[CapitalSeven]

Yes because people will gladly spend six hours a day door to door commuting. I mean, no actually.

 

[micheal_can]

Yes because people will gladly spend six hours a day door to door commuting. I mean, no actually.

There was a time when an hour commute was crazy. The other thing to consider is if we ever really transitioned to a point where if you can work from home that you do work from home then if you do need to go to an office once in a while, you do that 3+ hour commute. With the roughly hour travel time between London and Toronto expected, for some,that opens even further for a commute. Which then leads me to wanting GO/Metrolinx/London Transit to prepare for that opening day. With a SWO HSR, the governments need to really plan out the roll out of it, not just the construction of the line and stations, but also the growth that will happen. We don't want or need Sprawl2.0.

 

[robmausser]

Aldershot is also far more direct from London than KW.

False

 

[Mihairokov]

With ALTO, Ottawa can effectively become a' 'bedroom community' of Toronto.

No, it can't. The time and distance does not make sense for commuting. What you're thinking will happen to Ottawa will actually happen to Peterborough. Ottawa and Montreal would be in commuting time/distance of each other.

Part of the reason why a place like Hespeler is the way it is today is because people can commute to Toronto from there via 401. These cities in SWO should have train connections to encourage this instead, and to encourage trips b/w them.

 

[micheal_can]

No, it can't. The time and distance does not make sense for commuting. What you're thinking will happen to Ottawa will actually happen to Peterborough. Ottawa and Montreal would be in commuting time/distance of each other.

2:09 is is no worse than commuting from London to Toronto now.So, for those that would rather move to Ottawa than Toronto, it may give them a reason. Peterborough will definitely see a boom in people moving to there. Their city council needs to get shovels in the ground on development now to avoid an extreme housing crisis; worse than we are seeing now.

Part of the reason why a place like Hespeler is the way it is today is because people can commute to Toronto from there via 401. These cities in SWO should have train connections to encourage this instead, and to encourage trips b/w them.

Agreed.

 

[afransen]

2:09 is is no worse than commuting from London to Toronto now.So, for those that would rather move to Ottawa than Toronto, it may give them a reason. Peterborough will definitely see a boom in people moving to there. Their city council needs to get shovels in the ground on development now to avoid an extreme housing crisis; worse than we are seeing now.

Very few people are willing to super commute like this. And a HSR line can't enable cities the size of Ottawa or London to meaningfully commute to Toronto daily.

 

[lenaitch]

2:09 is is no worse than commuting from London to Toronto now.So, for those that would rather move to Ottawa than Toronto, it may give them a reason. Peterborough will definitely see a boom in people moving to there. Their city council needs to get shovels in the ground on development now to avoid an extreme housing crisis; worse than we are seeing now.

Cities don't build housing. What developer is going to assemble land and build houses on speculation that a boom might happen a decade or so from now?

 

[micheal_can]

Cities don't build housing. What developer is going to assemble land and build houses on speculation that a boom might happen a decade or so from now?

Cities approve plans for construction. They can dictate the type of housing as part of their master plan.My hope is that while the construction of any HSR happens that the future commuting patterns are taken in to consideration for higher order transit to the station as well as higher density housing. GO caused many places in the GTA to become bedroom communities and caused uncontrollable sprawl. We don't want a repeat of that.

 

[junctionist]

Very few people are willing to super commute like this. And a HSR line can't enable cities the size of Ottawa or London to meaningfully commute to Toronto daily.

London is doable for professionals who can do a lot of work from home like lawyers, accountants, and consultants but who still need to attend hearings and meet with clients in person from time to time. You work on the train, so the commuting time is just deducted from your total work time.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

I'm not sure encouraging super-commuting from London should be seen as the goal for a tens of billions of dollars rail project. Arguably, it is more valuable to connect the middling cities in Ontario with Toronto to enable quick business trips (and fast access to Pearson), not so much commuting. That is really more useful when there is better transit around the GTA, as well.

No but it will happen once it is in place (though the numbers won't be huge). Having said that I don't know if there is much of an economic case of building HSR to Windsor with the assumption that a US HSR network will materialize.

AoD

 

[Adjei]

No but it will happen once it is in place (though the numbers won't be huge). Having said that I don't know if there is much of an economic case of building HSR to Windsor with the assumption that a US HSR network will materialize.

AoD

Maybe build to London for now and build out for Windsor if HSR from Chicago to Detroit materializes. Once you build out to Windsor you are effectively in Detroit. But with how the US is heading who knows if HSR will materialize anytime soon.

 

[north-of-anything]

The viability of HSR west of Toronto comes down to whether Michigan can keep moving forward on higher-speed rail from Detroit to Lansing and beyond. You're most of the way to Chicago, which is by far the most important international destination on this line.

I think it's inevitable: Michigan and Illinois are two of the most passenger-rail-friendly states right now, and a stop in South Bend should be enough to convince Indiana to support it. That business case would be stronger if Canada went all the way to Windsor.

I seriously don't believe London is a strong enough destination to become a temporary terminus. HSR isn't a communter rail service. Either build it all the way to Windsor or don't build it at all.

 

[micheal_can]

The viability of HSR west of Toronto comes down to whether Michigan can keep moving forward on higher-speed rail from Detroit to Lansing and beyond. You're most of the way to Chicago, which is by far the most important international destination on this line.

I think it's inevitable: Michigan and Illinois are two of the most passenger-rail-friendly states right now, and a stop in South Bend should be enough to convince Indiana to support it. That business case would be stronger if Canada went all the way to Windsor.

I seriously don't believe London is a strong enough destination to become a temporary terminus. HSR isn't a communter rail service. Either build it all the way to Windsor or don't build it at all.

I am wondering if the existing corridor where the Windsor station is has the space to sink tunnels down, or would we need to ask CPKC nicely to use theirs.

 

[junctionist]

Windsor's VIA station isn't well located for an intercity railway station. It's surrounded by industrial land and not downtown. Plus, you'd probably need a new tunnel anyway. Using the CPKC tunnel is likely a non-starter due to capacity issues and the need for electrification for HSR. Ideally, an underground station would be built in downtown Windsor and in downtown Detroit on both sides of the new tunnel.

 

[ZEBuilder]

2:09 is is no worse than commuting from London to Toronto now.So, for those that would rather move to Ottawa than Toronto, it may give them a reason. Peterborough will definitely see a boom in people moving to there. Their city council needs to get shovels in the ground on development now to avoid an extreme housing crisis; worse than we are seeing now.

You are severely under estimating commuting times. South Kitchener to Mississauga City Centre is an hour when you leave at 6am. If you hit traffic it's easily 1.5 hours, sure the 401 widening between Milton and Cambridge will help but still. In what world are you doing a London to Toronto commute in 2 hours? Its about an hour from London to Kitchener so you're looking at 2 hours in absolutely perfect conditions to get to Mississauga, so its more like 2.5 to 3 to get to Toronto.

Sure HSR could fix that and make it a reasonable commuter city but it would have to be awfully quick. KWC is already close enough that with HSR they'd get a boom of housing (they also have a public transit system that isn't atrocious unlike London). Sure London could become a commuter city but as it is now you'd have to really cut down on commute times to make it a logical option which HSR has the ability to but no one is going to live in Ottawa and commute to Toronto, likewise no one does the London to Toronto commute without going crazy.