Canadian LRT/RT projects U/C

[J.OT13]

We've heard this before, at least three times since August last year, and several more times over the last 5 years. But I'm fairly confident this is the one. Feds and Quebec agreeing on funding the final studies for the Aylmer-Ottawa tramway (at least the Quebec side).

«Un énorme montant d’argent» d’ici 10 jours pour le tramway à Gatineau
Par Daniel LeBlanc, Le Droit
11 juin 2024 à 15h25

https://www.ledroit.com/actualites/a...EESCMGPWWW5NI/

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

We've heard this before, at least three times since August last year, and several more times over the last 5 years. But I'm fairly confident this is the one. Feds and Quebec agreeing on funding the final studies for the Aylmer-Ottawa tramway (at least the Quebec side).



https://www.ledroit.com/actualites/a...EESCMGPWWW5NI/

"Un énorme montant"... pour des études.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Acajack

"Un énorme montant"... pour des études.

"Énorme" better include the Ottawa portion of the study. Maybe the "énorme" montant includes expropriating Wellington from the City by force .

[harls]

Vast, vast, VAST amount.

Vast.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by harls

Vast, vast, VAST amount.

Vast.

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

"Énorme" better include the Ottawa portion of the study. Maybe the "énorme" montant includes expropriating Wellington from the City by force .

This seems like it could be a good deal for city taxpayers. What's the compensation for a street?

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by YOWetal

This seems like it could be a good deal for city taxpayers. What's the compensation for a street?

Couldn't even imagine. The Feds did make an offer previously, but the City refused. The details of that offer were never released.

[J.OT13]

Quebec City plan has been revived, with CAQ having pulled a Doug Ford (in Hamilton) based on CDPQ's review, which basically proposed the 2018 Quebec City tram, but with smaller vehicles. Side note, CDPQ said the troisieme lien was not viable, so the CAQ decided they'd proceed with it anyway.

• Video Link

Of note, that little weasel Skippy is against transit.

Poilievre says he supports 3rd link for cars
On Thursday, federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that as prime minister he wouldn't invest a cent in the tramway project, saying Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government and the Bloc Québécois are "obsessed with a war on cars and are ignoring people in the suburbs and the regions."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montr...0suburbs%20and

Because he's not obsessed with pandering to drivers who refuse to acknowledge the right pedestrians, cyclists and transit users to have their own space. If he's so into "freedom", then he should give us the freedom to chose alternatives to cars and SUVs.

[Nite]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Of note, that little weasel Skippy is against transit.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montr...0suburbs%20and

Because he's not obsessed with pandering to drivers who refuse to acknowledge the right pedestrians, cyclists and transit users to have their own space. If he's so into "freedom", then he should give us the freedom to chose alternatives to cars and SUVs.

We will most definitely see a transit winter, like before the Trudeau government, under Poilievre for sure. I am surprise people on here even argue that would not happen.
I don't expect to see much new funding that what is committed by the current government going through under the next government.
If i ran a Transit agency I would try to rush through plans to get a commitment from this government before the taps are turned off.

[Nouvellecosse]

They seem to think that people in suburbs can't take transit when going into town even when a route extends into the suburbs. Even though such a route can provide access with equal or greater capacity at a lower cost. Nothing about taking transit when going downtown prevents suburanites from driving out in the suburbs if they want to, but somehow that would be disrespectful to suburbanites.

[lrt's friend]

Here is the full quote concerning the Quebec tramway.

Poilievre says he supports 3rd link for cars


On Thursday, federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that as prime minister he wouldn't invest a cent in the tramway project, saying Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government and the Bloc Québécois are "obsessed with a war on cars and are ignoring people in the suburbs and the regions."

He says he will continue to respect Quebec motorists by supporting a third link for cars.

Quebec City Mayor Bruno Marchand fired back. He sees a tramway not as a war on cars, but rather as a way of reducing traffic.

He also accused Conservative leaders of taking the region "back 70 years" with such statements.

Mayor Bruno Marchand said he'll move quickly to reach a deal with the Trudeau government that has promised to cover up to 40 per cent of the costs of the tramway project.

"Beautiful vision for the country. Right now, we're going to work with those who are there. We're going to work very quickly and very well," said Marchand.

Poilievre represents a suburban Ottawa riding, where LRT has not been well received by the Ottawa public because it failed to meet promises in overall improved transit service and reliability.

His comment offers his likely vision as PM for transportation in our major cities when he takes power.

[ssiguy]

I don't think PP will be as adverse to public transit as some think. He certainly won't be throwing around the money Trudeau has but he knows that he has to make big inroads into suburban Canada to win and maintain his gov't. Ford found this out pretty quickly.

Also, some of the biggest supporters of expanded urban transit have come from the business community itself. Canada has been losing the productivity war and some of that can be blamed upon our urban infrastructure and our city traffic levels.

