Jump to content

Streetcar News


CLRV4037

Recommended Posts

5 hours ago, smallspy said:

This is the second mention of some sort of problem with the platforms on Roncesvalles. What is the issue there? They certainly didn't have an problems with running the extra cars on 504 prior to dispatching them to St. Clair.

 

Dan

A TTC employee from Leslie Barns was the first who pointed it out:

And yes, they did run a few Flexities on King for about a month in the spring on Sundays only and that stopped abruptly in mid-May when the "excess" Flexities were re-allocated to 511 Bathurst. No new cars have been deployed on the 504 since. Perhaps it was just a trial. Or maybe that's when they've discovered that there is a problem with those platforms after all?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 hours ago, drum118 said:

Lack of new cars to be assign to the route and the route will not fully converted until 2018. Only a few new cars are require to be on 512 at this time with new arrivals being assign to (cars been move to it from other routes) it as they enter service. Currently 7 new cars on 512

Then there is the failure rate that keeping cars out of service. The failure rate is suppose to be 35,000, but only got up to 19,000 for Aug and back to 7,500 for Sept. Doors leading cause of failures.

4449 looks like it will see service starting Thursday or Friday with 4450 next week. We may see 4451 in service this month if it shows up in the next 8 days. Unless there is a major shipment of new cars in the coming weeks, the reduce number of 65 on site will not be meet for this year. TTC is already 5 cars short for Oct and 8 due this month alone. 

It takes between 9-30 days for a car to enter service from the day it arrives, with 14 days being the norm.

Yes 4449 has entered revenue service on 512.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, WoodbineSecondExit said:

Yes 4449 has entered revenue service on 512.

Seeing 4449 in the yard last night was a sure sign it would ender service today. Since 4450 arrived 4 days after 4449, then it could see service either Sunday or Monday depending where it is testing. Haven't follow 4450 that much to see where it is in burn in stage.

Since no sign of 4451, staff will have a break and deal with the current cars to see if the can get the failure rate up.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The King Street pilot started today and in typical Toronto fashion it seemed a third of the cars at King and Spadina ignored it. On a weekday it will be a mess.

One problem IMO is that the green ball signal implies you can go straight through. Maybe have the advanced green arrow, and then red ball + white transit bar, which would still allow right turns on red.

From Spadina to Yonge was much faster than usual though.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

54 minutes ago, IRT_BMT_IND said:

The King Street pilot started today and in typical Toronto fashion it seemed a third of the cars at King and Spadina ignored it. On a weekday it will be a mess.

One problem IMO is that the green ball signal implies you can go straight through. Maybe have the advanced green arrow, and then red ball + white transit bar, which would still allow right turns on red.

From Spadina to Yonge was much faster than usual though.

The green ball signal must have been suggested (more likely DEMANDED) be used by auto-addicted suburbanites.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, IRT_BMT_IND said:

The King Street pilot started today and in typical Toronto fashion it seemed a third of the cars at King and Spadina ignored it. On a weekday it will be a mess.

One problem IMO is that the green ball signal implies you can go straight through. Maybe have the advanced green arrow, and then red ball + white transit bar, which would still allow right turns on red.

From Spadina to Yonge was much faster than usual though.

It wouldn't be a bad idea to change the ball into two arrows pointing left or right. Also, adding the illuminated "do not go straight/left/right" signs like they do on some downtown intersections i.e. University and King wouldn't be a bad idea. I've noticed that those are pretty effective, and they aren't on every intersection. 

Police officers will be handing out informational brochures this week, but the week after, it will be tickets. Once people are educated by the police, or see the increased police presence, they'll figure it out. 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, Kelvin3157 said:

You mean something like this?

Click to view full size image

They could adapt 3 phase signals..

Exactly. 

 

7 minutes ago, Xtrazsteve said:

It's only EB at Bathrust and WB at Jarvis that allows turns in both direction. All other intersections in between are right only. Not so much to change.

John, Simcoe, York, Victoria, Church and Jarvis. These are all the streets where people will be tempted to make a left turn going EB unless a) they construct barriers that will discourage that or b ) implement an LED no turn sign, or even a standard one. Something like this, minus the traffic light in the appropriate situations:

Image result for toronto no turn signs

Here is a good example of the whole situation: https://web.toronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/9096-King-Street-Brochure_Oct25_Web.pdf

I worked downtown for a year by Parliament and King and having gone through that area every day, I can tell you people will want to make those sorts of turns, even with the pilot in place. Unless they construct barriers separating traffic, or they put up signs like above. But don't forget that this is the first time its being done, and we're still in the first week. The city will learn how the traffic flows over time from now on and then will be able to make adjustments accordingly. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have an idea in which the phases could be done this (But might not allow deliveries):

1. N/S traffic moving normally, either going straight, turn left or right onto King. Pedestrians can cross King.

2. After N/S traffic faces red, depending on the time of day (either W or E first) the white vertical transit bar lights up, giving streetcars or taxis (after the signed hours) access to go straight, while drivers can either turn left or right with the arrows facing either both right or left.

