Miscellaneous TTC Discussion & Questions

[nfitz]

9 hours ago, raptorjays said:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ttc-service-improvements-fall-1.6950083

I am wondering if there are some miscommunications between the City Hall and the TTC. 

There have been 2 service adjustment period after that announcement and there were still a lot of routes which had it's service reduced..

Maybe Rick fxxxin Leary is saying hard no on Chow's plan?

I am surprised there were new service cuts on streetcar services.

[The Squishy Bus]

I have 2 questions. 

When I saw T1 #5166 / #5167 today on the opposite side of me (as I was going EB), and I wanted to plan on catching it, and I have been trying to track it for the longest time. 

Anyways, my two questions are this:

Does anyone know if there is a Specific Subway Car tracker I could use? 

Does #5166 / #5167 still have the old Door Chimes, or were they retrofitted?

[smallspy]

1 hour ago, The Squishy Bus said:

I have 2 questions. 

When I saw T1 #5166 / #5167 today on the opposite side of me (as I was going EB), and I wanted to plan on catching it, and I have been trying to track it for the longest time. 

Anyways, my two questions are this:

Does anyone know if there is a Specific Subway Car tracker I could use?

The TTC has internal methods of tracking individual subway cars and their locations, but they do not make those methods available to the public. So no, there are none.

 

Dan

Edited October 17 by smallspy

[81-717]

3 hours ago, The Squishy Bus said:

I have 2 questions. 

When I saw T1 #5166 / #5167 today on the opposite side of me (as I was going EB), and I wanted to plan on catching it, and I have been trying to track it for the longest time. 

Anyways, my two questions are this:

Does anyone know if there is a Specific Subway Car tracker I could use? 

Does #5166 / #5167 still have the old Door Chimes, or were they retrofitted?

transsee used to at least display run numbers for subway trains (though not subway car numbers), so the best you could do was take note of when X subway car was spotted at Y station, and immediately look up that station on transsee to get the run number of that train, and then keep track of that particular run. Of course, run numbers could sometimes change at terminals, so it didn't work every time, but it was still more helpful than nothing (I have no idea why, but transsee stopped showing run numbers for subways). Frankly I don't see why they can't allow the public to track subway car numbers when all other modes (buses & trams) are trackable by vehicle number.

[Cityflyer]

Did Nova stopped delivering new buses temporarily while New Flyer is continuing en masse or just that nobody goes by Wilson and/or notices new Nova deliveries?

[Xtrazsteve]

25 minutes ago, Cityflyer said:

Did Nova stopped delivering new buses temporarily while New Flyer is continuing en masse or just that nobody goes by Wilson and/or notices new Nova deliveries?

No one is reporting those here.

However there are significantly more Flyers in service than Novas right now if you compare the two batches.

[glxzyy]

Quick question, what's the difference between the WEGO LFX 40 foot buses and the new HEV's delivered to WIlson?

[ZümmyZüm]

5 hours ago, glxzyy said:

Quick question, what's the difference between the WEGO LFX 40 foot buses and the new HEV's delivered to WIlson?

One is diesel and one is hybrid.

[Jeffrey]

Question regarding Peter Witt charter/tourtram operations in the 1970s and 1980s, does anyone know if they ever were operated during the winter month? I'm particularly curious if the old coal stoves ever got fired up, are they even still operational on the Witts at Halton County or the TTC? 

[Ed T.]

On 10/27/2023 at 9:15 AM, Jeffrey said:

Question regarding Peter Witt charter/tourtram operations in the 1970s and 1980s, does anyone know if they ever were operated during the winter month? I'm particularly curious if the old coal stoves ever got fired up, are they even still operational on the Witts at Halton County or the TTC? 

The tour trams weren't out over winter.

As far as I know, only the trailers kept their coal stoves in service prior to Yonge opening. I'm not sure if any of those stoves are still around, maybe in a trailer sitting somewhere?

[Bus_Medic]

1 hour ago, Ed T. said:

The tour trams weren't out over winter.

As far as I know, only the trailers kept their coal stoves in service prior to Yonge opening. I'm not sure if any of those stoves are still around, maybe in a trailer sitting somewhere?

Closest analog would probably be the stove in civic railway’s car 55, and it’s just for cosmetics after restoration.

[Ed T.]

