03-20-2024, 10:05 AM
(03-19-2024, 04:47 PM)Bytor Wrote: The Milton line options is only better if you're not going the full length of that line and want to get to Milton or Mississauga. If people are going to Toronto, then this route is better because it's a few minutes quicker with the possibility of a lot quicker as more work on the Kitchener line gets done, and it also gets you to Guelph, where probably a lot more Cambridgites actually work than Toronto or Mississauga (based on common commuting patterns).
I'd be willing to bet that $500M on this spur line gets you a far bigger ROI from Guelph-Cambridge economic benefits than spending billions to extend the Milton line to Galt.
Of course, I think we should have both Guelph and Milton, and the Lakeshore West Hamilton→Brantford extension that takes back the Paris rail trail and loops up to Cambridge.
You have to look at more than just the commute patterns. The reason Toronto is a better destination is because it a) has better local transit and b) is really bad and expensive for driving. Guelph might have more people travelling there, but even the nicest train connection isn't going to help much when the last 5 km of your journey is a 45 minute local bus that you can drive in 3 minutes.
This is why building transit to Toronto specifically (and also a few areas around Toronto) is so effective, even in Canada. I'm all for building more transit, but I also recognize that building valuable (and cost effective) transit is the best way to get more transit. And I'm not saying that there shouldn't be transit between Guelph and Cambridge...frankly, it's ridiculous that we're discussing investing (wildly optimistically) half a billion on a train, when the city hasn't even bothered to run a bus line...
Like, you understand how difficult the ION was to get through politically at a similar cost (the original estimates were around 500 million) and those had decades of bus service predating them with massive ridership demand.