Miscellaneous TTC Discussion & Questions

[Downsview 108]

I see, thanks.

[eclair14]

I will be heading to the Toronto area early may and i have some question about the area

1 - I would like to ride TTC Orion V and a Novabus RTS bus . Are they rush hour only bus, what route are my best bet to ride those vehicule

2- I will ride street car for sure, do you recommand some lines in particular (scenic)

3- What routes are the best to film wrapped bus and/or streetcar

That will be it for now, thanks in advance for the answers

Thanks again for the answers ,,, now that i am in my return train, i will share with you my up and down of transit in toronto i observe during my visit

Up: Streetcars rides were awsome... have not time to ride all the lines i'd want to but for what i try i have love those vehicule

Down: Scarbourough RT. The only up of this service is the originality and powerful acceleration of trains, all the rest is scrap, shaky, noisy ... thanks they will convert this line to light rail

Up: Older generation Orion buses ... sounds and rides awsome !

Down: Streetcars punctuality ,,, i've check sometimes the TTC report card and was always intrigued why their expected on time rate was so low at 70% ,,, i now understand !

Up: Was expected Toronto subway to be far more noisy

Down: Please stand clear of the doors on the new trains... only the chimes (chimes are a up!) would be sufficent (Montreal had a voice announcing the closing of the door during the retrofit of MR-73 trains, but that was quickly removed due to customers insatisfaction)

Up: Stratchan avenue tunnel projet looks huge

Down: Stratchan avenue tunnel will remove an awsome photo angle.

Up: Viva and Zum stations, looks fresh and modern (take some note RTC Quebec)

Up: NOT a single harrasement by cop and/or rent-a-cop

Down: NO GTA Weekly pass seller at the airport ... seems logic to me to have one at the main gate to toronto

[smallspy]

I thought the Lansdowne lot was to become a police division?

It was, but the ground was found to be so contaminated that they balked and went elsewhere.

Dan

[pc8556]

going thru my files found old TTC garage report -

where it says (regarding the stupid location of the "New Eglinton Garage") and the proposed location at Eglinton and Laird ...... "During the land acqusition process in 1998, the TTC was forced to purchase land in the vicinity of Eglinton Avenue/Comstock Road instead of in the Eglinton/Laird Drive area...."

the report goes on to say "When City Council approved the purchase of the new Eglinton Garage site, Council unexpectedly imposed on the TTC the condition that no additional buses could operate in deadhead mode on Pharmacy Avenue" which the TTC believes directly costs it an additional $170,000.00 in 2002 dollars.

Question is:

does anyone know who 'forced' the TTC to buy at Comstock rather than Laird, and is the Council directive that (other than regular 67 bus) NO other deadhead buses may use Pharmacy Ave to get into/out of garage?

forgot to include the prime coverage map which shows how ridiculously close Eglinton and Birchmount are.

They also have another that shows routes like AVENUE RD deadhead 0km from Eglinton and Yonge..deadhead 10.4km to get to Comstock OR deadhead 8.2km to deadhead to Wilson

[wil9402]

Question is: does anyone know who 'forced' the TTC to buy at Comstock rather than Laird, and is the Council directive that (other than regular 67 bus) NO other deadhead buses may use Pharmacy Ave to get into/out of the garage?

I know of a few bus routes currently at Eglinton (25, 70 and 100) that use O'Connor-St Clair to deadhead to and from Eglinton, the only part of the route I'm not to sure of is whether they use Pharmacy or Warden to/from St Clair. I wouldn't be surprised if they used Warden though since I have seen NIS Eglinton buses on a number of occasions deadheading east on St.Clair and then north on Warden.

[pc8556]

I know of a few bus routes currently at Eglinton (25, 70 and 100) that use O'Connor-St Clair to deadhead to and from Eglinton, the only part of the route I'm not to sure of is whether they use Pharmacy or Warden to/from St Clair. I wouldn't be surprised if they used Warden though since I have seen NIS Eglinton buses on a number of occasions deadheading east on St.Clair and then north on Warden.

Yes, I've seen them up and down Warden too, sometimes north on LeBovic to Eglinton also. I have storage unit at Public Storage on Birchmount right by Comstock, and a ton of buses come south on Birch and then west on Comstock

I have never seen any deadhead on Pharmacy though.

