Ok everyone, we've focused alot on the concrete developments in Saint John so I wanted to share one of my more fanciful ideas about what Saint John should do - in this case - for transit.
When CN closed down its SJ rail link Southern NB was left with alot of relatively unsused rail lines. They have found limited utility for industrial shipment (NB Southern Railways) but are quite underused.
I propose, given that Saint John's commuter basin is primarily a horseshoe shape with Saint John in the middle and suburbs stretching up on either side of the Kennebecassis and Saint John rivers, to make use of the rail lines which run through them.
I know SJ Metro is small to consider rail transit - but given that most of the infrastructure (rail lines, stations in most cases) are already built, I think it could be quite economical and would add to the urban atmosphere of the city and its suburbs.
Anyway, I made some diagrams below for you guys to take a look at (maybe some day I'll get to see it actually put in place!) You'll have to click on the link to see them, I am not yet adept enough to make the pictures actually show up
The Metro view (This shows the revised stops (I killed the one in Renforth, at least to start) and the * marks the multi-rail yard where the trains would cross) -
The City view -
The Uptown view -
And a possible SJ-Lepreau commuter connection -
EDIT - I worked out some more details -
Since the track is only one line, only one train can operate at a time per direction. However, at the midway point (30km from the Westfield terminus and 34km from the Hampton terminus) is a mutli-rail area (6 rails, I believe - at the corner of Rothesay Ave and Spencer St) which would allow the trains to cross one another (it is very conveniently equidistant, meaning that trains could depart at the same time from both the Hampton and Westfield terminus and pass one another exactly at the midway point). The trains would travel at 100 km/h and assuming 5 minutes a stop (like on GO or AMT trains) it would be 35 minutes from Hampton (20 fom the Valley) to Uptown and 25 minutes Westfield - Uptown (30 minutes Westfield - East Side Shopping).
In the morning, you could have departures from the Westfield and Hampton terminus (6:30, 7:30, 8:30, 9:00) and similarly return trips for Westfield and Hampton at 15:30, 16:30 and 17:30.
During the day you could have departures hourly (bi-hourly to start to test demand).
I am sure of the following locations of the stops -
Hampton - Centre of town or near the High School
Quispamsis - The southwest Corner of Old Hampton Highway and Route 119 (the access road from the Gondola Point Ferry to the Highway)
Rothesay - The intersection of the Marr/Clark Road and the Gondola Point Road
Saint John East - The intersection of Rothesay Avenue and McAllister Drive
Saint John Uptown - Station St to the immediate west of Harbour Station
Saint John West - Southeast corner of Lancaster Ave and Fairville Blvd.
Grand Bay - Centre of Community (near shopping area new River Centre)
Westfield - Whatever constitutes the closest thing to the centre of the community near the rail line.
Additionally, nothing should stop there from being one or two daily returns to Fredericton. It would link the two cities, provide a useful alternative for student and government workers over buses or driving on that moose ridden two lane deathtrap they indulgently label a highway.
Price Tag? 12 Passenger cars (carrying 300 people each) + 5 locomotives = $79,000,000.00 plus $8,000.000.00 in yearly upkeep (numbers from the AMT). Also a one time expense of $50,000,000.00 to build maintenance facilities in Westfield, SJ and Hampton.
Let's assume we can get 10,000 reliable monthly customers (students, commuters, whomever) paying about $75 per month - we would be looking at $750,000.00 income per month, $9,000.000.00 per year allowing for more than self suffiency. This is not even considering extra random ticket buying customers, fares to and from Fredericton or advertising revenues. I believe it could be self sustaining. It just requires several levels of government to eat a one time expense of $129,000,000.00 and cough of up 2 or 3 million a year to ensure enough money is available to keep everything up to date thereafter.
I think it would transform the city - if Saint John wants to dramatically turn itself around, it must do many dramatic - and intelligent - things. I believe this is one of them.