Streetcar News

[Flalex72]

Indeed, they seem to be a suburban only thing.

However, I've had it happen to me in a Sobeys before. I was at a self serve station and at they usually have staff putting green stickers on your purchases, to certify that they saw you pay for it. One time they neglected to do so, however, so I was asked to present a receipt as I was making my way out of the store. It doesn't happen often, but it's certainly possible... much like fare enforcement on the TTC.

At a normal store/resturaunt/whatever, you are under no obligation to show a receipt or proof of purchase upon exit. My local Wal-Mart will occasionally ask for a receipt, but I could decline to show it. Failure to show a receipt is not suspicion of theft and you generally can't be detained for it.

At Costco, you agree in the membership agreement that you will stop and show the receipt upon exiting the store. The same could be said for the TTC, as it is a TTC policy to show POP that you must agree with in order to use the system.

[vivablue5215]

What about Costco?

All customers purchasing goods from Costco have to present their identification before anything can be processed. No exceptions. All receipts are also inspected and initialed by someone at the exit before leaving to ensure that nothing has been left unpaid.

Closest Costco from downtown would be the one by Wilson and Allen Road...or Warden and Ellesmere. No reason for Costco to be in downtown, as people rarely buy in bulk in the downtown core anyway.

[T3G]

I know what the Costco policy is... doesn't change the point I'm making, which is that being asked to present POP is a trivial and pathetic complaint, and that, using the guy's logic, he'd probably feel the same about Costco.

[dowlingm]

Holidays notwithstanding, we should be seeing 4415 on test runs pretty soon I would think?

[ttc rider]

Makes sense. When there was a discussion about this on this thread a few years back, I was told that, because the drivers have to report to their own divisions, that the vehicle has to return to the division it originated from. If you have a Roncy car that ends up at Russell, do you need to have a Russell driver as relief in order to ensure that the car ends up there?

Yes, the operators must report back to their division, but that does not necessarily mean the cars have to return back to the division they originated from. Operators are tied to specific run numbers, not to specific cars. For example, cars that are assigned to runs that operate during rush hour only, normally end up at the same division, because they are usually assigned a single operator, who works split shifts. However, a car that is in continuous service from say, 6 AM to 10 PM will obviously be driven by a number of different operators throughout the day, and depending on the route it runs on and the schedule of that particular run, it may end up at the other division at the end of the service day. Of course, this only works if it runs on a route operated from both divisions. Take for example a car that starts service from Roncy at 6 AM, and is assigned to a change-over run that is supposed to end at Russell: that car will be taken up in the morning by a Roncy operator, who will be relieved at some point during the day, and it will eventually be driven by a Russell operator before it runs in to Russell for the night (this assumes that the run number never changes during the day. If the car needs to be run in to the yard before the scheduled time for whatever reason, they can always do either on-street change-overs, i.e. change the run number of the car to one that is scheduled to run in to the yard sooner, or simply do a car change-off).

The thing to remember is that cars are assigned on paper to a certain division only for the purpose of scheduled inspections and maintenance; otherwise there is no reason to send the cars back to their "home division". However, for cars that are due for inspection/maintenance at the "other" division, the standard practice, as far as I know, is to line up on their own track(s) in the yard, so that the dispatcher can assign as many of them to change-over runs as possible.

[skyfirenet]

Closest Costco from downtown would be the one by Wilson and Allen Road...or Warden and Ellesmere.

With another one in Leaside in the works.

[soo8513]

Jan 14 AM: NEXTBUS shows 4415 operating on 510 this morning - @ 08:16 it was mapped at SPADINA STN.

[Xtrazsteve]

The Etobicoke Guardian is quoting Brad Ross saying the 501 route split at Humber loop is actually temporary until .... permanent. They will tweak it as necessary until the split is required to maintain 10 min. on Lake Shore.

I couldn't find the article online yet.

Must of really suck if you live in those southern Etobicoke condos. Now they should just renumber it back to 507. I hope the TTC would run additional regular 501 trips leaving Long Branch to downtown.

[lip]

They definitely need to add a vehicle or two to the schedule, since there's times when its not uncommon to see 20 min gaps. Additionally, they still find ways to short-turn vehicles at Kipling (which goes to prove that the TTC's BS reasoning that traffic causes delays to service is flawed beyond belief).

