#TMCPTC

[via-rail-offical]

The Missing Canadian Public Transit Links #2: Sheppard West (TTC 1) - Sheppard-Young (TTC 1,4)

The Context

TTC line 1 is one of the most stupid subway lines in the world, forming a big U around the city, with minimal connections across the city, provided by Line 2, the 512 streetcar, various busses, and Line 5 if it ever feels like opening.

(ignore the crudly drawn on line 5 and 6)

Both stations serve as hubs with several busses, notably they share the 958 express bus, with only three stops between the two.

However with both the 512 streetcar and the 958 express bus you have to ascend to the surface, which feels bad even if it's not that much slower. It's also clear the 958 express bus is a well used route, seeing 5 busses an hour off-peak and 7 busses an hour on-peak

The History

This connection frequently gets discussed in conversations about future plans for the TTC, however other projects get prioritized. A basic history of the link is as follows:

2002: TTC line 4 opens

2009: The TTC officially considers extending line 4 to allow an easy connection to the Wilson yard, it is dropped due to cost and lack of interest

2010: As a part of the "Transit City" plan the TTC line 6 Finch LRT is shown as connecting to Finch Station just north of this link, is included in the environmental review as an underground section, but is officially dropped prior to the construction of the line.

2013: The links are listed in Toronto's "Feeling Congested?" report as an unfunded future project both as the subway link and the lrt link.

2020: The links once again appear on a list by the TTC as a potential link, with Line 4 getting a "Moderate" priority and Line 6 getting a high priority

How might the link be built

Subway

A subway link along Sheppard is, in my opinion, the best option in this case. On top of providing more capacity at more predictable frequency, the line would also have the advantage of connecting the young section of line 1 to the Wilson yard, where all trains for lines 1 and 4 are maintained. This would allow trains to end service without traveling most of the highly congested line 1 and allow trains to start on the young side of line 1 (the more busy side). If we wanted to kill both birds with one stone, the subway could also parallel line one from Sheppard west though Downsview park (connecting to GO) and ending at Finch west providing a connection with line 6, negating the use of the Finch link. I think this would be the most optimal option.

Light Rail

Unfortunately this is the most likely option to be built as Ontario has learned nothing from the issues building light rail tunnels (O Train line 1 and TTC line 5 core). As well as not providing the important link to the Wilson yard from the Young side of line 1 the frequencies of this line will be unpredictable due to the fact that line 6 runs at grade west of Finch West station.

Conclusion

It should be built as a subway but it won't be and I still don't know how to tumbl

[via-rail-offical]

The Missing Canadian Public Transit Connections #1: Bayview Station (OCTranspo lines 1,2) - Taché-Uqo (STO Rapibus, both tramway proposals)

The Context

The missing line would be a crossing of the Ottawa river in Canada's National Capital Region spanning a length of 1.75km.

On the south side you have OCTranspo's Bayview station, which serves as the main transfer point between the frequent, electric confederation line (lines 1,3 (in 2026)), the still relatively frequent, diesel trillium time (2 (2024)), and the 16 local bus. The actual area around the station is in LeBreton flats area, which is probably Canada's largest urban revitalization project.

On the north side you have STO's Tache-Uqo, which is the final station on the STO's Rapibus BRT corridor (routes 18, 800) as well as serving a considerable number of local busses (26, 29, 32, 34, 40, 41, 45, 47, 55, 59). The area around the station is mostly greenspace, with some single family homes and la Universite du Quebec en Outaouais (a relatively small university)

The History

A connection between the two sites have been long purposed, generally by using the old railway bridge to build the connection across the river. Despite the fact that the rapibus bas built to a point here and the plan to build across the was on the table while planning started on the plan to massively overhaul OC's line 2, the city of Gatineau had actually declined the project, resulting in the bridge being converted to a MUP and the line being built in such a way to make an extension like that hard to create in the future.

The connection almost got a second life as the planning of the Gatineau Tramway (starting construction at some point, maybe) started. Before the MUP plan was finalized the idea was floated to terminate the Tramway at Bayview using the old rail bridge. This proposal was shot down by the city of ottawa who claimed that this could overwhelm Bayview station (it would not) and the bridge was taken off the table. The optimal route for the tramway was ultimately decided to be building a second downtown LRT tunnel parallel to the OTrain tunnel, we will see if this proposal is still the plan when they eventually decide to talk to the public.

How might the connection be built

At this point it seems like it just won't be. Despite speeding up many trips between Gatineau and the quickly developing western bits of Ottawa, inter-provincial politics failed the idea and the NCC did not do much to help. However, lets look at how it could be built anyways.

Rail

The line could be built as a future extension of either the Tramway or Trillium line, however seeing as the old bridge is no longer an option due to it being converted to a bridge the project would be significantly more expensive. If this was going to happen I would say the most likely scenario is that it would be built along with the conversion of the rapibus corridor to rail (which is the plan but it seems a long way out)

Aerial Tramway

This has never been proposed as far as I'm aware but could be reasonable. It would likely be cheaper to build due to the fact that it's not a bridge and could be used to generate more revenue for both agencies. If made so that it has a higher fare but is included in a monthly pass and fare-capping it could also be used as a tourist attraction of some kind? I haven't put a ton of thought into it because I see it as very unlikely.

(View from the bridge, potentially leading itself to being a tourist attraction)

Monorail

This isn't the US this would not even be proposed tbh

Conclusion

This this connection may have had a future at some point in our history, the shortsightedness of both involved cities have kinda screwed up any potential of it happening :/

Also, I don't know how to tumblr