Given that all the new 7xxx hybrids have aluminum (aluminium) wheels, and some of the battery buses do as well (maybe all, I haven't looked), I imagine that either there are spare wheels being ordered as well, or steel wheels already on hand will be installed, one or the other.

This suggests that some of the older buses might get aluminium wheels.

Unless the tire specs on the new hybrids are different from specs on older buses, which does seem unlikely to me.

I wonder if anyone has yet seen a new hybrid with steel wheels, or an older bus with aluminium? A 7900 with aluminium wheels would look so sharp, you could not retire it.

[Bus_Medic]

1 hour ago, Ed T. said:

Given that all the new 7xxx hybrids have aluminum (aluminium) wheels, and some of the battery buses do as well (maybe all, I haven't looked), I imagine that either there are spare wheels being ordered as well, or steel wheels already on hand will be installed, one or the other.

This suggests that some of the older buses might get aluminium wheels.

Unless the tire specs on the new hybrids are different from specs on older buses, which does seem unlikely to me.

I wonder if anyone has yet seen a new hybrid with steel wheels, or an older bus with aluminium? A 7900 with aluminium wheels would look so sharp, you could not retire it.

There are at least two distinct stockpiles of rims. 

historically, even though they looked identical at a glance, there were several steel rim types in circulation with the high floor units as well that were not interchangeable.

in order to retrofit an exiting unit to aluminum rims, all the wheel studs would have to be replaced for longer ones to accommodate the thicker cross section. Could happen someday, but there are no plans on the horizon to do so.

[Ed T.]

Would there be something preventing steel rims from going on a bus in place of aluminum? I assume the studs are threaded far enough to do this.

[Bus_Medic]

29 minutes ago, Ed T. said:

Would there be something preventing steel rims from going on a bus in place of aluminum? I assume the studs are threaded far enough to do this.

Aside from internal policy there shouldn’t be.

the flyers and Proterra’s at least use a European style capped nut. There’s a maximum depth they can be threaded. I don’t know if the 7000s are the same.

[bus_7246]

The Proterras require a thicker aluminum rim on the front axle to compensate for the additional weight

 this was similar to the lift equipped Vs. They required a thicker steel rim for the weight of the lift 

[Shaun]

This warden station construction situation is a disaster. There is nothing on the website indicating that the passenger Pickup is closed and that you are supposed to use the main entrance. They could have at least built a path to the parking lot instead of making people walk from the main entrance. 

No communication as per usual. Obviously they dont care about their passengers. 

[nfitz]

Sounds like communication as per usual to me.

[BusFanForever]

13 hours ago, bus_7246 said:

The Proterras require a thicker aluminum rim on the front axle to compensate for the additional weight

 this was similar to the lift equipped Vs. They required a thicker steel rim for the weight of the lift 

All of the aluminum rims are the same. No difference between the front and rear of the Proterras.

[bus_7246]

21 hours ago, BusFanForever said:

All of the aluminum rims are the same. No difference between the front and rear of the Proterras.

Check the next time you’re in. 3731 has been on hold with a tag against the current tires on the front. The supposed front tires are supposed to be of a wider profile than the regular tires that go on the rear axle 

 

Edit: the front tires for the Proterra 315/80 R 22.5. The rear tires are 305/70 R 22.5

[yrt1000]

Random question I had, hoping this is the best place to ask. I was curious thinking of this the other day based on other discussions around crew sign ups…

Let’s say you are an operator who is currently on the overnight shift. You have a 9pm-5am shift for this current board period. Next board period, you are lucky enough to move on up and work while the sun is up and now you sign up for a daytime run. Would it be possible for your new shift start to at, say, 7am on Sunday mornings? If so, what happens to for that first day of the board period? Seeing as you worked from Saturday 9pm-Sunday morning 5am, what happens at 7am Sunday? I’m sure there are restrictions in rest time that would make that impossible. Do you just get a “free” day off and the Sunday morning shift is covered by a spare board/RAD? 

from my understanding on previous discussions on crew sign ups, it’s strictly seniority based. So that example could be a possibility. But maybe there’s restrictions in place to what an op can sign up for (I.e. if you’re doing an overnight run, you can’t sign up next board for a morning run and can only sign up for a late afternoon one) 
 

[Ultimate]

2 hours ago, yrt1000 said:

