[allengeorge]

Is the ponderous pace of Metrolinx public consultation merely a mechanism to manage the rate of spend on projects?

It certainly feels like they’re slow-rolling it because funding isn’t there.

But also, Canadian institutions are particularly fond of process in the name of - and for the sake of - process. I have always chalked it down to CYA.

 

[Allandale25]

Adopted at the April 17, 2024 Committee of Council meeting. This was during the government relations portion of the meeting. Video link here.

Andrzej Hoffmann, Acting Manager, Government Relations, Office of the CAO, provided a presentation, which included information about Region of Peel, Provincial Government, Federal Government, and Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) matters.
Council discussion took place with respect to the Queen Street BRT, during which time staff responded to questions.
The following motion to receive the Government Relations Matters update and provide that a letter be sent to Brampton MPs and MPPs on behalf of Council in support of completion of the Queen Street BRT as expeditiously as possible.
A recorded vote was requested and the motion carried as follows.

C062-2024
Moved by Deputy Mayor Singh
Seconded byRegional Councillor Toor
That the staff update re. Government Relations Matters, to the Council Meeting of April 17, 2024, be received; and
That a letter be sent to Brampton MPs and MPPs on behalf of Council in support of completion of the Queen Street BRT as expeditiously as possible.

Yea (10)	Regional Councillor Santos , Regional Councillor Vicente , Regional Councillor Palleschi , Regional Councillor Fortini , Deputy Mayor Singh , Mayor Patrick Brown, Regional Councillor Toor, Regional Councillor Keenan, City Councillor Power, and Regional Councillor Kaur Brar
Absent (1)	Regional Councillor Medeiros

 

[Northern Light]

I have news.

There will be no further news. LOL

From this report:

https://pub-vaughan.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=196629 :

 

[ShonTron]

Of course. Vaughan didn’t want it. They didn’t want anything that wouldn’t get Highway 7 widened for general traffic.

I am not surprised. Gotta build the 413 after all – that’s what the people who control Vaughan and control the province really want.

 

[FullMetalEngineer]

This is disgusting news. Metrolinx leading this project design has been a disaster if this pause is substantial over the city leading the design phase. Queen st is slammed with Brampton transit riders trying to reach the TTC, traffic is getting worse holding back Zum buses.

Brampton needs a BRT line the most while other GTA cities with BRT can't replicate Brampton's explosive ridership. Transit minister from Brampton Prabmeet Sarkaria has a lot to answer for.

 

[sixrings]

This is literally like eglinton east lrt being cancelled after the danforth extension was announced.

Brampton gets its underground lrt. The government is elected in and money has to be cut somewhere and people lose their minds.

 

[Wm Perkins Bull]

This is disgusting news. Metrolinx leading this project design has been a disaster if this pause is substantial over the city leading the design phase. Queen st is slammed with Brampton transit riders trying to reach the TTC, traffic is getting worse holding back Zum buses.

Brampton needs a BRT line the most while other GTA cities with BRT can't replicate Brampton's explosive ridership. Transit minister from Brampton Prabmeet Sarkaria has a lot to answer for.

Did not Sylvia warn Brampton City Council of precisely a situation such as this, where the LRT gets funded and other more important transit projects get shoved onto the back burner?

This is literally like eglinton east lrt being cancelled after the danforth extension was announced.

Brampton gets its underground lrt. The government is elected in and money has to be cut somewhere and people lose their minds.

That is substantially incorrect, the Eglinton East LRT is just as slow, perhaps slower than the bus, while the Queen Street BRT offers significantly more speed than existing service.

 

[ARG1]

Of course. Vaughan didn’t want it. They didn’t want anything that wouldn’t get Highway 7 widened for general traffic.

I am not surprised. Gotta build the 413 after all – that’s what the people who control Vaughan and control the province really want.

Reminder that Stephen Del Duca is the current Mayor. Really shows where his priorities lied the whole time.

