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ION Stage 3 Speculation - Facts, Theories, Speculation, Rumors!
#31
(06-06-2018, 09:01 PM)Canard Wrote: I would be all for a massive Park-and-Ride in Breslau.  Stations without parking work great for urban cores.  For the rest of the people living outside of downtown, driving and having somewhere to park at a station is the only way they'll be able to use the system.

Agreed, I could see that working pretty well. The way some people talk, it’s as if park-and-ride is bad. What I would say is that a parking lot where transit-oriented development could be is bad. So just put the park-and-ride somewhere that it isn’t displacing transit-oriented development. Then you both pick up the drivers (move them to transit for most of their trip), and in other locations you pick up the transit and pedestrian/bicycle traffic.
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#32
(06-07-2018, 11:31 AM)chutten Wrote:
(06-07-2018, 11:06 AM)Viewfromthe42 Wrote: I invite anyone who doubts the impact of creating highway capacity on our ability to hold off on development to take a look at the unprotected land area between the triangle of Cambridge, Waterloo, and Guelph, and watch as the new highway 7 turns farms into subdivisions.

I too appreciate the pressure that tollways place on restricting sprawl, but at what point do we let the municipalities off the hook for permitting subdivisions to be built? Ultimately zoning is a local decision, not a Provincial one, no?

The green belt is a provincial responsibility, but municipalities will always respond to signals from the province. You can do things like Places To Grow, forcing zoning to be increased, growth and development patterns to change, or you can shrug at transit infrastructure and push to make highways more greatly used, and send the signal to start sprawling again. The NDP's pocketbook focus has been very decidedly pro-sprawl and car-centric development.
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#33
(06-07-2018, 11:31 AM)chutten Wrote:
(06-07-2018, 11:06 AM)Viewfromthe42 Wrote: I invite anyone who doubts the impact of creating highway capacity on our ability to hold off on development to take a look at the unprotected land area between the triangle of Cambridge, Waterloo, and Guelph, and watch as the new highway 7 turns farms into subdivisions.

I too appreciate the pressure that tollways place on restricting sprawl, but at what point do we let the municipalities off the hook for permitting subdivisions to be built? Ultimately zoning is a local decision, not a Provincial one, no?

Outside of Breslau, what land can be subdivided, significantly,  and turned into an urban sprawl situation. I don't think the highway will cut commute times for say Maryhill enough to kick start this there. I know historically this is what Highways do, produce development along its length, but I never considered this to be the case in this situation...... hmm. I have welcomed this highway. Given KW's limited access to 401 (homer watson, 8) I view this development as not only better link for the transportation of people and goods between the region and Guelph but as an alternate route to Toronto/Hamilton for when accidents occur on the aforementioned 8 and Homer Watson. I honestly think this will not turn farmland into subdivisions. That`s my hypothesis. I just hope Smart Centres does not put another one of their crap developments north of Breslau.
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#34
I hope the 407 gts untolled, it will make going to wonderland so much easier
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#35
No kidding! $34 for the first trip for me this year... I’d forgotten it was so ridiculous, I almost never look at the bill. I took the regular way last time (401/400) and it’s not so bad.... but 407 is sooo much nicer.
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#36
(06-07-2018, 08:59 PM)darts Wrote: I hope the 407 gts untolled, it will make going to wonderland so much easier

No, it wouldn't. It would make 407 more congested, and getting anywhere would become slower and more difficult. Just less expensive. In any case, the western portion of the 407 can't be untolled since it's managed by a private consortium. The question is only about the eastern portion.

And I believe that in many, many ways untolling highways would be a huge step backwards.
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#37
(06-07-2018, 09:09 PM)Canard Wrote: No kidding! $34 for the first trip for me this year... I’d forgotten it was so ridiculous, I almost never look at the bill. I took the regular way last time (401/400) and it’s not so bad.... but 407 is sooo much nicer.

It's nicer because it's less congested -- and it's less congested because it's tolled.
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#38
I'm pretty confident that the urban growth boundary will remain in Waterloo Region. It exists for a reason, and I doubt the presence of a highway will change that.
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#39
(06-07-2018, 09:39 PM)tomh009 Wrote:
(06-07-2018, 08:59 PM)darts Wrote: I hope the 407 gts untolled, it will make going to wonderland so much easier

No, it wouldn't. It would make 407 more congested, and getting anywhere would become slower and more difficult. Just less expensive. In any case, the western portion of the 407 can't be untolled since it's managed by a private consortium. The question is only about the eastern portion.

And I believe that in many, many ways untolling highways would be a huge step backwards.

yup, but even if the 401 traffic shifted over a lot of it is heading to toronto so it will end up on the 401, some will go to the 407.
Even if the 407 was as congested as the 401 I'd still save time, just not $30 worth of time.

I know it won't get untolled, so in the meantime I let my car idle on the 401 or I don't get a season pass to wonderland
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#40
You’ll want one next year for the B&M Dive Machine coming...
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#41
It's called induced demand..if it was untolled, people would drive more...it wouldn't just be traffic from the 401, it would be entirely new traffic.

I hate that it's a private corporation, not that it's tolled.
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#42
(06-07-2018, 11:53 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: I hate that it's a private corporation, not that it's tolled.

I don't hate the private corporation (can't blame them), but I would definitely prefer public ownership. Mike Harris didn't have much common sense in this case.
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#43
The prices wouldn’t be so out of control if it was was public. The private company can charge whatever they want. It’s like $10 to drive for 6 hours all the way across NY on their tollway.
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#44
(06-08-2018, 11:37 AM)Canard Wrote: The prices wouldn’t be so out of control if it was was public. The private company can charge whatever they want. It’s like $10 to drive for 6 hours all the way across NY on their tollway.

407E rates (which are set by the provincial government) are only about 15% lower.

NY Thruway is indeed much less expensive, maybe 20-25% of the cost (I-87 to PA state line is USD 14.91). But it was built in the 1950s, and the tolls were actually intended to be removed once the bonds were paid off in the 1990s. They now have smallish tolls which allow them to do ongoing maintenance but not any significant structural work -- so the highway is almost exclusively four lanes still, sixty years later. The 407 consortium, on the other hand, has done a number of extensions, ramps and widenings even since they took over the highway, so that accounts for some of the difference.
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#45
Having driven the 407 through a few good storms this winter, the snow removal is also much better than the 401... partially because it's easier to do with less traffic but also they have more money to pay for it.
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