The TTC is holding two meetings for the Sheppard East LRT Environmental Assessment. The first is tonight and it is located on Milner west of Markham Road. At least there’s bus service to the location on both Milner and on Markham Road.
Thursday night’s meeting is at 2300 Pharmacy between Huntingwood and Finch. The 167 Pharmacy North bus stops running after 7 pm, and the 169 Huntingwood shortly later. The nearest transit service requires walking in from Victoria Park to Pharmacy.
An excellent question for tonight’s meeting: Why are we talking about rapid transit plans when you can’t even organize a meeting where there is bus service?
Steve Munro 
That would be an excellent question to put them in their place! Too bad I’m not attending that meeting!
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…and when the 167 does operate, it’s STILL faster to walk there from Don Mills Stn.!
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In fairness, Pharmacy Ave is only around 400-500m from VP. That’s less than the stop spacing along Bloor/Danforth, so taking a bus up VP and walking over to Pharmacy is not that unreasonable, is it?
Steve: The site is half way between the two east-west accesses from Vic Park to Pharmacy (Corinthian to the north, Huntingwood to the south) and this adds another 500m to the walk. At least it won’t be snowing.
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Definitely will turn potential attendees away.
At least it is going to be a great day!
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Now that I come to think of it, isn’t that a high school on Pharmacy? I used to live at Van Horne and Victoria Park and distinctly remember the school’s football field is accessible from Vic. Park. Maybe THAT’S how they expect people to get there.
Or, they expect to drive to the meeting and think “Gee, that’s not very good to get to if you don’t have a car. Maybe this transit plan is going to address the issue so I don’t ever have to drive here again.”
Well, it COULD happen!!!
Steve: Yes, someone who knows the area could come in via Altair Ave. from Vic Park and then cut across the field. However, that’s not the sort of thing we should expect people to do for a public meeting, especially if the weather or the lighting conditions (I am thinking of people leaving the school later on) may not be ideal for traipsing across the field.
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Steve,
if you are sitting, stand up, you know those two things sticking out of your body that have 10 wiggly little piggies? those are called legs and feet.
I live 15 minute walk from the thursday meeting…closer to warden.
People CAN walk from Victoria/Huntingwood, Sheppard/Pharmacy, Finch/Pharmacy. It won’t kill you or people to walk, it is healthy, and so far the weather will be nice. 20 degrees.
By the public meeting is at 6:30pm, right? well, the 169 Huntingwood buses leave Don Mills Station at :15 and :45 until 7:45.
It takes 15 minutes to get to Warden and Huntingwood. So if people take the 6:15 buses, they will make it to Huntingwood & Pharmacy by 6:25.
The walk is around 5 minutes.
I take the 169 every day from Warden/Huntingwood to the station and back every day.
So 7:45 is the last trip from Don Mills Station, remember that the meeting starts at 6:30pm?
The schedule from Scarborough Town Centre is :00 and :30. So people can take the 5:30 trip or the 6:00 trip. (I have never taken the 169 from STC).
Steve: Lots of people can make the walk, but not everyone can. We are supposed to be talking about new systems that are accessible, and a 15 minute walk is not friendly for many people. Yes, the weather is supposed to be good, but it could just as easily be pouring rain.
There will be no bus service when the meeting lets out.
If, however, you wish to volunteer your community for less frequent and less densely provided service, I am sure that the TTC will be more than happy to remove several routes for you.
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Steve, it’s probably the only suitable venue in the area for local residents who are most affected by the project. It’s a local high school where a lot of community events are held – what’s wrong with that? If it’s not convenient for you to get to the venue by transit, I fail to see how the flip side would work for the local residents, either.
Steve: It’s not a question of being convenient for me, but there are only two meetings to cover the line (although I have since learned that another is planned for STC). These meetings need to be easy to get to for a wide range of people.
I know the school is often used for local meetings. The question here is how “local” was it intended to be.
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Well, had this meeting come this November, or more funds found in the budget, this wouldn’t be an issue. At that time, buses like 167 Pharmacy North and 169 Huntingwood will be operated for as long as the subway is open, right?
Steve: Precisely.
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I had an interesting conversation at this meeting with a TTC staff member on the SRT study. I asked him if “Option 1” (extend SRT to Malvern Town Centre) might be double the cost of “Option 4” (LRT from STC to Malvern Town Centre). He said that seemed about right, and commented that Option 4 required a transfer unless the whole SRT was converted to LRT. Apparently the ICTS upgrade decision isn’t quite set in stone, though hard to tell if there’s much chance of a change — he might be a bitter minority of the project team.
Steve: You are not the only one to hear similar rumblings. The projected demand on the extension is way below the level where RT technology would be considered (aboiut 2,000 per hour north of Sheppard). Since there are dreams of regional expansion, it would be untenable, financially, to use RT technology.
The RT trumps LRT on cost argument only worked if the existing line with Mark II cars was compared to an LRT conversion. The more new construction is required for an extension, the more the cost comparison falls apart. I will come to this in another post.
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The parking lot outside the venue for Tuesday’s meeting was full. (Thanks to the TTC operator for letting me off at the driveway.)
Not sure how many folks walked or took transit to the event, but didn’t see much rage about the proposals. Concern, yes, and lots of questions. Thankfully, there was a lot of staff available.
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Even before the Sheppard Subway opened, when it was just the 67, the service still stank. And even today after seven PM there’s no service north of Eglinton, on the 67. But if you want to be specific you could count the on street looping that it makes 1-2 blocks north Eglinton, where it meets with the O’Connor 70A bus.
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