Shift: London's Rapid Transit Initiative

[jammer139]

EV buses - TTC now running small fleet. - https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/e...nsit-1.5823166

[ssiguy]

I think the longer this stretches out the more likely the city will go with zero emitting hydrogen buses. They are electric but don't require the overhead charging at each station which is a money saver.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

I think the longer this stretches out the more likely the city will go with zero emitting hydrogen buses. They are electric but don't require the overhead charging at each station which is a money saver.

Hydrogen buses are more expensive to buy than Battery Electric buses. The fuel is more expensive too. London is not the city to try experimental things that are more expensive. Guelph is going fully electric. It'll be good for London to do the same.

[haljackey]

What a mess. A lack of foresight for cycling is going to make Dundas a clusterf*ck.

The bike lanes on King and Queen are being taken out for BRT so cyclists have to use Dundas now. Dundas doesn't have any bike lanes so they came up with this.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/londo...reet-1.6014897

[jaradthescot]

Honestly, regardless of cyclists concerns, this is what Dundas Place should have been from the start. It's supposed to be a pedestrian-friendly flex street not a thoroughfare.

[haljackey]

Originally Posted by jaradthescot

Honestly, regardless of cyclists concerns, this is what Dundas Place should have been from the start. It's supposed to be a pedestrian-friendly flex street not a thoroughfare.

I sort of agree, but not like this. In Toronto they have a street which you can turn on to, but you have to turn at the next intersection. No through traffic is permitted to make things safer for other methods of transportation. So if you entered via Clearance, you'd have to exit on Richmond.

The original proposal was to put Dundas down to 1 lane, eastbound only, so you could fit in proper bike lanes each way. Instead council decided this complicated setup will be better.

[Djeffery]

And as the news showed, and I saw myself, people are just driving around the flower boxes blocking the westbound lane at Wellington. Not sure what the solution will be, outside of a cop standing there. But they can't barricade it totally as they need to allow traffic, especially delivery trucks, to be able to exit at either end.

[GreatTallNorth2]

[Djeffery]

Keep in mind, they are keeping access out of Dundas Place open at either end. Cars can turn onto Dundas from Clarence, Richmond and Talbot. But if you turn east at Clarence, or west at Talbot, you need to be able to exit at Wellington or Ridout respectively, so popup barriers like that don't work. Unless they are triggered to lower down by a car driving over a sensor or something, but that seems to be overkill for something they don't even know how long is going to be happening.

[MolsonExport]

The London way is to do things half-assed, so that you can again do things half-assed.

Although two half-assed efforts very often don't sum up to a whole.

Trying to please everybody usually ends up pleasing nobody.

Anyways, don't two half-asses just lead to one asshole?

[haljackey]

The poor Dundas merchants can't seem to catch a break. First 2 years of full construction, then a pandemic, and now this crazy BRT bike lane workaround.

What a complete mess. Confusing for everyone, even for the cyclists I bet who were supposed to benefit.

Hopefully the error of their ways is learned soon and Dundas is simply one way eastbound. What's the problem with that anyway?

[K85]

This deep seeded hate for him makes me wish, nefariously, that the city is slowly trying to get farhi out of the core by killing it themselves, so he has to leave, when then, in a fit of uninformed rage, a collective of famous Londoners including Ryan Gosling, Paul Haggis, Rachel McAdams, and reanimated Guy Lombardo seeing the toxic menace gone, pump their own money into the core, turning London into Ontarios second city!

Originally Posted by haljackey

The poor Dundas merchants can't seem to catch a break. First 2 years of full construction, then a pandemic, and now this crazy BRT bike lane workaround.

[ssiguy]

Question.....................when this whole loop is done, will there still be buses running on Richmond between Queen & King?

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

Question.....................when this whole loop is done, will there still be buses running on Richmond between Queen & King?

I would assume so. There will still be regular LTC services although I'm not sure if they have determined at this point how that will change with BRT coming in. BRT will only serve south and east London so there is still a lot of non-BRT areas that connect downtown.

[jaradthescot]

Originally Posted by haljackey

I sort of agree, but not like this. In Toronto they have a street which you can turn on to, but you have to turn at the next intersection. No through traffic is permitted to make things safer for other methods of transportation. So if you entered via Clearance, you'd have to exit on Richmond.

The original proposal was to put Dundas down to 1 lane, eastbound only, so you could fit in proper bike lanes each way. Instead council decided this complicated setup will be better.

Coincidentally that is exactly what I suggested in an email to council. Put bollards up between the north-south lanes of every street intersecting Dundas between Wellington and Clarence. People could still drive onto the street but they can't continue more than one block. Access but no through traffic. I was met with silence.

[haljackey]

https://lfpress.com/news/local-news/...-under-brt-bus

Masonville and Wonderland/Oxford were designated as transit villages, with dense development planned for the areas. Without BRT, this density will overwhelm the areas.

Maybe we'll see BRT west leg resurrected one day? Next election could revive it and construction could start when the other legs are finished. I think the north leg is doomed for failure.

[Djeffery]

I think the whole thing is pointless without the north leg. And the west leg needed to go further west.

[ssiguy]

Instead of Richmond, was a Wharncliff/Western route to Masonville ever considered for the
northern leg?

[inimrepus]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

Instead of Richmond, was a Wharncliff/Western route to Masonville ever considered for the
northern leg?

This isn't as ideal because then the route wouldn't go to St. Jose Hospital. Also the route really needs to go downtown so it intersects with the other BRT routes.

[haljackey]

Originally Posted by Djeffery

I think the whole thing is pointless without the north leg. And the west leg needed to go further west.

North leg is not happening. That one got voted down a lot more than the west leg that just narrowly lost. I could see the west leg revived some day. The Oxford/Wharncliffe rebuild is still designed for BRT in mind I think so it could be done once the east and south legs are done. Next city council could greenlight it if upper government funding is still on the table.

If Wonderland is 6-laned, I would hope improvements at the Oxford intersection are made so BRT can be easily shoehorned in some day in the future.

Originally Posted by ssiguy

Instead of Richmond, was a Wharncliff/Western route to Masonville ever considered for the
northern leg?

I think I recall seeing it as like alternative 'D' in super early plans. That route would get rid of the level crossing at Richmond and the CP tracks, or the expensive tunnel under it that was once proposed.

Thing is it is not direct if you're a commuter from Masonville area that wants to go downtown. It mostly serves students and you remember just how much of an ass Western was to running rapid transit through campus.