As for the service issues along Humber Bay, let's just say that its only going to get worse before it gets better (if ever). The only hope for that community is a GO station and increase service on the LSW line. Asides from that, nothing is really going to help them. Ironically, Humber Bay is what's causing some of the issues during peak periods.

[Xtrazsteve]

I don't know why TTC scrapped the Park Lawn Loop. For customer convenience, it's a much better place to turn back the 501 than Humber Loop. Humber loop is a better place for operation wise only. They should really extend the 501 to Park Lawn and end the 507 at Humber loop. Eventually the waterfront west LRT would use the loop.

TTC should also keep a couple of gap cars at Humber Loop that can be used for both the 501 and 507. They should add more storage tracks if they really plan to keep this arrangement permanent.

Ultimately TTC should build the waterfront west LRT as a city initiative and stop relying on Metrolinx to fund that project. It's not likely going to happen as we seen with the waterfront east LRT. Metrolinx has no benefit for new downtown transit as their job is to keep the 905 and Wynne happy.

[ttc rider]

Regarding new streetcars, from the Jan. 2016 CEO Report: http://www.ttc.ca/About_the_TTC/Commission_reports_and_information/Commission_meetings/2016/January_21/Reports/CEO_Report_%20January_2016_Update.pdf

Ongoing manufacturing difficulties with weld processes in Sahagun, Mexico have resulted in a shortage of parts, and the stop in production in Thunder Bay.

[nfitz]

Regarding new streetcars, from the Jan. 2016 CEO Report: http://www.ttc.ca/About_the_TTC/Commission_reports_and_information/Commission_meetings/2016/January_21/Reports/CEO_Report_%20January_2016_Update.pdf

Ongoing manufacturing difficulties with weld processes in Sahagun, Mexico have resulted in a shortage of parts, and the stop in production in Thunder Bay.

It wasn't clear though if that's reporting a new stop in production, or the previous one.

[soo8513]

So - to summarize - 4415 is in service as of Jan 14, 4416 is testing (??), 4417 is on a CP flatcar (??) and 4418 - no report (??)

[Shaun]

They should just move the pre-building stage to Thunder Bay and do the whole thing there.

This plant in mexico is costing more than what they were planing to save.

[soo8513]

Jan 15 noon report: 509 has 2 M1s - 4400, 4413; 4 CLRVs, 2 replacement buses (1804, 8378)

510 has 9 M1s - 4403, 04, 05, 07, 09, 10, 11, 12, 14; 2 ALRVs (4235, 4245), 1 CLRV (4115)

noon update --- 4244 was hiding from me --- so a total of 13 cars operating on 510

[nfitz]

So - to summarize - 4415 is in service as of Jan 14, 4416 is testing (??), 4417 is on a CP flatcar (??) and 4418 - no report (??)

Yes, though I haven't seen any indication that 4417 is loaded - though I'd suspect it would happen soon. 4416 arrived in late December.

Jan 15 noon report: 509 has 2 M1s - 4400, 4413; 4 CLRVs, 2 replacement buses (1804, 8378)

510 has 9 M1s - 4403, 04, 05, 07, 09, 10, 11, 12, 14; 2 ALRVs (4235, 4245), 1 CLRV (4115)

noon update --- 4244 was hiding from me --- so a total of 13 cars operating on 510

There's been 14 in service most days after AM peak; though yesterday I saw 4408 head back east along King with a "not in service" message, and later on I saw on Nextbus that it had gone back into service. Presumably something had to leave service today.

[Ed T.]

The Etobicoke Guardian is quoting Brad Ross saying the 501 route split at Humber loop is actually temporary until .... permanent. They will tweak it as necessary until the split is required to maintain 10 min. on Lake Shore.

I'm with South Etobicoke Transit Action Committee (SETAC.ca) and we've just been assured by a senior planner at the TTC that the split is temporary. Given the choice of who might be most up-to-date, I'll go with this person, rather than Brad Ross.

They definitely need to add a vehicle or two to the schedule, since there's times when its not uncommon to see 20 min gaps. Additionally, they still find ways to short-turn vehicles at Kipling (which goes to prove that the TTC's BS reasoning that traffic causes delays to service is flawed beyond belief).

