nfitz

 

 

Also, it's all mph not km/hr (like everything on Canadian railways).

Of course ... I should have thought about that!

I thought the signalling was about capacity (more trains per hour), not speed. The old switches had a speed limit of something like 20km/hr, and the new ones something like 50km/hr - so why can't the trains run just a bit faster as they come in/our of Union?

They are running a bit faster I think - at least that's my perception.

Wasn't the old speed 15 km/hr and the new one 30 km/hr? I heard something about an interim upgrade to 30 km/hr and then another upgrade to 45 km/hr. Not sure if what's been completed is to 30 km/hr or 45 km/hr. And perhaps I can't remember the numbers properly.

Just came across: https://twitter.com/...115752845287425

Anyone else hear anything about these derailments with the new streetcar or is it just rumours?

Rumours according to Brad Ross. Apparently they haven't tried to take them out of the shop yet, let alone around curves at Hillside.

Like I said, the streetcar symbol has evolved gradually as the fleet has changed:

From Wikipedia, here's the CLRV stop and the PCC stop:

There's an even older version of the PCC you see occasionally, where the two panes of the front windscreen aren't symmetrical. Not sure how long those have been there ... I've spotted it on some old Sunday stops, and on one of the old square wooden stop poles. When did they stop using those?

... not least because it didn't help if you were going *to* Union. Or if your train had left Union.

I wonder if Stouffville and Milton will stay in the 'wrong' colour. (Milton I get - yellow doesn't stand out in North American Google Maps... but Stouffville's brown should.)

Richmond Hill and Barrie are reversed as well.

BTW, if your on a mobile, use http://www.gotracker.ca instead of http://www.gotracker.ca/gotracker/web/ then it automatically detects a mobile version of the site at http://www.gotracker.ca/gotracker/mobile/ which gives you the basic data for each station, without the graphics. And from there, you can find links to each individual station.

Aldershot - http://www.gotracker.ca/GOTracker/mobile/StationStatus/Service/01/Station/2

If you don`t recall, the original door supplier went bankrupt... So Bombardier had to scramble to get new doors for the trains.

From the same supplier, after Bombardier purchased them.

The problems for these trains sounds very similar to the widely-reported door problems on the Bombardier Movia-based trains added recently to the Victoria Line in London. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Underground_2009_Stock#Problems

Which implies it's nothing to do with the manufacturer of the doors, that it's Canadian, or that the contract was sole-sourced.

It's interesting that the media has been so slow to pick up on these comments about the "unacceptable" trains given that TTC released the comment publicly two weeks ago!

Fare increase for 30 min lakeshore service

http://www.metrolinx...Increase_EN.pdf

There's nothing in that report about 30-min Lakeshore service. All that's promised for Lakeshore is additional shoulder-peak trips in 2012/2013.

There was something about that for 2013/2014 in a draft version of that report, but all 2013/2014 details were deleted before the report was finalized, and doesn't exist in any documents I'm aware of currently avaiable from Metrolinx. I do have a copy of what they accidently released for a few minutes Friday afternoon, if anyone wants a copy.

Did you even bother to look up who Scheidt & Bachmann are? They are enormous. Yes, they had problems with the implementation in Ottawa, but there aren't going to be too many other competitors when it comes time to tender the TTC units.

I'm aware of who they are. They have done a lot of fare systems, but have they done similar smartcard readers before?

At this point, there is unknown who will win the tender for the readers in Toronto.

The lowest bidder that meets the spec. See the problem?

Hopefully the spec includes demonstrable evidence that the bidders have successfully provided similar equipment for a fair-sized transit operation before.

What I quoted makes sense and includes when passing on the right (Door side). Though it may be revised when the new street cars are introduced.

I'm sorry, I really don't understand what your saying.

What you said is "The only times your permitted to pass a stopped streetcar is if your on a one way road or if there is a Island provided at the stop"

Are you trying to say that you can't pass a streetcar, on the right, anywhere unless there is an island?

If that is what you are trying to say you then are wrong.

But I assume that isn't what you are trying to say ... I have no idea what you are trying to say! Perhaps you could rephrase it.

