BRAMPTON RECONSIDERS TRANSIT CORRIDOR: CONSULTING THE PUBLIC

NRU
May 3, 2017
Sarah Niedoba

Brampton is again considering a transit plan for its downtown core, on the heels of rejecting a provincially funded LRT in 2015. The $1.6-billion project, which was to run along Main Street through the city’s downtown, was turned down by council in a vote of 7-4. Now, council is considering a new proposal to build transit along its Queen Street corridor.

Consultant HDR is recommending three options for the Queen Street transit corridor to facilitate long-term revitalization and urban intensification in Brampton. At its meeting May 3, council is being asked to approve the first in a series of Public Information Centres exploring the pros and cons of an LRT, BRT or a combination of the two.

“We’ll be looking at what the best solution might be, considering future projections for ridership in the corridor,” says transit general manager Suzanne Connor. “It’s currently one of [the city’s] highest ridership corridors, and we’re running what we call BRT light—express buses in mixed traffic.”

Connor says it’s the city’s first step at building ridership along the corridor, before deciding on a more robust solution. Ridership on a weekly basis sits at 22,772.

Currently, Züm offers two bus rapid transit routes to York University along the Queen Street corridor. One route takes the 407 from the border of Brampton, and the other integrates with York Region’s Viva Orange along Highway 7.

The consultant’s report notes that new transit technology, be it enhanced BRT or LRT, could interface with the Kitchener GO line and York Transit/Viva. It also stresses the importance of connecting with the planned subway extension to the Vaughan Corporate Centre, which residents will want to access.

“If you look at the situation from a big-picture regionalnetwork perspective, there’s a lot of opportunity along the Queen Street corridor,” says regional councillor Martin Medeiros.

Medeiros suggests that enhanced transit along the corridor is an important priority—regardless of the specific technology.

“We’re trying to get pedestrian traffic to businesses downtown, and I think further transit will really help with that,” says Medeiros. “If we build that access, I think it could be a huge boon to the area.”

Medeiros was in favour of the previous LRT proposal along Main Street.

“To this day, I can’t tell you why councillors voted against it,” says Medeiros. “Who knows what will happen next term, but I certainly think it will be a highly political issue.”

Pending the three Public Information Centres, staff anticipates finalizing the study in spring 2018.

“This is just the first outreach to the public,” says Connor. “This is just to get some high-level feedback from the public, and we’ll move forward from there.”