Brampton and Mississauga hold LRT Open Houses
The Cities of Brampton and Mississauga want to build a light rail transit (LRT) line, as a key part of the future vision for the busy Hurontario / Main Street corridor.
Metrolinx has identified a rapid transit line between Port Credit and downtown Brampton as one of its priority projects for the first 15 years of “The Big Move”, its regional transportation plan.
City staff want you to participate in planning the line and helping to shape decisions, as the project develops.
The Cities are hosting two open houses, where you can meet the design team for the project. They’re experts with international experience, who will develop concepts and alternatives for the project.
During the events, you can talk to project and City staff, see information from the project’s master plan and view early proposals for LRT service. You’ll also learn how you can continue to participate in the process, as the project proceeds.
The events take place:
- Wednesday, April 25
From 3 until 8 p.m.,
Mississauga Civic Centre, The Great Hall,
300 City Centre Drive - Thursday, April 26
From 3 until 8 p.m.,
Brampton City Hall, Atrium,
2 Wellington Street West
More information can be found here.
April 13th, 2012 at 5:10 pm
Don’t the taxpayers of Peel Region want subways through their farm fields? Subways, subways, subways!
Cal’s comment: I believe I have heard it said, “Everyone wants subways!”
April 15th, 2012 at 11:08 pm
Have any of you seen the busway Mississauga is building. I can’t believe that it is cheaper than an LRT. Their heaviest routes are along Dundas I believe so they build it from Square One to Eglinton and the 427. That will really help those going to the subway. I suppose that they have done OD surveys and know what they are doing.
I prefer what Brampton, where I live, has done. Their queue jumping lanes, traffic priority signals and ZUM service seem to be working well. The 501 Queen ZUM was carrying over 18 000 ppd last fall and the ridership is still going up. It will be interesting to see what the ridership will be this spring. We also have 3 other routes carrying over 11 000 ppd so our top 4 routes out carry the Sheppard Stubway. The 501 ridership does not drop in May when York University classes stop for the summer. In fact the ridership kept building up over last summer so most of the riders are not York Students. Brampton Transit thinks that they are getting on the 196 to go to the Spadina subway.
Cal’s comment: What Brampton is doing now (and since ZUM’s inception) is similar to what YRT did for VIVA’s Phase 1 introduction back in 2005. Though, in York Region, right turn lanes were already long enough to qualify as queue jump lanes, so there may have been even less construction involved. I haven’t seen any of the EA documents for what Mississauga is doing, but I suspect the design includes “protection for LRT” in the future. All of VIVA’s Phase 2 rapidways (including those that have no funding yet) have taken this into account.
The 502 Main ZUM runs along Hurontario St. from north Brampton to Square One. Mississauga transit has stopped taking Brampton transfers so interlining is dead. The 502 service will go from every 7.5 rush, 15 base to every 5 rush 10 base with articulated buses on at least the 407 branch this fall. The 511 Steeles ZUM service will start in September from Hurontario to York U.
Brampton is trying to get all its North South lines to run from the top of Brampton to the bottom on at least a 10 minute rush 20 minute base service, many run better than this in the rush hour. Brampton has also built modern heated shelters at all the ZUM stops with real time of next bus signs. It is a marked contrast to what Mississauga has NOT done for their express buses.
Actually we want LRT LRT LRT as we aren’t a world class city yet.
April 26th, 2012 at 7:25 pm
I just came back from the Brampton City Hall meeting. It was the second most useless meeting I have been to in my life. They said nothing about the route, the stops, the maintenance storage facility, how they were going to get through downtown Brampton or Port Credit south of the QEW. One alternative is to run in mixed traffic with 3 car trains, 30 m long. I want to see that go through downtown Brampton in mixed traffic.
The Project consultant is SNC Lavalin, Say Nothing Concrete. His answers were, “that is up for discussion”, “it hasn’t been determined yet” or “that is one of the possibilities under consideration.” He could not tell you what time zone we were in.
The only answer I got was that they WANT to start construction in 2014 for service in 2019. The only problem is money. They don’t have funding. Say Nothing Concrete said they were looking at Brampton and Mississauga funding, possibly Provincial and/or federal funding and other sources. I asked if that included the tooth fairy.
The 2 guys from Brampton transit at least knew what they were talking about and how their bus system would connect into the system. Brampton is moving the Shopper’s World Terminal to the corner of Hurontario (Main) St. and Steeles Ave. so the LRT won’t have to divert of route to connect with it. Mississauga wants the cars to do a circuit of Square One so the cars can serve Square One Terminal, City Hall and The Living Arts Centre. This is at least a 5 minute waste of time for any through passengers. I pointed this out to the Brampton Transit guys and they said ” Please tell it to The Mississauga people, we don’t want it.”