You might want to re read what i typed. I typed and i Quote " or if there is a Island provided at the stop"

That makes no sense then. If you were only allowed to pass streetcars if the street is one-way, or where there is an island, you'd never be able to pass a street car, ever, on most roads.

As I noted below, that's the rule for passing on the left. The entire discussion we've had is for passing on the right - between the streetcar and the sidewalk.

Could it fall under the TTC ByLaw? And it's $28.

http://www.ttc.ca/Ri...etcar_Watch.jsp

I don't think so ... for starters there's no $28 amount fine - the lowest amount listed is $235.

I'd guess it would refer to a City of Toronto by-law. Perhaps something in old Metropolitan Toronto bylaw 32-92. If I knew how to find a copy ... Toronto's by-laws are an ugly mess.

This is interesting, the law also states that intending passengers must not enter the roadway until the streetcar's doors have opened, there is a $26 dollar fine for doing so.

How will this work for the new cars? Possibly the first door will always open when the other doors are authorized.

Which law is this? I've seen mention of this on the TTC's website, but there doesn't seem to be any language to that effect in the Ontario Highway Traffic Act.

The only times your permitted to pass a stopped streetcar is if your on a one way road or if there is a Island provided at the stop.

From the Ontario Drivers Handbook

That's for passing on the left. We've been talking about passing on the right.

There's quite a few zone pairs which are missing, in fact. (Although I don't have a list to hand).

Yes - and seems to be the ones that are surprisingly expensive.

An $8 fare is greater than Whitby-Union, a far greater distance. (Maybe it's distance-via-Union for stations on different lines?

No, I don't think so ... check Danforth to Kipling. 2 different lines, but only $6.40 ($5.92 with Presto).

For the trains, maybe it's simply an arbitrary table, that hasn't ever been clearly thought out.

Here's the table - http://www.gotransit...docs/Tariff.pdf starting on 85 of the PDF.

Interestingly Zone 6 to Zone 77 is absent from the table.

The Toronto zone map is on page 41 of the PDF.

But the law states that someone has to be getting on or off

No it doesn't. The law states that you can't pass when the streetcar is "stationary for the purpose of taking on or discharging passengers"

If the streetcar has stopped to pick-up or drop-off passengers, you can't pass it, even if the doors aren't open, or pedestrians have not stepped onto the sidewalk.

With button operated doors someone would have had to cross the lane of traffic to activate the lights, and by then it would be too late.

I meant the button INSIDE the streetcar. The driver would have to activate the doors, which would set off the lights for those boarding. Though I guess he'd also do this to activate the doors for those getting off, so might as well just start the lights flashing when the driver unlocks the doors. Or have a separate switch for the flashing lights like school buses have.

I just wish the text on the back of the car said "Do not pass when flashing" rather than "Do not pass open doors".

It can't say that, because passing a stopped streetcar with doors closed, with no passengers getting on or leaving the streetcar, violates no laws, whether a sign on the back of the streetcar is flashing.

It could say that if it only flashed if someone had pushed the button for the streetcar to stop, or if the operator had pushed the button to unlock the doors because he anticipated someone getting on or off.

Train journeys are charged as one long leg, regardless of how many trains are involved. So if did Milton-Union-Oshawa entirely by train, the fare would be the straight-line distance from Milton to Oshawa. (You'd tap on at Milton and off at Oshawa).

More than that going on. Fare for the straight-line distance of 1.8 km from Scarborough station to Kennedy station is $8, or $7.40 on Go Trains with Presto.

Tourist most of the time will use the Airporter Bus, run by Pacific Western that drops off at many major hotel downtown Toronto price is about $18.00 each way.

If you just show up and get a ticket it's $26.95 ... if you buy a two-ride ticket (a return ticket I assume) it's $20 each way. I bet a lot of tourists are paying the almost $27. The train would be quite competitive to this - and I'd guess actually eliminate the service. http://www.torontoai...s.com/fares.php

If they over-price it and it's under-utilized, I'd expect them to reprice it.

