[All] A better LRT that also includes Cambridge (greatly revised)

[Robert Milligan]

Hi All.

As the Record would not allow the original 400+ word original version,  
I had to radically revise.  Whether this (less readable?) version is  
acceptable, I don't yet know. Anyway, here it is for those who might  
be interested.

It does have some new thinking beyond the first version though but  
what little biting political humour that was there is now gone.

Robert


               A better LRT that also includes Cambridge

Less Provincial funding forces a re-design towards a more cost- 
effective light rail transit (LRT) system that could be enabled by: 1)  
political support of outside-the-box thinking by staff and consultants  
in the innovative use of proven rail technologies like Intelligent  
Transportation Systems;  2)  public/private collaborations with CP  
Rail and GEXR on bridge, underpass and track sharing; and 3) slower  
staging of the very expensive roadway Intensification Corridors.

The latter is best achieved by the first stage use of the existing  
rail right-of-way from a possible Northfield terminal to the Ainslie  
Terminal (the Ridership Corridor) that interlinks with the developing  
Intensification Corridors. (And a Ridership Corridor will dramatically  
lower transit times and have increased capacity to meet the resulting  
higher demand.)

But let's have a first stage exemplar LRT Intensification Corridor  
along K-W's King St..  Further compliance with Provincial "Places to  
Grow" policies would occur as roads are ready and more funding  
available.

And high middle class LRT ridership -- necessary to de-jam traffic and  
intensify -- would be more assured if extended to Cambridge now (south  
Cambridge to RIM, K-W to ComDev), not in 2033 or 2036. Too, this would  
also help redress Cambridge's long-time unfair treatment  as listed  
recently by Claudette Miller.

Further, Claudette said correctly that the LRT "... improves the  
health, environment, economy and travel movement within the cities ...  
(while) buses do not produce the same improvements."

She also asks, "... what (is) the advantage of (Cambridge) being ...  
within the the Region?"

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