(06-21-2021, 04:27 PM)panamaniac Wrote: Stage 2 isn’t really about ridership, is it?
It is. A lot of the funding is already there because the Federal and Provincial governments already committed to rapid transit in the region, as has the region itself. Cambridge is seeing a lot of interest from developers of all sorts at the moment. It's a beautifully distinct part of the region and this could boost the economy unlike they've ever experienced before. There is SO much land waiting to get developed. It has a very close 401 access which is absolutely huge when you pair this with access to suburbs, neighbouring cities and freight routes for transportation companies. It will allow for more developers to propose new residential, office and industrial projects (the latter of which is unique, because there are large industrial parks in the city and that can really entice companies/developers to move production, freight/docking or warehouses here rather than in the GTA). I could see many tech companies deciding to base themselves in Cambridge as well and perhaps even more university satellite faculties opening up there (AFAIK they only have the Faculty of Architecture right now).
But to achieve all of that, they need to feel like they are actually part of the rest of the region. All of this is dependent on ridership. They want to feel like they are part of the Region of Waterloo the same way Kitchener and Waterloo basically act as one singular city and we are able to do that because of the expressway, city/regional roads and now the LRT. Offer people a way to get from downtown Cambridge to downtown Kitchener in 30 minutes and the ridership would absolutely skyrocket, since currently the only way between the two is to take a car or one of two pseudo-BRT routes. The LRT will also be able to move a hell of a lot faster than it does through the rest of the region due to how elevated it is between Fairway Station and Preston Station.
I've been pretty involved with the research into the LRT line going into Cambridge. So far, I've found Cambridge to have much fewer objections (at least so far) to the LRT than Kitchener and Waterloo had. They've seen how much the LRT has benefitted the other two cities at this point. We were basically the guinea pigs. Most Cambridge residents acknowledge that they are a struggling city and that having this would be like pouring nitrous into their fuel tanks. Most people do want it, they're just worried about things like property appropriation (which is pretty minimal, at least in the studies done so far), environmental disturbances, traffic issues, school overcrowding etc but all of that can be improved as needed.
It's wayyyyy too early to expect a construction start date. I doubt we'll see any construction start for at least 4 more years. For now, just be pleased to know that the assessment gave it the green light. They're going to get it no matter what.