With multiple parties creating transit plans to suit their vision, Bramptonist has thrown a hat in the ring with an exorbitantly expensive, probably unrealistic, unlikely to happen fantasy transit plan for Brampton by 2051.

While some in the city squabble over lines, this vision stretches across the entire city and beyond, acknowledging that people in Brampton need to travel throughout the city, and not just on one or two corridors.

Taking cues from the city’s Transportation Masterplan, as well as some data showing what routes in the Brampton currently have high ridership, this map tries to show what we could do if we built a network, instead of worrying over one line or another.

(Click to enlarge)

This particular fantasy map imagines Brampton with 6 light rail routes connecting some key points across Brampton and beyond.

Brampton and Vaughan would be connected through an LRT from downtown into Vaughan Metropolatin Centre. An LRT on Steeles would connect Humber College and Sheridan College, and Brampton Civic would connect to Pearson Airport with an LRT down Bramalea Rd.

This map would be remiss if it didn’t address the giant gap that will exist once the actual Hurontario LRT gets built and ends at Steeles. This map not only visualizes an LRT into downtown Brampton but one that would run all the way up to Mayfield, into Caledon and Orangeville to connect commuters from the north.

There is some element of realism. Queen, Steeles, and Hurontario-Main have been shown as key transit corridors in the city since some of the earliest transportation masterplans developed in the 70s, as well as on Metrolinx’s Big Move — a long-term vision for better transit across the GTA.

There are some fantastical elements. We’d have to hope the city was sitting on a gold mine; the full plan would cost a lot of money, though this is why transit building happens in phases, not just one quick rollout sadly.

Could the city even support this many proper rapid lines? Probably not — for all our clamouring for all day GO train service, the ridership on the midday trains is appalling. But if we’re thinking long term, might as well think big. If anything, this provides a framework to at least place new Zum routes, to build ridership for future lines.

Cooperation with the city’s neighbours would be key, which might work well with York Region, Mississauga, and Orangeville, but perhaps not so much with notoriously anti-transit Halton Hills (Georgetown) and Caledon.

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