ION Phase 2 - Cambridge's Light Rail Transit

[jgsz]

...  They are our Quebec...

Well, that is an interesting way of putting it!  ;-)

[Canard]

I laughed out loud at that.

I live in Kitchener, but work in Cambridge. Half our staff is from Cambridge and the rest from other parts of the Region. We joke back and forth about it all the time, in a familial kind of way.

[Viewfromthe42]

Further to that, the Metrolinx rationale for Kitchener line included the fact that we planned LRT, allowing people to get to/from the train without cars at both ends, putting LRT into both Waterloo's and Kitchener's historic cores. So far, Cambridge has bristled and even seemingly pushed to halt all LRT because of how it would go through their historic cores (nevermind that it's a bit ridiculous that we can't send LRT through cores whose age measures in decades, but all over the world we have them in cores whose age is measured in centuries).

[Coke6pk]

I laughed out loud at that.

I live in Kitchener, but work in Cambridge. Half our staff is from Cambridge and the rest from other parts of the Region. We joke back and forth about it all the time, in a familial kind of way.

I agree... I lived in Cambridge during my high school days, and my parents still reside there (In Preston on the future LRT line!).  I don't hate Cambridge, and I hope my message didn't come across that way.  My digs about Cambridge (and how I was lucky enough to escape, and how there should be checkpoints along the 401, and....) are made because you only roast the ones you love. 

Coke

[panamaniac]

Many a truth was said in jest. It's hardly a secret that many in K-W have a low opinion of Cambridge. It's pretty mild, but it has been that way as long as I can remember. W's contempt for K is rather more recent.

[KevinT]

I'm not saying Cambridge is mis-treated, they are WELL-treated.  They are our Quebec.  Per capita, the City of Cambridge gets more Regional services than other cities in the region, and they still complain.

Sits back, grabs popcorn.

[nms]

How things might have been different if Galt had successfully become the County seat in the 1850s rather than the upstart Berlin with its own ambitions...

Hopefully the LRT will stretch to Cambridge soon enough. Heck, if the LRT was a good incentive to stretch GO service here, then maybe that will nudge the ball on getting GO service there. Personally, I think that an LRT route from Guelph to Cambridge might be an easier stop gap rather than waiting for CP to budge on extending the GO service.

[Bob_McBob]

"Stop the LRT Through Preston" still wants to send the route down the 401 instead.

http://www.570news.com/2018/02/13/group-...sit-route/

[KevinL]

Their philosophy is a non-starter; providing service to Preston is one of the key parts of the plan. No Preston, no train. (Of course, perhaps that is their ultimate goal...)

[jgsz]

Their philosophy is a non-starter; providing service to Preston is one of the key parts of the plan. No Preston, no train. (Of course, perhaps that is their ultimate goal...)

The idea of ION running along the 401 is appealing if for no other reason than to show motorists stalled in heavy traffic that there is a better way to travel. I get the same feeling when the VIA train to Montreal zooms past the heavy traffic east of Toronto and along highway 20 in Montreal.

[Canard]

I like the idea; but I’m alwats a fan of transit on highway corridors (bart, cta, etc). It is awesome to watch trains while driving. Will never forget driving from Paris to Brussels and screaming the first time a TGV blew last like we were standing still (my friends promptly made me pull over so they could drive instead)

Everyone in Preston is bitching they don’t want it, so screw ‘em. Bypass altogether, everyone’s happy. It’ll shave tens of minutes off the travel time, too.

[KevinL]

Everyone in Preston is bitching they don’t want it

Come now; a vocal minority in Preston is expressing displeasure. There are, I'm sure, many who would like access to that level of transit but for whatever reason are not speaking up. Let's not leave them in the cold.

[Canard]

Referendum then.

[welltoldtales]

Although I think it is a terrible decision to leave yourself out of transit, and Cambridge will again pay for it as they did their busing choices, I have to agree adding it to the highway would be fun.

I found this line pretty funny though: “Can you imagine? Going down Shantz Hill is like taking the LRT over Niagara Falls.”

As if somehow trains are more unsafe than cars (with largely untrained drivers) or walking/biking down the hill.

[Canard]

LOL, yup. Just uninformed people who haven’t ever left the city and have no clue how transit works and what it is capable of in other cities...