ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[Canard]

I expect no one studied pedestrian volumes here because officially there are none. Officially the trail has no access to Fairway between Courtland and Wilson. The only accesses that did exist were cut in a fence or were because the property owner chose not to put up fences.

Not that that means there shouldn't be an access, there definitely should IMO, but it explains why it's easy to miss in the process. Studying it would acknowledge it exists, and could cause the region to be required to do something about it (like prevent it).

That's almost exactly what I was just typing up before accidentally closing the wrong tab... argh!

This is the whole crux of it. Had there been an official crossing beforehand, it might have been caught.

My fear with this whole thing blowing up right now is that blame is going to be (very unfairly) placed on GrandLinq, who, in my mind, have done no wrong. How can a project engineer in Toronto be expected to catch that there is a trodden path of broken bushes and fences and just add in an (expensive) crossing system with lights and deck plates for free? Bringing up the issue in 2014 (date here) is too late. Shovels were in the ground. This should have been caught or brought up by someone way back in the 2010-2012 timeframe.

As I suspected, Transport Canada may be the bottleneck here, now - as confirmed by Tom Galloway. We should know some more in the coming days. But please keep in mind that as a P3, the consortium has been contracted/hired to build a system to a spec - and changing the spec right now, today, means that the consortium has the opportunity to quote whatever they want for additional charges and add whatever they like to the timeline - and the Region sure as heck ain't gonna let that happen. The only way a crossing will go in here is if it is spliced in well after the substantial completion date is met.

It is an unfortunate situation. Don't get me wrong. But this slipped by everybody until it was too late. Let's not finger point.

[Square]

It has been over 1 year now, (July 29th actually), since I'm assuming that Borden from Courtland to the Huron Spur received it's first layer? of asphalt.
I wonder when they will put down the second?

I think I got my own answer.   Went to St. Mary's Hospital today and saw that only 1 layer has been paved on Queens Boulevard.
I think this area was constructed and paved like 2 years  ago.

[ijmorlan]

It has been over 1 year now, (July 29th actually), since I'm assuming that Borden from Courtland to the Huron Spur received it's first layer? of asphalt.
I wonder when they will put down the second?

I think I got my own answer.   Went to St. Mary's Hospital today and saw that only 1 layer has been paved on Queens Boulevard.
I think this area was constructed and paved like 2 years  ago.

That’s nothing. After Father David Bauer Drive was constructed through to Westmount in 1997, it didn’t get its second layer until approximately the mid-2000s. Not sure what happened there… but I don’t expect a lot of that sort of thing with the LRT project. I imagine Grandlinq is going to want to actually finish the construction phase, and they’re not subject to yearly budget cycles — they have a contract to build a certain project and they’ll build it.

[tomh009]

Often they only pave one layer, and then leave the second one to wait until the construction is substantially completed -- that may well have been what happened of FDB Drive.

[Canard]

I just squealed.

First pics of FLEXITY Freedom going together in Thunder Bay.

http://www.metrolinx.com/en/aboutus/publ...201603.pdf

   

[Pheidippides]

The photos date stamped in April and January in that newsletter is from the first quarter of this year and states, "The first pilot and production vehicles are now being assembled and will be ready for testing in spring 2016." They must have been photos of a FLEXITY in production, not the FLEXITYs from this order, otherwise that must have been one heck of a production hiccup if they still are not ready.

[Canard]

That report was put together before the revised schedule; trains are still on target to head to Millhaven before month's end.  I believe it, if that's where they were at in January and April.

Train pictured is actually the Metrolinx pilot vehicle; paint scheme matches their "neutral" motif (grey upper stripe, black "smile" encapsulating the headlamps):

   

Reminder - FLEXITY Freedom buildout starts as follows:

Train 1: Metrolinx Pilot LRV
Train 2: Metrolinx Pilot LRV
Train 3: Waterloo ion LRV No 1
Train 4: Waterloo ion LRV No. 2
Train 5: Waterloo ion LRV No. 3
etc..

Still, so, so exciting to see.  I've been dreaming of the day when the first photo would be leaked from Thunder Bay.  Figured it'd have to be Metrolinx or the Region that would finally sneak some out!

[Canard]

No, it's painters tape. As I mentioned these photos are of Metrolinx' first pilot LRV.