City Council made this directive,0 I just do not know why (and before anybody chirps in, this was not Ford's fault - this decision was made around 2000/2001

[leylandvictory2]

I know of a few bus routes currently at Eglinton (25, 70 and 100) that use O'Connor-St Clair to deadhead to and from Eglinton, the only part of the route I'm not to sure of is whether they use Pharmacy or Warden to/from St Clair. I wouldn't be surprised if they used Warden though since I have seen NIS Eglinton buses on a number of occasions deadheading east on St.Clair and then north on Warden.

You are correct. We use Warden to reach to St. Clair to reach to either Pape, Coxwell, or Broadview Station. I believe we also use Warden for deadheading to downtown.

One interesting thing about the deadheading is that we are not allow to drive our bus through the Pharmacy and Comstock intersection. We weren't given the reason why but I suspect it has something to do with the railway crossing right next to the exit. Another reason I can think of is that the left turn on to Pharmacy is extremly tight. I did it once due to an emergency detour and it wasn't fun.

[pc8556]

You are correct. We use Warden to reach to St. Clair to reach to either Pape, Coxwell, or Broadview Station. I believe we also use Warden for deadheading to downtown.

One interesting thing about the deadheading is that we are not allow to drive our bus through the Pharmacy and Comstock intersection. We weren't given the reason why but I suspect it has something to do with the railway crossing right next to the exit. Another reason I can think of is that the left turn on to Pharmacy is extremly tight. I did it once due to an emergency detour and it wasn't fun.

yes that could be a good reason however it was City Council back in 2001 that decreed no extra deadhead buses were to run on Pharmacy. The TTC was planning to fight that.

Here is excerpt from Garage/Deadheading Report dated 2002. It couldn't be a technical reason because council would be in the dark on techical issues

I still wonder why?

[FlyerD901]

Just an FYI, every route as a specific deadhead route, to or from the route.

[pc8556]

Just an FYI, every route as a specific deadhead route, to or from the route.

yes, haven't seen them in quite a while but on the run guides (90's + onward) it used to say "Service Planning Run Guide Safe operation takes precedence over times shown on this schedule" banner

Then underneath it said "Express Garage Routing"

Under the garage routing it used to give the exact routing to be used and the allotted time

is it still the same nowadays on the run guides?

[wil9402]

Yes, I've seen them up and down Warden too, sometimes north on LeBovic to Eglinton also. I have storage unit at Public Storage on Birchmount right by Comstock, and a ton of buses come south on Birch and then west on Comstock

I have never seen any deadhead on Pharmacy though.

City Council made this directive,0 I just do not know why (and before anybody chirps in, this was not Ford's fault - this decision was made around 2000/2001

I've found that Eglinton buses deadheading to/from Kennedy use two routes, either Comstock-Birchmount-Eglinton or Lebovic-Eglinton. The Birchmount routing seems to be the more preferred routing, especially when there is traffic on Eglinton.

The only thing I can think of in terms of reasoning for the ban on using Pharmacy is possibly to prevent increased noise volume from the buses through the residential area along Pharmacy, especially to the south of Comstock. Imagine the amount of buses that would use that section of Pharmacy every morning to get to their starting point at a BD line station. BTW, anyone know the deadheading route for 67 from Victoria Park Station? Does it use Victoria Park-St Clair-Warden-Comstock or is it allowed to use Pharmacy.

[leylandvictory2]

yes, haven't seen them in quite a while but on the run guides (90's + onward) it used to say "Service Planning Run Guide Safe operation takes precedence over times shown on this schedule" banner

Then underneath it said "Express Garage Routing"

Under the garage routing it used to give the exact routing to be used and the allotted time

is it still the same nowadays on the run guides?

Yes, we are given the exact routing.

Does it use Victoria Park-St Clair-Warden-Comstock or is it allowed to use Pharmacy.

East on Comstock, South on warden, west on St. Calir South on Pharmaacy, West on Denton Avenue to Victoria Park station.

[wil9402]

I was just skimming through the 5-year corporate plan and I noticed in the diagram on the last page that they mentioned that the YUS will be converted to one-person operation in late 2014, with the BD to follow in early 2016. That will essentially displace close half the operators at Wilson Subway and Danforth once any increased service and the Spadina extension are taken into consideration, no? Would a master sign-up have to take place twice because of this?

