ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[Drake]

Yes I meant altering the locations. Pouring a new cement pad and relocating shelters shouldn't be a big deal.

[Canard]

Quite a big deal. Installation of gauntlet tracks, reconfiguration of OCS, underground utilities, etc - non trivial

[BuildingScout]

Quite a big deal. Installation of gauntlet tracks, reconfiguration of OCS, underground utilities, etc - non trivial

Non-trivial, but easily doable if there is a good reason. London and Paris are plastered with closed down metro stations which were replaced by others. The reason I don't think it would happen is that the current placement at the R&T is in the best possible location, given the LRT track.

[mpd618]

Further, one has to ask in what scenario are the people who are working at R&T riding the Ion. I am seeing some residential access in Kitchener and specifically the new density in the condos going up in the core. Otherwise, is the thought really that high tech workers are going to drive to a park and go type set up and ride the train to work, or are they expected to grab a bus and transfer onto the Ion?

I don't see that this is different than people commuting anywhere else on ION, other than the way the R&T Park is sprawled out. And yes, I can picture a quite realistic scenario of people choosing to live in downtown Kitchener or uptown Waterloo, and take the train to work there. It's only a ten-minute walk from the LRT stop to most offices there.

[Canard]

I think it's a bit premature to start saying certain stations should be moved because of ridership. Let's wait until it's open?

[Viewfromthe42]

In a different take on ION happenings...

This morning, the first 7C out of Charles got hung up at the tracks on Strange. The barriers were down, flashing, and clanging. But nothing came. For a half hour. Several cars going both directions dodged through the barriers. The bus eventually got a GRT helper to help him reverse and do a 3 point turn. One fellow who'd normally get off with his bike at Conestoga got off there, telling the driver he'd now be so late that he'd have to call off his day (though not rudely or blaming the driver, seemed resigned to GO's signal issues being the cause).

I believe the barriers are normally down at that time so that the GO train can escape the side tracks where it is parked, and then reverse direction to get to the train station. I've usually pulled up to that track with the barriers down and the train stopped, right before it powers towards the station and the barriers raise. But today, no train for the 30 minutes we were there.

[timc]

I was in the R&T park the other day and I see the construction for the ION stop at this location. Is anyone aware of the thinking behind the location? It seems to be in the middle of no where. Is the plan to make this area a parking lot for commuters? There is nothing within easy walking distance and it doesn't appear to give good access to the R&T area.

I've believed for a long time that the right place for the stops is at Columbia Street, and at University Avenue. No stop at Seagram, none at the current placement near Phillip. It would make for better bus connections which is important for LRT. You still need to walk down University to get to WLU, but there are buses that go that way all the time anyway.

A stop behind McCormick would have been nice too.

[MidTowner]

I was in the R&T park the other day and I see the construction for the ION stop at this location. Is anyone aware of the thinking behind the location? It seems to be in the middle of no where. Is the plan to make this area a parking lot for commuters? There is nothing within easy walking distance and it doesn't appear to give good access to the R&T area.

I've believed for a long time that the right place for the stops is at Columbia Street, and at University Avenue. No stop at Seagram, none at the current placement near Phillip. It would make for better bus connections which is important for LRT. You still need to walk down University to get to WLU, but there are buses that go that way all the time anyway.

A stop behind McCormick would have been nice too.

Most people who looked at it objectively would likely agree with you that Columbia and University make sense. Markster offered a pretty good explanation as to why the less logical station placements were chosen.

[Canard]

I love the Seagram stop since it is basically a Waterloo Park stop and that's one of my favourite places to go in the region. And it's the closest one for my husband to get to the university (he's at WLU).

[zanate]

I love the Seagram stop since it is basically a Waterloo Park stop and that's one of my favourite places to go in the region. And it's the closest one for my husband to get to the university (he's at WLU).

And it's a great stop for me, as a member of KW Granite. Though I expect eventually development pressures will eat up that land, it sounds like the Granite club intends to stay there for at least 7 years, maybe more.

[chutten]

With any mass transit, you want consistent day-long week-round ridership. This is impossible, but looking at the ION, we don't want it to be only full on weekday rush, so having it serve locations that are open outside of weekdays is imperative.

The LRT route looks good for having that sort of all-day, everyday kind of ridership... excepting three stops: Northfield, R&T Park, and UW.

If we shifted the R&T, UW, and Seagram spots to AMCC, N of Columbia, N of University... it'd have probably worked just fine, excepting that you now have stops on two heavily-trafficked double-wide thoroughfares instead of smaller streets and the Uni. It'd have better served the residential stuff on University and up by AMCC for week-'round riders, by that metric.

Maybe some of the station choices will become clearer as they release the plans for the bus network that'll have to be updated for this all to work.

[zanate]

Walked down King from Green - Union tonight to check out the road. Looking very spiffy! Especially the retaining walls in front of the church / KCI, will look great when they are finished. Only thing I'm questioning is the King St entrance to the hospital; the plans indicate it's supposed to be closed (and it would make sense, considering that's where the station will be), but the new curbs they've installed leave an opening for vehicle access. 2 of them, actually! A 2 lane entrance, and a 1 lane entrance about 10 meters North of it (though this one has no vehicle/pavement ramp leading up to it on the hospital side, like the 2 lane one does — possibly a pedestrian crossing to get to the station in the median of the road.)

Were plans changed, or will they be demolishing the curbs here to RE-repave them without the entrance?

Plans were changed. The published project agreement shows Pine St. and the emergency entrance blocked. But since then, the station was shifted north so that its south end was at the King/Pine intersection. This was done in part to allow the hospital to keep its current setup, and it means that Pine St. will be a full-access intersection instead of RI/RO. You can see this shift in the stop concept rendering below.

[Canard]

I also see an Alstom Citadis, not a Bombardier FLEXITY Freedom, which drives me insane.

Since we're getting picky.

[zanate]

I also see an Alstom Citadis, not a Bombardier FLEXITY Freedom, which drives me insane.

Since we're getting picky.

And I hate renders of LRT driving up the middle of the traffic lane, so I figured: why not make us both angry?

[Canard]

Lol, Translohr