As for the service issues along Humber Bay, let's just say that its only going to get worse before it gets better (if ever). The only hope for that community is a GO station and increase service on the LSW line. Asides from that, nothing is really going to help them. Ironically, Humber Bay is what's causing some of the issues during peak periods.

GO service may help, but there's a surprising number of people in those condos who ride either to West Queen West or to Humber College. Better local transit is a necessity.

I haven't spotted any cars at Kipling loop, but it doesn't surprise me that this happens. Heck, it happened back in the days of PCCs on "LONG BRANCH LONG BRANCH"..

TTC should also keep a couple of gap cars at Humber Loop that can be used for both the 501 and 507. They should add more storage tracks if they really plan to keep this arrangement permanent.

No place to put them without blocking through service.

[Xtrazsteve]

I'm with South Etobicoke Transit Action Committee (SETAC.ca) and we've just been assured by a senior planner at the TTC that the split is temporary. Given the choice of who might be most up-to-date, I'll go with this person, rather than Brad Ross.

It would be interesting to know how long is this "temporary" period. They could change it in the March 27 board when they can schedule more cars.

I would assume that they'll keep some cars on Lake Shore only with a mix of cars that will head downtown like the late evening period. The 501 is prone to unforeseen events and congestion. It they really want to improve service on Lake Shore, they should overlap the 501 on top of the "507". Otherwise they'll end up with the same mess in case of a detour.

[Ed T.]

It would be interesting to know how long is this "temporary" period. They could change it in the March 27 board when they can schedule more cars.

I would assume that they'll keep some cars on Lake Shore only with a mix of cars that will head downtown like the late evening period. The 501 is prone to unforeseen events and congestion. It they really want to improve service on Lake Shore, they should overlap the 501 on top of the "507". Otherwise they'll end up with the same mess in case of a detour.

Temporary until the streetcar fleet is big enough, so ask Bombardier. To quote from today's email from the local councillor Mark Grimes,

I spoke with the Chief Service Officer this morning. He has confirmed that this route split at the Humber Loop is temporary. The increased streetcar frequency with the adjusted route schedule requires more cars than are currently available for the entire Long Branch-Neville Park route. As I’m sure you’ve heard on the news, there has been a significant delay in the delivery of the TTC new streetcars. We need these new cars to be able to fill those gaps. He also agreed that the route schedule does need some tweaking. It is not their intentions to leave people waiting at the loop in the dark so they will look at ways to adjust the timing to provide the equal service on the western portion of the route that was promised.

I assume the real problem is that there aren't enough ALRVs to go around. So Neville-Humber gets ALRVs, while Humber-Long Branch gets CLRVs, at good headways.

[Xtrazsteve]

I'm shaking my head... if they intend to add more running time and have all the 501s running from Long Branch to Neville Park. We'll have cars running at 10 km/h WB by Royal York and EB by Greenwood.

I passed by Dundas West around 2pm today. There was a whole lineup of 504s at the station with one on street waiting to get in the loop. There is simply too much running time on the 504.

[lip]

GO service may help, but there's a surprising number of people in those condos who ride either to West Queen West or to Humber College. Better local transit is a necessity.

I haven't spotted any cars at Kipling loop, but it doesn't surprise me that this happens. Heck, it happened back in the days of PCCs on "LONG BRANCH LONG BRANCH"..

And just imagine what things will be like *IF* the Mondelez lands get developed into condos in the way the south side of Lake Shore has been.

[soo8513]

Jan 18: 2 M1's on 509; 9 M1's on 510 ... 3 M1's stayed home today (4410, 4412, 4415)

[nfitz]

Jan 18: 2 M1's on 509; 9 M1's on 510 ... 3 M1's stayed home today (4410, 4412, 4415)

4410 is out on 510, which has 10 Flexities, and 4 ALRVs running today (4213, 4214, 4242, and 4251).

[TDE]

Not sure if this was posted already.

So at least for the final trips, the Flexity fleet appear to be running to Queen & Spadina, then deadheading on Queen east to Leslie. Instead of the King/Queen routing.

[soo8513]

any sightings of 4418 or 4419?