GO Transit

[nms]

If the Region and Cities decide to build affordable housing on parking lots, maybe this spot could be a good candidate. Start by creating affordable or supportive housing the Rumpel Felt building, and then build more there. This population will always be part of our community.

[ac3r]

That does nothing to solve homelessness, though. You can't just give hundreds of petty criminals, addicts and people who suffer from psychiatric issues a cheap place to stay and solve the problem. They need to be institutionalized until they are capable of doing basic human tasks most of us don't even think about. You can't just stick schizophrenics and opiate addicts in an apartment and expect good results.

[danbrotherston]

I really wish that the forum software here completely hid posts from people you've blocked. Some days I lack the self control not to peak where I shouldn't peak. But I'm comfortable that everyone here knows that basically everything ac3r says here is complete bullshit. There are lots of homeless people who are not criminals, addicts, and/or schizophrenics. Those that are (addicts and petty criminals) actually do benefit from housing, given that if we had to sleep outside in a tent in winter in Canada, we would also seek chemical means of detaching ourselves from reality (that includes Mr. high and mighty). And leaving all that aside, the evidence is absolute, housing people does in fact solve homelessness...basically by definition, but also again, because most of the other related problems are impossible to solve while people are homeless.

So...this is better than his previous comment calling homeless people vermin, but still full of misconceptions...to put it politely.

[ac3r]

Based on data from the 2018 PiT count, ASU [addiction, substance abuse and homelessness] was the most commonly reported reason for housing loss, with 25.1% of all respondents identifying ASU as a reason for housing loss. As a reason for recent housing loss, ASU was most common among adult males and individuals without dependants.

Wow who could have guessed that I am not just making up bullshit. It's simply reality.

Most homeless are addicted to something and a significant amount of them also suffer from psychiatric issues. Beating addiction and improving their psychiatric health is perhaps the single most important thing that is required. The first step - as defined by the American Psychological Association - is to admit one has a problem. It also takes the public to admit there is a problem. It is only when you begin to shatter the chains of addiction or when you provide dedicated, focused psychiatric care that you can begin to lift people out of this sort of life.

An addict with an affordable apartment is still an addict. They need housing, but it needs to be transitional housing combined with a serious desire to want to quit and improve. You need to put these people into programs that can help them detox but also relearn life skills most of us don't even think about. You provide those in need shelter, first. Then you begin to work out a strategy to improve - so long as they have the desire to do so. As they taper themselves off of drugs and then begin to develop a more normal routine, you put these people into transitional housing. Then social housing, followed by affordable housing and so on. It would be hoped that by the time they may enter an affordable housing program, they have broken the cycle of additive habits and/or petty criminal activity. Maybe at this point they have also obtained a job or are working on improving their skill sets. You give these people back their dignity and desire to live a normal life once again, whilst continuing to work on preventing any further relapse as well as an improvement to their health.

It's not all homeless but it's a damn good percentage of them. We have to provide them the methods and support to get them off drugs as well as stabilize their mental health. We also have to provide them with housing. But we also need to provide them with education for even the most trivial things we take for granted. If someone has been on the street for 1, 5, 10 or 20+ years, then they're going to need to relearn typical skills and habits most people don't think about such as planning a budget, developing a daily routine and how to maintain legitimate employment. If all you do is give them a room to sleep in, then they aren't going to get better.

Also lol at the suggestion that it's homelessness itself that sometimes causes chemical detachment. Okay, technically, that happens I guess? But it's not exactly ones first priority if they were to wake up tomorrow, no longer have a home and have no family willing to help. Those on the street are sometimes there for unfortunate reasons, but the majority of time they're out there because they have burned every bridge for possible assistance (friends, family etc) while also having likely no potential way to keep working due to addiction having consumed their entire life.

[tomh009]

Based on data from the 2018 PiT count, ASU [addiction, substance abuse and homelessness] was the most commonly reported reason for housing loss, with 25.1% of all respondents identifying ASU as a reason for housing loss. As a reason for recent housing loss, ASU was most common among adult males and individuals without dependants.

Wow who could have guessed that I am not just making up bullshit. It's simply reality.

Most homeless are addicted to something (...)

25% is not "most". It may be a "common" reason but far from "most".

[bravado]

https://www.engagewr.ca/cambridge-to-uni...enger-rail

The Region is developing an Initial Business Case to explore passenger rail service between Cambridge and Guelph, connecting to Union Station via the Kitchener GO Line. 

Providing an efficient, well designed transit service for Cambridge residents to take GO transit has been a long-standing priority for the Region and City of Cambridge. This builds on previous work completed in 2021 which also included a review and comparison of service between Cambridge and Guelph, and between Cambridge and Milton. The outcome of the 2021 Study indicated a connection to Guelph was the preferred option.

