ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[Canard]

Cambridge Folk Want to See what aBRT Busses Look Like

Schmidt briefly outlined some upcoming plans to engage the public in the LRT project, including participating in naming the stops along the 19-km route. That will start this spring.

The stop names are already well-established, no?

As always with articles on the Record, don't bother reading the comments - your head will just explode.

[Viewfromthe42]

You should consider emailing your regional representatives (or all of them) with a letter warning heavily about naming the stops. While it might make a few residents feel happy during the naming, the ability to find your way around our region by transit is greatly and disastrously reduced when we look at a map and wonder where we are getting off the train if we go to the Waterloo Mazda stop, or the CIGI stop, or the Cemetery stop. Some names that aren't just a cross-street (like UpTown) will probably make sense, but there are a range of great local landmarks that won't actually help a great deal of locals, and even fewer newcomers or visitors. The transit stop names are effectively locations on a map, and so readability, identifiability, are key.

[Waterlooer]

Does anyone have any ideas as to what the new buses will be like? I just assumed they would still use the current GRT buses.

[KevinL]

Does anyone have any ideas as to what the new buses will be like? I just assumed they would still use the current GRT buses.

They may get new livery (branding signage, striping, etc) to distinguish them, the same way the 200 iXpress buses are distinct from regular GRT buses. No word yet from the higher-ups.

[Pheidippides]

Bombardier's troubles continue, when should it be time to start worrying about the Region's order?

[Canard]

Urban Toronto had been fretting about FLEXITY Outlook deliveries in TO for a few months now; they should have received 40+ trains now, but only have 3 (maybe 4). I think they'll get it figured out. Bombardier makes the best stuff out there and they'll pull through.

I'll be crushed if something dramatic happens and we have to switch to Alstom or Siemens hardware (I'd loose all interest in the project, to be honest).

[DHLawrence]

Guess you have no interest in the LRT lines in Calgary, Edmonton, or Ottawa, then...

[KevinL]

Speaking of Alstom, Ottawa's Confederation Line is getting preparations well under way - they have a mockup unit on display and have produced quite a snazzy video showing off their vehicles.

[Canard]

Not so; Calgary has a great elevated section and I enjoyed exploring Edmonton's system, too. Ottawa's will be neat because the stations are so elaborate. But light Rail is just very low in my interest in the technology spectrum because it is so light on infrastructure, you know what I mean? What is there to our system except a bunch of bus-shelter like bare-bones stops and the tracks - I just personally like massive, concrete guideways and such (Tolouse/Lille VAL, Tokyo's waterfront Yurikamome, Morgantown PRT...). In the end I accepted us getting LRT over other technology choices since my "consolation prize" was at least our trains would be by Bombardier, and look great. The thought of running anything else on it makes me cringe.

Sure, you might think the above is ridiculous, but I'm a transit enthusiast, not a daily user, so try and remember that. I know 98% of people couldn't care less or wouldn't even notice a change in vendor for rolling stock.

[nms]

Record article today about possible re-routing of the Oktoberfest and Santa Claus parades as well as the (likely permanent) moving of the Buskers Festival.  It will be interesting to see how the Buskers adapt.  I can't see the BIA wanting to move it too far away.

I know that parade routes have shifted elsewhere to make way for changes in city streets.  I wonder how many inflatables (if any) will be able to duck under the Weber Street overpass if that's the route that is chosen.  Even though the LRT is bypassing downtown Kitchener, would the parade route be able to duck under the LRT wires to get onto King Street near Victoria and Francis?

I was also surprised to read that the Oktoberfest tents on Benton will also no longer be allowed.

[DKsan]

I feel like the street festivals would be able to coexist rather well with the one-way LRT tracks, say in Uptown Waterloo on King. Sure, the trains would have to go a bit slower, but if LRTs and trams can exist with heavy pedestrian streets in Europe, why not the occasional event?

[Markster]

Record article today about possible re-routing of the Oktoberfest and Santa Claus parades as well as the (likely permanent) moving of the Buskers Festival.  It will be interesting to see how the Buskers adapt.  I can't see the BIA wanting to move it too far away.

I don't see anything in that article about the Busker move being possibly permanent. The parade organizers were talking about that possibility in their planning for the Weber diversion.

As for the Weber underpass, if the floats have been able to get under the traffic lights on King, then they can get under the underpass.

Buskerfest is almost certainly able to co-exist with LRT tracks, though it may require political pressure to make sure it happens. As for Oktoberfest's Benton tent, with the new configuration of Benton (an island LRT platform in the middle of the street), there won't really be the same kind of space for a big tent. They could maybe move it on to Duke St.

[panamaniac]

If Oktoberfest were to move the Benton St beer tent would anyone have a problem (or even notice). That venue has always been pretty depressing, imho.

[Elmira Guy]

As a member of the Lions Club of Elmira (the largest Lions club in Ontario, and perhaps Canada), I have helped man the huge inflatable snowman during the Santa Claus Parade. We have no difficulty dropping it below all the overhead wires, and the pedestrian bridge across King St from Market Square. I don't see how the Weber St overpass would be any more challenging.

[Drake]

If Oktoberfest were to move the Benton St beer tent would anyone have a problem (or even notice).  That venue has always been pretty depressing, imho.

It was my understanding the city was spending a lot of money to restore the Glockenspiel. I had thought it was going back to that location. I suppose if that was true, it would be odd to no longer have the Oktoberfest venue there.