01-06-2016, 11:10 AM
(01-06-2016, 09:45 AM)MidTowner Wrote: I think that's a good point, but also kind of a depressing one. It would be a bit sad to see a potentially successful route (I have no doubt a Weber route would be) overlooked because it would draw ridership from Ion (it probably would because it would be faster and more convenient for a lot of trips). I think a Weber route should have been a no-brainer for a long time now, and I've always wondered why one wasn't introduced. With the "chokepoint" between Guelph and Victoria (it was never that slow, but I understand that it would have become progressively worse) eliminated, it made even more sense.
You could run a local service along Weber, instead of a limited stop service. That to me would make a fair amount of sense, because as a rapid service, Weber would be redundant. As a local service with ~4-500m stop spacing, it would provide the kind of destination access that various routes provide in dislocated parts (8, 4, another branch of 8, a few others). To me that would be taking the map shown above and filling in the gaps with one or two intermediate stops, maybe tweaking a few others.
Unfortunately, it lacks an easy opportunity to interface with ION unless you do make a detour off Weber. That could be justifiable at Victoria as shown, maybe also at Ottawa, and Northfield?
These tactical detours could make a big difference, because it makes switching to the Weber line from ION a one-transfer switch, and that in itself would make it worth taking ION to one of these interchange points, even if it means a certain amount of back-tracking.