02-13-2022, 07:25 PM
(02-13-2022, 04:05 PM)the_conestoga_guy Wrote: The discussion around cycling infrastructure and Duke St, to me, really highlights the lack of holistic vision that the city/Region has for the downtown with respect to transit and cycling. Specifically, in the next decade when our buses will be driving at higher frequency headways, will our downtown be able to ensure that downtown traffic won't conflict with the buses? I imagine that we'll see some sort of BRT loop, similar to the one being constructed in London. If this is inevitable (which I think it is), shouldn't we be incorporating that scenario into the cycling grid? Otherwise, we'll just be rehashing these same arguments in ten years.
I agree completely that our region (little "r" combination of City and Regional governments) has not holistically planned for downtown, and that's a major failing.
I suspect that buses will be further delayed by this bad planning.
That being said, I don't expect a BRT loop. The LRT right of way is the dedicated transit right of way in the core, the London BRT plan seeks to replicate. We're well ahead of London in that regard.
The long term GRT plan doesn't suggest any more dedicated transit right of way in the core. The only potential dedicated transit right of way is a laughable suggestion that they'll widen Fischer-Hallman Rd. to six lanes (from like Erb St. to Ottawa St.) and that would be used for BRT. I say laughable because during the Moving forward 2020 plan it was pretty clear that suggesting it could be a BRT was just a way to justify to excuse keeping an utterly massive road widening in the plan which was supposed to promote alternatives to driving. As far as I'm aware there is no plan from GRT to actually use that as a rapid transit right of way.