Transit geek

Guess no PSDs are coming to the new Scarborough Centre for now. I was on the UPX a few days ago and my train overran the doors at Union only by a few centimeters, but that was enough to force the train to reverse that small distance in order to align with the doors and allow them to operate. Imagine if TTC operators have to do that every time they pull in to STC and waste 15-30 seconds of commuters' time. At least the TTC doesn't have to pay the price to install and maintain the doors - but who knows, maybe they could build gaps between the tracks for people who get pushed to fall under and avoid getting run over.

I wonder how many of the VISION-retrofitted vehicles have been retired. It'd feel horrible to spend hours installing the system only to be forced to remove it a few days later.

The doors are almost certainly electrically powered so I don't see why they need to design the controls such that you need to twist your hand extensively to operate the knob. Even the Nova HEVs have the same handle-type controller as the older batch with their air-powered doors, so there's no reason a totally new style of controller is needed. And as for moving the kneeling / ramp switches from the right hand side over to the left so that they can operated by the same hand as the door controller ... mmm ...

There is a bridge, but is it safe and practical for pedestrians to use? It's quite some walking distance from the towns they connect, too.

Well if they ever want to consider expanding the UPX fleet, it could be much harder now that the maker of our current DMUs has shuttered its North American operations. And also... https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/9001313-181/four-new-rail-cars-costing

Another remark about VISION is that it happens all too often that the system announces the next stop just as the vehicle pulls up to the previous stop. Sometimes the computer would correct itself, but other times it does not and the stop broadcasts continue to be out of sync. Hopefully this needs no further explanation...

I have recently discovered that operators have become somewhat lazy and forgot to shift their buses' transmissions to neutral during their layovers, leaving it in drive and relying solely on the parking brake and/or the brake interlock to keep the vehicle stationary: This probably wouldn't be that much of a concern for the electronically-controlled LFS hybrids but with the diesels there is quite the possibility for damage to the transmission while it is in gear and the service brakes not applied.

That's a pretty significant number of the 1700s-1800s that have to be retrofitted otherwise. The Wiki currently states only 1752 has the equipment installed at this time. If the non-rebuilt 1500s-1600s are already getting it, what's the point holding off on the 1700s-1800s if they will suffer the same fate sooner or later?

How annoying can a simple "Stop Requested" broadcast get in Hispanic Florida?

During my commute to work today, I started noticing the yellow transponders that were to be installed between the rails - "balises", as they're called - beside the tracks from Rosedale towards Dundas (where they had been installed for at least the past couple of weeks). Although I couldn't get a shot, I could tell the track up to College just had their "balises" installed over the last few weeknight early closures, because the surface of those have barely been covered with the dirt beneath the trains.

For two consecutive days, TTC 3400 was on the 39 and I was on board it yesterday on my way home on run 09. That old driver's window is sure hard to miss.

Next thing, Ford may plan to make the relief line compatible with driverless trains to increase reliability and possibly save money.

Back at work, it was Friday afternoon so my workplace had its usual group game. The organizer of the game had us form teams, and then deliver an impromptu presentation based on a seemingly unorthodox PowerPoint slide show with only 30 seconds to review them beforehand. The intention was to garnish audience support primarily through humour. Out of four teams of 5-8 members each plus one guy from the organizing class, our team and the one-man "team" were voted to a one-on-one battle for supremacy. In this final round, our assigned slide show was about "A Presentation About Making Presentations", consisting of a couple of slides with tongue-twisting words, followed by some with images. The tongue twisters really tied up my teammates' speech, but as for the images... I found myself involuntarily blurting out sound effects. But instead of ruining the party, it entertained the crowd so much, they voted for us over the one-man team and we shared a bag of Reese's Peanut Butter Bites ... plus a special prize for my role in our victory ... dare to guess?

Well, I've been noticing the microphone-like device mounted in front of the dashboard and physically connected to the TRUMP units. Probably meant to keep the CIS functioning for at least the time being after Bell shuts down CDMA...

Would this work? (TTC 9229 at Bingham Loop, taken today)