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NY99 said:
I think the biggest game changer would the section from Humber College to Woodbine GO.

We need to seriously prioritize building this extension. Now. If nothing else, because of how cheap it is: an elevated guideway along a straight-shot path through low-density industrial, with perhaps 1 new station at Rexdale. Only complication being the approach at Woodbine GO itself.

Currently, to get from Union to Humber College, a student must take Line 1 all the way up to Finch and transfer to Line 6. Thats a very slow journey — a fact for which Line 1 shoulders much of the blame.

With the Line 6 extension, the same student could instead take the UP to the new Woodbine station and transfer to the extension. A blazing-fast 2-stop journey later, and you’re at Humber.

The time savings would genuinely be life-changing for a lot of people.
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A student would actually find more benefit in taking Line 1 and Line 2 from Union to Kipling and then the 927 Express bus to Humber, as you could get there in about 60-65 mins as opposed to the near 90 min+ journey taking Line 1 and Line 6.

Even with TSP fully implemented on Finch, it would probably either go down to being a similar time as the Kipling option, or still slightly slower. It takes 35-40 mins just to get from Union to Finch West alone so if Finch ever gets to 30-35 mins, it still wouldn't be the fastest option.

But I agree with this new Woodbine GO extension, it could completely revolutionize the way Humber College and this overall area of Rexdale is seen. Just about a 30 min GO/UP ride and then a 5 min LRT ride to Humber. People who live on Kipling or Islington can even benefit from this with just taking Line 6 to Woodbine and either heading to Union or Bramalea afterwards to connect them to basically the entire GTA, opening even more opportunities.
 
ownthesky said:
To add, something like 1 in 6 workers in the GTA work in the Pearson Economic Zone. People often think airport = passengers, but the reality is the airport is surrounded by employers that are not well served by rapid transit. I do wager nothing will be done until Pearson's transit hub is finalized.
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Not that we shouldn't try to serve that employment area, but the last mile problem there is especially acute.
 
NY99 said:
I think the biggest game changer would the section from Humber College to Woodbine GO.

We need to seriously prioritize building this extension. Now. If nothing else, because of how cheap it is: an elevated guideway along a straight-shot path through low-density industrial, with perhaps 1 new station at Rexdale. Only complication being the approach at Woodbine GO itself.

Currently, to get from Union to Humber College, a student must take Line 1 all the way up to Finch and transfer to Line 6. Thats a very slow journey — a fact for which Line 1 shoulders much of the blame.

With the Line 6 extension, the same student could instead take the UP to the new Woodbine station and transfer to the extension. A blazing-fast 2-stop journey later, and you’re at Humber.

The time savings would genuinely be life-changing for a lot of people.
Click to expand...
anb said:
A student would actually find more benefit in taking Line 1 and Line 2 from Union to Kipling and then the 927 Express bus to Humber, as you could get there in about 60-65 mins as opposed to the near 90 min+ journey taking Line 1 and Line 6.

Even with TSP fully implemented on Finch, it would probably either go down to being a similar time as the Kipling option, or still slightly slower. It takes 35-40 mins just to get from Union to Finch West alone so if Finch ever gets to 30-35 mins, it still wouldn't be the fastest option.

But I agree with this new Woodbine GO extension, it could completely revolutionize the way Humber College and this overall area of Rexdale is seen. Just about a 30 min GO/UP ride and then a 5 min LRT ride to Humber. People who live on Kipling or Islington can even benefit from this with just taking Line 6 to Woodbine and either heading to Union or Bramalea afterwards to connect them to basically the entire GTA, opening even more opportunities.
Click to expand...

Undead said:
Not that we shouldn't try to serve that employment area, but the last mile problem there is especially acute.
Click to expand...

Metrolinx needs to release a comprehensive Etobicoke + Pearson rapid transit master plan. Something that ties together Line 6, Line 5, Line 2, Woodbine GO Station, Renforth Station and perhaps the Lakeshore West Line. We have a lot of transit infrastructure terminating in that area. We now need to tie it all together, while improving north-south travel in Etobicoke and improving access to the Pearson employment lands.

Now is a good time to start planning this, since planning for the Pearson Transit Hub and construction on the Line 5 West extension should presumably be done soon.
 
Reportedly, TSP is only in place at the intersections of Pearldale, Duncanwoods, and and Milady avenue, for now.

