[drum118]

June 24
Lot more up on site

Tahoe

Eglinton

Etobicoke

Connection location to Eglinton Jan 2016

Spectrum

 

[ssiguy2]

This is world class transit that MiWay is building and one that Toronto should emulate. This is the type of system Calgary will be building with it's SouthWest Transitways which will be nearly 100% grade separated outside the downtown core.

This type of service would not be advisable going to downtown Toronto but would be incredible efficient by roughly following the 401 corridor to connect MiWay with Malvern/STC to offer a car competitive, highly reliable transit service.

 

[Dan416]

If Transit City had been more like the Mississauga Transitway but with LRT then I'm sure it would have garnered far more support than it got.

Unfortunately, I'm not convinced the Mississauga Transitway will see the kind of usage one would hope, since it's not really close to anything.

 

[salsa]

This is world class transit that MiWay is building and one that Toronto should emulate. This is the type of system Calgary will be building with it's SouthWest Transitways which will be nearly 100% grade separated outside the downtown core.

This type of service would not be advisable going to downtown Toronto but would be incredible efficient by roughly following the 401 corridor to connect MiWay with Malvern/STC to offer a car competitive, highly reliable transit service.

I don't see where's there's any room available on the 401 corridor for a transitway, or any Toronto highway for that matter. However what Toronto does have are subways including the crosstown LRT that's under construction and eventually GO RER. While BRT can be useful too, I like transit that goes through real neighbourhoods...

...not transit that goes next to a highway in the middle of nowhere.

 

[ssiguy2]

Most commuter rail lines go thru barren areas but still get good ridership.

Not every transit route should be geared or even relevant to local transit riders. It's called the need for speed. Someone who wants to get from Oakville to York U or STC to MCC. Transitways are excellent for this type of travel particularly connecting suburban areas due to most rail lines radiate from the downtown core offering very few crosstown alternatives.

 

[salsa]

Most commuter rail lines go thru barren areas but still get good ridership.

Not every transit route should be geared or even relevant to local transit riders. It's called the need for speed. Someone who wants to get from Oakville to York U or STC to MCC. Transitways are excellent for this type of travel particularly connecting suburban areas due to most rail lines radiate from the downtown core offering very few crosstown alternatives.

That's completely true, but as I said unfortunately there's no room for a similar transitway along the 401. The best alternative I could think of is to make the Pan Am HOV lanes permanent so that buses full of people don't have to be stuck in the same traffic congestion as the cars with their one passenger.

 

[ssiguy2]

Speed is the reason commuter rail is popular and doesn't require TOD to be successful because people will take their cars/walk/bike/local transit to get to the station because it is so fast. Buses can be used the same way in getting across the GTA.

There is a potential Transitway route from Eg/401 Miway terminus by going north on #27 {which in that area is basically a freeway to the GO Kitchener line, building a bus road down the line to Etibicoke North station for convenient transfers and then follow the rail line to where the 409/401 meet and use the north side of the 401 to get to Downsview station. It would require some over/underpasses but still be infinitely cheaper and faster to build than a crosstown commuter rail line.

 

[doady]

Toronto does have the Richview corridor, but they want at-grade only for Eglinton Crosstown for the above ground sections for some reason.. Toronto could have been building a completely grade-separated rail line along Eglinton to connect with this grade-separated BRT and to the airport, but too bad.

 

[Amare]

Toronto does have the Richview corridor, but they want at-grade only for Eglinton Crosstown for the above ground sections for some reason.

Not anymore, our friends Rob and Doug sold off the lands for some quick cash to tell everyone that they "saved $1 billion". A bundle of ugly townhouses are taking over the formerly vacant Richview lands.

 

[robmausser]

Toronto has the Hydro corridors, two of which, Finch and the Gateneau corridor would make for great bus transitways.

The Finch one intersects York University, two GO and two subway stations, and could connect Kipling station to Pearson Airport for a right-of-way 192 Rocket.

We have already created a small BRT transitway in the Finch corridor to York University.