[rdaner]

I wouldn’t worry too much about a PP government (minority or majority) as so much has been built or is under construction that a break won’t be catastrophic. Toronto is basically seeing a 2/3 increase in subway/lrt and a huge increase in GO service.

[Nite]

Originally Posted by rdaner

I wouldn’t worry too much about a PP government (minority or majority) as so much has been built or is under construction that a break won’t be catastrophic. Toronto is basically seeing a 2/3 increase in subway/lrt and a huge increase in GO service.

A break means you lose all your expertise is building transit projects and have to start from scratch again when project resume, this can be seen with the eglinton crosstown line in which metrolinx didn't have any expertise in building such a line and left everything up to consultants and it's been a huge mess and a waste of time and money so far.

A lot of the things metrolink have learned with their struggle on the eglinton line is being used now on the Ontario line and crosstown extension.

There are still plenty of projects in Toronto that still need funding , ie Waterfront LRT, Eglinton east LRT, Sheppard subway expansion, Ontario Line expansion, Finch LRT expansion.
Not getting any of these funded and built will cost the city greatly over the next decade.

After Mike Hars got elected in Ontario it took it took 15 years before a new transit project was started in Toronto, (21 years before it was opened to riders)

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by rdaner

I wouldn’t worry too much about a PP government (minority or majority) as so much has been built or is under construction that a break won’t be catastrophic. Toronto is basically seeing a 2/3 increase in subway/lrt and a huge increase in GO service.

If all the stuff being built was getting ahead and providing future capacity then sure. But in Toronto's case it was mostly just trying to catch up after a prior extended period of transit inaction.

[MonkeyRonin]

Originally Posted by Nite

A break means you lose all your expertise is building transit projects and have to start from scratch again when project resume, this can be seen with the eglinton crosstown line in which metrolinx didn't have any expertise in building such a line and left everything up to consultants and it's been a huge mess and a waste of time and money so far.

A lot of the things metrolink have learned with their struggle on the eglinton line is being used now on the Ontario line and crosstown extension.

There are still plenty of projects in Toronto that still need funding , ie Waterfront LRT, Eglinton east LRT, Sheppard subway expansion, Ontario Line expansion, Finch LRT expansion.
Not getting any of these funded and built will cost the city greatly over the next decade.

After Mike Hars got elected in Ontario it took it took 15 years before a new transit project was started in Toronto, (21 years before it was opened to riders)

Even in the unlikely worst-case-scenario event of a PP government reducing federal transit funding to $0, that doesn't mean that nothing would happen for 4 years. The majority of funding for transit projects comes from the city & province (eg. of the ~$17 billion Ontario Line, $4b is from the feds) - so there would be fewer new projects being funded, but not none at all unless the province also decided to stop funding transit; while the timeline to actually build the already-funded U/C projects will likely stretch out past the next government's term.

In other words, there won't be any pause in transit project construction for the foreseeable future regardless of which party is in power in Ottawa.

[Innsertnamehere]

Transit funding will likely decline under PP vs the Liberals.

I doubt PPs infrastructure funding will disappear entirely - look at provincial conservative government’s infrastructure funding. The Ontario PCs have an absurd infrastructure program far larger than the previous liberal government.

The Federal Conservatives will likely however return to regularly funding roads projects. Which we all saw recently how the Federal Liberals have been actively avoiding. So even if the “infrastructure pie” stays the same size, the distribution of the slices will change.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by rdaner

I wouldn’t worry too much about a PP government (minority or majority) as so much has been built or is under construction that a break won’t be catastrophic. Toronto is basically seeing a 2/3 increase in subway/lrt and a huge increase in GO service.

The GTA with RER, Montreal with REM and Vancouver with SkyTrain are the only places seeing real efforts to expand rail transit into the suburbs substantially. Unfortunately places that didn't get going over the last few years are probably going to have a tougher tone over the next decade.

I think transit funding will probably get dialed back to Harper levels. Say $2B/yr. And probably a 25% federal contribution. That's enough to give suburban MPs some ribbon cuttings. But not enough to substantially move modal share in suburban areas outside TMV (without actual planning changes too).

[Truenorth00]

I also think project selection will be interesting. You see hints of this with the Quebec 3rd link spat. Urban transit is probably out. Suburban transit projects will get priority. Good thing the Ontario Line is already under construction.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by Nite

There are still plenty of projects in Toronto that still need funding , ie Waterfront LRT, Eglinton east LRT, Sheppard subway expansion, Ontario Line expansion, Finch LRT expansion. Not getting any of these funded and built will cost the city greatly over the next decade.

1) Transit development is mostly driven by the provincial government. Not the federal government. They can build even without federal funding.

2) With the exception of Waterfront LRT, every project you listed runs into an inner suburban area where the CPC either wants to win a seat or at least split the LPC and NDP. Or in some cases can drive 905 votes. For example, subways in Scarborough are important to voters in Markham and Pickering too. The Tories will be triangulating all this with RER funding.