METROLINX REPLIES
TO GLEN ANDREW
ON THE ELLESMERE BUSWAY
Metrolinx thanks Glen Andrew for taking time to consider this project
and invites all members of Glen Andrew to their next Stakeholders Advisory
Meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Monday August 26th in Committee Room 2, on
the main floor of the Scarborough Civic centre.
Lorne Ross for Glen Andrew Community Association.
The Future of Ellesmere: Have Your Say.
Note: As some of you may already know, to enlarge the pictures in this article, just click on them and you will get a better view.
Big changes are proposed for Ellesmere Road.
Glen Andrew Community Association will be speaking up.
What should they say on your behalf?
Metrolinx
want to build a Bus Rapid Transit route.
From Oshawa
through
Whitby,
Ajax,
and
Pickering,
all
the way to Scarborough City Centre.
The portion in Scarborough would run on
Ellesmere from Highway2-Kingston Road to McCowan.
What
is a Bus Rapid Transit [BRT] route?
• Two lanes of pavement
• Painted so only buses can travel in those lanes.
• Can be along the outside lanes of a road or down the centre lanes.
Metrolinx wants to build it in the centre
lanes of Ellesmere from McCowan to Military Trail.
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Response #1: The preferred design for Ellesmere Road has not yet been determined. You are correct that Bus Rapid Transit requires dedicated infrastructure for buses to provide reliable transit service. The current study considers both curbside and centre bus lanes.
We will also be looking at current and projected future traffic volumes to determine if the road will need to be widened to provide the same capacity for general traffic as it does today; that is, we will investigate if Ellesmere should be a 4-lane or a 6-lane road.
The two pictures below are part of the VIVA system in York Region. While the use of two lanes for buses matches the concept for the Durham-Scarborough BRT, the size and scale of the BRT may not. The design of stops and shelters will be determined through this study.
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Highway 7 BRT in Markham
Highway 7 BRT in Markham
Metrolinx had lots of land to build the
BRT’s on
Highway 7 in Markham and Highway 2 in Pickering.
Those are Provincial Highways …much more land
to work with than we have on Ellesmere.
If they build the BRT, how many lanes will
Ellesmere have?
Metrolinx has not decided.
Should they take the two centre lanes and
leave us with one lane each way…
or…
should they first widen Ellesmere so we
keep two lanes after they build their busway.
____________________________________________________________________
Response #2: While Highway 7 in Markham does have a wider right-of-way than Ellesmere Road in Toronto, the project team is investigating if there is adequate space to provide for six lanes, two dedicated to BRT and four (two in each direction) for general traffic. This analysis will look at both current and projected future traffic volumes, as well as the level of service provided along the road. The majority of arterial roads in Toronto have adequate right-of-way to allow for six lanes of traffic. ____________________________________________________________________
Centre lane BRT’s have concrete structures that
prevent
vehicles from turning left across the busway
Davis Drive in Newmarket
Highway 7 BRT in Markham: raised planted centre median barrier.
Impact
of centre median busway on our communities
[existing traffic signal are red circles]
From McCowan to Bellamy: No left turns into
driveways for Lawson School,
SRT yard, Parkers Cleaners, Sheridan Nurseries,
Grace Church, BA Bakery,
industrial bldg, Kerala Food ,2 gas stations; 4 homes
on south side of Ellesmere.
Streets cut off: Stoneton for sure. Future of
Grangeway uncertain.
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Response #3: The project will look at the potential need for a traffic signal at Grangeway to provide adequate access. We will be reviewing site access corridor-wide to determine if other measures are required. Property access is a key consideration and will be addressed in the study.
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From Bellamy to Markham Road: Left turns at
driveways cut off at 1920 Ellesmere medical bldg –Fedrick’s and Terry’s
restaurants; +\- 80 businesses in 8 multi-tenant industrial buildings, small
plaza on south side at Bellamy.
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Response #4: The study will look at the need for a traffic signal at Dolly Varden Boulevard, and the potential need for an additional mid-block crossing. Note that there are other areas in the City where centre-medians or turn restrictions are in place over stretches of roadway like this. The traffic analysis will consider the change to access in the area with a centre median, should that be the preferred design.
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From Markham Road east to St. Thomas Moore
Church and School: Left turns at driveways cut off at Shell gas station, two
apartment blog’s; Woburn Collegiate; St Thomas Moore church and school;
Panchvatti supermarket, Pizza Nova;
Masjid Al Jannah
All these businesses which will lose left
turn access help pay the city’s taxes, employ Glen Andrew people, and provide
services. The three places of worship and the schools are important to a strong
community.
With left turns cut off you will have to do
a U Turn at the 6 traffic signals along this part of Ellesmere, horrendously
busy intersections like Ellesmere-Markham Road or Ellesmere-McCowan Road, if
you still want to work there, shop there, see your Doctor, attend services or
drop your kids off at school
_____________________________________________________________________
Response #5: As noted for the other segments, additional traffic lights, mid-bock crossings and an analysis of the impacts of turn restrictions will be evaluated as we develop the preferred design. The intent is to find a balance between ensuring priority and reliability for transit service, and maintaining local access for the community.
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We
have several questions about this proposal.
Question 1:
Aren’t there already lots of buses on this
part of Ellesmere?
Answer:
There are three TTC bus routes along this part of Ellesmere today
including an express bus to the U of T campus at Military Trail. Morning rush
hour trip on the York Mills 995 Express bus takes 15 minutes from
McCowan-Ellesmere right onto the campus. A trip of the same distance down the middle of
St. Clair Avenue west on the famed LRT takes 28 minutes!