I actually took the subway from Union to Pearson to meet someone the other day. Took about 75 minutes from Union - which is pretty good given I had to go up Yonge because of a smoke problem on University, and then the Bloor trains were crawling because of a train mechanical problem. Still, I'd have quiet happily have taken the airport train for $20, gotten there in 25 minutes, and had 50 minutes more time for myself.

(I was going to take GO Train to Kipling, but I missed it by about 1 minute, and it was a 35-minute wait until the next train ... which ironically passed us just outside Kipling station while the subway was queuing up the for platform - as it took about 10 minutes to get from the GO platform to the subway platform at Union, then I guess it would take 55 minutes from Union to Pearson using GO and the TTC express bus, rather than subway/bus).

And other people put additional value on things like comfort as well.

Still doesn't mean that it will draw enough people away to preclude building two subways however.

Why would GO draw any away from subway if the subway is quicker than the GO Train? Even those at Richmond Hill looking for comfort are going to be sitting on the subway, as they get on at the end.

And then there is the destination. Many if not most people getting on at Bloor get off before Union. Most of the new passengers on the subway at Richmond Hill are predicted to get off by Bloor. A small minority will actually be travelling from Richmond Hill to Union.

Correct. Buses don't have the ability to upload the data on the fly (at least not with the current implementations), instead storing it until they get to the garage. It then gets uploaded. What you see when you see your transactions data is where the bus was scheduled to be when you tapped on.

Wouldn't it make more sense to use the onboard GPS to query the current location and store that with the tap on/off data? Or have they not installed that yet for some systems.

Does the screen have to read anything? Because my VISA PayWave card will make the green light flash, I know there is speculation that the green light is just a proximity detector.

Did you VISA account get charged?

Even in Toronto some of the recent Presto devices installed in TTC subway stations will charge VISA PayWave cards.

If there were GO Trains from the Richmond Hill Centre every 10-15 minutes, no-one would take the subway form there to downtown Toronto.

Depends where they were going. Didn't the recent report suggest that the majority of people expected to board at Richmond Hill got off before Bloor?

Current travel time on GO from Richmond Hill to Union is 46 minutes. Current travel time on TTC from Finch to Union is 28 minutes. Finch station to Richmond Hill station is about 6.5 km, which would take 13 more minutes at 30 km/hr.

So TTC travel time to Union would be about 41 minutes compared to 46 minutes on GO. Some might use GO if they are going right to Union, or if they speed up GO a bit. However what about those going to Dundas or Bloor? Why would they use GO as TTC will be faster?

Nothing has been made public...

Yes it has. Chris Upfold announced it on Thursday's townhall. See the video http://www.rogerstv.com/page.aspx?lid=237&rid=16&gid=104149 at 29 minutes and 20 seconds. By the end of January 2013.

People can call it what they want. "Rubbing your self up against anyone" in the way that was described on the news is borderline sexual assault.

It would be. However the police are saying that isn't what happened though. They are saying the two people got in a dispute and the man made “unintentional contact". “

The man walked by [on the streetcar]. He brushed by her, touching her. She took exception. Words were being exchanged back and forth,” Const. Tony Vella said.

If the suspect ran away when confronted... obviously he did something wrong.

If I accidently brushed against someone on a streetcar (and it can certainly be rather intimate sometimes), and someone started yelling at me, and accusing me of terrible things, and then the TTC driver joined in, I might be tempted to leave too. It's just simpler. Particularly if the guy felt threatened ... some reports said the women got off the streetcar and chased him ... that just sounds odd to me.

Things are sometimes not as simple as they seem. I've seen plenty of irrational (often very disturbed inviduals) people on the TTC say the oddest things, and shout at people without cause.

That said, the operator certainly thought an assault had happened. And I really don't see anything wrong with his actions. TTC could have dealt with this better.

Dont want to open a new can of worms.... but........ reported sexual assault cases with the victim being male are rare compared to women.

Mr. Kinnear handled this well and said the right thing.

The police are reporting that it wasn't sexual assault, nor is the victim claiming it's sexual assault.

Either way, the assumption of gender seems entirely unnecessary in the statement. It appears to be unnecessarily sexist.