Hospitals in KW

[danbrotherston]

It is not a bold prediction to think it will be badly designed for transit when built, that's based on solid track record. We can hope that it might be better, but that's not going to happen on it's own, it's going to take years of dedicated effort, and frankly...I don't see a lot of activism happening here so far.

What the plans look like is that it is not close to the LRT station. LRT is not our only transit (nor do most GRT pax use the LRT daily), though, and I fully expect that there will be frequent bus service available. Saying that it's only every 30 minutes now (as another poster said) doesn't really mean anything as bus frequencies are easily adjusted based on ridership. The shuttle service would hopefully be synchronized with the LRT schedule to maximize convenience (or minimize inconvenience).

The hospital location ... yes, I fully agree that it would be better if it were next to (or even closer to) the LRT station, but if the land owner doesn't want to sell, and the parking lots are in the hydro right of way, then those options are problematic. Could they be overcome? Yes, with sufficient effort and money (and time), but I don't think the planners chose a location further away from the station just to make it less convenient, I expect they saw those hurdles as high enough that it made sense to avoid them. Their priorities are probably not the same as ours, but the reality is that building on either of those other two properties would not be as simple.

I really cannot agree that locating >1 km from a mass transit station (one that was cited as a reason for the choice of site) is ameliorated in any way by the existence of a infrequent local bus service and the promise of running a shuttle.

I think the shuttle actually makes it more clear. They KNOW that what they are doing is badly designed for transit. They aren't overlooking it. And I really do believe for some people involved (this involves provincial politicians and staff remember) being inaccessible to transit is a feature.


The parking lots appear to be south of the hydro corridor, best I can tell from the map and the plan the hydro corridor separates the hospital from the parking. Even if shifting the hydro corridor slightly was not possible (which seems dubious on a project of this scale) the parking and the hospital could swap location, they are nearly the same size.

The only argument I find at all compelling that this is "incompetence" or "bad trade offs" vs. "malicious" (and I consider "not caring enough to try" as malicious) is that this site is actually relatively badly designed for car drivers as well. The irony of the "main" entrance being oriented away from literally both main transportation links (the parking, and the LRT station) is pretty insane.