Quote:
Originally Posted by frinkprof
That's where a lot of things come in really. Bus-only lanes into the CBD and also in the CBD itself, more routes with articulated buses, more circulating-type bus routes in the CBD and surrounding areas, and of course new LRT lines with their own dedicated route through the downtown - i.e. Southeast and North Central.
The 8th Avenue Subway is important indeed, but I'm starting to see the argument whereby it doesn't necessarily need to be the highest priority in order to increase transit capacity into the downtown. Building it as the first priority (combined with an increase in LRVs in operation of course) absolutely would though, don't get me wrong.
4 car train operation, improved track and signalling technologies (both on their way to happening) and the Southeast line will work to free up the capacity needs of the south line for a bit and thereby knock the 8th Avenue Subway down the priority list a bit. Other things like replacing the older U2 LRVs will help with realized capacity too due to improved capacity and reliability.
Now, if the timeline for Route Ahead is 30 years, I don't think that it should wait that long (I think pent-up demand and other factors will fill up 4 car trains faster than is officially expected, for example), but I think the southeast line (or at least a portion thereof) can go first.
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You might actually know this (whereas I can only speculate) - how many people who would use the SE line currently use the S line? It is something I've considered, but I don't know how significant a factor it would be.
I'm not sure if the 8th Ave Subway needs to be the absolute top priority, but I still don't see a good reason to build the LRT out to DeWinton first as the current timeline proposes. (That is unless the new developments are going to pay for their line extensions and the added capacity that would be needed.)
The 8th Ave Subway scores much higher than these "final" extensions in RouteAhead's own evaluation criteria, yet it is behind them in timeline.