The fact that the first phase goes from mall to mall is actually a very good thing, since the malls are already big transit destinations that make for strong anchors. A transit line is more efficient if it is used for trips along its entire length and in both directions; so anchors at either end will help generate revenue on all parts of the line. (Whereas you’d get less and less use toward the end of a line going to a bedroom suburb.) In any case, most people won’t be going from mall to mall, but making shorter trips between the many destinations served along the route.

It won’t directly serve the entire Region, obviously, but it doesn’t need to. It will serve the high and increasing density of use along the central transit corridor, and it will provide a good quality transit spine. That will in turn make it more attractive to take a quick bus ride from a more outlying area to a light rail station to then get to anywhere along the line. As an example of this: one would be able to live in the Eastbridge subdivision, catch a frequent bus along University Avenue, transfer to the light rail, and get to a job in downtown Kitchener. Or one could live in Uptown Waterloo and take the light rail to Fairview (or Sportsworld in phase 2) and catch a bus to the Toyota factory, with perhaps a spouse taking the train to UW. Of course it will be even easier to live and work along the line, and that’s a big part of the point both of the light rail project and the new Regional Official Plan.

Light Rail in Waterloo Region is meant to follow a central corridor. How does this improve access between residential neighbourhoods and our urban centres? Unless you wish to go from one mall to another, who does this serve? The 10% of the Region that’d be within half a kilometer (a 10-minute walk) who still could get to where they want faster and more convienently in a private automobile?