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Originally Posted by Toddlertoddy
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It's looking good, but I too have some suggestions.
1. In Richmond, I would put your Sturgeon line down Granville (or Blundelle to pass a few more apartment buildings) and then down Railway Ave (or down the McCallan trail between Railway and Westminster Hwy). Railway has the space for the tracks to be laid at grade without interfering or requiring any major road work. After the Downtown Streetcar and Arbutus ROW, it is probably the cheapest possible line to build in Metro Vancouver.
Also, by having further east makes it closer to A LOT MORE people. Having it so close to the ocean means so many more people have to ride such a long bus ride to get to the line that the transfer will be unattractive and many will just ride buses into Richmond. If the tram went down No1 road, people along Railway will still just take buses along Railway into Richmond, instead of using the capacity on the train, defeating its purpose and the savings mass transit offers Translink's operating budget. Having it further east makes it more attractive to so many more people, and a lot cheaper to put in.
2. The Langley Line: it shouldn't go through Cloverdale. Cloverdale does offer some density and a destination or two, but it brings it away from so many other people. The racetrack isn't really something that should be considered a priority destination for rapid transit, and stuff happens at the fair ground twice a year. It's over spending on a few troubled gamblers and rare event.
It also increases the travel times from Langley, making it not an attractive alternative to driving. It zigzags around making it a long trip, whereas going straight down Fraser Highway makes the trip faster than even driving.
And while it would pass a couple of condo buildings in downtown Cloverdale, it's really not that much. It also makes the train run along almost half its journey right along the edge of the ALR. That automatically halves the number of people that can be within walking distance and within a short bus ride compared to if the train went down Fraser Hwy. Most commuters in the Cloverdale area would have to travel a long way south by foot or bus to get to the train... only to ultimately travel north. It's back and forth travel. Bus lines will have to traverse long distances through Cloverdale/Clayton to get to the Skytrain, decreasing the impact it can have on operating costs.
If the train went straight down Fraser Hwy, all the way to Langley, then you have large amounts of people living to both the North AND South of stations, with many tens of thousands within a 5 to 10 minute bus ride. It would also shorten and simply many bus routes, meaning routes can now have double the frequency using the same number of buses and drivers.
By going though Cloverdale, the line is really only useful to residents south of 60 ave, making the line almost useless to over 3/4 of the Cloverdale/Clayton and Langley population. And as new homes are built farther north, they only get that much farther from the Skytrain, making them car dependent from the getgo.
To visualize what I'm talking about, imagine bubbles extending from the stations 360 degrees that encompass people that can walk to the station, then larger bubbles that cover the area of 10 minute bus rides to stations. For your proposed route, half the volume of the bubbles will be over the ALR, and most of Clayton won't be anywhere near the largest bubbles. People in the fast growing and densely populated East Clayton and further north would have to bus all the way into Fleetwood to catch this train.
3. I don't think I would put the Surrey LRT down Scott Road, and I live on Scott Road. I think the money would be better spent sending LRT all the way down to South Surrey. Then increase east-west bus service to offer better connections to the new LRT line on King George. After the line is built to White Rock, then I would consider the possibility of building a branch down 72nd Ave to at least Scottsdale and potentially down Scott Road.
4. Arbutus and Marine I think should terminate at New Westminster Station. I don't think the residents of the area around 22nd street station would like another train going through their neighborhood. You would also have to build some significant infrastructure to get the tracks up from the ROW and over or under the Queensborough bridge interchange. By having the LRT go through to New West, you could avoid that cost and potential NIMBYs.
The ROW is basically right across the street from New Westminster Station, and with the new shops in the area, it makes it a great transfer point where commuters could pick up some coffee or breakfast/dinner during their commute. You could also offer a station to the residents of the Quayside area. And by extending it that far, you could potentially extend it further in the future down several potential routes, including across a future Fraser River Crossing, and use the line to bring commuters from Surrey into South Burnaby and Vancouver, especially if the Skytrain becomes too busy.