Neat B and I had a very good friend's 40th birthday dinner in the Junction this evening.
So naturally, we walked over to the UP Express station from our offices in the Financial District and took the train one stop to Bloor Street. When we got off -- along with everyone else who uses our airport link as a regional express train -- we then walked the West Toronto Railpath up to the restaurant on Dupont Street. All in all, it took us about 35 minutes. We hopped on the 5:30PM train and we arrived at Lucia around 5:50PM.
I know that a lot of people use this particular train to get to and from work, but I'm always so happy whenever I do it. I will take this over being stuck in traffic every day of the week. And for me, it is a powerful reminder of just how critical "two-way, all-day regional rail service" is to this urban region. We can talk all we want about better traffic signals, ramping up enforcement, or whatever, but the real solution to solving traffic congestion is getting people moving in other ways.
Anyway, I digress. Here's a photo of the delicious pasta we had:
Happy birthday Philip!
Commuter rail has typically functioned as a way to bring people from the suburbs into downtown for employment, and sometimes recreation. That has typically translated into good inbound service in the mornings, good outbound service in the evenings, and mediocre service the rest of the time. It has also historically meant lots of subsidized surface parking. Free parking was (and still is) often thought of as the key to putting bums in seats and increasing ridership.
Here in the Toronto region, this service is provided by GO Transit, which, since 2009, has been owned by Metrolinx. But as one of the fastest growing regions in North America, this kind of service and thinking has become increasingly antiquated. That’s why Metrolinx and the Government of Ontario are working to profoundly change the economic geography of this region by both electrifying the lines and implementing 15 min, all-day two-way service.
This may seem like an incremental improvement, but it is not. It is a significant change that will transform the service from commuter rail to regional express rail. Of course, this now means that it is time to rethink the land use policies and built form that surround these key transit nodes. One of the places where this is happening today is at the Clarkson GO Station. The City of Mississauga is in the midst of a planning study that will ultimately guide future development around the station.
I think this one of the most important shifts taking place right now in this region and elsewhere. It is the maturation of our suburbs and it is going to result in more walkable and vibrant urban places across our cities. So if you have a few minutes, I would encourage you to complete this survey that the City of Mississauga recently put out. The results will help to guide their Clarkson Transit Station Area Study.
I also think think it is worth completing the survey even if you aren’t local to the area. How to urbanize the suburbs is a universal problem.
Those of you from Toronto might be aware that the city is currently assessing the possibility of a “relief subway line” that would connect the downtown core back up to the Bloor-Danforth subway line in the form of a stretched out “U”.
The reason this line is being called a “relief line” is that – in addition to providing local service all across downtown and its “shoulders” – it would also relieve much of the pressure that the Yonge-Bloor interchange is facing today. Instead of always having to connect at that location, passengers coming from the east and west would be able to do so sooner as a result of this new subway line (bypassing Yonge-Bloor).
For those of you who are regular readers of ATC, you might know that I’m a big supporter of this relief line. I believe it should be our number one transit priority. It’s going to cut through areas of the city that have some of the highest population and employment densities, and so it’s an area where I think subway makes sense. The ridership would be there.
Many people at the city also seem to agree:
https://twitter.com/jen_keesmaat/status/571745025941487616
Given that an assessment is currently underway, the city is looking for feedback from the public. One of the ways you can do that is by clicking here. The site will allow you to comment on the potential station locations (shown below using purple circles). I did it this morning and I would encourage you to do the same if you’re from Toronto.
For clarity, this current study is only for the eastern portion of the relief line (study area is outlined in red below).
Neat B and I had a very good friend's 40th birthday dinner in the Junction this evening.
So naturally, we walked over to the UP Express station from our offices in the Financial District and took the train one stop to Bloor Street. When we got off -- along with everyone else who uses our airport link as a regional express train -- we then walked the West Toronto Railpath up to the restaurant on Dupont Street. All in all, it took us about 35 minutes. We hopped on the 5:30PM train and we arrived at Lucia around 5:50PM.
I know that a lot of people use this particular train to get to and from work, but I'm always so happy whenever I do it. I will take this over being stuck in traffic every day of the week. And for me, it is a powerful reminder of just how critical "two-way, all-day regional rail service" is to this urban region. We can talk all we want about better traffic signals, ramping up enforcement, or whatever, but the real solution to solving traffic congestion is getting people moving in other ways.
Anyway, I digress. Here's a photo of the delicious pasta we had:
Happy birthday Philip!
Commuter rail has typically functioned as a way to bring people from the suburbs into downtown for employment, and sometimes recreation. That has typically translated into good inbound service in the mornings, good outbound service in the evenings, and mediocre service the rest of the time. It has also historically meant lots of subsidized surface parking. Free parking was (and still is) often thought of as the key to putting bums in seats and increasing ridership.
