ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[Canard]

Then, the mayor spoke about a situation with gates.

I didn't get an entirely clear picture but it seems there's a chance that strict rule interpretation is pushing us towards pedestrian gates for where ION is crossing sidewalks. So that would be on King near the town square, and then at the Caroline diagonal. There's a scenario the mayor mentioned where as many as 16 gate arms could be required at Caroline and Erb, firing off every three minutes. Bananas.

I've been thinking about this almost constantly since reading your post, and I just can't add up enough gates to come up with 16.

I always get confused on the Region's Rapid Transit site, since there are a couple of different versions of maps out, but only this one under the Archived Maps section shows the proposed crossing light/bell/arm locations, from way back at the conceptual stage (meaning, they were at least thinking about details like this, and the gauntlet tracks, etc...). It only shows 3:

   

For comparison, here is a more up-to-date version of this same area, from the Project Agreement documents (which, confusingly, are also available under the Maps/Functional Design Plans section), but unfortunately these do not outline the locations of light/bell/arms:

   

About the highest number of combined arms (for both automobile lanes and sidewalks) is around 10 or 11, and that's being quite liberal with them. Any ideas or theories on where the other arms Mayor D. J. was mentioning might be coming from?

[KevinL]

Yes!  This is one of the more interesting stations as far as shoehorning it in, because the platform will actually be the sidewalk, too.

Looking forward to the completion of the Queen, City Hall, and Central Station platforms for the same experience.

[notmyfriends]

Waterloo wants public input on plans for LRT station areas

http://www.therecord.com/news-story/6523...ion-areas/

A public open house is scheduled for May 12 from 3:30 to 7 p.m. at the Waterloo Memorial Recreation Complex. A presentation will be made at 5 p.m. The draft station area plans are available online at http://www.waterloo.ca/lightrailtransit

[Canard]

I know it's a minor gripe, but I really hate that the graphic in that URL is from about 6 years ago.  That station design is several iterations old, and isn't even close to what the design will actually be.

Also, it's not exactly clear to me what these "Station area planing" consultations are supposed to result in - what is the end hope here? Development is already happening on its own along the line. Is this something different from the CTS (I think that was the acronym) group that had an office in Kitchener City Hall a few years ago?

[Coke6pk]

I know it's a minor gripe, but I really hate that the graphic in that URL is from about 6 years ago.  That station design is several iterations old, and isn't even close to what the design will actually be.

Also, it's not exactly clear to me what these "Station area planing" consultations are supposed to result in - what is the end hope here?  Development is already happening on its own along the line.  Is this something different from the CTS (I think that was the acronym) group that had an office in Kitchener City Hall a few years ago?

Speaking of gripes... why do we have a bus on the LRT route?

[Canard]

...Translohr?

Heck, we've got a picture of Caen's guided bus instead of Light Rail on the giant Future Transit Hub Site sign. Makes me cringe every time!

(to clarify, I don't actually hate Translohr)

[Pheidippides]

Cost of gas pipeline replacement/conflicts/upgrades for Ottawa @ Mill, Courtland @ Hydro One, Siebert @ Courtland, and Wilson @ Hydro One are now known:
Total = $2,299,958.00 ($1,416,014.21 (City), $883,943.79 (Region))

LRT Budget Update – Gas Pipeline Replacement Costs

"That the LRT Construction capital budget be increased by $2,299,958 ($1,416,014 City, $883,944 Region)."

[BuildingScout]

   
A 1.5m fence that wouldn't be an eyesore

[mpd618]

Also, it's not exactly clear to me what these "Station area planing" consultations are supposed to result in - what is the end hope here?  Development is already happening on its own along the line.  Is this something different from the CTS (I think that was the acronym) group that had an office in Kitchener City Hall a few years ago?

The Region commissioned the Community Building Strategy, which is a high-level planning vision for land-use and other changes along the corridor. The cities of Kitchener and Waterloo are both working on detailed station area plans. These are meant to guide development better - possibly including zoning changes, but also outlining the kinds of things (new street connections, types of developments and amenities) the city would like to see in a given area. Developers generally are responsive to this kind of thing - even if it's not (yet) reflected in zoning changes - because the city can offer them concessions in exchange for helping the city achieve its plan.

[519]

Planning Around Rapid Transit Stations (PARTS) is a City of Kitchener project led by the planning division. The primary purpose of the PARTS project is to provide direction for future development and stability within station study areas along with recommendations for capital projects to ensure that these areas are developed in a way that is transit supportive and adds value to our community.

http://www.kitchener.ca/en/livinginkitch...ransit.asp

The Central Stations Area (downtown) study has already been finalized and is being presented to the committee today.

http://www.kitchener.ca/en/livinginkitch...a-Plan.asp

[plam]

Speaking of gripes... why do we have a bus on the LRT route?

I thought this sort of thing was weird the first time I saw it in Seattle's underground train/bus station. But it also happens all the time in Zurich that trams and trolleybuses share the same station.

[Canard]

I think the actual answer is that the Architecture firm that did the renderings just drew a box with some headlights and said "good enough". They don't know how to details of moving things at all.

[Viewfromthe42]

With respect to Ottawa, the "use" they got out of their BRT system was because of delays and cost, not "value." The system opened in the mid-80s. A decade later, they were already talking about the need to replace it with LRT. It will have taken almost a quarter century to go from knowing they needed to upgrade, to getting the upgrade. LRT would have been delayed at least in part because "we haven't finished paying for BRT yet." Some of the big consequences are akin to a more stifling version of what Toronto sees with respect to talk of a Downtown Relief Line. Because of how choked the core segments of the system became, both in terms of buses packed full of people and packing the busways full, as well as the delays in the mixed-use portion that saw daily bus chains going for blocks, ridership was stalled, limited, as the city grew and grew.

I lived in Orleans, and around the mid-90s, you'd see half a dozen people at every local-spacing stop for the express collector buses which came every 15 minutes for ~3h peak morning and evening periods, to go with 30 minute service local route to take you to the BRT system. Today, the only route within a 15 minute walk has four buses a day. A day. This, just a few kilometers from two different BRT stations. Had Ottawa been smart, they wouldn't have seen various parts of their system deteriorate, ridership patterns fall off a cliff in ways essential to avoiding car-based consequences. London, of all cities, shouldn't seek to copy a pattern that was very much a negative impact on Ottawa's urban (and largely suburban) form.

[kps]

I think the actual answer is that the Architecture firm that did the renderings just drew a box with some headlights and said "good enough". They don't know how to details of moving things at all.

It's actually not bad.

[Square]

What does this quote from the ION Update mean? "•Work to install the Victoria Park LRT stop will begin in May" I thought the stop is already poured, or are they going to start the anchor wall and other parts?