

Other options are to open up a brand new station, maybe around Tremaine, but that will knock down some green space. Or seriously expand Lisgar Stn. in Sauga to the east when the time comes.

https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.5242462,-79.8683583,772m/data=!3m1!1e3

[Doady]

Downtown Port Credit is a transit hub and future terminus of LRT. Last thing the place needs is more parking. If anything, those parking lots should be redeveloped when the LRT is constructed. Any parking lot directly adjacent to an LRT station in a historic downtown area is unacceptable.

[megadude]

Originally Posted by Doady

Downtown Port Credit is a transit hub and future terminus of LRT. Last thing the place needs is more parking. If anything, those parking lots should be redeveloped when the LRT is constructed. Any parking lot directly adjacent to an LRT station in a historic downtown area is unacceptable.

Forgot about that LRT. It's apparently going to terminate underground at Port credit.

Up hurontario Cooksville station also fills up by a certain time.

I propose they build a parking garage right over the credit river with underwater tunnel entrance and exit.

[megadude]

By the way. My friend had a meeting downtown at the time erindale parking garage was being built. He arrived to a full lot so he risked it and parked at no frills plaza. He came back later that day to find his car missing. Cost $250 to get it back. They're always watching...

[Innsertnamehere]

I believe GO has 10 garages right now, with another 8 planned. One of the existing ones, West Harbour, is really small though, and one of the expansion ones, Kitchener, will only be a few hundred spaces from my understanding. All the other ones are 1,000 or so space behemoths.

Existing:
Whitby
Ajax
Pickering
Clarkson
Oakville
Burlington
Erindale
Aurora
Centennial
West Harbour

Future:
Port Credit
Cooksville
Bramalea
Rutherford
Maple
Bloomington
Kitchener
Unionville

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

I believe GO has 10 garages right now, with another 7 planned. One of the existing ones, West Harbour, is really small though, and one of the expansion ones, Kitchener, will only be a few hundred spaces from my understanding. All the other ones are 1,000 or so space behemoths.

IIRC, are there not capacity issues at the GO stations with the large garages? I'm thinking Pickering/Ajax/etc. didn't have enough spaces and were overflowing. Think it was mentioned here previously.

[Doady]

Originally Posted by megadude

Forgot about that LRT. It's apparently going to terminate underground at Port credit.

Up hurontario Cooksville station also fills up by a certain time.

I propose they build a parking garage right over the credit river with underwater tunnel entrance and exit.

I think with garage at Clarkson for the drivers, Port Credit can just be for local transit riders.

I don't mind them building a garage at Cooksville if they remove surface parking there. That could be the busiest LRT station of all one day.

But yeah not a lot of space left at Port Credit, building a parking garage seems like a waste.

[lrt's friend]

With the implementation of more frequent and all day Go Service, are Go station-local transit connections being improved so fewer people are dependant on using adjacent parking lots?

[megadude]

Even though Port Credit has the small downtown feel, I wouldn't rule out the potential for a parking garage on an adjacent lots. There's already a parking garage for an apartment right across the street. It's four levels.

https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.5567853,-...1va3jPAaPaVj-2HNo6smQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656


This patch of land could be the obvious place to start as there are four small houses on it. I guess it would take a few mil to buy these people out.

https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.556189,-79.5836865,202m/data=!3m1!1e3

The area is already surrounded by apartments and new condos (across Hurontario) that would almost all be taller than the garage.

This would not be ideal for these residents of the immediate area, but it could be a losing battle for them.

Mind you, I don't know what the plans for the LRT are here so maybe that piece of land is already spoken for.


Many residents of DT Burlington currently have "Higher is not a solution" signs on their lawns to express their displeasure with the new condos that have and are being built. Some are right on Lakeshore. Not sure how effective their pushback will be.

[megadude]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

With the implementation of more frequent and all day Go Service, are Go station-local transit connections being improved so fewer people are dependant on using adjacent parking lots?

I hope so. And I hope all lines eventually get weekend train service to alleviate the volume of cars coming down the 404/DVP especially. Then again, people love their cars so it wouldn't have as much of an impact as we'd like.

[megadude]

Originally Posted by Doady

I think with garage at Clarkson for the drivers, Port Credit can just be for local transit riders.

I don't mind them building a garage at Cooksville if they remove surface parking there. That could be the busiest LRT station of all one day.

But yeah not a lot of space left at Port Credit, building a parking garage seems like a waste.

Ya Cooksville GO is not an attractive area anyway. I wouldn't care if they put up a garage.

This commercial lot with LCBO, Beer Store, Used auto dealer would be the easiest spot. But that land owner ain't gonna give away the land so we'll see what happens.

https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Cooksvi...50df3f3378b!8m2!3d43.582973!4d-79.623695


Fabricland building to the NE would be great too.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

A positive movement from UBC today, they are now considering to help fund the second phase of the Millennium Line subway extension to the campus.

Phase one (now fully funded, expected to start construction next year) is 6 KM in length and will terminate at Arbutus.

The second phase (to complete the line out to UBC) is another 7+ KM.

Apparently there is a desire to have the second phase open as early as 3 years after phase one opens (phase one 2025, phase two 2028).

Fun facts, this would make the Millennium line 43KM in length and the Skytrain system 93KM in total.

Glad to hear it! Millennium extension seems border line useless if it doesn't go to UBC. I imagine that even once phase 1 opens, the majority of the ridership will be from UBC.

[p_xavier]

Laval proposal for metro/REM extensions. A new REM line is talked about by the premier.

https://youtu.be/UK22_wfSyRY

[GreaterMontréal]

Originally Posted by d_jeffrey

Laval proposal for metro/REM extensions. A new REM line is talked about by the premier.

https://youtu.be/UK22_wfSyRY

they should do both.

[nname]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

Fun facts, this would make the Millennium line 43KM in length and the Skytrain system 93KM in total.

Actually that will make the line 38km... The section between Lougheed and Columbia is no longer Millennium Line but is included in the total

[gunnar777]

Originally Posted by d_jeffrey

Laval proposal for metro/REM extensions. A new REM line is talked about by the premier.

https://youtu.be/UK22_wfSyRY

Um, why does neither option have a connection to the existing metro in Laval?

[p_xavier]

Originally Posted by gunnar777

Um, why does neither option have a connection to the existing metro in Laval?

It should since it's so close by but it's from the city not the planning authority.

The REM construction planning for the next two years is out: https://rem.info/sites/default/files/document/Technical-briefing-work-REM-2018-2019.pdf

[gunnar777]

Originally Posted by d_jeffrey

It should since it's so close by but it's from the city not the planning authority.

The REM construction planning for the next two years is out: https://rem.info/sites/default/files/document/Technical-briefing-work-REM-2018-2019.pdf

I know Laval's former mayor had been calling for a loop link from Montmorency to Côte-Vertu basically since the Laval extension opened, and I imagine most Lavalois will be calling for that, whether by metro or REM. Good news in any case.