ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[danbrotherston]

Is there a no left turn from King to Union?

Correct. Left turns from Union to King are allowed but not the opposite.

If only there were some way of clearly showing drivers what the rules are at each intersection…

I dunno, it makes sense that the driver who doesn't see the 80 foot long train is doesn't see the 18 inch square sign, or frankly...justifiably...doesn't care.

[jamincan]

Perhaps we could have a message pop up on the driver's phone indicating no left turns are allowed.

[danbrotherston]

Perhaps we could have a message pop up on the driver's phone indicating no left turns are allowed.

Oh snap!

That is on point.

[jeffster]

Perhaps we could have a message pop up on the driver's phone indicating no left turns are allowed.

I know you're joking when you say that, but with so many drivers looking at their phones when driving, it's not a horrible idea....

[Acitta]

This is a good video from RMTransit, discussing the improvement in transit construction across Canada over the last few years. The Transit Dark Ages.

[Bytor]

https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-...ridge.html

Waterloo Region begins dollars-and-cents case for expanding LRT into Cambridge

[ac3r]

Apparently 514 was hit by a car yesterday: https://www.reddit.com/r/waterloo/commen...t_counter/

[ac3r]

Does anyone know why they've only installed heaters at some - or just one - station? I rarely go much further than GRH station and it's the only one I've noticed with a button you can push for heat inside the tiny glass enclosure. It seems like each one should have one and that there should be more glass enclosure than just the bus stop sized thing they have. When you're waiting 10-15 minutes for a train in the cold it can be brutal, especially if that enclosure is full of people.

Edit: They'll probably put in more enclosures when they begin running two trains, but even now, only having 2 sucks on a windy or rainy day.

[taylortbb]

Does anyone know why they've only installed heaters at some - or just one - station? 

Cost savings. They're only at GRH, R&T, and the malls IIRC. Every station has the rough-in for them, but only those 4 got actual heaters.

When the province scaled back their financial commitment from 2/3 to a touch over 1/3, the region really trimmed every small expense they could. That was the era the project came extremely close to getting cancelled.

[ac3r]

Does anyone know why they've only installed heaters at some - or just one - station? 

Cost savings. They're only at GRH, R&T, and the malls IIRC. Every station has the rough-in for them, but only those 4 got actual heaters.

When the province scaled back their financial commitment from 2/3 to a touch over 1/3, the region really trimmed every small expense they could. That was the era the project came extremely close to getting cancelled.

Thanks! Doesn't seem like heaters would be all that expensive so they must have really, really trying to save money. Hopefully they can add some more in the future.

[nms]

When the province scaled back their financial commitment from 2/3 to a touch over 1/3, the region really trimmed every small expense they could. That was the era the project came extremely close to getting cancelled.

Just to be clear, the province did not scale back their commitment.  Their commitment was for a fixed amount of money.  The cost of the project grew over time so eventually a larger percentage commitment became a smaller percentage commitment.

[ijmorlan]

When the province scaled back their financial commitment from 2/3 to a touch over 1/3, the region really trimmed every small expense they could. That was the era the project came extremely close to getting cancelled.

Just to be clear, the province did not scale back their commitment.  Their commitment was for a fixed amount of money.  The cost of the project grew over time so eventually a larger percentage commitment became a smaller percentage commitment.

Here are some articles that refer to the original commitment:

https://www.pressreader.com/canada/water...9663589301
https://www.therecord.com/news/transit/2...vring.html
https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-...ansit.html
https://www.therecord.com/sports/2010/06...ledge.html
https://www.toronto.com/opinion-story/56...oo-region/

Unfortunately I can’t find an article right now from the time of the original commitment, but the history is that around 2007 the Ontario government promised 2/3, then later promised $300M. The federal contribution was 1/3 or about $265M.

Wait: Wikipedia helps: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ion_rapid_...te_note-20 points at https://web.archive.org/web/200810131528...hpt1b.html, which gives us:

Waterloo Region is one of Ontario’s fastest-growing and most innovative communities. The government is committed to working with its municipal, regional and federal partners to complete technical studies and an environmental assessment for a new rapid-transit system there and to supporting up to two-thirds of the project cost.

