Transit geek

GO F59PH set 559 pushing a southbound train towards Union on the Stouffville line. En route to Agincourt GO as I type this.

This might change, of course, once the fleet-wide VISION installation is complete.

It would be cool to see modern AC traction equipment on the older cars - just like SEPTA did with their PCCs. Hum... maybe Brookville could help breathe life into our CLRVs: https://www.brookvillecorp.com/streetcar-restoration.asp - although it may be harder cause unlike the PCCs, our CLRVs isn't really a standard design.

Careful, the ZF AS Tronic is an automated manual transmission. It feels like a manual transmission in operation, yet gear shifting normally is done automatically with minimal operator intervention. I've rode on these kinds of buses before and can feel little difference from the passenger side. Fully manual transmissions would hardly be practical in passenger transportation since the load does not vary as greatly as in freight transport, and vice versa - how many newly-built trucks out there have Allison Automatic shifters compared to the old-fashioned stick shift complete with a clutch pedal compared to buses despite their similar sizes?

Was at the Ambrosia grocery store the other day, where they have spankingly modern POS equipment installed. The particular software it was running (L-POS by Logivision) is known for its high degree of customizability - including display layout, colors, and even fonts. As someone familiar with UX design, I did not like how the company laid out its customer display, but nothing stunned me more than see the "virtual receipt" appears in a font no other than Comic Sans (which unfortunately I forgot to snap). This may be tolerable for a Toys R Us or other family-focused store, but to see it at a natural foods establishment patronized greatly by seniors... quite outrageous. P.S. Comic Sans is also in use at Purdy's Chocolates locations which use LCD monitors for customer displays - although thankfully, not all locations have them.

Well, unlike buses, streetcars don't have air brakes - at least, not the kind that would mandate Z licenses. Technically, you don't need any Ontario driver's license to operate streetcars, though I'm almost certain the TTC requires a full G license at least no matter what kind of vehicle you operate.

ADMIN: this thread is unneeded since the creator posted in the main TTC employment thread, so I would appreciate a full deletion. Thank you!

I still dislike how next vehicle arrivals are still given as times of day rather than in the "countdown" format (e.g. in 5 minutes). Just imagine if that's how they show departures on digital signs at bus stops - if my bus arrives at, say, 10:30, how long do I have to wait until then? (Also worth noting is that Triplinx still doesn't provide real-time DRT vehicle info - as evidenced by the icon besides the time like this besides YRT/TTC trips: ).

By that time we could see its big brother delivered and undergoing tests with CBTC equipment installed - wondering how that'll work:

Likely someone trained to inspect the buses regularly, since the factors that go into deciding what condition buses are in - "poorer" or "better" - are more qualitative than quantitative (in scientific, physical terminology).

Please, can we save these kinds of rants for here? https://cptdb.ca/forum/42-political-discussion/

No point with the OG hybrids since they are already getting VISION - something I never expected in the first place considering their impending retirement. But as for the NGs, yes, I could see all the ones lacking VISION getting it by year-end or ending up at Malvern where they'll survive for at least another 2-3 more months without them.

Or perhaps they have GPS units. At least, that's what tour bus drivers frequently use, even though I can't tell whether it's provided by the company or is their personal device. Better still, have the GPS built into the dash (though it might become somewhat of a distraction, like a Tesla.)

I remember posting in another thread about the design similarities of the Orion VII NG and the Ambassador by VDL Berkhof of the Netherlands - most notably in the destination sign housing. Since the Ambassador design predates the VII NG by six years, I can't really say whether Daimler was inspired by or simply copied Berkhof's design when restyling the VII NG.

I seem to have spotted the VISION computer in place of the TRUMP unit on board 1271 operating 42 Cummer. If so, it would be no surprise considering it is out of Wilson division where 169 Huntingwood has already made the switch. EDIT 10/24: Drove on Cummer/McNicoll today and was able to make out enough buses with VISION units to conclude that the route has indeed made the switch.

First of all, anyone who sees the MR-90 as a potential VIA Rail intercity carriage has to note that they were built as electric multiple units. This means they are self-propelled railcars with traction equipment fully integrated. Converting them to be hauled by locomotives (which for the technical folks is known as push-pull) would probably prove costly, especially since the cars are not meant for intercity travel. Ergonomics is also an issue when it comes to the current cramped cab car design - would the engineer be comfortable in there for two to three hours continuously compared to space in that of the locomotive? That being said, I'm not ruling out MR-90 use on VIA, just that it is probably not a viable long-term solution compared to purchasing dedicated equipment.

If this is necessary, it might be better to split the current forum into one for bus and one for rail since they are largely independent operations.

Oh, so they are now expanding VISION to the streetcar fleet? Not sure if that is worth the investment on a fleet whose replacement is imminent.

Last Tuesday I saw 3197 departing Finch Station signed as route 60 Steeles West. High tide that route made the switch to VISION at last.

Or maybe that's how the INIT sees it. I suppose when the garage does this kind of driver familiarization training they program the route in advance so the computer can alert when the bus goes off-route. A bonus is that there's no rush to ensure all vehicles are so programmed by the time revenue service commences.

Not to mention that Gemilang Coachworks of Malaysia has also bodied Volvos - but has not much international success until very recently. https://landtransportguru.net/kmb-volvo-b9tl-assembled-at-gemilang/

It would be fun if the kids get to rev the engine of such a oldie, but most of us would agree it's a silly idea as it needlessly wastes fuel and other non-renewable resources. (P.S. especially with MtD being one of the pilot garages for the e-bus project)

Did anyone notice typos like this with the VISION: I hope there's a way to report this.

A friend of mine has reported to me the presence of Wilson deploying VISION vehicles on route 169 Huntingwood. Can anyone confirm? (if so, I must definitely check it out soon because I would not expect VISION to come to Scarborough so soon!)

Side note: the 1998 Nova LFS demonstrator was a settlement from that cancelled RTS order.