 

[denfromoakvillemilton]

Another project down the drain.

 

[Allandale25]

Did not Sylvia warn Brampton City Council of precisely a situation such as this, where the LRT gets funded and other more important transit projects get shoved onto the back burner?

That is substantially incorrect, the Eglinton East LRT is just as slow, perhaps slower than the bus, while the Queen Street BRT offers significantly more speed than existing service.

I think @ShonTron's point about Vaughan's lack of support is the bigger and more relevant factor than the LRT. This is part of the unique challenge of the Queen - Highway 7 BRT compared to Main LRT. It involves two municipalities.

Another project down the drain.

Not necessarily. Brampton/Vaughan Councils have the opportunity to do what Brampton did with the Main LRT. Complete the study. But as ShonTron has noted, would Vaughan kick in their share if they are not enthusiastic about it?

 

[sixrings]

Did not Sylvia warn Brampton City Council of precisely a situation such as this, where the LRT gets funded and other more important transit projects get shoved onto the back burner?

That is substantially incorrect, the Eglinton East LRT is just as slow, perhaps slower than the bus, while the Queen Street BRT offers significantly more speed than existing service.

It doesn’t matter if the queen street line is more functional than eglinton east. It matters that there’s a cost to it just like eglinton east. And if you find one project (the lrt tunnel on hurontario or the danforth extension) then there is no longer money for the second project.

 

[Allandale25]

It doesn’t matter if the queen street line is more functional than eglinton east. It matters that there’s a cost to it just like eglinton east. And if you find one project (the lrt tunnel on hurontario or the danforth extension) then there is no longer money for the second project.

There's money available. It's a question of Provincial priorities. They just ran on a 401 tunnel and the 413. Given the situation with the Durham BRT, in addition to the Vaughan point above, the situation might be that they are enthusiastic about BRT overall.

 

[reinventingthewheel]

Why is Vaughan so opposed to a provincially funded extension of their existing dedicated bus lanes? It’s only 5km more to extend to their border with Brampton. Then they’d pull in another 10-15km worth of riders in Brampton.

How can they not see that as a huge win economically?

 

[FullMetalEngineer]

Why is Vaughan so opposed to a provincially funded extension of their existing dedicated bus lanes? It’s only 5km more to extend to their border with Brampton. Then they’d pull in another 10-15km worth of riders in Brampton.

How can they not see that as a huge win economically?

The west side of Woodbridge is slammed with vehicles. There's a Costco near 427 That's useful to access for Transit riders and all the high density homes on Highway 7. There's a bunch of new condo towers all along Queen Street proposed and under construction that benefit from BRT along this stretch. Brampton Zum buses are at capacity, people have to stand in articulated buses from vmc to airport road. Especially with the thousands of students trying to get to York University daily as they canceled the 407 express bus to York last year when one fare was launched for free TTC transfer.

It makes no sense to pause this with everything happening on Highway 7 at the street level. Cost would be minimal to Vaughan compared to Brampton with the majority of the span that would occur to a population 2 to 3 times larger than Vaughan.

This is the largest rapid transit link left to connect the 905 together. Mississauga, Brampton, Vaughan, Markham, Richmond Hill, unified together, even with Kitchener-Waterloo who could transfer at downtown Brampton, bypassing being forced to go to Union station.

How can the Province have money for an insane 401 Highway tunnel and not this BRT extension plan for a fraction? Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria needs to give us an answer on this If his government is refusing to fund Metrolinx.

 

[sixrings]

There's money available. It's a question of Provincial priorities. They just ran on a 401 tunnel and the 413. Given the situation with the Durham BRT, in addition to the Vaughan point above, the situation might be that they are enthusiastic about BRT overall.

The 401 tunnel is not a real thing. It was a political “promise” to win votes and we will find that out in due time.

The 413 is there to help developers in the disguise of helping the housing crisis. Now that is a real thing.