ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[ijmorlan]

So I met with region staff at Willis Way. They pointed out the design challenges there: putting in the crosswalk at the north end of the platform wouldn't work great because the cars will bunch up from Erb and Caroline. My recollection of that conversation is that their predicted car behaviour is that the cars would just block the crosswalk. The PXO at the south end of Willis Way is there for accessibility reasons, but they expect that most able-bodied people would jaywalk midblock on Caroline to get to/leave the station, which is the behaviour that I've observed.

That explanation makes no sense. The north end of the platform (supposedly too close to Erb and Caroline, would have problems with bunching) is much further from Erb and Caroline than the perfectly OK crossing immediately north of Father David Bauer Drive; and it’s also much further from Erb and Caroline than the perfectly OK crossing at the south end of the platform is from William St.

Also the crossings at both ends of the platform could have had pedestrian refuges if the street had been designed slightly differently. Indeed, even with the exact same right-of-way as existing, if the LRT had been put in the middle the platform itself could serve as the refuge — then crossing to the east would be a matter of crossing one lane of traffic, while crossing to the west would involve crossing one LRT track and one lane of traffic.

I wish I could cross-examine some of these people (not at all the same thing as having a meeting with them, as you did). I bet that out of all the times I’ve declared professionals’ work to be wrong, in about 10% of the cases I would realize that there really was a good reason that was hard to see, and in the other 90% of the cases they would be reduced to blubbering messes by the end. For intersection/traffic design, 3%/97%.

[trainspotter139]

[Spokes]

Fantastic to see positive results!

[tomh009]

Yes -- but would be nice to see the actual iON ridership numbers. Maybe we'll get those at the end of the month?

[Bob_McBob]

Today's Record has a somewhat bitter opinion piece by former Cambridge mayor Doug Craig, who still thinks the region should have gone with BRT. A reasonable point about the lack of GO service though.

https://www.therecord.com/opinion-story/...n-the-ion/

[KevinL]

Once again he ignores CP's obstinacy in allowing service through Milton. Unless unprecedented political pressure is brought to bear against a private company, that concept is literally going nowhere.

That said, the idea for a branch line to Guelph via Hespeler is reasonably viable, and I hope he can be convinced of its merits and brought on board in support.

[danbrotherston]

Once again he ignores CP's obstinacy in allowing service through Milton. Unless unprecedented political pressure is brought to bear against a private company, that concept is literally going nowhere.

That said, the idea for a branch line to Guelph via Hespeler is reasonably viable, and I hope he can be convinced of its merits and brought on board in support.

I don't think it's unprecedented, I mean, we have a government who is currently forcing private companies to display partisan advertising for free.

Still, frankly, I think our governments should be more heavy handed with some companies...I do also think that we should be building proper infrastructure *cough* missing link bypass *cough*...

Still, given the cancellation, maybe CP was proven right, not to work with the province...

[creative]

“I don't think it's unprecedented, I mean, we have a government who is currently forcing private companies to display partisan advertising for free.”

WHAT!

[Bob_McBob]

“I don't think it's unprecedented, I mean, we have a government who is currently forcing private companies to display partisan advertising for free.”

WHAT!

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/a...-1.5170622

[ijmorlan]

Once again he ignores CP's obstinacy in allowing service through Milton. Unless unprecedented political pressure is brought to bear against a private company, that concept is literally going nowhere.

That said, the idea for a branch line to Guelph via Hespeler is reasonably viable, and I hope he can be convinced of its merits and brought on board in support.

Also I believe his characterization of the cost of BRT vs. LRT is misleading, possibly even shading into dishonest. He says the BRT plan from 2011 would have been half the cost of the LRT. Well, the original LRT plan was also less than half the cost of the actual LRT. I believe the initial estimates from early in the process were well under $400M. Once we seriously got into it, we got a better estimate which stayed amazingly close to constant as the project progressed through the RFP.

[jeffster]

Today's Record has a somewhat bitter opinion piece by former Cambridge mayor Doug Craig, who still thinks the region should have gone with BRT. A reasonable point about the lack of GO service though.

https://www.therecord.com/opinion-story/...n-the-ion/

Tartar sauce. While he makes a good point when saying that Cambridge is getting ripped off by paying for the LRT but not getting it, is valid. Everything else, really, isn't accurate. Would KW have had this construction boom with BRT? Nope, not at all. Would Cambridge been better suited for GO Train over KW? Hell to the no. You simply can't compare a community close to the GO Train in Kitchener to what Galt would have offered.

He for sure is bitter. I do hope that LRT comes to Cambridge sooner than later, and I think it will. And Cambridge will see the same growth that has happened in KW. But the LRT Phase 1 was the best option.

[panamaniac]

BRT for Cambridge actually doesn't strike me as a bad idea ....

[MidTowner]

I think it's a great idea. The problems with BRT are all political. They revolve around people's subjective perceptions and prejudice against buses in favour of trains, and the fact that BRT is easier to water down. Cambridge has "aBRT" right now (if we are still calling it that), and I think it's very good, but it's not BRT as it should be.

Our Region generally would do well with BRT lines like those of Bogota or Mexico City. These would serve roads like Highway 24 and Coronation in Cambridge, or University in KW, really well. But a lot of people in Cambridge are unlikely to see it that way, and there's a risk that anti-transit types will push to have it watered down to the point where we get little better than express bus routes with special branding that would be costly to upgrade to LRT.

In short, extensive and quality BRT everywhere in the Region would be great. Since the political will isn't there, I hope Cambridge gets Ion Phase 2 quick, so we can move on to Phase 3 on University or Victoria.

[danbrotherston]

There's an article about the motor vehicles driving on the Fairway walking and cycling trail.

https://www.therecord.com/news-story/950...-corridor/

This article bugs me for three reasons:

1. They don't explicitly say there are motor vehicles driving on the walking and cycling trail. People reading this unfamiliar with the area will infer the vehicles are driving around on roads. This is a gross mis-characterization of the situation. Which leads to...

2. It isn't about safety. If it was, they wouldn't be driving SUVs down a CYCLING AND WALKING TRAIL

3. Apparently the LRT crossing won't be open to pedestrians until next year, which is a bad joke...both in that they could not fail at this more completely, why would it take so long to open, that's utter BS, and secondly, in that people will be using it once it exists, it doesn't matter what temporary fences they put up or aggressive dangerous driving of motor vehicles on a walking and cycling trail they try to use to stop it.

[danbrotherston]