[SF22]

https://www.engagewr.ca/cambridge-to-uni...enger-rail

The Region is developing an Initial Business Case to explore passenger rail service between Cambridge and Guelph, connecting to Union Station via the Kitchener GO Line. 

Providing an efficient, well designed transit service for Cambridge residents to take GO transit has been a long-standing priority for the Region and City of Cambridge. This builds on previous work completed in 2021 which also included a review and comparison of service between Cambridge and Guelph, and between Cambridge and Milton. The outcome of the 2021 Study indicated a connection to Guelph was the preferred option.

If this gets implemented, and ION Phase 2 finally gets built, we'd actually have KW, Cambridge and Guelph all directly connected by some form of rail!

I don't know why the proposed routes between Cambridge and Guelph never seem to suggest an additional station in Hespeler? Is it just too close to Pinebush to warrant it?

[bravado]

https://www.engagewr.ca/cambridge-to-uni...enger-rail

If this gets implemented, and ION Phase 2 finally gets built, we'd actually have KW, Cambridge and Guelph all directly connected by some form of rail!

I don't know why the proposed routes between Cambridge and Guelph never seem to suggest an additional station in Hespeler? Is it just too close to Pinebush to warrant it?

Hespeler is a strange place that seems to be refusing growth at any opportunity, so it likely doesn’t get a seat in any future growth projects.

My main beef is that this whole plan seems to be based on the thought that the Milton line will never extend to Galt, which is just such a lack of ambition and more mediocrity for the area.

This Pinebush stop is a dead end, as far as rail goes. It can’t connect to anything in the future. Using the Milton line connects to downtown Galt where the growth is, and lets Ayr + Woodstock be future connections on the existing rail.

[KevinL]

The Milton line issue is, I understand, mostly intransigence from CP. Which is capable of being overcome, but I can see how this is considered an easier approach.

[nms]

It will be interesting to see whether any of the experience that CP (now CPKC) has with the Mexican government pushing for passenger rail on CPKC tracks trickles north. I do know that some US carriers have passenger friendly policies to at least not stand in the way of Amtrak expansion. Maybe some day the train will go from Milton to Galt, but for not a Guelph-Galt connection is a good first step.

[westwardloo]

Personally I think Pinebush is the wrong terminating location. Looking at the walking radius at Pinebush, the catchment area is minimal. I think they should terminate at Hespeler Rd near Coronation BLVD in Galt and have small stations in Preston and Hespeler.

[cherrypark]

The Milton line issue is, I understand, mostly intransigence from CP. Which is capable of being overcome, but I can see how this is considered an easier approach.

That and this line from Guelph just needs to be updated vs. doubling track on the rest of the stretch from Milton. Overcoming CP intransigence also likely means more cost, even if one would see it as a logical link passing Galt.

I also don't know enough about the other business case components, but you could imagine that all the work done to open up the Kitchener line would be seen as the better option to pile more trains through for this extra service than sending more trains on the Milton line. Already a lot of trips that terminate in Mount Pleasant / Georgetown.

[danbrotherston]

The Milton line issue is, I understand, mostly intransigence from CP. Which is capable of being overcome, but I can see how this is considered an easier approach.

That and this line from Guelph just needs to be updated vs. doubling track on the rest of the stretch from Milton. Overcoming CP intransigence also likely means more cost, even if one would see it as a logical link passing Galt.

I also don't know enough about the other business case components, but you could imagine that all the work done to open up the Kitchener line would be seen as the better option to pile more trains through for this extra service than sending more trains on the Milton line. Already a lot of trips that terminate in Mount Pleasant / Georgetown.

You know, I go back and forth on this one, but really (and the data is somewhere) we should build for the trips that are most common. Probably that is Cambridge <-> Guelph.

That being said, I really wish we would just do a damn bus like...yesterday. Compared with building a train, it would be trivially easy and then we could start building ridership to justify the investment of a train.

[cherrypark]

Yes, and more lines linking across the web coming from Union can't hurt either. It still leaves me confused how there are so few North-South busses across train lines out this way. It shouldn't be that hard to get the Burlington or Hamilton!

[jeremyroman]

That being said, I really wish we would just do a damn bus like...yesterday. Compared with building a train, it would be trivially easy and then we could start building ridership to justify the investment of a train.

The recent addition of the GO route 17 (Waterloo-Kitchener-Guelph-Aldershot-Hamilton) last year was great, and I hope it's doing well. If so, maybe Metrolinx will consider more of that kind of non-Toronto route, like Guelph-Cambridge or even Guelph-Cambridge-Brantford (both more service to Brantford, but also connects to the VIA line there). Small up-front investment and doesn't prevent us from putting rail service on the Fergus sub at the same time or afterward.