Miscellaneous TTC Discussion & Questions

[Xtrazsteve]

52 minutes ago, Mike said:

Not sure what you mean?  TTC service summary shows 2 960 services 960B and 960D which are both reflected on the map.  The schedule on the website for some reason shows 2 branches but has the same schedule for both which is confusing (looks like they just forgot to include B/D designation beside departure times - on brand with the overall crappiness of the new website).    

When all branches of a certain route operates, no branch letters are displayed in the map. Such as east of PV Station. There are only 2 branches on the 960. So it should just say 960 not 960BD.

[Mike]

2 minutes ago, Xtrazsteve said:

When all branches of a certain route operates, no branch letters are displayed in the map. Such as east of PV Station. There are only 2 branches on the 960. So it should just say 960 not 960BD.

I see.  So it should say 960 out to Martin Grove and then 960D from there to Hwy 27.  I guess when they replaced 960 to PV Station with 960B/D (in Sep 2021) they didn’t think too hard and added 960BD west of PV instead of doing it correctly.  
 

These maps in general are a lot less informative than the old maps were.  I suppose with Google maps and smart phones it’s not as necessary to have maps that are informative and show things to scale.

 

[nfitz]

7 hours ago, Xtrazsteve said:

It only takes one person to update the map and create route maps and detour maps. I don’t see how it’s a difficult task.

The detour maps look like they come off a photocopier.

The route maps are a professional printing job. It's not the labour that's the issue. It's the equipment. It's not going to be printed instantaneously.

They only announced the Line 3 closure on August 24. Presumably this went to the printer before then.

[FlyerD901]

On 9/8/2023 at 8:24 AM, Someguy3071 said:

I don't know how things are done at the division you work out of, but at my division all this information is always posted on a board. I haven't had a situation where something hasn't been posted. I have experienced not knowing about a detour but that was because I didn't check on the board. When I came back to the division that day, I checked and all info was posted there. Most times it's the operator who fails to look and then blames TTC for not providing this information. 

Clearly ppl within TTC didn't know what's going on. 

[CJ.]

There’s special RAD buses running for the employees and construction workers stopping at all former RT stations entrances. There was little disclosure about this so most of them appear to be running empty and come every 10 mins. Waste of resources 

[WoodbineSecondExit]

On 5/2/2023 at 7:58 PM, Articulated said:

Streetcars normally use King Street to enter service. However, with King Street closed for most of the board, cars had to use Queen Street. Besides for King Street being faster than Queen for having the Transit Priority Corridor infrastructure, Queen Street is also heavily congested by having both the 501 and 504 cars simultaneously serving the street, so cars will be taking much longer to in-service deadhead to their routes.

Because streetcars cannot hold before entering service (or else they'd be blocking service cars), their deadheads gotta be timed pretty tight to arrive nearly exactly when they need to enter service. So when you combine tight running times with corridor delays along the deadhead route, that's gonna add up to cars entering service late. And it's up to supervisors to bring those cars back on time/schedule, because the longer gaps are left the worse they will become later in the day.

I just had a new one. Streetcar entering service and picking up customers and then dumping all customers and going out of service at about the halfway point to route and deadheading the rest of the way.

[nfitz]

That is unusual, unless they then left service completely. A technical issue? Do you have the number?

[WoodbineSecondExit]

3 hours ago, nfitz said:

That is unusual, unless they then left service completely. A technical issue? Do you have the number?

Just to shut down your attempt to play devil's advocate again, the answer to all of your questions is no. The car continued on to route and ran all day because there was nothing wrong with it.

[nfitz]

3 hours ago, WoodbineSecondExit said:

Just to shut down your attempt to play devil's advocate again, the answer to all of your questions is no. The car continued on to route and ran all day because there was nothing wrong with it.

I'm just trying to understand what could have happened. It is indeed a new one.

What's your theory?

[Ultimate]

This weekends Line 2 shuttle will be a Line 2/ 903 interline. Expect a few “rares” on 903. 

[Articulated]

2 hours ago, Ultimate said:

This weekends Line 2 shuttle will be a Line 2/ 903 interline. Expect a few “rares” on 903. 

That sounds remarkably innovative for the TTC to interline two subway shuttles like that.

I don't believe it. 

[CJ.]

There’s always two Malvern buses that do loop trips to McCowan station from Scarborough Centre usually signed as SPECIAL or “3 Subway Shuttle Bus To McCowan Station”. It’s mainly for those working out of McCowan yard I assume.

 

Why instead in the boards at STC it tells people to take the other routes to reach McCowan there’s a dedicated McCowan Station Shuttle bus? From what I’ve seen these buses board at the 38 bus bay, and NOT the 903 bay, no signage either. Perhaps they don’t want the general public to use it. I don’t know

[nfitz]

4 hours ago, Articulated said:

That sounds remarkably innovative for the TTC to interline two subway shuttles like that.

I don't believe it. 

Fear not - they'll likely short-turn most of them somewhere.

[FlyerD901]

Someone will have to confirm this.  I heard the former Lansdowne garage is finally being used to build affordable housing? And construction should start soon.

