(09-06-2025, 09:33 PM)ac3r Wrote: The best idea is to just scrap the past idealistic ION light rail idea the region had when it began. The world has drastically changed since then and there is no longer the need for the same project idea they had in 2010-2015 to be built today. It is obviously going to be a waste of money which we don't even have in the first place. The ION ultimately sucked, I think everyone can agree with that these days. Nobody cares about whether it was the best "bang for the buck" because it's just objectively bad. You're wrong if you disagree.

What needs to happen to deal with Cambridge is for the region to look at the transit from a fresh perspective. Them contemplating whether or not it makes any sense to build is a start. In fact, in my experience the fact they brought that up is them saying it's never going to happen anytime soon. It makes no sense to spend billions of dollars to run an LRT to a small suburban city of not even 140'000 people in which the majority of its population are not in favour of rapid urbanization of their community. That's fine and you can't force that. Fill the need by improving BRT because obviously the 302 route is obviously something people demand. Buses are thankfully really flexible.

Put money into BRT and put money into improving the existing LRT with things like faster frequency/headways, finally coupling the damn trains together and exploring ideas for future extensions - and an inevitable route to Cambridge. Things that will actually benefit people. Nobody is benefitting from burning 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 billion dollars on a project that'll take 15 years to finish and go way over budget, only for people to end up being extremely disappointed in the same way regional residents were disappointed in the existing LRT after all is said and done.

There are much better ways to improve transit between Cambridge and the rest of the region which don't include forcing a multi-billion dollar bill upon people.

(09-05-2025, 02:20 PM)cherrypark Wrote: At this point just do the BRT for less, hope that GO to Cambridge gets approved, and live to fight for whatever Phase 3 would have been within KW.

(09-07-2025, 12:59 PM)bravado Wrote:

(09-05-2025, 02:20 PM)cherrypark Wrote: At this point just do the BRT for less, hope that GO to Cambridge gets approved, and live to fight for whatever Phase 3 would have been within KW.

If the policy of some is "let's cheap out on Cambridge so we can do the nice thing in KW later", then this Region is cooked politically. City-building for me, but not for thee. I can't adequately explain how insulting this is - as if a few bridges over flat, seismically-stable land is akin to building a new Ancient Wonder of the World. But I get it, wealthy tech and university people need their train and the more modest working people on Hespeler Road should just settle for a bus because they don't deserve the same as us. (...)

(09-09-2025, 08:31 AM)Mneonjoe Wrote: Smaller chunks at a time may be more palatable to the electorate and government plus allow for quicker implementation of each segment. Bringing on more ridership in these areas would be a good demonstration of the need to continue to lengthen it into Cambridge. The Region may have an easier time presenting the cases to the upper levels of government and could come in with smaller requests each time. The project doesn't need to be a monolith. Rapid transit construction used to follow this approach, adding a station or two continuously rather than building an entire line at once.

Potentially phase it as follows.
1. Fairway to Sportsworld - Almost to Cambridge. Allows for a good connection to GO/Intercity Buses, Commuter lot. Move the bus facility from beside YE's sushi to the area where the foundations for future buildings in Sportsworld crossing were poured and later removed.
2. Sportsworld to Pinebush - Serves Preston and the Pinebush Node/Potential GO station. Another place where we can use the system for connectivity to other modes of transport.
3. Pinebush to Delta - Almost gets into the heart of Galt, serves Cambridge Centre and the Delta. Another good potential point for additional connectivity.
4. Delta to Ainslie - this only makes sense if there is still a terminal at Ainslie, I would expect Cambridge to move more towards a spine after LRT is implemented.

(09-09-2025, 10:26 PM)nms Wrote: From a practical point of view, what's the smallest phase that could be built and commissioned with it still making sense?  Station by station (say 1km apart)?  Or is the whole system complex enough that multiple stations or stretches would need to be done (say 5km at a time).  If the Region had developed a local ecosystem of contractors who could work on this project, I could foresee a decade long plan that saw the system grow incrementally in various directions rather than waiting for one big stretch at a time.

(09-10-2025, 07:16 AM)ZEBuilder Wrote:

(09-09-2025, 10:26 PM)nms Wrote: From a practical point of view, what's the smallest phase that could be built and commissioned with it still making sense?  Station by station (say 1km apart)?  Or is the whole system complex enough that multiple stations or stretches would need to be done (say 5km at a time).  If the Region had developed a local ecosystem of contractors who could work on this project, I could foresee a decade long plan that saw the system grow incrementally in various directions rather than waiting for one big stretch at a time.

With where the Region wants an east-west line (Ottawa) there isn't really an easy option to build it in phases at least initally. This is mainly due to how it would interconnect with phase 1. At Mill you would need a grade separation because of the CN tracks, unless you work out something with CN to not have trains during the day. Which effectively means an underground or above ground station to adequately interconnect with phase 1 at Mill. Then you have to figure out the Alpine and Homer Watson roundabouts. Going east you'd need to figure out where you're coming back above ground or below ground after Mill and are you interconnecting with Borden? After Weber it can easily be phased same thing with going west from Alpine.

A Victoria route needs to wait on the MTO so that can't be built at least soon, and again how are you crossing the spur past Park St and how are you dealing with crossing the tracks at King.

A University route is likely the simplest but again how are you dealing with crossing phase 1.

Once we get to Cambridge it's certainly possible to build it in phases but you really need to get to Pinebush before that makes sense.

So it does really depend on mainly how Line 1 is interconnected with how a cross town line is built in terms of how many km could be built at a time. It would certainly build up our local contractors wealth of knowledge (Capital, Steed and Evans, Musselman, Cox?, and Regional?).