New HSR bus maps

[mishap]

Originally Posted by raisethehammer

that's the only problem I see with us doing LRT on James North in shared lanes. After festivals or events it'll be stuck in traffic with everyone else.
I'm thinking they should use Hughson and McNab for LRT to the waterfront so it can be in its own lane the entire way. It would still service James North wonderfully.

How about going up the west side of Bay St? When Bay bends to the east, continue roughly straight to the CN line. Have a stop near Cannon, one near Barton, then run alongside the train tracks to LIUNA Station.

Or, to throw another option out there, assume the LRT will be using the Claremont Access. From the bottom of the Access, run the line north along one side of Victora to the CN tracks, and then turn toward LIUNA Station. Maybe not ideal, but it still allows north-south movement

Now let's try something really odd. Imagine both options built simultaneously. You end up with a loop around the downtown. And while it seems large, it's less than a mile across east-to-west. It's about the same north-to-south, even if the B-Line were as far south as Hunter.

Once the loop is in place, you could add other services to it in the future. A Barton line (the D-Line?) could tie in to the northeast corner, while the Halton BRT line ties into the northwest. How each service runs within the loop, that's another discussion.

Within this loop, you could provide any number of services... shuttles, trolleys, streetcars, etc. Maybe inside the loop is a free-fare zone. Could you imagine the development possibilities within such an area?

Sorry to get off-topic, rth, but you went and got me thinking, darn it.

[the dude]

i've considered james north. all the on-street parking would have to be removed for it to function well as an lrt route. i have no issue with that but i can imagine others having some major problems. macnab and hughson is certainly a less painful solution.

[markbarbera]

After coming down the Claremont, have the LRT travel west on King to Hughson, then north along Hughson from King to Murray, east on Murray to John, north on John to Guise, west on Guise to James, south on James to Murray, west on Murray to Hughson, then back south on Hughson to Hunter, then east on Hunter to rejoin the route up the Claremont.

[miketoronto]

Check out my map for the Hamilton Mountain.

http://maps.google.ca/maps/ms?hl=en&...3fd94a5e923ac3


The route layout is centred on Limeridge Mall. Notice the thick red lines. Those are SUPER EXPRESS routes, that riders from the local routes would transfer onto at Limeridge.

One SUPER EXPRESS would operate from

Limeridge to Hamilton General stopping only at Mowhawk College and downtown Hamilton.

Another express would operate from Limeridge to McMaster.

These two express routes would operate every 5-10 minutes at all times.

-------

Anyway let me know what you think. In addition to the routes operating to Limeridge, bus routes could operates on all the main north-south routes to downtown if the demand is there.

Enjoy.

[coalminecanary]

Why not john instead of james? the space is there and the streets needs the ec dev help much more than james. it could even run all the way up jolley - they ahve said the grade and turn radius is acceptable...

[raisethehammer]

Originally Posted by coalminecanary

Why not john instead of james? the space is there and the streets needs the ec dev help much more than james. it could even run all the way up jolley - they ahve said the grade and turn radius is acceptable...

yea, I thought of that....it might be a little too removed from James though for LRT riders.
At least Hughson and McNab are both equal distance from James - one block.

[coalminecanary]

not sure what you mean "too removed from james"? people currently walk about the same distance just to switch buses from one end of gore over to macnab. it's not a very long block ...

[markbarbera]

Originally Posted by raisethehammer

it would have to be pretty bad to be worse than the HSR's trip planner.

The HSR planner may not be very pretty or intuitive, and the site as a whole can do with a major redesign but it isn't that bad to use. I have used it quite often myself, and it's better than what many Ontario municipalities offer. Look at the TTC for example. They have no trip planner whatsoever.

[raisethehammer]

true enough.

I like this site:

www.trimet.org

[JoeyColeman]

Originally Posted by miketoronto

Anyway let me know what you think. In addition to the routes operating to Limeridge, bus routes could operates on all the main north-south routes to downtown if the demand is there.

Enjoy.

That's the idea, spoke and hub. If people can quickly get to their local hub and then quickly connect between hubs, public transit becomes more attractive. Right now, to get from Limeridge to Eastgate or McMaster is the better part of an hour.

The LRT will help with things - if the HSR doesn't screw it up. LRT stops should be de facto hubs. There should be local buses out of each LRT stop to feed people in and out of the system. For example, an elimination of the Rosedale from downtown would be in line. Instead, have a bus from the Ottawa LRT station that services the residential area south of King which loops into Rosedale and back out to connect with the LRT at Parkdale and vice-versa.