The Great Canadian Transit Thread

[davidivivid]

Originally Posted by BretttheRiderFan

Does Quebec City have any plans to develop rapid transit?

They must be the only city over 500,000 without any rail transit or plans for it

Here is an abridged video presenting the planned Quebec City Tramway. It is part of the Plan de mobilité durable, a plan which describes how the City wants to develop in the next 15 years. That's why the line passes through eco neighbourhoods not yet in construction, as well as a new Stadium, whose construction has been announced this week. Evidently, the tramway would be a tool to promote these new neighbourhoods as well as the densification of the city. It is really important for Quebec City to have such a transit system because the population is still very much anchored in a subburbs mentality and a tramway would be a great tool to change that paradigm.

• Video Link

[MolsonExport]

^that would be a wicked addition for QC. Outside the core, possibly the most sprawly large city in Canada (given the disproportionately large freeway network)..


I love the way the buildings sprout like Mushrooms after the rain (i.e., arrival of the tramway)

[ue]

Edmonton's new ridership stats just came out...

http://www.edmonton.ca/city_government/news/lrt-is-the-way-we-move.aspx

“We can thank the expansion of the LRT to Century Park in April 2010 for the tremendous growth in public transit,” says Bob Boutilier, General Manager of Transportation. “It’s exciting to see so many people in the Capital Region jumping on board with ETS.”

The number of weekday boardings on the LRT increased significantly in 2010 to 93,600 from 74,400 in 2009.

“We anticipate continued high use on the LRT system,” continued Boutilier. “These numbers makes us confident that our focus on expansion of the LRT will truly transform the way we move.”

[Doady]

Wow, Edmonton doesn't have any transit service at all to its airport. Crazy.

[someone123]

A streetcar seems like a good idea for Quebec City.

I think it would also be a great idea for Halifax -- starting out with a small system would be cheap and over time it can be improved. Streetcar service is a huge step up from bus service in terms of infrastructure permanence and comfort.

[mersar]

Originally Posted by Doady

Wow, Edmonton doesn't have any transit service at all to its airport. Crazy.

Mostly since its airport (meaning the international airport) is not actually in Edmonton. There was a proposal to start some sort of service up, that someone appealed to the province under the grounds that Edmonton Transit doesn't have jurisdiction to offer service outside the city itself or some nonsense like that. Not sure what happened to the appeal though.

Then again, Calgary also has pretty lacking transit to the airport currently, and its about to get worse once Barlow Trail closes in 2 months time.

[ue]

A bus service did recently open I believe that goes from Century Park to Edmonton International Airport with stops (I believe) in Nisku and Leduc. Edmonton Transit's priority is getting rail to places within the urban area (Mill Woods, St. Albert, West Edmonton, NAIT, Sherwood Park) before spending a bunch of money on light rail that will mostly go through farmland for the time being and have somewhat limited ridership. NAIT portion of the NWLRT should be completed by 2014 and a line (including new bridge) that is low floor from Downtown to a park and ride just north of Mill Woods should be completed by the end of the decade.

[feepa]

ETS will be again looking at bringing more bus service to EIA this year...for travellers and commuters.

Currently they operate a partnership with the airport, leduc county, the city of leduc to provide service - but its not meant for travellers, more for workers in leduc/nisku and at the airport

[CanadianCentaur]

Originally Posted by mersar

Mostly since its airport (meaning the international airport) is not actually in Edmonton. There was a proposal to start some sort of service up, that someone appealed to the province under the grounds that Edmonton Transit doesn't have jurisdiction to offer service outside the city itself or some nonsense like that. Not sure what happened to the appeal though.

Then again, Calgary also has pretty lacking transit to the airport currently, and its about to get worse once Barlow Trail closes in 2 months time.

As strange as it sounds, it was Greyhound who was appealing to the province, because they claimed that transit service to YEG and Leduc was going to be harmful competition. This was more or less a political maneuver to try getting more money from the province. Greyhound's appeal was rejected a few weeks later.

There is current bus service to YEG. It is called the C-Line, so called because it's a partnership between the City and County of Leduc. ETS does not play any role, but is leasing drivers and ETS buses (Leduc does not have public transit buses nor bus drivers of its own). Edmonton City Council voted against starting ETS service to YEG sometimes in summer/fall 2010, and this was by a narrow margin, I think.

The real problem is the scheduling - pretty useless for travelers wanting to leave Edmomton in the afternoon/evening or those arriving at YEG in the morning/early afternoon.

IMO, I think the "C-Line" is a really bad name for a reason - one, is that people (esp. visitors to Edmonton and area) might mistake it a service to Calgary. Believe it or not, the corporate colours even resemble those of Calgary Transits's 1980s-vintage colours!

http://www.c-linetransit.com/

[caltrane74]

Been hearing that the Sheppard and Eglinton lines will be underground. Sheppard line will be financed through private partnership. Still dont know if sheppard will be subway or lightrail underground though.

[caltrane74]

Looks like the entire 8.5 Billion dollars that was earmarked for Transit City will be used to build the Eglinton Line Underground from the airport to Scarborough. That is a nice surprise.....

If I am not mistaken, this would be the largest ever transit project (intra-city) ever built in Canada, by lenght and cost. 8.5 billion dollars and 30 kilometers.

[matt602]

I have zero expectation for that massive project to actually happen, at least in it's entirety from the airport to Scarborough. I'm sure it will be massively chopped down as the years progress and entire sections will just be abandoned.

[niwell]

Eglinton is actually looking like it has a pretty good chance of happening now. It's Sheppard that will probably be stalled.

Reading between the lines, it's pretty clear that Metrolinx told Rob Ford to go eff himself regarding a Sheppard subway. So now Provincial money gets transfered to Eglinton. Done and done.

[caltrane74]

yeah true enough...

[caltrane74]

Here is a Toronto Star article that is a bit more detailed.

from the toronto star

[caltrane74]

The Eglinton Line will run underground from Jane Street to Kennedy. Not the width of the entire city. But close. Work to begin as soon as possible.

Above ground from Jane to the airport.. I have to assume then.

[caltrane74]

Here is a look at our New Sheppard Subway!!!

Sheppard East LRT vs Rob Ford’s subway plan
Published Wednesday, Dec. 01, 2010 3:20AM EST
Last updated Wednesday, Dec. 01, 2010 8:23PM EST

[The_Architect]

What a waste of money.
Keep the LRT.

[ToxiK]

Am I to understand that instead of a 12 km light rail line, Mayor Ford wants to build a 8 km subway for 3 or 4 times the price??

[caltrane74]

Thank God for Eglinton.... this line (Sheppard) is not needed, Light Rail or Subway.

But if its built with Bonds, Private Financing, Tax Assessments, Development Charges, and Leasehold I dont have a problem with this one going through as a Subway or underground LRT.