The Great Canadian Transit Thread

[Doady]

Transit lines aren't very useful in isolation. A TTC that only served the old city or an STM that was just the metro would not be as competitive with cars or Uber or whatever, so the ridership and revenue loss would be greater than you'd think. All those transit riders from the further out contribute to fare revenues at downtown subway/metro stations too.

That's why I think cost recovery ratio is a very overrated statistic. The TTC had much higher cost-recovery (over 80%) during the Mike Harris years than it does now. Even Mississauga Transit had 62% cost recovery as well. Cost recovery ratios all across Ontario started to decline when Dalton McGuinty became premier. If you like high cost recovery so much maybe you will get your wish thanks to Doug Ford.

[Reecemartin]

Most of the rail systems in isolation would fund themselves, however, they are all fed by the bus networks, so isolation is a fantasy.

[Reecemartin]

Edmonton LRT System Flyover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1jSAlNOXzo&feature=youtu.be

[ClaytonA]

https://obj.ca/article/ottawa-council-tu...ntract-schedule-unaffected-says-planning

Contract award pushed to 2019, in the ground still in 2019.

... Ottawa is stuck with what’s known as a “lame duck” council until the new term begins.

This means city council, which doesn’t turn over until Dec. 1, can’t vote on anything worth more than $50,000. That includes the second phase of the LRT expansion ...

the delay in voting shouldn’t hold up breaking ground on the project. Once the contract is approved, he says it will take a couple months for the deal to close, after which they will be “ready to go almost immediately” for some of the investigative and critical infrastructure work.

By the middle of 2019, he says Ottawa residents can expect to see some of the major construction activities ...

[ClaytonA]

More Calgary Purple Max photos (SE BRT)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ferreth/

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by Reecemartin

Most of the rail systems in isolation would fund themselves, however, they are all fed by the bus networks, so isolation is a fantasy.

This is why American rail systems often have poor ridership. The bus networks that feed them are often terrible and rail dependent on park n ride lots. For many, if you have drive part of the way (to a park n ride lot), why not make the entire trip by car.

[Coldrsx]

A massive announcement for Edmonton.

Alberta commits $1.04-billion to Edmonton's west Valley Line LRT expansion

The province is investing $1.04-billion in Edmonton’s west Valley Line LRT expansion, marking a 40 per cent stake in the massive transit project.

The cash comes from carbon revenue through the province’s climate leadership plan, said Premier Rachel Notley at a Thursday news conference held at the Lewis Farms Transit Centre in the city’s west end.

“There are some folks out there who want us to cancel our climate leadership plan,” Notley said, adding construction on the $2.6-billion line would stop if that happened.

The line, which includes a 14-kilometre extension from 102 Street downtown to Lewis Farms, is slated to be complete in 2027-28. It’s the second phase of the 27-kilometre Valley Line set to operate between Mill Woods in southeast Edmonton and Lewis Farms.


www.edmonton.ca

https://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-n...edmontons-west-valley-line-lrt-expansion

[ClaytonA]

Gov't of Alberta announcement: https://www.alberta.ca/release.cfm?xID=619261EB43F14-AA9B-AF5E-D7D0A00C87891D3C

What will a change in provincial government do to these two projects (Edmonton West, Metro Blatchford Extension) and Calgary's Green Line? From the Edmonton Journal link above;

... Opposition house leader Jason Nixon said the project would stand if the UCP is elected to government next election.

“(UCP Leader) Jason Kenney has also been extremely clear existing projects that have already been approved … would continue under our government,” he told reporters. ...

Right. As Ontario's about to experience, it's a lot easier to cut planned infrastructure spending for something people don't benefit from yet than healthcare and education. Here's hoping they don't flip flop.


From the project website; https://www.edmonton.ca/projects_plans/transit/valley-line-west.aspx

...Once additional funding is secured, it is anticipated it would take about one year to select a contractor and another five to six years to complete construction. ...

[SpongeG]

Is German FlixBus the fix for Canada's bus woes?

With Greyhound's service cuts, a new European carrier looks to jump into Canada’s bus market

James Dunne · CBC News · Nov 1, 2018


FlixBus's flashy lime green buses could be coming to Canada, the company's CEO says. FlixBus launched in the U.S. earlier this year. (Julie Bergonz)

For many, the signature silver dog of Greyhound is the symbol of bus travel.

But that iconic image might be replaced by a more colourful logo if the European bus line FlixBus gets access to Canada's intercity bus markets.

FlixBus runs lime green buses that have a pair of orange arrows emblazoned on their sides. It launched U.S. operations in California, Nevada and Arizona earlier this year, to go along with its service in 28 other countries.

Mexico and Canada are next "on the rough agenda," said CEO and co-founder André Schwammlein, "for 2019, 2020 latest."

"I have to be able to make it in North America," he said. "I mean, otherwise I will never be able to call myself a global brand."

...

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/greyhou...ABWDfSPfIjtfTX1ppSQ5Bqd-x7WovdwtbfSIUijo

[Coldrsx]

Edmonton

1978-2013 (35 years): #YEG built 24.3KM of LRT.

2013-2018 (5 years): we secured funding to build 27KM of LRT.

[Metro-One]

Will it all be at grade though?

[Coldrsx]

Most. It is a low-floor version, but elevated over a few key intersections.

[Metro-One]

That is too bad to hear. So at grade through downtown?

[Coldrsx]

Low-floor and that's fine.

[ssiguy]

I sure hope they don`t make a mess of the lights and stops like they did on the Metro line.

[Coldrsx]

That was high-floor LRT with a system from the 70s melding with one from the 2016s.

[Metro-One]

Originally Posted by Coldrsx

Low-floor and that's fine.

But at over a million now one would think that grade separation, especially through downtown, would be a better choice.

Calgary seems to be going in the right direction now with their Green Line downtown subway segment.

Also we may be less than a week away from the official cancellation of the Surrey LRT. New mayor wants to build Skytrain to Langley instead. The mayor of Vancouver said he also supports this choice and will help Surrey, and Justin Trudeau just said that the feds will support either choice. So got my fingers crossed that we may have just narrowly dodged the LRT bullet again in the Vancouver area.

[MalcolmTucker]

Edmonton is spending less for more length. Their investment in tunnels for the first stage has never paid off.

[Metro-One]

Originally Posted by MalcolmTucker

Edmonton is spending less for more length. Their investment in tunnels for the first stage has never paid off.

Seems odd to me, what is length worth without reliability, frequency, and speed? Just seems shortsighted IMO. I hope they at least have a plan in the future to bury the line akin to Calgary’s existing at grade downtown portion.

Was happy to also see Ottawa build the Confederation Line correctly.

[Doady]

Length isn't everything, otherwise just build BRT instead of LRT.

In 2013, with 24km of light rail, Edmonton had 14% higher light rail ridership than Dallas (150km), 565% higher than Charlotte (31km), 90% higher than St. Louis (74km), 145% higher than Sacramento (69km), and 75% higher than Salt Lake City (72km).