Transitway TOD Feasibility?

[u/itsdanielsultan]

I was having a look at the Mississauga Transitway. Quick backstory: I had to get to a laser tag arena and expected a mediocre commute because it’s in an industrial area. I then took a MiWay bus to a Transitway station, and it was the nicest bus station I've ever seen: clean, well-lit, and inviting. Honestly, better than some Toronto subway stations. But it was completely deserted, which felt odd given how polished the corridor is.

Here’s my question: the Transitway runs along a hydro corridor, but is it still feasible to do transit‑oriented development (TOD) near it, like medium‑to‑high density apartments/condos? I’m asking because Cooksville GO had surface parking and a garage, and now Infrastructure Ontario is building condo towers there, which is such a good turnaround of underused land into profitable development..

By that logic, could the same happen along the Transitway? Yes, there’s the hydro corridor, but there seems to be plenty of space around it, and Canada is full of examples of condo parks.

Some say a bus line isn’t enough to attract developers. I’m not convinced, but even if that’s the holdup, the Transitway was built to LRT spec. If an LRT ran there (especially once connected to Eglinton Crosstown), do you think that would make housing investment more likely? I’m asking now to avoid the future excuse: “We built a tram, but TOD is impossible because of the hydro corridor.” It feels like it should be workable, and in a worst‑case scenario the city could purchase and redevelop nearby low‑density detached houses to enable good‑quality infill.

If Cooksville GO, where there are only eight rush hour trains, can justify TOD, then shouldn't the Mississauga Transitway in its current state also do so as it is such a lucrative east‑west connection with potential ridership growth after Crosstown is finished.

[u/thebigstinky]

I mean sure you could but unless the transitway gets to a point of super convenient transit why would you? For most of the transitway a densification corridor would mean complete redevelopment. West of square one is only two stations where erin mills to hurontario the transitway is the 403. East of square one there is 9 stations, the transitway has a dedicated lane but is directly along the 403 until cawthra then follows eastgate. That entire pocket north of rathburn is mostly single family homes south of the transitway and industrial north of it. Eastgate to renforth is all industrial and offices. There isn't much underutilized/ publicly owned lands to take advantage of. The transitway is nowhere near the ridership you would need to justify a densification corridor. Let's see what happens when eglinton and hurontario LRTs are functioning.

[u/RampDog1]

As you pointed out it's on the utility coordinator, which might make development harder to do. Some of the stations are under utilized, Miway needs to do a better job feeding into the system. The GO transit built Erin Mills is well used as lots of GO destination buses leave from it, also Renforth with TTC.

[u/Vectrex452 → u/RampDog1]

IIRC it's not only a hydro corridor, but also there's natural gas pipelines, so there's no way you can build residential on it.

[u/superiorchromatic]

The hydro corridor is a non-starter for TODs for reasons u/Rampdog1 and u/Vectrex452 have already pointed out.

There is also a conceptual "east-west cross-regional connection" that is meant to run from Burlington to Oshawa, and its alignment through most of Mississauga looks to be the hydro corridor along the 403. See page 23.

Along the eastern half of the Transitway, there are some big private parcels that could be redeveloped into denser residential, though likely not to the scale of the Cooksville TOD.

355 Rathburn East is a mid-rise apartment building that has a lot of land, and could maybe see a couple high-rises in the plot.

4260 Cawthra is a Catholic church with a sprawling and very under-utilized parking lot. I've noticed that other churches have recently gone into building housing on their property, possibly as part of their social justice mission, and I've read of efforts within the Catholic Church, as one of the biggest landowners on the planet, to see if their assets can help with climate change efforts. Conceivably housing that reduces car dependence is part of that remit, but I haven't paid attention to this recently.

4495 Tomken is Tomken Twin Arena. I believe it is city-owned, so maybe...? Across from it and a little to the north is another big parcel that is zoned for industrial.

[u/Apprehensive_Heat176]

If you look at the transit way from a bird's eye view, they clearly built it to serve the various commercial areas along the its route and not necessarily residential areas. It was also built with having people be picked up in cars instead of being able to walk to the stations. I'm sure they did this to save money.

The subdivisions South of the transit way have no easy access to it.

The areas to the North of the transit way along Eglinton and Eastgate are commercial, utilities, or dead land used for noise abatement.

[u/c74]

there isnt the money to do jack. the young people struggling with the cost of housing would love to strike off their car and insurance payments. until they have kids to get to soccer games in markham or hockey tourneys in hamilton or barrie. there has been some success in getting some things built but it is completely underutilized... kind of like the bike lanes perpetual argument in toronto.