[unimaginative2]

You're missing the whole point. The idea is to make GO into real transit. The Milton Line stops are quite well located. In fact, I'd say they're in better locations than the proposed stops on the 403 transitway.

 

[spmarshall]

Remember GO Transit isn't REAL transit. GO stations belong in industrial parks and other low density areas to maximise the amount of parking space, not in MCC.

That's how GO often thinks, but it does not have to be that way. We're advocating real regional rail, not the autocentric park-and-ride that GO thinks it is. Port Credit, Brampton, Hamilton show what a GO stop could look like - parking yes, but in a mixed use, denser area.

First you tell us that it's sad how some people like Port Credit, as it is on a rail line with so much potential (and is already much more convenient to many people like me than MCC for that reason - I am an occasional visitor to PC), then you attack what lots of people are saying is one way to connect MCC with Toronto at a reasonable cost and convenience compared to a subway.

Only one way to respond....By putting you on notice!

Ok, what can I take off my notice board lovingly ripped off of Stephen Colbert (like my Better Know A Car Line series)?

Uhhh. Okay. Save Our St. Clair! You're off notice, because your pathetic Astroturf grop lost big time, so you're dead to me. Just keep John Sewell busy until December.

There we go....

 

[Antiloop33rpm]

sp: Brilliant!

 

[ahrvojic]

The Milton Line stops are quite well located. In fact, I'd say they're in better locations than the proposed stops on the 403 transitway.

Agreed. The Milton line cuts diagonally through pretty much all the former villages--now major neighbourhoods--north of Dundas quite nicely, making it all the more frustrating that service along it is so limited. I think many people here would be surprised how often and how long absolutely packed Milton line GO trains are delayed due to cargo trains.

Honestly, if the Milton line had frequent all-day integrated-fare service even without a Square One spur, I could set the subway aside and concentrate on MT LRT

sp: I love it.

 

[Brighter Hell]

You people keep ignoring the fact that most people in Mississauga work close to home. And most of the ones that do work far away don't even work in downtown Toronto so I dont' know why this assinine idea of diverting the Milton lines keeps bign brought up. Any attempt to reconfigure Mississauga's entire transit system to long-distance travel is pointless.

Nobody's trying to reconfigure Mississauga's entire transit system. If a real regional rail system is built with a link to MCC there's nothing stopping LRT along Hurontario, or whatever else could be done to improve local transit in Mississauga. If local transit improvement is the goal then spending billions to extend the Bloor Danforth line isn't the answer.

 

[Antiloop33rpm]

^And if Mississauga engaged in an activity known as "co-operation" then it could use improved regional rail as "part" of its local transit needs.

On top of that, if Mississauga really wanted to have absolute control over fares received and operation of frequent rail service through its city, it could maybe even become the operator of the service itself. That is another benefit of improved regional rail corridors. So long as a single agency is overseeing the coordination and scheduling of the trains using the tracks, who actually owns and operates the trains becomes far less important.

 

[doady]

Nobody's trying to reconfigure Mississauga's entire transit system.

I was referring to the post that I quoted, which suggested just that.

If a real regional rail system is built with a link to MCC there's nothing stopping LRT along Hurontario, or whatever else could be done to improve local transit in Mississauga. If local transit improvement is the goal then spending billions to extend the Bloor Danforth line isn't the answer.

Yes, simply diverting the Milton line to serve MCC is cheap in comparison to a subway (not that I suggest the B-D line be extended to MCC in the first place), but having two rapid transit lines along Hurontario is redundant and upgrading the Milton line so that it can handle all the extra trains would probably cost billions just a like subway.

If the MCC diversion becomes a spur for the existing Milton line, the service would be very poor because there is very little capacity on the rest of line, even considering the third track that is going to be laid down. The MCC, Erindale, and Cooksville stations would see 20-30 minute at best during rush hour and maximum 2 hour frequency during off-peak times. So basically, the three busiest stations on the Milton line would have half the service as the other stations on the line. This does not make sense to me at all.

A diversion to MCC can work if the Cooksville and Erindale stations are taken out of service, but this is not an ideal solution either, because Cooksville is one the few GO stations that is in decent location and, as I said, it is, along with Erindale, the busiest on the Milton line and second busiest in all Mississauga (actually busier than Port Credit station).

And of course, an MCC diversion doesn't help anyone in Mississauga get there easier. You'd be spending billions just so MCC can have better (yet still very infrequent) connection downtown Toronto and ONLY downtown Toronto, and at the same time make it worse for other parts of Mississauga.

 

[unimaginative2]

You're just not divorcing yourself from the existing GO mentality. Obviously you wouldn't implement this diversion project unless frequencies were about every 20 minutes or better. Of course upgrading the Milton line would cost a lot (likely still far less than a subway), but it serves a vastly wider area. The overlap on Hurontario is insignificant. It's barely more than a kilometre, and highly desirable as it would significantly improve connections. Erindale station wouldn't have to be moved, and Cooksville could simply be moved to a north-south alignment on Hurontario. The only reason Cooksville is busy now is because of its proximity to MCC.

 

[DarnDirtyApe]

The only reason Cooksville is busy now is because of its proximity to MCC.

That's a gross oversimplification, I'm afraid. Cooksville station is busy because it is on Hurontario, right in the geographic centre of the city. The whole stretch of Hurontario from the QEW to Eglinton is very densely populated, and is well-served by frequent bus service from MT. I'd imagine that most riders are not coming from only Burnhamthorpe & Hurontario, so any relocation would likely inconvenience more than it would help.

Also, the large geographical size of what is known as MCC is such that it would be impossible to place a train station in a location that would be walkable for most users. Where would you place such a station anyway? Bury it under the Burhamthorpe & Hurontario intersection? Given the cost of tunnelling and electrification, it would likely cost several billion billion dollars to implement the whole scheme.

It's a far better idea to leave the Milton line in the same place, build enough rails to allow for regular service, and build the Hurontario LRT such that anyone living along the route can have convenient access to both Cooksville and Port Credit stations.

 

[scarberiankhatru]

"Nobody's trying to reconfigure Mississauga's entire transit system."

I took MT for the first time last week. They should reconfigure the Burnhamthorpe bus going west rom Islington...holy cow, I thought we'd be touring Etobicoke without actually getting onto Burnhamthorpe for an hour. Also, the 10 minutes I spent on the Dixie bus were the most uncomfortable 10 minutes I've ever experienced in a lifetime of bus riding.

 

[dashingdan]

scarberian i agree, the 26's routing is very poor out of islington. and to think some people on here would prefer it to stay at islington than to ever move to kipling (heaven forbid the 26 take less time to get square one)

 

[adma]

Huh? All the bus does is loop onto Cordova, cross Dundas, and then you're on B'thorpe. Doesn't sound like an hour to me...

 

[spmarshall]

Actually, no.

From Islington, west on Bloor. To get to Kipling, the bus continues west past Kipling to Auckland (quite a ways west), north on Auckland, east on Bloor, north on Kipling, west on Burnhamthorpe. Really ridiculous routing. Should use Dundas to 427 to Burnhamthorpe.

 

[scarberiankhatru]

Throw in traffic and a string of red lights and it felt like an hour.

 

[doady]

The eastbound routing of the 26 from Islington is okay, it's the westbound routing from the station that is really bad. It might be better after the Six Points intersection is fixed.

What was wrong with the Dixie bus?