Miscellaneous TTC Discussion & Questions

[Doppelkupplung]

17 minutes ago, TTCOpITM said:

It is procedure to not exceed 10 km/h through switches (facing and trailing) until the rear trucks have cleared any switches to lessen the possibility of derailments. However, some operators are either impatient or because they may be a bit late, don't take the time to do so and just fly through. Also, when two streetcars arrive at an intersection where there is a possibility that the tracks they are on can take them on a collision course with each other, the streetcar on the down trip has the right of way to enter and clear the intersection before the streetcar on the up trip may enter. This is to prevent the possibility of one car splitting or derailing over a switch and making contact with the other one.

I see; thanks for that. How come the depth of the rail is much less over intersections?

[Bus_Medic]

1 hour ago, MiWay0310 said:

Question, especially for any streetcar operators on here:

When crossing major intersections with intersecting streetcar tracks i.e. Church/King, some operators slow down to a creep but I've noticed others pound it right through. Why is that? Fear of derailment? I do know that the actual track depth is slightly reduced over the intersections compared to normal lines. Feels like the flanges would be super close to the ground. 

Those switches and intersections are “flange bearing” and are shallow by design. Weight is transitioned by gradually reducing the depth of the flangeway, to the point where the typical “tread” area is off the ground.

reduces impact forces as the wheels ride on a more continuous, uninterrupted  surface. This differs from usual heavy rail convention of deep flangeways. However, “one way low speed” crossings are a more recent innovation becoming more common in heavy rail, where one route will be flange bearing, especially where the one route of the intersection sees much less traffic than the other.

[smallspy]

On 12/13/2017 at 8:37 PM, Articulated said:

Because the station infrastructure is not owned by the bigger companies, they would have to pay to utilize it. Apparently the big telecoms don't think they would get enough of an return (i.e. new customers) to justify the cost to access the infrastructure.

Wind/Freedom is a smaller company in a marketplace dominated by a few heavyweights, so they signed on in order to differentiate themselves from their competitors.

To add to this.....

 

BAI is reportedly asking for a mint for access to the infrastructure. I suspect that the cartel of Bell/Rogers/Telus is trying to pressure them into dropping the price into something they feel is more in line with what they are willing to spend.

 

Dan

[Doppelkupplung]

What's the meaning of the yellow LEDs beside the main headlights on the TRs? I've noticed them on and off...reason for this?

[Transit geek]

30 minutes ago, MiWay0310 said:

What's the meaning of the yellow LEDs beside the main headlights on the TRs? I've noticed them on and off...reason for this?

Probably hazard lights. I recall two situations where there were blinking exterior lights on a subway train. First, this clip of STM's MPM-10 being tested:

Second, the Rotterdam Metro in the Netherlands has a section where subway trains operate like light rail vehicles and are required to have brake and turn indicators like road vehicles do.

Although I could find no good clip showing these signals in use, the photo above clearly shows the location of the blinking lights as well as the LRT-like environment in which these trains run.

[TechnicaProductions]

1 hour ago, MiWay0310 said:

What's the meaning of the yellow LEDs beside the main headlights on the TRs? I've noticed them on and off...reason for this?

Those are brake lights, I think the idea was so that track workers could be able to tell if the train approaching was slowing down.

[Doppelkupplung]

16 minutes ago, TechnicaProductions said:

Those are brake lights, I think the idea was so that track workers could be able to tell if the train approaching was slowing down.

Okay that makes sense, thanks. I suppose they are much more visible in the darkness of a tunnel. 

[smallspy]

2 hours ago, TechnicaProductions said:

Those are brake lights, I think the idea was so that track workers could be able to tell if the train approaching was slowing down.

That's precisely what the are for.

 

Dan

[jmward]

Hey everyone, I'm about to move to Toronto from Vancouver til August. 

If I wanted to track a particular bus down  (say, to ride a slowbox or EZ-rider before they're done) what do you guys recommend for trackers? 

See, back in Vancouver they have this magic tcomm (https://tcomm.bustrainferry.com/mobile/ ) tracker that does it all, its got all the runs each bus does that day and schedules and also assignment history. I've tried a few of the ones talked about on here; but nothing is quite like tcomm is. I think.

Any recommendations? Web app or phone app, I don't mind. 

Thanks very much.

[IRT_BMT_IND]

You can search for a specific bus in Transee. It works with the TTC and some of the suburban systems.

[Doppelkupplung]

3 hours ago, jmward said:

Hey everyone, I'm about to move to Toronto from Vancouver til August. 

If I wanted to track a particular bus down  (say, to ride a slowbox or EZ-rider before they're done) what do you guys recommend for trackers? 

See, back in Vancouver they have this magic tcomm (https://tcomm.bustrainferry.com/mobile/ ) tracker that does it all, its got all the runs each bus does that day and schedules and also assignment history. I've tried a few of the ones talked about on here; but nothing is quite like tcomm is. I think.

Any recommendations? Web app or phone app, I don't mind. 

Thanks very much.