I wish I could find a news article, because this was reported in the news as a commitment to pay 2/3 of the cost. And given the way government communications work, I guarantee the news was reporting exactly what the government of the day wanted them to report. Unfortunately the media and citizens let the government get away with announcing non-commitments as commitments, not to mention re-announcing existing (non-)commitments as new ones. See the Highway 7 thread for another example, even though I don’t support the Highway 7 project in the planned form. And don’t forget Phase 2 of the Science Teaching Complex at UW: it was announced as if it was a new project, even though it was Phase 2 of the STC project; but since that announcement made under PM Harper, no construction of Phase 2 has taken place. I guess it was really a campaign promise, not a commitment.

[taylortbb]

When the province scaled back their financial commitment from 2/3 to a touch over 1/3, the region really trimmed every small expense they could. That was the era the project came extremely close to getting cancelled.

Just to be clear, the province did not scale back their commitment.  Their commitment was for a fixed amount of money.  The cost of the project grew over time so eventually a larger percentage commitment became a smaller percentage commitment.

Eh, really depends how you parse the words of what was announced. Yes, the original 2/3 promise from the province was for a much cheaper version of the project. But a local MPP definitely put out a press release saying "2/3 of the rapid transit project cost" .

When the LRT was finally fully costed, and the number was much higher than originally suggested, the federal government kept to 1/3 and adjusted up their commitment to the new total. The province however didn't stick to 2/3, and although $300M was more money, it certainly felt a little "promise broken".

Everyone, including the province, knows preliminary costs are just that, and that the final total will be higher. Putting out a press release saying 2/3 of the RT project, when you know it'll go higher, certainly creates an expectation of being in for 2/3 of the final price.

The provincial government was also throwing around 2/3 funding promises for other cities at the time. The Liberals knew they came up short in KW, and that was a huge part of why they committed $50M to the transit hub project. Also a part of why they picked up 50% of the overrun, through Metrolinx culpability for late vehicles was a factor too.

[KevinL]

Does anyone know why they've only installed heaters at some - or just one - station? 

Cost savings. They're only at GRH, R&T, and the malls IIRC. Every station has the rough-in for them, but only those 4 got actual heaters.

Just for completeness - Northfield has them too.

[Bytor]

Just to be clear, the province did not scale back their commitment.  Their commitment was for a fixed amount of money.  The cost of the project grew over time so eventually a larger percentage commitment became a smaller percentage commitment.

Eh, really depends how you parse the words of what was announced. Yes, the original 2/3 promise from the province was for a much cheaper version of the project. But a local MPP definitely put out a press release saying "2/3 of the rapid transit project cost" .

When the LRT was finally fully costed, and the number was much higher than originally suggested, the federal government kept to 1/3 and adjusted up their commitment to the new total. The province however didn't stick to 2/3, and although $300M was more money, it certainly felt a little "promise broken".

Everyone, including the province, knows preliminary costs are just that, and that the final total will be higher. Putting out a press release saying 2/3 of the RT project, when you know it'll go higher, certainly creates an expectation of being in for 2/3 of the final price.

The provincial government was also throwing around 2/3 funding promises for other cities at the time. The Liberals knew they came up short in KW, and that was a huge part of why they committed $50M to the transit hub project. Also a part of why they picked up 50% of the overrun, through Metrolinx culpability for late vehicles was a factor too.

Even in 2007 $300M wasn't two-thirds of the cost of a potential LRT system. That would have made a total system only $450M (~$520M by 2014 with inflation), certainly not for an LRT. Doubly not in 2007 before the final scope and mode had been decided and and accurate assessment of cost couldn't have been made.

Even back then the the cost of what we have now would have been $700+M, and the abbreviated proposal to just Ottawa St  would still have been ~$600M making two-thirds significantly more than $300M.