Miscellaneous TTC Discussion & Questions

[MK78]

On 10/10/2020 at 3:49 AM, Ultimate said:

Looking at the 905 Schedules, it shows it now services Guildwood Parkway but the map that states the new stops along the bus lanes shows Guildwood Parkway as a local only stop

I would love it if it served Guiildwood stop.

Are you referring to this?

Resumption of express service

905 Eglinton East Express - new express stops
905 Eglinton East Express will resume and new express stops at Guildwood Parkway and West Hill Collegiate Institute will be introduced to provide additional transit access to the area. Stops 6486 and 4229, and 2936 and 2932 will be designated as stops on route.

Edit: I went to the Kingston & Guildwood stop today, and the label on the post that identifies which routes serve the stop does not show 905, neither does the map posted about the changes.

Perhaps this was a decision made very late in the process of the Eglinton/Kingston/Morningside RapidTO project?

 

[MK78]

Apparently the TTCWatch app has already pulled the updated stops data, and it appears that Guildwood Parkway is now shown as serviced by route 905. It also shows the removed stops.

[Ultimate]

Buses have still been servicing these so called "removed stops". Are the announcements removed for them? And all they've done at the stops is put the "Stop out of service Board at:" signs that you normally see a stop that has construction around it. 

[MK78]

2 hours ago, Ultimate said:

Buses have still been servicing these so called "removed stops". Are the announcements removed for them? And all they've done at the stops is put the "Stop out of service Board at:" signs that you normally see a stop that has construction around it. 

I have seen some today as well, while on a bike ride along Kingston Rd. Maybe its a courtesy for the first week or so, while customers get educated. Not sure about the announcements. The shelters aren't even taped up on the removed stops.

[smallspy]

15 hours ago, MK78 said:

I have seen some today as well, while on a bike ride along Kingston Rd. Maybe its a courtesy for the first week or so, while customers get educated. Not sure about the announcements. The shelters aren't even taped up on the removed stops.

The shelters aren't owned or maintained by the City or the TTC. If previous experience holds true, they'll likely remain until the spring or summer.

 

Dan

[MK78]

1 hour ago, smallspy said:

The shelters aren't owned or maintained by the City or the TTC. If previous experience holds true, they'll likely remain until the spring or summer.

 

Dan

Right, its the advertising companies... Astral or Pattison?

[Someguy3071]

15 hours ago, smallspy said:

The shelters aren't owned or maintained by the City or the TTC. If previous experience holds true, they'll likely remain until the spring or summer.

 

Dan

Shelters are owned and maintained by Astral. 

https://www.toronto.ca/311/knowledgebase/kb/docs/articles/transportation-services/public-realm-section/street-furniture-management/street-furniture-bus-shelters-benches-litter-bins-automated-washrooms-poster-columns-maintenance-graffiti-damaged-litter.html#:~:text=This program is a public,transit shelters and info pillars.

[MK78]

Today I've taken the 905 Eglinton East Express from Kennedy and got off at Guildwood Parkway stop, and I can indeed confirm that the stop announcement as well as the display both indicate the new stop, so I can only assume the West Hill collegiate one is also in the system.

[ViaRail6440]

Hi All:

Was thinking today, when TTC buses are Not In Service, what does the rear display read? NIS, scrolling Not In Service, an X? 

[John Oke]

13 minutes ago, ViaRail6440 said:

Hi All:

Was thinking today, when TTC buses are Not In Service, what does the rear display read? NIS, scrolling Not In Service, an X? 

Not In Service 

[splendidwizardplayer]

12 minutes ago, ViaRail6440 said:

Hi All:

Was thinking today, when TTC buses are Not In Service, what does the rear display read? NIS, scrolling Not In Service, an X? 

 

[Ultimate]

Well this didn't take long... 

[MK78]

28 minutes ago, Ultimate said:

Well this didn't take long...

Not surprising... I don't understand why they removed so many local stops. It forces people to walk to a stop that is also more likely to be served by the 905 as well, which will reduce it's effectiveness because it will now be loaded with more people, and will have longer time spent at many of the same stops that the local buses stop.

By a rough count, the local 86 Scarborough has 15 stops from Kingston & Lawrence to Kennedy, and the 905 has 10 stops. That's not a huge difference over quite the same distance, which renders the 905 much less of an express service than it used to be.

