Quote:
Originally Posted by dpenner
i can understand some of the criticism as it really only only affects a small portion of the rider demographic
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I don't even accept that criticism.
There is no single piece of infrastructure that could be built that would daily impact a majority of residents on a daily basis.
Any interchange, bridge, underpass, intersection or busway is going to have limited use from a small portion of the population because our daily lives mostly exist in a small portion of the city.
How many people in Whyte Ridge are going to appreciate Cheif Peguis Trail? How many people from Transcona are going to appreciate the underpass at Wilkes and Kenaston? Does that mean we shouldn't build them?
Most people I know that bus from downtown and are having their busese rerouted through the busway are saying that it will reduce travel times by 15-30 minutes PER DAY. I hope everyone sitting on Donald stuck in traffic will start counting how many buses whip past them while they slowly approach confusion corner.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dpenner
I also don't understand why people keep bringing up light rail. Light rail is unrealistic for the city for a while until our population reaches 7 figures. Its to expensive, and not flexible enough. Maybe my opinion has been turned off by the horrible LRT in OTtawa.......
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Unless you can bring an LRT directly into downtown (i.e. onto Graham Ave), it is a non-starter in my opinion.
No one in their right mind will want to take a transit system that goes Bus-Train-Bus for every trip to and from downtown. The BRT at least lets them stay on the same bus the entire trip and move faster than traffic for 3+ km.
I also agree that the costs do not make sense either. Especially once you consider the costs of a Subway underneath Portage Ave.
However some train fetishists might disagree.