[J. Bullock]

Question:

On the TTC website, the 62 Mortimer is shown partnered with an "A" Branch which short turns at Mortimer/Coxwell. Is this a typo or does it actually exist?

[jamesbow]

Question:

On the TTC website, the 62 Mortimer is shown partnered with an "A" Branch which short turns at Mortimer/Coxwell. Is this a typo or does it actually exist?

It used to. I'm not sure when exactly it ceased to be a rush hour branch, but you can see from this 1981 TTC Ride Guide the 62A branch rush hour loop: http://transit.toron...-1981-front.jpg It's also on the 1985 map.

It seems that in the 1990s, this branch was replaced by a rush hour branch of 87 Cosburn (87B), following the same looping, but coming down to it along Coxwell. This is still in place today.

[pc8556]

It used to. I'm not sure when exactly it ceased to be a rush hour branch, but you can see from this 1981 TTC Ride Guide the 62A branch rush hour loop: http://transit.toron...-1981-front.jpg It's also on the 1985 map.

It seems that in the 1990s, this branch was replaced by a rush hour branch of 87 Cosburn (87B), following the same looping, but coming down to it along Coxwell. This is still in place today.

Mortimer 62A last day Fri February 15th, 1991

Cosburn 87B began on Monday February 18th, 1991

just another slash at the Mortimer service which was huge in the 50/60/70 and now just runs 'once in a while'

It was felt that Cosburn was a far busier route and resources should be put there rather than Mortimer

[wil9402]

New subway shuttle destination signs being used this weekend on Yonge. All the buses I saw in about a 5-10 minute span around Rosedale Station had the updated signs except for the Eglinton and Malvern buses (plus a Queensway D40LF). The bottom line still changes between "Subway Shuttle" and the direction of travel. It looks kind of odd if you ask me.

[leylandvictory2]

New subway shuttle destination signs being used this weekend on Yonge. All the buses I saw in about a 5-10 minute span around Rosedale Station had the updated signs except for the Eglinton and Malvern buses (plus a Queensway D40LF). The bottom line still changes between "Subway Shuttle" and the direction of travel. It looks kind of odd if you ask me.

that's not true. I have seen some Eglinton buses have the updated destination signs.

[wil9402]

that's not true. I have seen some Eglinton buses have the updated destination signs.

If you read my post again you'll see I said all the buses I saw in a 5-10 minute span, I did not see any Eglinton buses in that time that had it. I wasn't saying that all Eglinton buses are not updated, just the ones that I saw in that short time period. I'm sure if I stuck around longer I would have seen an Eglinton bus with the updated sign.

[cmc12]

Majority of the buses I saw this morning had the new updated signs, with the exception of a few Orion VIIs and the 3 D40LFs (7302, 7305, & 7329) I saw. I was there early enough to catch the shuttles running along side the Yonge Blue Night buses. I was hoping to see some Orion Vs this morning but none were out while I was there.

Speaking of new signage, I noticed half of the 509 shuttles displaying new signage:

[new.flyer.408]

The 509 signage is still weird - there's at least three different signs that different drivers are all using. They've never really been uniform this year.

[wil9402]

Majority of the buses I saw this morning had the new updated signs, with the exception of a few Orion VIIs and the 3 D40LFs (7302, 7305, & 7329) I saw. I was there early enough to catch the shuttles running along side the Yonge Blue Night buses. I was hoping to see some Orion Vs this morning but none were out while I was there.

That looks like a new 320 short turn signage too. I've never seen "Short Turn" displayed on the top line before. Did it alternate between "Yonge Blue Night" and what is seen in the photo?

[JayTR]

Most buses I saw on the shuttle had the new signage, but i noticed a lot of the hybrids still had the old sinage

[FlyerD901]

Most Eglinton buses right now should have the new sinage updates. Unless they are in rebuild. I'm not sure if the recently moved 7700s have updated signage.

[Turtle]

I was just skimming through the 5-year corporate plan and I noticed in the diagram on the last page that they mentioned that the YUS will be converted to one-person operation in late 2014, with the BD to follow in early 2016. That will essentially displace close half the operators at Wilson Subway and Danforth once any increased service and the Spadina extension are taken into consideration, no? Would a master sign-up have to take place twice because of this?

When you factor in attrition and a change to the crew values, they might be able to pull it off without getting rid of any operators that don't want to go somewhere else. A master will usually only happen when a division opens or closes.