TTC Highland Creek bus runs the whole
length of this part of Ellesmere.
TTC Neilson 38 bus runs east as far as the
hospital then north up Neilson.
Region of Durham runs buses into the U of T
campus from the east.
________________________________________________________________
Response #6: The TTC services listed above are correct. DRT service currently ends at the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus, and is planned to extend to Scarborough Centre. This is a logical extension of the DRT PULSE service and will connect passengers in the corridor directly to Scarborough
Centre and the subway). The exact mix of future bus services is being reviewed. Express services would likely use the dedicated BRT lanes, whereas local bus services may continue in mixed traffic in the curb lane. The primary objective of the study is to look at both physical infrastructure and transit operating considerations.
Each corridor has its own specific issues. St. Clair Avenue is not direct comparable to this project. For instance, streetcars have different acceleration and deceleration characteristics than buses. The operating characteristics of the Don Mills diamond lanes would be a more accurate comparison.
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Question 2:
How many people will ride the buses if they
build the busway?
Answer:
·
Metrolinx forecasts a total of
7,500 people will ride buses on this part of Ellesmere in the 2 hour morning
‘rush hour’ by the year 2041.
·
If they did nothing…if they did
not build the busway… there would be 6,100 people riding the buses.
·
So for $59Million construction
cost and the loss of two lanes on Ellesmere and cutting off left turns to
dozens of properties, their busway will attract maybe an additional 700 riders
per hour in the morning rush.
_________________________________________________________________
Response #7: Improved transit service provides benefits beyond the number of people who take the bus. Rapid transit is designed to help ease future congestion, by making transit more comparable to driving in terms of travel time and reliability. By reducing the number of cars in the corridor, there will be less congestion in the future for those people who continue to travel by car. That means fewer emissions and more reliable travel times for all modes. Rapid transit service is a key element to effectively encouraging a shift toward transit use. Once rapid transit is in place to provide the backbone of a multi-modal system, other alternative modes, such as cycling, walking, car share and bike share can be supported to encourage even greater mobility choice.
The current ridership modelling numbers above are correct. The improved reliability and convenience of the BRT service is in part responsible for the increase in ridership. All riders in the corridor will benefit from the improved level of service. This will save transit users time as each trip is faster, and more importantly, more reliable.
There is also a need to consider the expected population and employment growth along the corridor in the future. This growth will require reliable transit connections to key destinations including the subway, and major institutions such as university and college campuses and hospitals.
As noted above, the number of general traffic lanes on Ellesmere Road has not yet been decided. Two options will be considered: • 1 general traffic lane per direction and 1 dedicated bus lane per direction, and, • 2 general traffic lanes per direction and 1 dedicated bus lane per direction.
The options will be evaluated using a framework specific to this project and will consider the environmental, cultural, and socio-economic impacts of the options. These options will be presented at Public Information Centre #2, where we will ask the public to provide input on the options. You can take a look at the evaluation criteria on the project website at: https://www.metrolinxengage.com/sites/default/files/final_boards_pic1_2019-05-31_accessible.pdf (scroll to page 22 of the PDF).
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Question 3:
If you built a Busway down the middle of
Ellesmere for express buses…
But
express buses only stops at major streets….
What
happens to all the regular TTC buses?
Do they still run in the curb lanes?
Answer: we don’t know but that’s what
appears to be happening in Markham and Newmarket busways.
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Response #8: Correct – express buses will most likely use the BRT lanes to take advantage of the new infrastructure. . There is the potential to look at additional stop locations to allow buses to use the BRT lanes, although this may mean changes to local service. The options and the evaluation will be presented for public input through the course of the project.
The number of stops and the locations of the stops will be analyzed as part of the project. Connections to other area bus routes, major destinations, and locations where it is safe to cross the street when boarding or alighting will also be considered.
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Question 4:
Could you widen Ellesmere east of McCowan? Make
it three lanes each way plus a centre left turn lane?
Answer: Yes.
The
city owns exactly the same width of property along Ellesmere east of McCowan as
they do along Ellesmere west from Brimley all the way to Warden.
The 7-lane cross section shown in the first image is wider than what is being considered for the BRT, while not providing a high degree of priority for transit riders. In the short term the widened road will perform well, but as we have seen in other parts of the city, adding more lanes for general traffic still means buses are stuck in traffic.
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The Glen Andrew Executive needs to hear
from you, the people who live in our great community, before they speak to
Metrolinx and to our City Councillors.
Here’s what I think Glen Andrew should
say:
1.
Widen Ellesmere from McCowan to Military Trail to 3 lanes each way
plus centre left turn lane [same as Ellesmere west of Brimley];
2.
Run whatever buses you want in the curb lanes for 3 or four years;
3.
Come back later with a new study if you still want a busway.
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Response #10: Implementing transit at the same time that the road is modified provides both economies of scale and reduces the impact of construction on the neighbourhood. A six-lane road is not built in the same way a 4-lane road with two BRT lanes is built, as there are stops, additional medians and utility works that are required.
The project will look at staging the implementation in sections, that is, different segments of the corridor may proceed earlier than others to provide relief where transit riders will see the greatest benefits, where road right-of-way ownership permits and to meet funding availability.
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Thank you again for your taking the time to consider the project and your blog post. We hope to see you and other members of the Glen Andrew Community at upcoming project meetings.
You can email your thoughts to Glen
Andrew’s President, Iain McLeod at executivelife@rogers.com
or
to the two Scarborough Councillors who
represent people and businesses along this part of Ellesmere:
or
directly to Metrolinx at https://www.metrolinxengage.com/en/content/contact-project-team
Lorne Ross.