Here in the Toronto region, this service is provided by GO Transit, which, since 2009, has been owned by Metrolinx. But as one of the fastest growing regions in North America, this kind of service and thinking has become increasingly antiquated. That’s why Metrolinx and the Government of Ontario are working to profoundly change the economic geography of this region by both electrifying the lines and implementing 15 min, all-day two-way service.
This may seem like an incremental improvement, but it is not. It is a significant change that will transform the service from commuter rail to regional express rail. Of course, this now means that it is time to rethink the land use policies and built form that surround these key transit nodes. One of the places where this is happening today is at the Clarkson GO Station. The City of Mississauga is in the midst of a planning study that will ultimately guide future development around the station.
I think this one of the most important shifts taking place right now in this region and elsewhere. It is the maturation of our suburbs and it is going to result in more walkable and vibrant urban places across our cities. So if you have a few minutes, I would encourage you to complete this survey that the City of Mississauga recently put out. The results will help to guide their Clarkson Transit Station Area Study.
I also think think it is worth completing the survey even if you aren’t local to the area. How to urbanize the suburbs is a universal problem.
Those of you from Toronto might be aware that the city is currently assessing the possibility of a “relief subway line” that would connect the downtown core back up to the Bloor-Danforth subway line in the form of a stretched out “U”.
The reason this line is being called a “relief line” is that – in addition to providing local service all across downtown and its “shoulders” – it would also relieve much of the pressure that the Yonge-Bloor interchange is facing today. Instead of always having to connect at that location, passengers coming from the east and west would be able to do so sooner as a result of this new subway line (bypassing Yonge-Bloor).
For those of you who are regular readers of ATC, you might know that I’m a big supporter of this relief line. I believe it should be our number one transit priority. It’s going to cut through areas of the city that have some of the highest population and employment densities, and so it’s an area where I think subway makes sense. The ridership would be there.
Many people at the city also seem to agree:
https://twitter.com/jen_keesmaat/status/571745025941487616
Given that an assessment is currently underway, the city is looking for feedback from the public. One of the ways you can do that is by clicking here. The site will allow you to comment on the potential station locations (shown below using purple circles). I did it this morning and I would encourage you to do the same if you’re from Toronto.
For clarity, this current study is only for the eastern portion of the relief line (study area is outlined in red below).
Once you’ve given this some thought, I’d love to have a discussion in the comments about where you think the relief subway line should go (or if you even think it’s a good idea in the first place).
My initial thought is that it should connect into King station, run along King Street East, merge with Queen Street East near the Don Valley, go through Riverside and Leslieville, and then start making its way north to Danforth Avenue.
My reasons are as follows:
King Street East is the most vibrant pedestrian street on the east side of downtown. There isn’t enough commercial activity further south.
King Street would allow it to eventually cut right through the Financial District when it heads westward.
The connection to Union station (for GO Transit, VIA Rail, and the Union-Pearson Express Train) would be manageable from King Street. Plus, SmartTrack may feed directly into Union.
King Street is roughly the midpoint between Queen Street and Lakeshore Boulevard. And if you place it too far south, it would take away from the proposed Queen’s Quay LRT line.
Having it merge into Queen Street near the Don Valley would allow it to service both Regent Park to the north, as well as the West Don Lands neighborhood to the south. It would also allow for a connection to a Cherry Street LRT line servicing the future Portlands neighborhood.
Queen & Broadview is emerging as a major node with a significant amount of density in the pipeline. And further north, Dundas & Carlaw is similarly seeing a lot of intensification.
But I may have missed a few things. These are just my thoughts. What are yours?
Once you’ve given this some thought, I’d love to have a discussion in the comments about where you think the relief subway line should go (or if you even think it’s a good idea in the first place).
My initial thought is that it should connect into King station, run along King Street East, merge with Queen Street East near the Don Valley, go through Riverside and Leslieville, and then start making its way north to Danforth Avenue.
My reasons are as follows:
King Street East is the most vibrant pedestrian street on the east side of downtown. There isn’t enough commercial activity further south.
King Street would allow it to eventually cut right through the Financial District when it heads westward.
The connection to Union station (for GO Transit, VIA Rail, and the Union-Pearson Express Train) would be manageable from King Street. Plus, SmartTrack may feed directly into Union.
King Street is roughly the midpoint between Queen Street and Lakeshore Boulevard. And if you place it too far south, it would take away from the proposed Queen’s Quay LRT line.
Having it merge into Queen Street near the Don Valley would allow it to service both Regent Park to the north, as well as the West Don Lands neighborhood to the south. It would also allow for a connection to a Cherry Street LRT line servicing the future Portlands neighborhood.
Queen & Broadview is emerging as a major node with a significant amount of density in the pipeline. And further north, Dundas & Carlaw is similarly seeing a lot of intensification.
But I may have missed a few things. These are just my thoughts. What are yours?
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