Reece MartinWaterloo has such immense potential, an Ontario city coming of age that can actually make the right transport, economic, and Urban development decisions
Eric Gerlach@reece Oh goodness I hope we do. I'm not all that confident.
Bob JonkmanEvery once in a while the politicians for #WaterlooRegion make the right decisions. But that's diminished by hedging their bets (f'rinstance: Approve the LRT, but then delay bringing it to Cambridge by years, soon to be a decade).
And it's not helped by a right-wing shift in the election of muncipal politicians, who aren't going to make bold, progressive decisions in the first place.
Third spruce tree on the left@bobjonkman @reece A little because I live north of the highway and "I got mine already", I haven't been paying attention - I know the LRT in Cambridge is delayed, but I thought it wasn't that the $$ isn't there, rather it was Cambridge municipal council that didn't want all the construction snafu? (i.e. all that we went through 6? 7? years ago)
Yes, it was Cambridge city council (among others) that I was thinking of in that right-wing shift...
@tezoatlipoca @bobjonkman A bit part of the money "not being there" is because the project is meant to cost like 4X the first phase
@reece @bobjonkman well I can imagine that trying to get the LRT down thru sportsworld and across the highway is heckaspensive.
There was one model of proposed implementation that would have built the whole route in one phase, during public consultations in what, 2005? Citizens were asked which implementation they preferred, and as I recall the "do it in one phase" was a popular option. But politicians hedged their bets, and I doubt Cambridge will ever get their LRT now.
Another popular option was a Bus Route Express with dedicated lanes, just like the one Ottawa had recently found inadequate.
@bobjonkman @reece uh, I've been on Ottawa's not-really-a-train-cause-its-busses thing and it always seems pretty slick to me.
I cannot fathom how they envisioned tearing up all of the King st. corridor from Conestogo to Galt all at once would be a good idea. I spent 3 years having to cross the mess at Weber/King and Victoria twice a day, it was a nightmare enough, and that was just one place!
The biggest benefit of building the LRT route all at once is it would now be done. Yes, we might have spent another two years in the muck and mire of construction, but Cantabrigians would have their LRT today.
I haven't ridden the Ottawa BRT; I understand that it was at/past capacity two years after it was built; capacity was predicted to be adequate for decades. Had they built the LRT instead it would have provided more capacity, longer. But then, the other LRT problems…
@bobjonkman @tezoatlipoca I don't think thats right about capacity. And the rail didn't need to have the problems it does.
You may be right about Ottawa's BRT capacity. It was designed to be upgradable to rail (clearances, structural load bearing), and the BRT reached 90% capacity in 1996 for the number of *buses* used (180/hr), not for the number of passengers transported (it's been a decade since I learned this stuff, haven't researched since)
https://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/tcrp/tcrp90v1_cs/Ottawa.pdf (2003)
And you're absolutely right that Ottawa's LRT didn't need to have the problems it has!
@bobjonkman @tezoatlipoca Can you show your work?
The info about Ottawa's BRT upgradability and capacity stats came from the document I linked to: https://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/tcrp/tcrp90v1_cs/Ottawa.pdf ; a 2003 report from the Transportation Research Board
My comment on Ottawa's LRT problems is strictly my own uninformed opinion.