Myself I live roughly in between two spots, one of which was removed - which was my preferred stop but the other one isn't that much farther, but its more of a pain in the winter, as it's more sidewalk that's rarely cleared of snow in the winter. But I did gain a 905 stop at Kingston & Guildwood.

I think who it hurts the most is the elderly & people with disabilities, who are now out of a stop and they have to venture further to get to a stop. Especially pain in the butt in bad weather.

[Kobayashi]

With the new Kipling Terminal set to open in late 2020 which will see MiWay vacating Islington, as well as the recent realignment of Bloor-Dundas-Kipling, will it be possible for the TTC to reroute the 49 BLOOR WEST and/or the 927 HIGHWAY 27 EXPRESS to Islington Stn.? Bays 1 and 2 are no longer used but 5 & 6 will soon be vacant and put into good use.

On 10/17/2020 at 10:45 PM, Ultimate said:

Well this didn't take long... 

There is a petition online in regards to the stop removals but I don’t think that will work. The last petition called for the TTC to keep 12 CLRVs for tourist purposes is a modest pathetic joke.

https://www.change.org/p/toronto-transit-commission-ttc-keep-payzac-and-overture-bus-stops-on-86-route?utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=custom_url&recruited_by_id=20d3a890-064e-11eb-83a6-858dddce76a2

[Someguy3071]

Moving 49 to Islington station makes some sense. What logic is there in moving 927 farther away from Hwy 427? 

[Wayside Observer]

Good morning CPTDB.

I was talking with a friend over coffee a while ago and it turns out we were both thinking the same thing was coming up and we did a bit of research:

30 years ago this morning was the last run of the Gloucesters.  The last train left Davisville and ran in the morning rush hour and then returned to the yard after the morning rush finished.  My friend had gone looking for it in the afternoon rush but it never went into service.  The eight car train of Gloucesters was sitting on the third platform at Davisville seemingly ready to go but the TTC didn't send it out because one of the cars developed a low voltage electrical problem.  Later, it was found out that they didn't repair it and retired the train instead so it turns out that the morning rush hour of October 26, 1990 became the inadvertent Gloucester last run, unknown to everyone at the time it happened.

I went out in early November to make a deliberate point of taking a last ride not knowing this and not seeing any Gloucesters in either rush hour, finally asked someone if they were still running and that's when I found out the last train had been pulled about two weeks earlier.  I caught the next train and went home because after that news, there wasn't any point lingering and letting trains go by anymore to see what was coming next once I knew that there was no chance - zero, none - that it was going to be a Gloucester ever again.  I can't believe it's been three decades now.

Looking back with the benefit of hindsight, the last set of Gloucesters getting pulled marked the beginning of the end of the TTC being a unique and interesting system even though we didn't realize it at the time.  The Gloucester retirement at first seemed to be an unfortunate consequence of the ageing of the original subway build and inevitable eventual turnover of the fleet it opened with.  Unfortunately decisions were being made and trolleybus procurement was being reconsidered and those went on the chopping block next starting just over a year later right at the end of 1991 when the three lines out of Eglinton were switched off.  The Lansdowne trolleybuses lasted longer, with Bay and Annette hanging on to the end halfway through 1993.  By the end of 1995, the last of the PCC cars had been retired and that was the end for all the interesting vehicles from the old days; from 1996 on was round after round of brutal service cuts and escalating fare increases as the TTC and Toronto tried to navigate the Mike Harris era of funding cuts and politicking surrounding amalgamation.  But the wind down that spanned the first half of the 1990s started 30 years ago this morning when that last train of Gloucesteres returned to the third platform at Davisville after the morning rush hour and the control stands in the cab were shut down for the last time.

[blue.bird.fan]

Why are some bus routes that pass right by Wilson Station not run by Wilson Yard? I can kind of understand why it's done for the 96 and 165, but for the 118 and 119, especially considering that there was a Wilson division bus on the 119 recently, I was thinking that allocating those routes to Wilson would be able to reduce deadhead time.

[Shemar]

1 hour ago, blue.bird.fan said:

Why are some bus routes that pass right by Wilson Station not run by Wilson Yard? I can kind of understand why it's done for the 96 and 165, but for the 118 and 119, especially considering that there was a Wilson division bus on the 119 recently, I was thinking that allocating those routes to Wilson would be able to reduce deadhead time.