4. The opposite direction of King also does the same mentioned above. 

5. Pedestrians can cross the N/S street. Bikes have their own signal, must yield to pedestrians if they are going to turn.

The only problem I thought that of from my idea is that It might be time consuming for pedestrians crossing the N/S street though... Any feedback would be helpful.

(Not saying that they should change their plans, since we're in the discussion of the setup of the pilot, I might as well share what I had in mind)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, Kelvin3157 said:

I have an idea in which the phases could be done this (But might not allow deliveries):

1. N/S traffic moving normally, either going straight, turn left or right onto King. Pedestrians can cross King.

2. After N/S traffic faces red, depending on the time of day (either W or E first) the white vertical transit bar lights up, giving streetcars or taxis (after the signed hours) access to go straight, while drivers can either turn left or right with the arrows facing either both right or left.

4. The opposite direction of King also does the same mentioned above. 

5. Pedestrians can cross the N/S street. Bikes have their own signal, must yield to pedestrians if they are going to turn.

The only problem I thought that of from my idea is that It might be time consuming for pedestrians crossing the N/S street though... Any feedback would be helpful.

(Not saying that they should change their plans, since we're in the discussion of the setup of the pilot, I might as well share what I had in mind)

I don't see how your adjustments would restrict the deliveries more than they already are. However, as a general note, I can safely say that businesses are not happy with the pilot because their car-based client traffic has been drastically reduced with the removal of on street parking. Meddling with their deliveries will only make them more frustrated than they already are. 

The only issue I see with your plan is peds crossing the N/S streets. If it becomes time consuming, people jaywalk. When people jaywalk, people get hit by vehicles. This is especially likely since a) people don't like waiting in the cold, and b ) the pilot is in its early phase which means both peds and vehicle traffic have yet to get used to the entire system. 

I can't think of an idea other than what is already in place. Pretty much every intersection has restrictions on left turns. This means that when cars are turning right, they yield to peds, which is ok because they are only allowed to go right anyways. It's not like there are cars waiting to go straight which are blocking the single lane. Cars will flow to the right according to traffic on the N/S streets. The only obstruction to cars will be having to wait behind the streetcars at a light, which is fine by me. 

Speaking of discussion, would it be a bad idea to open a new thread to discuss the King Pilot Project? This topic will stray from streetcars sooner or later, if it hasn't already. Thoughts?

EDIT: It seems to be off to a good start: https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2017/11/13/a-transit-miracle-on-king-st-shows-how-it-can-work.html

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On ‎11‎/‎12‎/‎2017 at 2:36 PM, WoodbineSecondExit said:

November is almost half over but have we received any of the 7 yet?

According to Bombardier's latest schedule, both 4449 & 4450 are "November cars" so one could say we've got 2 out of 7 so far.

Speaking of schedule, Bombardier seems adamant they will meet the 65-car target by year's end, despite the TTC's skepticism:

I'll believe it when I see it.

  • Haha 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would suggest that all discussion regarding Flexity deliveries be done in the below-linked thread as to free up space for GENERAL streetcar news that does not fit into existing categories, such as the King Street pilot project (which itself could deserve its own separate thread).

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4450 Enter service on 509 today as expected and surprise.

It was inside for 2 days over the weekend giving the indication it was going to go into service on Tuesday.

Was out Monday doing testing on 509 and assume it would enter service on 509 on Wed.

Cars was inside Tuesday and noticed it was returning to the Barns by Queen that night and expect it was going to be Friday for service.

First time I have seen a car doing testing the day before entering service other than it was testing the pans to make sure it could go on 509.

Now we set back and wait to see if 4451 or any cars show up for this month deliveries as well the ones from Oct.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

51 minutes ago, Shaun said:

Wonder how that happened? It was coming out of the loop. Going too fast?

That's super strange. You can see that its the front of the car, so if it was coming out too fast, it would have been to the videotaper's left (streetcar's right) of the tracks. In the video it's on the inside of the loop (videotaper's right). 

Does a derailment mean replacement of wheels? I suppose the brake rotors are safe since they are mounted on the wheel itself, and have a smaller diameter, but will a derailment deem wheels to be unsafe for further use?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Allandale25 said:

Looks like one of the new streetcars came off the tracks (to a certain degree) at the St. Clair loop?

Video here in a tweet.

It did. The car was pushing a disabled CLRV.

 

Initial reports suggest that it was a repeat of the derailment at King and Bathurst a couple of months ago.

 

Dan

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...