Rapid Transit

[thistleclub]

Brampton mayor tries to reverse her LRT vote
(Toronto Star, San Grewal, Oct 28 2015)

Hours after Brampton Mayor Linda Jeffrey surprised everyone by voting to kill an LRT route that she had backed for months, on Wednesday morning she tried to reverse her vote.

“I made a mistake,” Jeffrey said before lunch at a council meeting. Her failed attempt to change her recorded vote would not have changed the outcome of the light rail transit decision, which passed 7-4. Jeffrey said she simply wanted to show that the vote should have been 6-5, with her on the losing side, instead of in support of the decision to kill the Main St. option....

Asked after her vote by reporters, why she supported killing the Main St. option in favour of a possible alternative route, Jeffrey said she wanted to “make sure that we still have transit on the table.”

But later Wednesday morning, at the regularly scheduled council meeting, she said, “It was my intention to support the LRT on Main St., I said so publicly.”

Jeffrey said she did not read the motion properly.

“It was a very long night and I didn't read all of the motion.”

But some councillors who have not supported Jeffrey on the LRT issue showed little sympathy when she asked to “adjust the vote I made.”

Councillor Elaine Moore pointed out that Jeffrey had already publicly explained why she chose to support killing the Main St. option.

“If you made a wrong decision, well, then you just have to live with it,” said Councillor John Sprovieri. “It's up to you to justify it to whomever it is that is criticizing you.”

After council voted to reject Jeffrey's motion to try to alter her vote, the mayor apologized to each member who had supported her on the LRT issue for months and voted against killing the Main St. option. She addressed each of them by name.

“I'm sorry.”

She then expressed her disappointment over council's refusal to let her change her vote.

“I'm sad that this council wouldn't have shown me that courtesy.”


Read it in full here.

[matt602]

I feel that we should get top priority on this money after Brampton to restore the original, lost part of the B-Line LRT back to Eastgate. We've been planning it that way for years now and submitted it to Metrolinx as our official plan. They only cut it back this year when they decided to swing it up to the West Harbour GO. I still think that cutting the Eastgate Square terminal out of the LRT route is majorly compromising its ridership potential.

[Jon Dalton]

With the money Brampton turned down they could extend our LRT past Eastgate to the Centennial GO station.

[markbarbera]

To clarify, Brampton council has voted down the proposed route it takes into Brampton. They did not vote against LRT, they voted against the proposed route. Those who voted against the route want to plan the route to follow a different path which they believe will spur more growth for the city.

[SteelTown]

Queen's Park gave Brampton a deadline until the end of this month to make a decision. With no decision the money will be returned to the province. So it looks like Brampton lost it all.

If Brampton didn't like the Main St route they should've spoken earlier, at least before the Environmental Assessment.

[Jon Dalton]

Hmm the article said the LRT will end at Steeles Ave. Could this be like the stadium debate where they keep getting extensions to decide where to put the LRT? I don't think they'll want to wait very long as Kathleen Wynne is anxious to get this money spent before a new government has the change to reneg.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Yeah, this sounds awfully familiar.

It appears the mayor has suffered some sort of Bratina-eque brainfart. There does seem to be support for LRT in Brampton, however, so let's hope they get their act together in time. Let's not forget where we were not so long ago - many in the region calling for Hamilton to forfeit its right to that dough...

[CaptainKirk]

What happens to surplus LRT funds?

We reached out to Anne-Marie Aikens of Metrolinx for this article, and can provide this response:

It is disappointing that Council did not support the work that had been completed over the past six years by Brampton, Mississauga and Metrolinx.

We respect Council's decision and will revise the scope of the project so that the northern terminus is at Steeles Avenue. Funds that would have been provided to the segment of the project north of Steeles Avenue will be returned to the Province's Moving Ontario Fund.

Our objective remains to begin construction in 2018 and begin service by the end of 2022. Immediate next steps include retaining an Owner's Engineer and Technical Advisor to help move the project forward

.

http://www.raisethehammer.org/articl...d_hamilton_lrt

[thistleclub]

Originally Posted by Jon Dalton

Hmm the article said the LRT will end at Steeles Ave. Could this be like the stadium debate where they keep getting extensions to decide where to put the LRT? I don't think they'll want to wait very long as Kathleen Wynne is anxious to get this money spent before a new government has the change to reneg.

Another extenuating factor is Mayor Jeffrey's service to the OLP as a cabinet minister for her last three years in office (she was Chair of cabinet as well as Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing during Wynne's tenure). For all the high-minded branding, Metrolinx is ultimately an MTO sock puppet, so partisan allegiances do (see also Liberal MP-turned-Mississauga mayor Bonnie Crombie). We're about 30 months from writs being issued for the 2018 election, and once that happens, cabinet goes into cryostasis, so presumably you'd want ground broken by that point.

[thmx]

CBC Hamilton: City passes new rules to limit parking lots, drive thrus on LRT route

City wants to make sure developments make the most of LRT's potential


City Council voted Wednesday night to enact an interim control bylaw that would restrict the types of developments along
the LRT line.


Oct 28, 2015

The city has a vision of the sort of development it wants to see along the LRT corridor – and it doesn't include parking lots.

Councillors passed an interim control bylaw for the LRT route Wednesday night, which would limit developments along it that aren't conducive to the city's LRT vision during the lead up to the transit system being built.

