Eglinton-Crosstown LRT Open House - Airport Extension
A public open house for the preliminary planning stage of the Martin Grove Road to Pearson International Airport section of the Eglinton-Crosstown LRT line will be held on Wednesday September 2, 2009 from 6:30 pm to 9:00 pm. It will be held at Etobicoke Olympium (Olympic Lounge, 2nd floor), 590 Rathburn Road, just west of Renforth Avenue.
The announcement for these can be read here .
August 28th, 2009 at 12:19 am
It’d be nice if some caveats attached to this Transit City plan were modified in some regard. Specifically what’s there to serve along Eglinton proper west of Lloyd Manor deserving of rapid transit of any kind? I don’t necessarily feel that the Crosstown LRT should route to the Airport Corporate Centre, especially considering the 4 kms of no man’s land it’d go pass en route. Both the 111 and 112 buses can provide frequent local transit through this stretch. The TTC may also wish to retain the 32B bus as most of ACC will never be walking distance of a LRT station there, just a handful of buildings if that.
Meanwhile a more northernly alignment could serve TOD such as convention centres, hotels/motels, a corporate business park, airport related industries, apartment buildings and a shopping mall. So mirroring Kipling Stn’s interregional hub status, the Kipling/Eglinton stop could be transformed into a bona fide station with bus bays (on Crown land readily available within the Richview Exwy corridor) whereby Mississauga Transit routes such as #17, 18, 27, 35, 50 and 57 can terminate. Thereafter, only four more stations may be needed: Martin Grove/Westway, Dixon/Hwy 27, Dixon/Carlingview and Airport Terminal One opposite the people mover tram. This wider spacing lends to the fact that the LRT preferably should be in its own exclusive side-of-arterial ROW, most likely elevated.
Even if Eglinton isn’t ready for a full-flown subway, going through mixed traffic in Etobicoke and Scarborough, given the TTC’s spotty track record with queue jumping and transit signal priority which leads to constant bunching/stalling delays, could severely prolong commutes. A service more resembling our Scarborough RT line commands fewer intermediate stops and can run on 180 second headways going up to 60-80 km/h. Would the handful of people at Eden Valley, Wincott or Ferrand really mind walking the few extra minutes to/from a higher caliber of transit service, speed and reliability? That the residents in these predominantly affluent, upper-class neighbourhoods are car owners and are unlikely to switch modes must also be taken into consideration before shovels get digging.