yrt1000

Lol yeah, the “Shocker” was sarcastic for sure. It’s just all so ridiculous and pathetic. Every time I go to the Yonge and eglinton area it still looks like it’s another 5 years from being complete

Shocker- after promising to provide a completion date by the end of summer, it still cannot be given https://www.cp24.com/mobile/news/we-re-not-there-yet-metrolinx-says-it-still-can-t-provide-certain-opening-date-for-eglinton-crosstown-1.6579709

The investigation in the Line 3 derailment determined it was caused by loose bolts. Article here: https://www.cp24.com/mobile/news/scarborough-rt-derailment-was-caused-by-bolts-that-came-loose-1.6578006 I’m sure there’s more to it, and this is just the simple explanation for the general public. A full report is to be released in a few weeks

On what might be their last days ever outside of Mccowan yard, the following train sets were on the STC platforms: Kennedy platform: 3012-3013-3004-3005 Mccowan platform: 3025-3024-3023-3022

Fair enough. I just try my best to be proactive before I go anywhere and that’s one way I can do it. I think these days 98% of people have a cell phone with a data plan and thus can try to be informed that way, whether it be Twitter or the TTC website itself. I do also find that those platform TV screens do share big delays most of the time, as well as upcoming closures (I.E. notifying of the Line 1 closure tonight and tomorrow from St. Clair W to Sheppard W). This particular delay on Monday I didn’t take the subway so I’m not sure if they were working or not. But this morning I saw the delay/no service posted on the TV screens. You also do get those transit control announcements if there are delays on the line and I’m sure those were relayed frequently. I will also say that if a train I am on is delayed, the operator will often give an announcement to passengers saying the reason why (I.e. a service adjustment, or holding because of a delay at the station ahead, whatever it may be). What difference does it make? I dunno. Most people have their headphones on so probably don’t listen or hear, and those who do- they just think to themselves- “great! Another delay”. I do agree there can be better ways of keeping riders informed of delays. An example I thought of this morning while I was riding the 512 bus is maybe having those drivers let customers know who were getting off at St. Clair W “hey, there’s a delay this morning between Vaughan and Union. If you’re going downtown maybe stay onboard and ride to St. Clair”. But still, I don’t think there’s a perfect way that will make everyone happy when delays happen, that’s just why I try to stay proactive when I go anywhere in the city

I think OPTO makes in service adjustments like that kind of difficult in my opinion. Last year when line 1 was still two person (at least between Finch and St. George), I had several instances where a train I was on short turned, usually at St. Clair going NB in AM rush to turn around and help handle the Bloor crowds. The train would offload and turn around more or less instantaneously since you had someone in each cab. Now with OPTO, it takes time for the operator to go to the other side of the platform. I had one instance a few weeks ago where a train I was on NB short turned at Lawrence station. I would say that there was no sense of…urgency from the operator to walk to the other side of the platform and it took almost 10 minutes until the train was ready to go back SB. By that point whatever gap in service existed going SB wasn’t made any better, in all likelihood. Unless you have standby ops at whatever station the train is short turning at to take over right away and go back in the other direction, I feel like short turning can be kinda pointless with OPTO

Now this mornings delay…definitely the TTC to blame for it https://www.cp24.com/mobile/news/ttc-says-no-subway-service-on-half-of-line-1-due-to-signal-problems-1.6571199

When I checked that morning on Twitter (which is what I usually do before heading out), it mentioned that there were major delays on line 1 around 6:30am that day. I didn’t take the subway that day so I’m not sure what the TV screens on the platform showed. The way I see it, you have to always do your due diligence before going anywhere and thus I check Twitter before I leave to take the TTC. To me its no different than checking google maps to see the traffic or fastest route when you are driving, that way you aren’t caught up in a traffic jam and can plan for alternative routes. No one is notifying you of every single accident or construction project that is causing delays along your route until you get there otherwise. In any case, I think this particular event was not the TTCs fault. referring to your original post about this delay, IMO the person who should be “apologizing” for the delays that morning should be the person who was at fault in a collision so violent it sent someone’s car hood flying onto the subway tracks- not the TTC. The amount of nonsense you see on GTA roads and highways is just insane

I’m pretty sure that during AM rush pretty much every train from Davisville is in use. At least when I pass by the station it seems pretty empty in the mornings- there aren’t a lot of extras, if any that would’ve been available