Random question I had, hoping this is the best place to ask. I was curious thinking of this the other day based on other discussions around crew sign ups…

Let’s say you are an operator who is currently on the overnight shift. You have a 9pm-5am shift for this current board period. Next board period, you are lucky enough to move on up and work while the sun is up and now you sign up for a daytime run. Would it be possible for your new shift start to at, say, 7am on Sunday mornings? If so, what happens to for that first day of the board period? Seeing as you worked from Saturday 9pm-Sunday morning 5am, what happens at 7am Sunday? I’m sure there are restrictions in rest time that would make that impossible. Do you just get a “free” day off and the Sunday morning shift is covered by a spare board/RAD? 

from my understanding on previous discussions on crew sign ups, it’s strictly seniority based. So that example could be a possibility. But maybe there’s restrictions in place to what an op can sign up for (I.e. if you’re doing an overnight run, you can’t sign up next board for a morning run and can only sign up for a late afternoon one) 
 

Legally workplaces have to give you 8-12 hours between shifts. More than likely will be filled with a spareboard op or RAD bus for the day.

[Turtle]

5 hours ago, Ultimate said:

Legally workplaces have to give you 8-12 hours between shifts. More than likely will be filled with a spareboard op or RAD bus for the day.

Legally? You mean by the Ontario employment standards act? Local city transport basically doesn't have the same rules as long haul transport or highway motorcoach has.

 

It's tough to be a new driver with them. You sacrifice a ton, and are expected to be "fit for duty" for your shift when they set you up for failure at every turn. But, it hardly isn't even remotely as bad as being a conductor for CN Rail, or an intern in a hospital.

 

With the TTC, "am rest" is 8hrs, which is useless when you factor in commute time. You will be lucky as a new op to get 5 hrs of sleep those days where stuff like this happens

[MorningsideExpress]

I'm wondering what, if anything can be done about the "unloading platform" at Kennedy Station. It seems to me that every bus chooses to unload on the east end of the platform before either going out of service or head to their bay to load. I'm not sure if this is TTC protocol or not but it seems that the unloading platform is being used for too many buses, and drivers are not opting to just head to their allocated platform. This is creating quite a large back log of buses getting in and out of the station. Especially when the artics come in. I'm not placing blame on drivers here, as it seems like the most logical and easy solution, to prevent passengers from boarding your bus when you want to go out of service for break or driver change, but it's also inadvertently causing delay to other buses. Can the TTC mandate that buses unload at their assigned bay, and is this something that drivers would support in order to improve traffic flow in the station?

1 minute ago, MorningsideExpress said:

 

 

[Articulated]

30 minutes ago, MorningsideExpress said:

I'm wondering what, if anything can be done about the "unloading platform" at Kennedy Station. It seems to me that every bus chooses to unload on the east end of the platform before either going out of service or head to their bay to load. I'm not sure if this is TTC protocol or not but it seems that the unloading platform is being used for too many buses, and drivers are not opting to just head to their allocated platform. This is creating quite a large back log of buses getting in and out of the station. Especially when the artics come in. I'm not placing blame on drivers here, as it seems like the most logical and easy solution, to prevent passengers from boarding your bus when you want to go out of service for break or driver change, but it's also inadvertently causing delay to other buses. Can the TTC mandate that buses unload at their assigned bay, and is this something that drivers would support in order to improve traffic flow in the station?

 

No, they cannot mandate that. There are 20 daytime routes that serve the station, and there are no "dedicated" unloading platforms (I do not think the east side of the station is an "official" platform, but it's been used for unloading for many years). What happens if the "assigned" bay for a route is occupied by another bus, like when 3 or 4 buses on the same route arrive in a bunch? Is that arriving bus supposed to wait for 5 minutes, crushloaded with passengers and blocking the roadway, until the bus on the platform is ready to leave on time? Or is an arriving bus supposed to take a random platform to unload, potentially preventing another bus from pulling into that platform and being able to load and depart on time?

It is by no means a perfect situation - the bus terminal at Kennedy Station was not designed to see the level of service passing through the terminal. That's why the Line 3 replacement buses were kicked to the outer Platforms A and B for loading, but this doesn't fully resolve the issue with unloading (which needs to be done inside the main terminal, so that passengers have access to the fare-paid area of the station).