Woodbine GO Development Plans and the Finch West LRT
Planning for TOD at Woodbine GO is now underway and must include provision for the Finch West LRT
Nearly 6 years after plans for a GO station at Woodbine Racetrack were first announced, construction of the station finally started in June of last year. This station will be very important for the regional transit network once it’s complete.
Woodbine GO is located directly east of where the UP Express branches off the Kitchener line corridor to head to the airport. As a result, the station will serve as a major transfer point for passengers travelling from Kitchener, Guelph, and Brampton to the airport. Additionally, the station is planned to be a transfer point between express and local Kitchener line trains, where passengers travelling from the west on express services can transfer to local trains to stop at stations such as St Clair Old Weston which is planned to be bypassed by express trains. The station will also host a connection to the Finch West LRT sometime in the future, however no concrete plans to extend the Line 6 have moved forward. This station will also bring rapid transit and significantly shorter travel times to one of the most transit starved areas in the City of Toronto.
Transit Oriented Development
One of the main selling points of this station is the potential for transit oriented development. The City of Toronto, the province as well as Woodbine Entertainment Group (the landowner), are all working together to develop the land surrounding the station into a mixed used community. On Monday March 9th, the City of Toronto will be hosting a virtual open house for the Secondary Plan for the southeast corner of the site.
Documents submitted by Woodbine Entertainment Group to the City of Toronto last November give a look into what the development could look like. Nearly 20,000 housing units, 10,000 jobs and loads of parkland and greenspace are proposed on the site. This is an excellent site for transit oriented development given the proximity to the airport and the abundance of train service once GO expansion moves further along. Since most trains will be stopping here (including express trains), this gives anyone using this station fast access to downtown Toronto and all the destinations on the Kitchener Line whether they will only be served by local trains or be stations with a mixed service pattern. Some previous proposed GO expansion service patterns showed the station getting up to 16 trains per hour of two way all day service, with express travel times to Union being around 15 minutes.
One problem with the proposed plan is that the density directly around the station is planned to be very little compared to the rest of the development. This simply doesn’t make sense. It’s best practice to have the highest density as well as the most trip generators (commercial and employment space) directly next to the train station to ensure the most amount of people have the shortest travel time to and from the station.
As part of the Secondary Plan, the city and the landowner should emphasize the importance of the GO station and plan for high density and trip generators to be located next to the station. More attention should also be given to the area outside of the station, which looks like it’ll consist of mostly car infrastructure. For example, TOD plans for the Guildwood GO parking lot in Scarborough include a plaza outside the station building, with car parking and pick up and drop off spaces located underneath the plaza and the adjacent buildings.
Finch West LRT
One crucial detail of Woodbine GO station is that it is not located directly next to Highway 27 and is instead roughly 300 metres to the west. This is important because in order for the Finch West LRT to have a good transfer to and from GO trains once it is extended, it will need to be planned and protected to travel within the transit oriented development boundaries. Unfortunately this doesn’t seem to be planned for at the moment. Images from the Secondary Plan documents show the Finch West LRT travelling along Highway 27. This doesn’t mean these plans are set in stone as this is not a document from Metrolinx or directly from the city, but it shows that currently isn’t a plan to run the Finch West LRT through the development to provide better access to both the Secondary Plan area as well as Woodbine GO. With consultations currently ongoing, now is the time to throw this idea into the development plans.
Finch West is one of the busiest transit corridors in the city, and it being connected directly to fast and frequent GO trains as well as the future development is a must. With this connection, people taking the Finch West LRT will be able to reach so many more destinations much more quickly and reliably. This is exactly why Metrolinx has always planned for the Finch West LRT to connect here, and potentially extend even further to the airport. Plans for an airport transit hub have been stuck for years, and it is unclear how exactly the Finch West LRT will interface with the airport and other transit lines (GO/UP, Eglinton Crosstown LRT, buses). In the meantime, with construction of Woodbine GO underway we should be looking at extending the Finch West LRT to Woodbine GO in the immediate future. In order to make this possible we also need to decide how the line will cross the rail corridor to extend to the airport at a later date to make sure we are able to extend the line in the future if we choose to do so.
The opening of the Finch West LRT was a disaster, with the line taking longer than the buses it replaced and having severe reliability issues. With this in mind, it’s crucial to plan the extension to Woodbine GO to ensure service is fast and reliable, and passengers have a quick and easy transfer between the different rapid transit services.
One proposal would be to have dedicated transit lanes down the middle of the proposed Woodbine boulevard, this road would be fitted with multi stage crossings and other infrastructure to ensure high quality transit signal priority. The LRT would then travel along the proposed transit mall (currently proposed to be a bus only street to access the station) where it would then dive into a tunnel to cross the rail corridor and connect to Woodbine GO station.
This is just a suggestion and other options could be considered, such as elevated or more cut and cover segments through the transit oriented development site if costs were able to be kept under control. This alignment for the Finch West LRT would better serve the proposed development as well as provide a seamless transfer to Woodbine GO station and protecting for a future airport extension as compared to the option to follow Highway 27.
Unfortunately it doesn’t seem like we planned for the possibility of the Finch West LRT interfacing at Woodbine GO (despite the plans for a Finch West LRT extension having existed for years), which means that a tunnel or some other option to cross the rail corridor and connect to Woodbine GO will require a disruptive and expensive retrofit to the station sometime in the future. This may lead to an option to keep the Finch West LRT along Highway 27 to reduce costs and disruption while crossing the rail corridor (which would create an unacceptable transfer), or a decision to scrap the airport extension to have a cheaper transfer between GO trains and the LRT since there wouldn’t be a need to cross the rail corridor. This option might be alright depending on what ends up happening with the airport transit hub and what the plans for GO service to the airport is in the future.
It’s time we start seriously planning for the Finch West LRT extension to Woodbine, not only because it’s a much needed and obvious connection but also to make sure we aren’t locking ourselves into a worse and more expensive alignment.
I agree with you. The current plan lacks a clear vision for what a true transit-oriented development should be. It should be fully integrated with the station, including mixed-use, commercial, and employment spaces. I think of stations in Japan, where the station is the heart of the community. Why are they putting a parking lot there? I also agree that the other rapid transit line, the Finch LRT Line 6, should be integrated into the Woodbine GO Station. If it’s not being built right away, at least the right approach and diet connection with the station should be preserved. The city and Metrolink should work closely together to ensure that a proper vision is implemented for these lands.
Great analysis and suggestions. I used to work off Dixon Road and know the area. Hwy 27 is mostly a wide swathe with lots of space on either side, plenty of room for Line 6 tracks to be built. Intersection with major road Rexdale Blvd should be grade separated, perhaps a Calgary LRT style dive under, to avoid the at grade slowdowns on the rest of the route. This line extension should be the catalyst to densify this area of North Etobicoke, there are many food & other shops around to support more housing.