I don’t think that’s the reason the TTC would self-insure itself. I truly don’t think theres not a single insurer out there who wouldn’t insure the TTC- at the end of the day, insurers in Ontario are private companies who are trying to turn a profit. I think every single one out there would gladly take what I would anticipate to be at least tens of millions, maybe even hundreds of millions in insurance premiums each and every year. They’d price it accordingly to the risk of 2000+ buses, 200+ streetcars, and 200+ subway trains, in anticipation for the number of claims to pay out plus a bit extra to make a profit, and probably have set limits each policy term. And if companies like Uber can get their entire fleet of drivers insured in Canada, where there is really no vetting of drivers, I’m sure the TTC could too. I’ve had far more close calls in an Uber than on a TTC vehicle to the point where I pretty much refuse to take Uber unless absolutely necessary. YRT probably goes with a private insurer because theres a smaller fleet there- I’d assume each contractor has their own commercial insurance policy for their fleet of a couple hundred buses- and the contractors probably don’t have the same capital to pay any potential claims. All this to say- in my opinion I’d say the TTC is self-insuring far more likely because they are able to, and to avoid the hassle of having to pay a private insurer each year and deal with whatever policy terms and limits they might have, they just pay out any claims themselves when they come up and it probably saves them money in the long run, rather than having to pay another company those insurance premiums. If the TTC has access to such capital, why wouldn’t they? I think most of us would self-insure ourselves if we really could and not pay for car insurance each year. The vast majority of us don’t get into accidents each year, so a lot of people feel they get nothing out of paying insurance (hence why you’ll hear a lot of people say “insurers are scammers!!! Why do I need insurance?”). The issue is 99.9999% of people wouldn’t be able to as they don’t have $50k offhand to get a new car if theirs is in a wreck, plus $2 million in a liability lawsuit. So instead we all just pay a couple thousand in insurance premiums each year for our cars.

Sorry, I didn’t mean to give the impression that YRT is a good system. It isn’t, at all. I know from a rider. I didn’t mean for my post to come off that way at all. I actually meant to say it is the opposite and completely garbage lol All I wanted to highlight is that drivers there don’t play the “games” TTC drivers do. And even if they did it isn’t as noticeable, as you mentioned as well. The message or point I meant to outline is that if the TTC were to have a private contractor, you’d probably still see the same stuff there is today. And even if things are “fixed” in this hypothetical contracted TTC world, people in all places will find ways to cheat and do less work than they absolutely have to because that’s pretty much human nature also fair point, I misunderstood Nfitz’s post comparing two corridors between the TTC and YRT. I wasn’t trying to compare the two, I thought the comparison being made was two busy corridors on the same street, one in York and one in Toronto

Maybe like the 35 Jane and 20 Jane? But the frequency on the 20 Jane is like 15+ minutes for the most part- nowhere near the equivalent of the TTCs but most trips are quite busy when I ride it. From riding YRT for the past 13 years, operators don’t play the same “games” that some TTC operators do as referenced above. I’m not sure if it’s because of the culture there, but moreso because the frequencies are nowhere near the TTCs, so a driver won’t be able to wait to travel in a “pack”. It’s also probably partly because the YRT schedules are quite padded with lots of layover time, so drivers do often get a 5+ minute break at the end of a trip. A lot of the times when a YRT bus is late, it’s honestly because of a skill gap. Don’t really know a better term to use than that, but it’s not really them doing it on purpose. Like drivers who drive slowly, accelerate slowly, turn painstakingly slow, slow to merge etc. causing them to fall behind in the schedules and not being as skilled drivers. I’m sure people here have encountered drivers like that. But with that being said you very rarely will see bunching on YRT routes, outside of maybe Viva Blue in rush hours because that’s the only route where it’s really possible. Elsewhere, a bus could be 10 minutes late but the one after it might still be 45 minutes behind it. I guess my point of this is, it’s not the private contractor’s making YRT a great transit system that’s better than the TTC. I think in a way, you kinda get what you pay for. Less skilled drivers because they’re paid far less than a TTC driver would be. I also think you’ll find bad apples anywhere you go. The vast majority of people at my company, who I think is a good employer and compensate the average person well for the job they do (not transit related in any way) try to find ways to do as little work as possible, complain constantly etc. Kinda the equivalent to the TTC operator taking an extra 7 minute break at the end of the route

Yesterday around 7:25PM, I saw a Venture train just outside Union Station. Apologies for the poor photo, was at a friend’s apartment on the 20th floor while it passed by. It was heading Eastbound out of Union

1234 was also on the 72 Pape tonight

I remember this being asked before, and the answer was those flashing red lights happened for many reasons and didn’t always mean it was being driven manually. It just indicated that one of the systems onboard is operating in a degraded mode. I noticed it most frequently in winter months don’t want to plagiarize, so I searched and managed to find the post from Archer