ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[ijmorlan]

I wonder if the problem with Willis Way is related to the signage that tells you not to cross Caroline to the platform from the Shops side at the north end of the platform (maps), but to walk south past the platform where there's a designated crossing? I have to admit that I was too lazy and went with others that waited for a gap in traffic. I guess the concern here is that a driver will make a quick right out of the LCBO lot onto northbound Caroline and not see you? I got away with one. I won't do that again.

I've mailed Sean Strickland about Willis Way and am meeting with regional staff about it tomorrow. The issue is that basically no one wants to get off the train and go south away from their trip generator (or worse yet, west to the multi-use trail, which also has bikes whizzing by). People will cross Caroline mid-block. Which could be fine, perhaps. Or maybe pedestrian traffic should be funneled north towards where the trip generators are actually located. This station layout does not respect desire lines.

If you’re meeting with them, please also push the idea that there should also be a pedestrian crossing of Caroline immediately south of Father David Bauer. It’s weird for an intersection in that location to be missing a pedestrian crossing.

At Willis and Caroline, it’s OK not to have pedestrian crossings of Caroline for two reasons: there should be crossings at Father David Bauer and at the north end of the Ion platform, very close to where Willis Way crossings would be anyway; and there is a left turn lane on Caroline which doesn’t fit well with having crossings at Willis Way.

I have to say I’m disappointed by what Galloway said in the article. He acts as if these were unforeseeable. To the contrary, in both of these cases, the problems are obvious just by looking at the plans. Any competent planner inspecting the plans would have noticed the problems without needing to wait for actual people walking to use the stations. Interesting that they haven’t mentioned Frederick, Grand River Hospital, Kitchener Market, or Borden stations which have similar defects in the design (notice that I do not say “problems with people walking in the wrong places”). I wonder when they’ll officially notice people using the “wrong” end of those stations.