But besides, Doesn't none of this talk about TSP matter unless the TTC "unpad" their schedules without increasing headways? If the schedules stay padded, wouldn't the trains be running at top speed less frequently, or dwell for longer at stations, so as to not get ahead of schedule?

In order for TSP's speed improvements to be material, the TTC would need to reduce headways and unpad the schedule (difficult to say if they will, given that they were so concerned about long-term maintenance costs increasing with faster, reduced-headway service). Also, don't the TTC only have like 2-4 backup trams? Seems like operations are already spread quite thin.
 
thenorth said:
Metrolinx needs to release a comprehensive Etobicoke + Pearson rapid transit master plan. Something that ties together Line 6, Line 5, Line 2, Woodbine GO Station, Renforth Station and perhaps the Lakeshore West Line. We have a lot of transit infrastructure terminating in that area. We now need to tie it all together, while improving north-south travel in Etobicoke and improving access to the Pearson employment lands.

Now is a good time to start planning this, since planning for the Pearson Transit Hub and construction on the Line 5 West extension should presumably be done soon.
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Also, with the surface-running FWLRT and ECLRT presumably being the backbone of this, the entire network could be built out rather inexpensively. This might be some of the biggest bang for buck transit infrastructure in the region.
 
NY99 said:
Rapidto where feasible…

But even where it’s not, there’s a TON of good that can be done:

1) switch upgrades at intersections
2) stop rationalization
3) Better TSP*
4) strategic limitations on left turns/through movements
5) Quicker door openings and closings**
6) proper level boarding for ROW/island stops
7) permission to just friggin gun it

* what about this: a way for streetcars to extend a yellow light long enough to clear a backlog of left-turning cars in front of them, allowing them to move forward before the end of the phase? Idk I’m the furthest thing from an expert here, but I’d love to hear thoughts on this idea.
** I feel like this is an underrated issue. The doors are soooooooooooooooooo slooooowwwwww. Not only that, late-arriving passengers have an endless ability to re-open them.


Thank you Finch West for sh*tting the bed so bad we’re now taking travel times seriously!
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I would add pedestrian refuge islands (instead of the misnamed "safety islands" at ALL intersections, in ALL directions (not just light rail right-of-ways or streetcar right-of-ways). So that pedestrians can rest halfway across the intersection, instead of getting caught if they are slow walkers. Along with "beg" buttons on the islands.
 
JMSRead said:
Wow. If we're really talking about going from 55 minutes at launch to 30 with signal priority that feels like a major win. Certainly well beyond what I thought was reasonable to hope for.
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Launch was scheduled for 46 minutes - which was quickly achieved most of the time.

I don't know where this reduction to 30 is coming from, other than some cock and bull comments in this very thread. The original design was 33.
 
NY99 said:
I think the biggest game changer would the section from Humber College to Woodbine GO.

We need to seriously prioritize building this extension. Now. If nothing else, because of how cheap it is: an elevated guideway along a straight-shot path through low-density industrial, with perhaps 1 new station at Rexdale. Only complication being the approach at Woodbine GO itself.

Currently, to get from Union to Humber College, a student must take Line 1 all the way up to Finch and transfer to Line 6. Thats a very slow journey — a fact for which Line 1 shoulders much of the blame.

With the Line 6 extension, the same student could instead take the UP to the new Woodbine station and transfer to the extension. A blazing-fast 2-stop journey later, and you’re at Humber.

The time savings would genuinely be life-changing for a lot of people.
Click to expand...
Write into the Councillor, Mayor, MP and the Premier! I did a while back exactly on this. It's currently moving very slowly. The more pressure from the citizens the better.
 
A Finch southern extension to a new GO Woodbine station makes a lot of sense but don't hold your breath.

It will be a very long time before there are any extensions to the LRT system. Eg & Finch have left such a bad taste in Torontonian's mouths that they will be loath to see it happen all over again.. ML has zero credibility not only amongst Torontonians but also QP and if they state they could build the extension by a certain dollar amount by a certain time, absolutely no one will believe them and with good reason. ML has shown is completely incompetent when it comes to building new infrastructure and there is no reason to think that will change. Yes, the southern extension would be easier to build but that doesn't mean ML won't screw it up.

In just a few short years, LRT has gone from fashion du jour to a political pariah which also doesn't bode well for Waterfront. Many, including transit supporters, will see any new lines or extensions as adding insult to injury and just ML/TTC throwing good money after bad. They will also, very legitimately question what an LRT/streetcar can do that a BRT can't at a fraction of the price.
 
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