The 118 and 119 might be moving to Wilson when McNicoll opens

[smallspy]

16 hours ago, blue.bird.fan said:

Why are some bus routes that pass right by Wilson Station not run by Wilson Yard? I can kind of understand why it's done for the 96 and 165, but for the 118 and 119, especially considering that there was a Wilson division bus on the 119 recently, I was thinking that allocating those routes to Wilson would be able to reduce deadhead time.

There are a lot of factors that come into play when it comes time to assigning a route to a particular garage. How the route is built - where do the majority of the runs start and end - has a lot to do with it. And while this can be adjusted to a degree with careful schedule design, at the same time it makes no sense to put buses into service earlier than they need to be simply to reduce deadheading just as it doesn't make sense to have routes deadheading longer than they might otherwise need to.

 

 But one thing that a lot of people overlook is whether the garage simply has the capacity to handle the route. The 118 and 119 are not big routes (requiring 2 and 3 buses at rush hour, respectively, as per the June service summary), but allocating them to Wilson may have required the reallocation of another route or two that would on the whole require more deadheading.

 

It's a careful balancing act.

 

Dan

[Andythagiant]

Looks like VISION is having problems as the whole bus and streetcar network just went down. Bus I was on had no comms with control.

[bus_7246]

I was thinking: will the TTC ever utilise the battery-electric drive option on the LFS hybrids that were recently acquired?

[MiExpress]

44 minutes ago, bus_7246 said:

I was thinking: will the TTC ever utilise the battery-electric drive option on the LFS hybrids that were recently acquired?

The report presented to the TTC board last week regarding the fleet procurement strategy had a section indicating that TTC would be using the electric-only (EV) mode on the LFS HEVs in the near future. 

My understanding is the EV mode can be up to 1.5km depending on parameters such as battery charge being met, otherwise the bus will just switch back into normal mode if the parameters aren't met. It appears that the EV mode doesn't result in any fuel savings as the engine then has to work harder to replenish the battery. However it is silent when in operation and would be useful at a lot of the TTC subway stations for example, or even routes that have on street loops in residential areas. 

MiWay implemented the EV mode on their LFS hybrids a few weeks back, however it is only set to operate within the City Centre Terminal and the garage. MiWay also chose to add additional parameters such as limiting the speed to 10km/h when at the terminal and 15km/h when at the garage, which are the posted speed limits. 

[Bus_Medic]

19 hours ago, MiExpress said:

The report presented to the TTC board last week regarding the fleet procurement strategy had a section indicating that TTC would be using the electric-only (EV) mode on the LFS HEVs in the near future. 

My understanding is the EV mode can be up to 1.5km depending on parameters such as battery charge being met, otherwise the bus will just switch back into normal mode if the parameters aren't met. It appears that the EV mode doesn't result in any fuel savings as the engine then has to work harder to replenish the battery. However it is silent when in operation and would be useful at a lot of the TTC subway stations for example, or even routes that have on street loops in residential areas. 

MiWay implemented the EV mode on their LFS hybrids a few weeks back, however it is only set to operate within the City Centre Terminal and the garage. MiWay also chose to add additional parameters such as limiting the speed to 10km/h when at the terminal and 15km/h when at the garage, which are the posted speed limits. 

As it stands currently, the ttc’s EV mode is only up to 20 km/h (coincidentally the yard speed limit)

At the ttc, most maintenance personnel take advantage of it moving indoors.

There’s a momentary toggle switch above the operator’s head that will activate it, and long as all the aforementioned parameters are met. I’d imagine Mississauga’s are in a similar spot.

[Ed T.]

Is the wooden bus stop pole holding up the stop sign for eastbound Lonsdale at Russel Hill a remnant of the Hill Coach?

It's almost impossible to get a good google streetview of it. Here's my best attempt.

 

[Jason_W]

I've been listening to the Transit Control radio stream for the past couple weeks or so, and I notice a lot of "Red Alarm" responses by the dispatcher, for what are 99% false alarms on the employees radio, "pressed in error" as they referr to it. Are these new Tetra radios that poorly designed that the emergency buttons are so easily pressed?

I dont remember hearing so many when i used to listen on the analog scanner years ago.

Has anyone here seen one of these radios first hand?