February 20, 2009

The TTC has agreed to re-open public consultation on this project. The following press release was sent out on Wednesday:

PRESS RELEASE
February 18, 2009

Announcement
Councillor Mark Grimes
Re: Ward 6 - Proposed Lake Shore Blvd LRT

Councillor Mark Grimes today requested the Toronto Transit Commission
to re-open the Light Rapid Transit Community Consultation process for
the Lake Shore Blvd portion of the proposed service. The TTC has agreed
to the request.
Following concerns raised by the local community regarding the timing
and poor weather conditions for the original community open houses,
Councillor Grimes requested the Toronto Transit Commission to direct
staff to hold two further community meetings in conjunction with the
Councillor’s office. The meetings will provide residents and other
stakeholders with the opportunity to review the proposed LRT and provide
input into the plan.
Councillor Grimes is a strong supporter of Public Transit and a supporter
of transit that meets the needs of the local community. To this end the
Councillor requested that no further action on the proposed Lake Shore
Blvd LRT be undertaken until community consultations are completed.
Councillor Grimes is very pleased with the support shown by the
Commissioners to the integrity of the community consultation process.

December 2008

As part of the Transit City initiative, the TTC is studying the idea of replacing the existing Lake Shore Blvd streetcar with LRT (Light Rail Transit) line in a dedicated right of way in the middle of the road from Parklawn Road to the end of the existing streetcar line.

While we applaud efforts to improve our public transit system, we have some serious doubts about this plan. We fear that an LRT in this area will have a negative effect on both transit service and neighbourhood businesses.

This is the area being studied:

Two public information sessions were held in December 2008 for area residents to become informed and make comments on the proposal. The TTC put out a 2 page newsletter explaining the project and announcing the meetings.

You can find the TTC’s web page devoted to this project here.

Along with some detailed drawings of the route, there was also a long series of display boards. These are also available on the TTC site, in two sections: Part 1, and Part 2.

A very interesting slide is page 5 in section 2:

This shows the width of the existing road right of way through the study area versus the preferred width of right of way (36 metres). Note how little of the area has the required width (green), and how much is a full 10 metres (3 lanes) too narrow (in red).

CCFEW submitted the following comments on the plan (click here for pdf version):

We oppose the extension of the Waterfront West LRT beyond the (proposed) Park Lawn Road Loop. This proposed extension will cut the north part of the community off from the lake without solving the two key problems with the existing streetcar service.

The two biggest problems with the current streetcar are frequency of service and speed to downtown. An LRT is unlikely to do anything for the frequency. It may even make it worse, since larger cars will run less frequently in order to maintain capacity utilization. Speed to downtown is largely dependent on what happens on Queen Street, east of Roncesvalles. An LRT line from downtown to Roncesvalles or the Humber Loop is needed to address this problem. A dedicated right of way solves the problem of streetcars being held up by cars, but that is not a problem in the Mimico to Long Branch area. The streetcars often delay the cars, but not visa versa.

The TTC analysis identifies the majority of the corridor as 7 to 10 metres narrower than that required to maintain on-street parking and two vehicle lanes in each direction. On-street parking is critical to the businesses on Lake Shore Boulevard. The low parking utilization identified in the parking study is a symptom of the existing weak retail environment, not the parking required by the thriving retail environment we all desire. Disruption during construction would magnify negative impacts on business.

A dedicated transit right of way would create a physical barrier separating one side of Lake Shore Boulevard from the other, one part of the community from the other, and one part of the community from the lake. It is very ironic to contemplate spending a large amount of money to cut a community off from the lake at a time when the City is studying the removal of the Gardiner Expressway to remove a barrier to the lake. What we need is to make Lake Shore Blvd our neighbourhood main street. What the LRT would deliver is a transit corridor.

The needs of the community would be far better served by terminating the LRT at or near the existing Humber loop, and serving Mimico, New Toronto, and Long Branch with a separate streetcar. Alternatively the LRT could be extended to Sherway along Queensway. The shortened streetcar route would facilitate reliable, predictable service intervals, and the LRT from the Humber loop would eliminate the bottleneck to downtown.

A further suggestion to enhance the community and build ridership is to create a local streetcar fare. This could be a reduced rate fare for travel on that streetcar line only, with a full fare required only to get a transfer to buses or the LRT. That would encourage people to take the streetcar for short local trips, shop locally, and leave the car at home.

We recognize that light rail can provide a development stimulus in the right location. However the proposal for light rail in Lakeshore is likely to reduce transportation service and damage the accessibility and viability of businesses through parking removal and limitation on traffic circulation. Main Street Lakeshore would be economically undermined. Modifications to the existing streetcar system provides a far superior solution at a fraction of the cost. Saving tax dollars, it is the better stimulus for economic development.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment and we will be glad to make a presentation at a suitable juncture in the process.
 

Click here for a copy of the letter (pdf)