 

[wil9402]

6 hours ago, FlyerD901 said:

Someone will have to confirm this.  I heard the former Lansdowne garage is finally being used to build affordable housing? And construction should start soon.

 

2019: TTC Board - 640 Lansdowne Avenue Lease (Affordable Housing) & Licence (Metrolinx)

Yesterday: 640 Lansdowne Ave. City of Toronto celebrates ground-breaking for 57 affordable rental homes and 256 long-term care beds at 640 Lansdowne Ave.

UrbanToronto Project Page: Magellan Centre

[Kumiko Oumae]

10 hours ago, FlyerD901 said:

Someone will have to confirm this.  I heard the former Lansdowne garage is finally being used to build affordable housing? And construction should start soon.

 

3 hours ago, wil9402 said:

2019: TTC Board - 640 Lansdowne Avenue Lease (Affordable Housing) & Licence (Metrolinx)

Yesterday: 640 Lansdowne Ave. City of Toronto celebrates ground-breaking for 57 affordable rental homes and 256 long-term care beds at 640 Lansdowne Ave.

UrbanToronto Project Page: Magellan Centre

I'm happy the TTC has been keeping the land of the old Lansdowne Garage for years. The question is about Danforth, has the TTC possibly retained the lands to the division for the new TPS division or sold off? Now with the SRT gone, the McCowan Yard lands would be an value for future development.

[Shaun]

BYD bus in 11 Bayview today. Never seen it venture up north other than for shuttles. 

[Xtrazsteve]

5 hours ago, Shaun said:

BYD bus in 11 Bayview today. Never seen it venture up north other than for shuttles. 

It has happened in the past 

[Shaun]

14 hours ago, Xtrazsteve said:

It has happened in the past 

Huge delays this morning with no communication on line one. Due to a car hood blocking the tracks at around 5:30 this morning.

https://beta.cp24.com/news/2023/9/18/1_6565921.html

According to the screens there was nothing wrong but trains were packed from Finch with people waiting 15minutes for a southbound train. 

Zero communication zero apologies. 

[81-717]

5 hours ago, Shaun said:

Huge delays this morning with no communication on line one. Due to a car hood blocking the tracks at around 5:30 this morning.

https://beta.cp24.com/news/2023/9/18/1_6565921.html

According to the screens there was nothing wrong but trains were packed from Finch with people waiting 15minutes for a southbound train. 

Zero communication zero apologies. 

Guess that explains the 8-min gaps southbound at Bloor around 8 am (add another 3 mins to the original ETA given by Transsee).

The absence of grade crossings notwithstanding, I've been wondering how likely it is for a runaway car to plow through the fence on an open-cut section and end up on the subway tracks. While that's not quite what happened here, it must've been one hell of an accident to send debris flying onto the tracks. Hopefully the people involved in the accident are / will be ok.

[lip]

The morning rush was a crippling mess and the dopes at transit control were incapable of communicating the reason for the extremely slow travel times on the line. I was on a train that slow-rolled the entire way northbound from Union to St.Clair taking 30 mins from point A to point B (normally takes about ~15mins), while in the opposite direction i noticed packed platforms. This was at around 8:30am.

But according to how the TTC does business, who cares that service is trash everywhere right?

[Shaun]

On 9/18/2023 at 1:15 PM, 81-717 said:

Guess that explains the 8-min gaps southbound at Bloor around 8 am (add another 3 mins to the original ETA given by Transsee).

The absence of grade crossings notwithstanding, I've been wondering how likely it is for a runaway car to plow through the fence on an open-cut section and end up on the subway tracks. While that's not quite what happened here, it must've been one hell of an accident to send debris flying onto the tracks. Hopefully the people involved in the accident are / will be ok.

But what are the chances it blocked both tracks? Could they not have routed trains on the northbound tracks to get them in service? 3 hours later they didn't do anything to adjust the service level? Dispatch extra trains from Davisville? 

[yrt1000]

10 minutes ago, Shaun said:

But what are the chances it blocked both tracks? Could they not have routed trains on the northbound tracks to get them in service? 3 hours later they didn't do anything to adjust the service level? Dispatch extra trains from Davisville? 

I’m pretty sure that during AM rush pretty much every train from Davisville is in use. At least when I pass by the station it seems pretty empty in the mornings- there aren’t a lot of extras, if any that would’ve been available

[81-717]

6 minutes ago, Shaun said:

But what are the chances it blocked both tracks? Could they not have routed trains on the northbound tracks to get them in service? 3 hours later they didn't do anything to adjust the service level? Dispatch extra trains from Davisville? 

Don't know, but if it made it over the fence it could've landed on either track, or halfway in between them, in which case it could very well partially block both tracks (and/or make contact with the 3rd rail(s)).

[lip]

3 hours ago, 81-717 said:

Don't know, but if it made it over the fence it could've landed on either track, or halfway in between them, in which case it could very well partially block both tracks (and/or make contact with the 3rd rail(s)).

It's really no excuse for service to be screwed up on the other half of the line from basically Union through to Finch hours after the incident, especially with ATC.