Since you mention EZs, I'll stick this in here. Relevant agencies would be MiWay and HSR of course:

https://transit55.ca/

I'd like to say 55 is more enthusiast focused, since you can find specific units by model and year. You can also break it down into what blocks they've done recently and where they are exactly at any time. Additionally, you can check their schedule, and their adherence to it as well. 

To my knowledge, Transsee won't find you the models/years etc. unless you are familiar with the agency's system of identification. 

[Antarctica]

10 hours ago, IRT_BMT_IND said:

You can search for a specific bus in Transee. It works with the TTC and some of the suburban systems.

Don't forget PocketTracker but this requires registration.

[jmward]

Thanks everyone for your help. 

[T3G]

I was just looking at the wiki page for buses 1200-1423, and noticed something of interest: the dates are all jumbled up. 1321 and 1323 are dated as February 2008; 1322 as December. 1324 and 1326 are December 2007; 1325 as November 2008. I know that the buses were delivered out of order, but were they actually built in this way as well?

[Antarctica]

I was wondering wasn't the Brimorton Drive service to be proposed under the 1992 Service Plan as the 168 BRIMORTON? I wonder what happened to it ever since.

If they were to implement the BRIMORTON service, they should serve it as a branch of the 57 MIDLAND via Dorcot, Brimley, Brimorton to Orton Park. 

My 2.5 cents.

[BusDude]

Only ones i can confirm now is that 190 and 102 are going to Malvern division

[leylandvictory2]

4 hours ago, Transit_Hub said:

Could happen during the next board change.

that's what i heard.

[blue]

On 12/28/2017 at 11:22 PM, BusDude said:

Only ones i can confirm now is that 190 and 102 are going to Malvern division

Your confirmations are correct, along with 169 Huntingwood going to Malvern confirmed as well.

[dowlingm]

Per Councillor Davis' twitter, Coxwell elevators are in service. I was through yesterday and they were not running but construction hoardings had been cleared.

[Andythagiant]

34 minutes ago, dowlingm said:

Per Councillor Davis' twitter, Coxwell elevators are in service. I was through yesterday and they were not running but construction hoardings had been cleared.

There were signs that said they were in service as well as CSOs standing around but I didn’t see anyone use them.

[Brichmount19]

Rumor says that 56 Leaside is being swapped to Birchmount, can anyone confirm if this is true?

[T3G]

I was looking at some older photos yesterday, and I started to wonder - what exactly did the TTC do wrong with their RTSes? I'm not aware of properties like New York having all the issues with reliability that the TTC was reported to have. Was it merely a case of Arrow maintenance doing them in, or did they do something wrong at the bus specification stage? 

[Antarctica]

BUS MAINTENANCE

5 hours ago, PCC Guy said:

I was looking at some older photos yesterday, and I started to wonder - what exactly did the TTC do wrong with their RTSes? I'm not aware of properties like New York having all the issues with reliability that the TTC was reported to have. Was it merely a case of Arrow maintenance doing them in, or did they do something wrong at the bus specification stage? 

 Couldn't they reach the age of 18 when they have to since it had stainless steel frames? 

SERVICE PLANNING

6 hours ago, Brichmount19 said:

Rumor says that 56 Leaside is being swapped to Birchmount, can anyone confirm if this is true?

Where did you get that such information @Brichmount19?

On 30/12/2017 at 2:12 AM, blue said:

Your confirmations are correct, along with 169 Huntingwood going to Malvern confirmed as well.

On 28/12/2017 at 11:22 PM, BusDude said:

Only ones i can confirm now is that 190 and 102 are going to Malvern division

Are there any others @blue or  @leylandvictory2? Nobody mentioned the 10 VAN HORNE or 57 MIDLAND moving at all. 

 

[Brichmount19]

1 hour ago, Antarctica said:

BUS MAINTENANCE

 Couldn't they reach the age of 18 when they have to since it had stainless steel frames? 

SERVICE PLANNING

Where did you get that such information @Brichmount19?

Are there any others @blue or  @leylandvictory2? Nobody mentioned the 10 VAN HORNE or 57 MIDLAND moving at all. 

 

An 83 Jones opareter is claiming that 56 Leaside is going to be swapped to birchmount though, i really want this confirmed, if so i want to really catch the last days of the 3G and hybrids on the 56.

 

On 2017-12-30 at 2:12 AM, blue said:

Your confirmations are correct, along with 169 Huntingwood going to Malvern confirmed as well.

190 Is being swapped to Malvern again? like 102 in February.

[smallspy]

8 hours ago, PCC Guy said:

I was looking at some older photos yesterday, and I started to wonder - what exactly did the TTC do wrong with their RTSes? I'm not aware of properties like New York having all the issues with reliability that the TTC was reported to have. Was it merely a case of Arrow maintenance doing them in, or did they do something wrong at the bus specification stage? 

You may not have heard about it, but apparently reliability issues were not uncommon amongst Nova-built RTS's of that vintage, right until the end of their production. As well, don't forget that they were really an orphan group, a very small number of vehicles coupled with very little commonality with the rest of the fleet.

 

Dan