 

[44 North]

Yep. This would be pretty decent for crosstown service. I've actually been wondering if the Prov had ever given thought to "undergrounding" their transmission corridors through the city - or at least key sections. Any high cost would more than likely be made up for by the enormous development potential - particularly with an RT corridor running along it and allowing for upzoning. But the added bonuses to the Prov would be lower line loss, lower maintenance costs, and less susceptibility to ice storms (imagine those crumpled hydro pylons like in Quebec '98 happening here). An LRT or bus whizzing by rows of trees instead of metal towers would be much more preferable.

 

[Monarch Butterfly]

Yep. This would be pretty decent for crosstown service. I've actually been wondering if the Prov had ever given thought to "undergrounding" their transmission corridors through the city - or at least key sections. Any high cost would more than likely be made up for by the enormous development potential - particularly with an RT corridor running along it and allowing for upzoning. But the added bonuses to the Prov would be lower line loss, lower maintenance costs, and less susceptibility to ice storms (imagine those crumpled hydro pylons like in Quebec '98 happening here). An LRT or bus whizzing by rows of trees instead of metal towers would be much more preferable.

Been done already.

Of course, for recreational purposes or for that matter transit, there is no money to put the hydro lines underground. However, for an expressway, there is no expense, so that's what they did, put the hydro lines along Sunnyside Beach underground for the Gardiner Expressway.

 

[drum118]

First of all, the York Busway was built in a different time frame than today as well having an expiry date. The busway is to be removed upon the opening of the Spadina Subway extension in 2017/18 now that was schedule to happen this year. So 2018 or 19 will see the road remove unless something changes before then. This goes for the busway on York U lands as well.

People love the hydro corridor for building things that will be fast to few people, but a lot of backtracking for the rest to get to/from where they want to go in the first place.

The "BIG" question is "WHO" is going to own the ROW upon the sale of Hydro One??

Then the Questions become: 1) what is the cost to bury the corridor going to be? 2) How long is it going to take to bury the corridors?? 3) ""WHO"" is going to pay the "COST" to bury the corridors?? :: "ALL OF US" 4) "WHEN DO THE ROAD PEOPLE" Start taking over the corridors for more highways??

As it stands today, nothing is getting built in any of Hydro Corridor.

Yes there is a hug cost saving going underground as noted, but you are going to need more of it to supply the power needs 20-30 years from now without building power plants in the areas which should happen already.

The amount of ridership generated for Mississauga Transit is only a drop in the bucket that will be carry by GO in the first place. I said in 2004 and do so today that this transitway is a GO Thing and mainly for GO at the expensive of the taxpayer that it will run through if it get fully built. The Mississauga Section is well over budget and that money has been taken away from transit improvement system wide as well other sectors of the city programs.

These corridors are used for other things as well and exist for various reason.

 

[44 North]

Cool pics of yore. Had no idea we ran a transmission line through the lake. Re: drum's great points: I'm not saying it is a good idea. I'm just wondering if it's ever been looked at - whether as a potential revenue source, or for logical reasons. Avg price of a house in TO is past $1M. That's insanity. Now look at a hydro corridor. It's absolutely massive - in both width but especially length. Finch I'm seeing ~100m, Gatineau looks like double that. And we have these enormous steel frame structures holding what? A few wires no thicker than a thumb (or maybe thicker, I'm not sure). Point is, could there be potential to put a hydro corridor underground in a sealed chamber, with enough space in said tubed chamber to allocated expanded hydro for a millennia? Perhaps the Prov could hold onto a narrow surface corridor with subsurface rights, but make a killing selling the rest. This is more for discussion purposes, I'm definitely no expert hydro.

 

[Tuscani01]

Don't count out the idea of burying lines through hydro corridors once Hydro One is privatized. The new owners are going to want the most return for their investment. Burying hydro corridors and selling the land for development or transit projects is the only way to unlock the value of that asset. Hydro One can potentially become a major real estate player by selling off this land, or even simply leasing it and collecting regular income from the leases. It won't need to cost rate payers a cent, as it will likely be able to fund itself.