Transit geek

It was only a coincidence that it was the last within the batch to be delivered, according to the wiki.

Almost certainly so. I fact, I would not be surprised if 100% of scheduled 511 runs are Flexity cars during the CNE. Once it's over it's likely that the cars would be moved to 512 which would then designated accessible.

I just hope Mr. Ford doesn't eliminate the streetcar network entirely. If you don't know it already, the other North American cities that got rid of theirs decades ago did so because of the influx of buses and the desire of the local governments to monopolize surface transport. I very suppose that Mr. Ford wants to take this approach when it comes to underground transport - all to put more money back in people's pockets, which I clearly doubt is the ultimate solution. Get a life, PCs.

On last Saturday I have broken the record for the number of TTC vehicles I rode on in a single day: 17. Although I didn't record their numbers, I did note they represent nearly every operating bus division. My journey as follows: McCowan/Finch => 129 (Orion VII NG HEV from Malvern) => McCowan Stn => 3 (ICTS from McCowan) => Kennedy Stn => 34 (Nova LFS from Eglinton) => Eglinton/Brentcliffe => Vanderhoof/Brentcliffe => 88 (Orion VII EPA2010 from Wilson G) => St. Clair Stn => 512 (Flexity from Leslie => St. Clair West Stn => 1 (TR from Wilson Y) => Spadina Stn => 510 (Flexity from Leslie => Spadina/Queen => 510 (Flexity from Leslie => Spadina/Sussex => St. George Stn => 1 (TR from Wilson Y) => Union Stn => 509 (Flexity from Leslie => Fleet/Fort York => Dufferin Gate Loop => Exhibition Express (Orion VII OG from Queensway) => Dufferin Stn => 2 (T1 from Greenwood) => Keele Stn => 41 (Orion VII NG HEV Mount Dennis + VISION) => Pioneer Village Stn => 1 (TR from Wilson Y) => Wilson Stn => 165 (Nova LFS from Arrow Rd + VISION) => York Mills Stn => 1 (TR from Wilson) => Finch Stn => 199 (Orion VII NG HEV from Malvern) => Finch/McCowan Apologies for the autocorrect feature creating the smileys! But at least I got to ride a RT car with the new signs and chimes active, four different sections of Line 1 of four different ages, a Flexity powered by the pantograph and another by trolley pole, the latter of which had its wheelchair ramp deployed, and, as the day's highlight, two VISION buses - one retrofitted and one newly delivered with it!

What a breakthrough. Hasn't the Quebec government forced its transit operators to buy local (i.e. Nova)? Or perhaps just trying to evaluate different possibilities?

Likely not to Exhibition Loop - at least, not when there are sufficient Flexity stock to cover the services there. Haven't heard of the ALRVs being deployed on 514 though, but still a possibility.

1204 is also VISION equipped. (Oh shoot, if only my phone did not run out of battery power I could have uploaded a photo!)

Well a push-pull train is different from a self-propelled unit. The loco might need heavy equipment repair but the passenger carriages just need to be dried out.

You should know that Kinki Sharyo's LA order is the first to be manufactured in the U.S. The company has made LRVs before (high-floor ones for Boston and Dallas and low-floor ones for Seattle, Phoenix, San Jose and New Jersey), but all of these were imported from Japan. On the other hand, all Siemens LRVs in North America (except for the U2s) are made in California using parts from the U.S. Also worth considering is CAF's Urbos platform and/or Brookville Liberty.

Yesterday I was driving down McCowan and saw a consist entering McCowan station with all its side destos activated. Anyone else might have noticed but probably didn't bother posting here?

Ooh... an overhead conductor rail! What a smart decision by the TTC's engineers to save the extra cost of tensioning the wire. Only problem that it'll be a no-go for trolley poles so it's good progress to see St. Clair going Flexity-only by September.

Notice how the BART screens are subtly showing the progress the train is making between stations. Some Chinese metros show the same thing more apparently using LED strip maps. But what people would care more about is how long it will take to get to their station stop. Many Japanese trains already show this kind of info, not to say NYCT is considering it too (read: https://blog.wandr.me/2017/12/new-nyc-subway-r211-cars/). Let's see what Calgary can learn from heavy-capacity, rapid-transit vehicle UX design and apply to a street-based LRT environment.

Which makes it quite shocking that there have been no news of an e-bus variant. China is leading the way in that market and it is rather ridiculous to see that GWT is embracing low-emissions over zero-emissions. If BYD can prove itself successful, why can't a manufacturer whose parts are similarly sourced?

I fixed myself a box of Kraft Dinner using microwave cooking; however found it much more time-consuming than on the stovetop as I had no hot water and had to heat up tap water on the stove first. Oh, and I chopped and threw in some avocado, for goodness sake... Anyways, our household barely uses microwave cooking, only to heat up food. Glad we never paid the extra costs for Panasonic's Inverter feature as we only cook on high power.

Not to consider necessary infrastructure costs. Installing trolleybus wires would only be feasible if there are short-term plans to convert the entire corridor to conventional LRT. For the long-term, as is suggested here, battery electric technology might be best, perhaps with fast charging at station stops. Remember their JV with Proterra last year? https://www.trucks.com/2017/10/09/proterra-van-hool-electric-motor-coaches/ Proterra technology in Van Hool transit buses would look plain awesome to me!