Highway 401 Widening - Highway 8 to Townline Road

[jeffster]

As little as I personally drive on the 401, and as much as I hate that driving experience, it's pretty much a necessary evil, for both people and goods. Even if we do get the all-day two-way GO (at an improved speed?) the 401 traffic will continue to grow for the foreseeable future.

That seems defeatist. If we had two-way all-day GO trains running Kitchener to Toronto, every 30 mins or better, 60 min end-to-end travel time, I bet we'd make a huge dent in 401 passenger volumes. That doesn't even require the ambitious HSR proposals, running some EMUs and upgrading the track to class 5/6 standards would do. GO had a proposal to do something similar for Toronto-Hamilton they called Super GO.

The only reason we need to keep widening the 401 is that we refuse to invest in any alternatives. We're stuck in a cycle of "people don't take trains because service sucks" so "let's not improve trains because no one uses them" so "people don't take trains because service sucks" so....

Not sure if even a good quality GO system would put a huge dent in it. You have a family and friends, and anything by train is too expensive, and too time consuming. Last time it cost us $120 round trip from Kitchener to Toronto plus $24 for TTC, grand total was close to $150. Never again. 401 to Downsview Station, $15 gas ($1.15 per litre), $5 parking, and $24 TTC. Transit was the most expensive component still, but total cost less than 1/3.

It isn't just a matter that 'service sucks' - any sort of transit isn't geared to families, those with disabilities, those who don't have copious amounts of time on their hands, and those that don't live close to the mains.

Now, if you're single, without children, not taking care of an elderly parent, don't have a disability, you have time, then sure, transit is better.

I sometimes wonder for those people that don't drive, and/or those that hate cars, even have a slight understanding why people actually drive.

Though I think in the future transit will be different -- we'll have self driving vehicles that can pick up people and families at a cost that is more favourable than car ownership. But that's still a ways away.