That includes things like gas stations, drive-thrus, and single-family homes on parcels of land that could house more lucrative developments.

"Do we really want a DQ drive thru where an eight-storey mixed use space should be with an LRT stop?" Ward 2 Coun. Jason Farr said.

The city says it wants the right projects to be built along the King Street corridor — namely, not ones that focus on car traffic. The ideal is a multi-storey condo or apartment building with businesses on the ground floor.

Back in August, Jason Thorne, general manager of planning and economic development, told CBC News that developers were already approaching the city and wanting to build along the route.

Not every councillor was on board about the motion – councillors Chad Collins, Brenda Johnson and Judi Partridge opposed it, and said they were worried that people on the line weren't being given adequate notice.

"The fact is, we're not even communicating with even a simple letter," Collins said.

But Coun. Matthew Green said he "wasn't sure where the panic comes from" about the plan. "This is a planning tool – this isn't a fast move that's being made," he said.

Staff told council that people or companies that are looking to develop on the line but can't are able to appeal to city hall.

The transit line itself will run along King Street from McMaster University to the Queenston traffic circle. A 2.3-kilometre A-line will run from King Street to the waterfront, and a three-kilometre track will connect the main line to the Wentworth maintenance facility.

The city will also build a pedestrian walkway from the Hunter GO station to the MacNab transit terminal.

[mishap]

I have to know: why do we need a walkway from the GO station to MacNab Terminal? To catch the mountain buses that are going to be stopping on James St right outside the GO station anyway? Or to access the B-Line LRT and Jackson Square, which can be reached via Hughson and the newly-pedestrianized Gore Park?

And won't this walkway become redundant with a north-south line anyway? There would likely be A-Line stops at Hunter and King for those who couldn't just walk up Hughson. Furthermore, won't such a line pretty much reduce or eliminate the need for MacNab Terminal itself? If there were a proper north-south line to bring people up and down the escarpment, few mountain buses (or maybe just the Jolley Cut routes) would be required to come in to the lower city. MacNab Terminal is really just a sign that our transit system isn't where it needs to be yet.

Has anybody even said what will happen to the unfinished Hunter St bike lane if this walkway gets built? It would be nice to see this route across the core completed.

I feel worse about the LRT plans as they drag on. It seems the current planning trend is to follow up a bad concept with another costly plan to justify it.

[coalminecanary]

we never ever should have built that macnab terminal, we should have used the TRANSIT STATION WE ALREADY HAD as the HSR terminal. Y'know, the underutilized art deco train station with bus bays and washrooms.... UGHHHHHH

[HillStreetBlues]

Originally Posted by coalminecanary

we never ever should have built that macnab terminal, we should have used the TRANSIT STATION WE ALREADY HAD as the HSR terminal. Y'know, the underutilized art deco train station with bus bays and washrooms.... UGHHHHHH

If you run for council, you'll have my vote.

I hadn't had occasion to go to the Hunter terminal for a long while until the other week, when I had to bring a few of my leftover HSR tickets and a bunch of nickels and dimes (I finally got to nickel and dime them...but the cashier didn't appreciate the joke as fully as I had hoped). It's a beautiful building, and sufficient size to accommodate a lot of our transit needs. It's a real shame it's underutilized, and I believe it is: all of MacNab's traffic could and should use Hunter instead.

[SteelTown]

Something like this from the 1982 rapid transit plan for the Hunter GO Station could work.



Though I'd only have maybe the most 4 levels, 2nd level all for HSR and the rest for parking.

[mishap]

Originally Posted by coalminecanary

we never ever should have built that macnab terminal, we should have used the TRANSIT STATION WE ALREADY HAD as the HSR terminal. Y'know, the underutilized art deco train station with bus bays and washrooms.... UGHHHHHH

That would have required extensive work, as city buses require pull-in pull-out bays. Still, not impossible. We could have probably built 12-16 bus bays (depending on size) along both curbs of Hunter Street, leaving the back of the building for intercity services.

[Beedok]

Okay, I remember that Chateau Royale took forever to build, but did they really start the planning in the 80s?

[bigguy1231]

Originally Posted by Beedok

Okay, I remember that Chateau Royale took forever to build, but did they really start the planning in the 80s?

It was the Alexandria Square until the 90's. An office complex. There is no way this drawing is from the early 80's. Having said that it still looks like a good idea.

[SteelTown]

I hope when they restore the City Motor Hotel sign it'll look something like this at the future transit station.

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

First full look at Calgary's new Tuscany Station. The first station on the outside of the Stoney Trail Ring Highway, though not the farthest station from downtown.



Eamons Camp by Chadillaccc, on Flickr

[markbarbera]

This scathing column on the new Edmonton LRT line should be required reading for anyone at Metrolinx planning out LRT for Hamilton.

http://news.nationalpost.com/full-co...ases-emissions

We really need to learn from Edmonton's experience. I am particularly concerned because, thus far, preliminary design elements for Hamilton's A-Line are hauntingly similar to what Edmonton has put in place. There is a lesson-learned opportunity here that I hope Hamilton does not squander.

[Jon Dalton]

Wow that looks truly awful. It seems like the problem is a broken by design signalling system. I never imagined transit priority signalling could be done worse than it is on the TTC.