AlvinofDiaspar said:
I don't imagine there is a lot of development potential for the eastern part of the Islands - certainly not to the point of justifying the economics of services in and on its' own.

AoD
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Certainly, it would be difficult to justify adding costly infrastructure to grow the community. However, if there are any gaps or vacant lots that can be developed within the existing capacity of sewers, water, hydro, and similar then it would spread those fixed costs across more users.

I'm not saying there are any such gaps - hard to see any from Google, I was just wondering if this has been studied thoroughly.

- Paul
 
kotsy said:
www.thestar.com

Take an overhead gondola to Toronto Islands? New report details options for permanent link to public park

Staff report recommends setting up a task force to study an idea that local planners, politicians, and media have been batting around for at least a century.
www.thestar.com www.thestar.com

paywall bypass:
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I don't like the idea of a bridge, especially given the constraints outlined in the article, but a gondola could probably get around those, and would be a cool tourist attraction itself. It could also serve as a transit option if expanded across the length of the islands.
 
kotsy said:
www.thestar.com

Take an overhead gondola to Toronto Islands? New report details options for permanent link to public park

Staff report recommends setting up a task force to study an idea that local planners, politicians, and media have been batting around for at least a century.
www.thestar.com www.thestar.com

paywall bypass:
Click to expand...

The idea is nonsense and there should not be one minute or one dollar wasted on it. We haven't even scraped up the money to fund the full ferry replacement project and the terminal work, nor the WELRT and someone wants to tack another 150M on to the wish list?

From the above:

1746629889605.png


No one is going to use a Gondola for a 3 minute ride, when it takes 10 minutes to walk up the ramp to it.

This is feasible in the way that relocating Kennedy Space Centre to Toronto is feasible, with enough money, almost any dumb idea that doesn't defy the laws of physics can be delivered. But that does not mean it should be, or that anyone with one whit of common sense would pursue it.
 
I'd have assumed you'd have put it from Cherry Beach, which avoids the plane issue. Even if there was clearance, I don't think putting something off the end of the runway would ever be a good idea for safety reasons.

Years ago when Doug Ford promised connecting bike paths at Bathurst and from Cherry Beach (how? someone in the 2010 campaign was during lines on a map) I suggested extending the streetcar from Bathurst to Cherry Beach. But the shipping issues are difficult, and it would require a tunnel, not being economical.

Perhaps one day in the far future, when there's no shipping left. Not that there's too much now, and few facilities. The Ontario Line TBMs are being shipped from Europe to ... Hamilton!
 
Admiral Beez said:
Just make the ferries faster to load and unload. The ferry ride is fun. It's the waiting that is not. And the paywall keeps out squatters and encampments.
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I wish Toronto could learn from Vancouver. I took the SeaBus a couple years ago and it was great!
 
I don't want to have to pay to ride a ferry every time I want to go to the islands, sure its fun but we need a connection once and for all.
And with hundreds of people lined up only people able to pay for water taxi and speed there trip up. Definatley not what the islands were built for.
The island is for all, not only for some.
 
If you don't want to ride a ferry you aren't looking to go to islands. A major part of the Toronto Islands' charm is that they are islands and a but harder to get to.

Perhaps you'd be more interested in the Lower Don and Promontory Parks, when they open later this year. Technically an island - Ookwemin Minising - but served by TTC busses.
 
Dinamo5 said:
I don't want to have to pay to ride a ferry every time I want to go to the islands, sure its fun but we need a connection once and for all.
And with hundreds of people lined up only people able to pay for water taxi and speed there trip up. Definatley not what the islands were built for.
The island is for all, not only for some.
Click to expand...

I don't agree with a fixed link. It really doesn't make sense from a cost perspective, unless and except it involves shutting down the island airport and repurposing that connection (I'm not looking to sidetrack or reopen that discussion)

You have to pay a TTC/GO fare, or for gas/parking to go just about anywhere.

I agree that the price point should be kept affordable, and I would love to see the ferries reduced to the standard TTC fare and integrated with Presto. That would be affordable, and do-able, and much more practical than any new fixed link.

The service should also be frequent, every 30 minutes or better, year-round, 5:30am-1:30am; every 15 minutes or better in the peak season.

That, along with nicer, weather-protected terminal facilities at both/all ends would create a high degree of convenient accessibility.
 
urbancog said:
A major part of the Toronto Islands' charm is that they are islands and a but harder to get to.
Click to expand...

I fail to see the charm in inaccessibility*. If exclusivity is the charm, that's what private cottages are for, not city owned parkland.

*edit: "inaccessibility", not "accessibility", which I hope was an obvious typo.
 
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Yup. People insisting that the largest park attraction in the city remain a private oasis for the privileged and patient doesn't sit right with me. We're desperate for green space, let's do everything we can to get as many people to the islands as possible.
 
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