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+--- Forum: Transportation and Infrastructure (https://www.waterlooregionconnected.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=25)
+--- Thread: Grand River Transit (/showthread.php?tid=13)
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RE: Grand River Transit - panamaniac - 04-23-2020
I guess we'll have to wait to see how bad the economic damage is and what funding the higher levels of government are going to throw at infrastructure to try to reinvigorate the economy.
RE: Grand River Transit - KevinL - 04-23-2020
Here's a wild thought, toss out the road-expansion plans for the next year but keep the transit improvements. I know, radical.
RE: Grand River Transit - panamaniac - 04-23-2020
(04-23-2020, 06:31 PM)KevinL Wrote: Here's a wild thought, toss out the road-expansion plans for the next year but keep the transit improvements. I know, radical.
How do they compare in terms of local employment generation? I imagine that could be a (the?) key consideration.
RE: Grand River Transit - plam - 04-23-2020
(04-23-2020, 06:40 PM)panamaniac Wrote:(04-23-2020, 06:31 PM)KevinL Wrote: Here's a wild thought, toss out the road-expansion plans for the next year but keep the transit improvements. I know, radical.
How do they compare in terms of local employment generation? I imagine that could be a (the?) key consideration.
Road construction itself doesn't make many jobs. As a result of road construction? Beats me.
RE: Grand River Transit - danbrotherston - 04-23-2020
(04-23-2020, 08:20 PM)plam Wrote:(04-23-2020, 06:40 PM)panamaniac Wrote: How do they compare in terms of local employment generation? I imagine that could be a (the?) key consideration.
Road construction itself doesn't make many jobs. As a result of road construction? Beats me.
Road construction began by creating many many jobs, but I'm pretty sure recent studies have shown we're basically at saturation, it creates no jobs beyond the direct jobs anymore--don't ask me for a source, I only remember reading it years ago.
RE: Grand River Transit - danbrotherston - 04-24-2020
(04-23-2020, 06:31 PM)KevinL Wrote: Here's a wild thought, toss out the road-expansion plans for the next year but keep the transit improvements. I know, radical.
Just for some context, right now we are doing the exact opposite. Rural and Cambridge transit expansions have been cancelled, but council approved a 8.7 million dollar road expansion.
https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/major-construction-project-for-fischer-hallman-road-gets-the-green-light-1.4908216
RE: Grand River Transit - tomh009 - 04-24-2020
I do believe the federal government has funding available for shovel-ready construction projects, so that might include the Fischer-Hallman project. Transit funding would come from a separate bucket, though.
RE: Grand River Transit - danbrotherston - 04-24-2020
(04-24-2020, 02:47 PM)tomh009 Wrote: I do believe the federal government has funding available for shovel-ready construction projects, so that might include the Fischer-Hallman project. Transit funding would come from a separate bucket, though.
That wasn’t really my point, and right now, this isn’t federal money, this is regional money, 8 million to a road is fine, but 2 million for transit is not.
RE: Grand River Transit - tomh009 - 04-24-2020
(04-24-2020, 04:55 PM)danbrotherston Wrote:(04-24-2020, 02:47 PM)tomh009 Wrote: I do believe the federal government has funding available for shovel-ready construction projects, so that might include the Fischer-Hallman project. Transit funding would come from a separate bucket, though.
That wasn’t really my point, and right now, this isn’t federal money, this is regional money, 8 million to a road is fine, but 2 million for transit is not.
If it's all region-funded with no federal subsidy, then please consider my comment above to be null and void.
RE: Grand River Transit - WLU - 04-24-2020
(04-24-2020, 12:43 PM)danbrotherston Wrote:Great to see this road expansion finally getting done. Has been discussed for sometime now and is sorely needed. I would say for the usage it gets and the amount of people who will benefit, it's a bargain at $8.7 million.(04-23-2020, 06:31 PM)KevinL Wrote: Here's a wild thought, toss out the road-expansion plans for the next year but keep the transit improvements. I know, radical.
Just for some context, right now we are doing the exact opposite. Rural and Cambridge transit expansions have been cancelled, but council approved a 8.7 million dollar road expansion.
https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/major-construction-project-for-fischer-hallman-road-gets-the-green-light-1.4908216
RE: Grand River Transit - Bob_McBob - 04-25-2020
Which GRT route expansions were actually cancelled? Is it the same stuff they were trying to cancel last November?
I note they also cancelled the fare increase as well as the new income-based fare discount program.
RE: Grand River Transit - danbrotherston - 04-25-2020
(04-25-2020, 12:42 AM)Bob_McBob Wrote: Which GRT route expansions were actually cancelled? Is it the same stuff they were trying to cancel last November?
I note they also cancelled the fare increase as well as the new income-based fare discount program.
Yes, that was what they cancelled.
As for the fare increases, I don't know if this is simply a writing choice by the reporter, or if council actually worded their motions differently, but the fare increase was reported as "deferred" not "cancelled". Which, given the fares on the system are free right now, makes sense.
RE: Grand River Transit - ijmorlan - 04-25-2020
(04-25-2020, 12:37 AM)jeffster Wrote:(04-24-2020, 08:21 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: And what if you factor in the environmental costs of the road and the sprawl that it will generate? It won’t improve traffic, it will simply induce more traffic. Still a bargain? What else could we have spent that 8 million on?
You can also expect more and more businesses to open in that area as well.
And people will get to those businesses using whatever facilities the City and Region have built.
If we build roads, people will drive.
If we build transit lanes and LRT, people will take transit.
Of course I’ve expressed this in a simplistic way, as if we would build only roads or only transit, and as if either everybody would use roads or everybody would use transit, but in the real world these alternatives co-exist in various proportions and people’s choices follow what is available in different places.
As a matter of efficiency, we should be building transit, not roads, in most places. Exceptions for odd bottlenecks or missing turn lanes, where a small investment can improve the value of existing infrastructure or make it more consistent. If people want more roads maybe they should form a joint-stock corporation and build them privately. Free government services should start with necessities and move on to luxuries only as they become affordable. Uncongested toll-free roads during rush hour are definitely a luxury.
RE: Grand River Transit - ijmorlan - 04-25-2020
Oh, yeah, and what’s this “filthy public transit” nonsense? I agree that we should spend more on maintenance and cleaning, even pre-Covid (i.e., transit funding should be higher), but it’s a bit rich for somebody to call public transit filthy given the amount of pollution caused by car operation.
RE: Grand River Transit - tomh009 - 04-26-2020
(04-25-2020, 11:03 AM)ijmorlan Wrote: Oh, yeah, and what’s this “filthy public transit” nonsense? I agree that we should spend more on maintenance and cleaning, even pre-Covid (i.e., transit funding should be higher), but it’s a bit rich for somebody to call public transit filthy given the amount of pollution caused by car operation.
I took it as a bus or LRT train having a higher likelihood of COVID-19 transmission than a single-person private car. But maybe my interpretation was wrong?