[kitborn]

This editorial about LRT vs. BRT.

Until the passenger numbers go up for Cambridge to Kitchener, this may be a good idea.

[jgsz]

This editorial about LRT vs. BRT.

Until the passenger numbers go up for Cambridge to Kitchener, this may be a good idea.

From the editorial:

An express bus system could, in time, build the ridership numbers that would convince senior levels of government that Cambridge needs and deserves light rail.

Building ridership numbers seems like a spurious argument to me.  

For starters, Cambridge has 126,748 (2011) people.  Waterloo has 98,780 (2011) people.  I realize Waterloo has lots of students but many have little to do with the community.  They take GO buses to the GTA but relatively few go far from campus, which is unfortunate.

Before merging with GRT, Cambridge Transit had about 25 buses serving 90,000 people.   It was better than nothing but very little was done to encourage ridership. For example, there was no Sunday service.  And buses didn't run that often.  Memories linger and I doubt many people in Cambridge will be enticed to leave their car at home and hop on a BRT.  

BRT is not as sexy as an LRT.  So what happens if ridership numbers don't improve significantly?  Will Cambridge cancel BRTs and go back to regular bus service?  That would be a shame but it could happen.  

If you want to build ridership on public transit go for the full LRT, without delay.  There is ample evidence to show that once an LRT is built ridership increases fast.  

IIRC, both the Provincial and Federal governments are in favour of funding public transit.  Why Cambridge mayor, Doug Craig, is such a stick-in-the-mud is beyond me.

[jamincan]

I'm also a bit surprised that Doug Craig seems to think that we'll have a hard time convincing senior levels of government to fund expansion. They're practically throwing money at transit expansion right now.

[clasher]

The cost to build a true BRT with a separate ROW seems like a wasted opportunity to just built an LRT right off the get-go. Aren't labour costs are lower on an LRT system since BRT generally needs more buses to provide a similar level of service?

[ijmorlan]

The cost to build a true BRT with a separate ROW seems like a wasted opportunity to just built an LRT right off the get-go. Aren't labour costs are lower on an LRT system since BRT generally needs more buses to provide a similar level of service?

Yes, but only at high service levels where it is reasonable to run fewer larger vehicles rather than more smaller vehicles. So LRT scales better as traffic increases.

The editorial made at least one subtly-incorrect point: it claims BRT routes are easier to move thanks to the lack of tracks. Well, that might be true of a regular bus route or cheap Walmart BRT such as has been built in Cambridge so far, but real BRT requires … a dedicated right-of-way with dedicated lanes, which is guaranteed to be just as hard to move as an LRT line.

I will say that of all the places to cheap out and just build BRT, the Cambridge extension is a less-bad place for it. Just expand Hespeler Road with BRT lanes, protect for LRT conversion, and have the bus pop onto the 401 and expressway to get up to Farview Mall. So the cost savings over LRT is larger than usual (an entire segment of the route from Fairvew to Hespeler/401 can be skipped), and the route runs down the middle of an already-large road.

Having said that, let’s do it right, build it as LRT, and prove wrong all the people who said Cambridge would never get LRT (including, I believe, Doug Craig himself). If it is built as BRT, however, I want a signed statement from Doug Craig that he will never whine about Cambridge getting the short end of the stick ever again. I always thought he would become pro-LRT once it was clear that the KW area was definitely getting an LRT system. So I guess points for consistency but minus points for not pushing for the interests of his constituency. Except politicians aren’t really scored on consistency so that’s really only minus points.

[MidTowner]

...If it is built as BRT, however, I want a signed statement from Doug Craig that he will never whine about Cambridge getting the short end of the stick ever again...

Yep.

The best line of the article is “There's no rush to respond to Mayor Craig's trial balloon — nor should anyone feel inclined to let the air out of it”

Real BRT with dedicated lanes might be a good interim measure, and certainly better than “aBRT.” But the best thing for the Region to do is lobby the provincial government aggressively for funding for Phase II to Cambridge. It might not be the most cost effective route in the Region, but politically it has to be done. Otherwise Cambridge would threaten any major transit investments anywhere else in the Region- especially but not just Ion expansion elsewhere.

[Viewfromthe42]

Rain is such that the "roadway" on King in front of Kaufman Lofts is currently a river.