That 300km radius around TO is where most of the growth in Ontario is happening as well. Even the part of the Lakeshore corridor that HFR will likely skip (Pickering-Kingston-ON/QC border) has around 1 mil ppl (Port Hope-Kingston alone could be 500K in 15-20 years). So many missed opportunities

I’ve said it before but regional rail is 10X (at least) more important than HFR/intercity in terms of growing ridership, passenger kms, and getting cars off the road. Modern, 150-200kmh GO lines from TO to KWCG, P’Boro, London, Port Hope-Kingston, NF, etc would be the real game changer

Based on current growth patterns the K-W-C-G triangle will probably hit 1 mil in the next 10 years. They don’t just need to expedite the building of dedicated track from Brampton to Georgetown (hopefully that starts soon) but also start planning for a branch from Guelph to Cambridge.

…my guess is that this proposal largely ignores small communities which is where huge gains could be made and would actually have an impact on taking traffic off the 401 (the pop of those places adds up) This will probably be a classists service like Brightline only it will kill fewer people.

…that speed is far less important than cost. Just look at GO ridership between Niagara Falls and Toronto compared to any numbers that VIA posted ever. HSR has the wow factor, but still reasonably fast, regional rail serving communities would the game changer in terms of ridership…

Im not going to jump to conclusions yet but HFR has been a complete disaster since the Feds got their hands on it. The fact that its been a black hole of information should be disqualifying in itself let alone any critiques of route choices or other factors. I could say more but the main point is…

That’s a fair point. To be honest I haven’t really engaged much in the online YIMBY space, in part because my early impressions of the discourse were not good. But maybe it’s changed enough that it is more effective and worth a second look.

Totally agree that VIA & HFR are a disaster (and both VIA and the Liberals should be investigated for it). When it comes to urban transit I was thinking about transit consultancy/construction specifically which I feel like the feds must have some authority over (especially international consortia)

Oh I know very well many can survive on the smell of their own farts and fantasyland visions for a long time. But cracks formed in 2016 and ‘20. And I do think things will spiral rightward and downhill quick enough that it will keep breaking more people. probably not loyalists but less attached ppl

I don’t know if its possible (due to jurisdiction issues). But really the federal government should launch a massive inquiry into transit failures & cost over runs across the entire country. Transit consultants/consortiums aren’t just scamming and doing corruption in Ontario and it should be exposed