News   Mar 28, 2024
 1.2K     2 
News   Mar 28, 2024
 613     2 
News   Mar 28, 2024
 896     0 

Globe and Mail: Ontario green lights transit signal program

B

billonlogan

Guest
Ontario green lights transit signal program
TERRY WEBER

Globe and Mail Update

The Ontario government has given the green light to a new program that would let public transit vehicles manipulate traffic signals at intersections to their advantage, in a move aimed at cutting congestion and convincing more people to take the bus or streetcar.

The system — to be available to transit systems across the province — involves the use of traffic-signal preemption technology, which lets buses and streetcars change the length of signals at traffic intersections so they spend less time waiting and more time in motion.

The technology uses sensors place on the pavement about 100 metres in front of an intersection.

Then, as a transit vehicle approaches, the sensors respond to a transmitter on the vehicle to either shorten a red light or lengthen a green depending on the signal being displayed as the bus or streetcar approaches.

Funding for the project is part of the $1.2-billion allocated by the province in last month's budget for public transit and municipal roads and bridges.

“This technology gets riders to their destination more quickly,†Transportation Minister Harinder Takhar said in Wednesday's announcement.

Under an amendment to provincial traffic regulations in 2005, public transit vehicles and traffic signal maintenance trucks are allowed to use the technology. Before that, only emergency vehicles could use the technology.

Pre-emptive priority systems are already in use on some Toronto Transit Commission and York Region routes. Ottawa and other municipal transit authorities are also investigating using the technology.

However, in Wednesday's announcement, the province also warned that police will be keeping a sharp eye out for drivers looking to misuse the technology. Offenders who use the technology on other vehicles can be fined as much as $1,000.

Wednesday's announcement brought praise from transportation agencies.

“This announcement is good news for transit riders as it can help to cut down on commuting time,†Canadian Urban Transit Association president Michael Roschlau said in a statement.

“This makes better use of our road space and promotes transit as a faster alternative to the car.â€

The announcement also coincided with the release of a Statistics Canada report Wednesday which showed that the number of riders on Canada's 10 big transit systems rose 1.8 per cent in February compared with the same month a year earlier.

About 110.1 million passenger trips were taken on these transit systems that month, the agency said. Those systems represent about 80 per cent of total urban transit in Canada.

The trips generated $173-million in revenue — excluding subsidies — up 5.5 per cent from a year earlier
 
Re: Globe and Mail: Ontario green lights transit signal prog

The only downside I can see for this is if you're running to catch the bus at a red light; oh, and I guess for cyclists as well who don't switch the inducter anyways.
 
Re: Globe and Mail: Ontario green lights transit signal prog

Sitting through 2 red lights is the most frustrating part of bus travel.

During busy hours, the queue for right turning cars can be very long and some get stuck at the red in front of the bus preventing it from reaching the bus stop.

As the right turning cars proceed with the green, the bus is able to approach the stop and unload/load passengers. This usually takes long enough for the light to turn red again.

Exiting from the front slows the loading process but in packed buses on major routes during peak hours, it's the only option for some.
 
Red Rocket rocketed by Quebec driver

From the Toronto Sun:

dynamic_resize


A confused out-of-province driver was being blamed for a car-versus-streetcar collision early Saturday morning.

Emergency crews were called to St. Clair and Wychwood Aves., just west of Bathurst St., where a Pontiac Sunfire slammed into an eastbound 512 streetcar heading to St. Clair station at about 2 a.m.

The Quebec driver turned into the streetcar after mistaking the streetcar’s green transit signal for a turn signal, Toronto Police Sgt. Shaun Olsen said.

Nobody was injured, he said. “It was property damage alone.”

The crash came two days after a packed TTC streetcar and a Greyhoud bus collided at Dundas and River Sts., sending 17 people to hospital.

Would French signs help? What about Chinese? Or other languages? While the rest of the world (including the United States) uses transit signals that are different from the regular traffic signals, Toronto (and Ontario) continues to use signals that are so similar that it causes confusion. When will Toronto (and Ontario) catch up? And there are no words displayed with the other signs as well.


fig-10d-01.gif


300px-Public_transportation_traffic_lights_in_NL_and_BE.svg.png

The signals mean (from left to right): "go straight ahead", "go left", "go right", "go in any direction" (like the "green" of a normal traffic light), "stop, unless the emergency brake is needed" (equal to "yellow"), and "stop" (equal to "red").

Just by having different looking signals of any kind will give car drivers a moment to think before just driving ahead. The Ontario government should allow really different transit signals.
 
Last edited:
Yes, it's bizarre that we use the same signals here - I certainly found it confusing when I first moved here. Has the Ontario government ever given any reason why they won't change?
 
The only difference is that streetcar signals (and bus/bike signals) are in black casings (some older casings on Spadina are dark olive green), while all other signals are in yellow casings with backplates. But the colour of casings shouldn't matter (I'd make all traffic signals black).

First of all, we should use directional arrows for all three aspects in left turn signals - a red arrow, amber arrow and green arrow, rather than the arrow in the green aspect only. And yes, we should be using white bars for transit signals. Some US cities show tram shapes though in the LRT signal aspects rather than bars.
 
Why do you need a signal at all? The same transit priority transceiver suction-cupped to the bus or streetcar's windshield can display the transit signal to the operator. Car's and pedestrians just need to pay attention to their red or don't walk lights.
 
On Jane St in Vaughan, there is a transit signal which uses the | to allow an advanced turn for buses. I believe in the Driver's Handbook specifically states that an | is a transit priority signal.

Where on Jane? I'd like to check that out.

Another potentially dangerous transit signal is the new west BRT entrance into Downsview Station from Allen Road. The transit signals are strung high over Allen Road (using regular traffic signals of course). The transit signals are always red, unless a vehicle shows up to trigger them. I fear that someone will mistake the transit signals for a car signal and slam on their brakes in the middle of the road. The transit signals could easily be put up in the left turn area for buses, and use a white bar transit signal.
 
On Jane St in Vaughan, there is a transit signal which uses the | to allow an advanced turn for buses. I believe in the Driver's Handbook specifically states that an | is a transit priority signal.

The vertical bar is the only transit signal allowed in Ontario.

3-2-9.jpg


Useless and confusing when the transit vehicle (bus or streetcar) has to make a turn.
 
Where on Jane? I'd like to check that out.

Another potentially dangerous transit signal is the new west BRT entrance into Downsview Station from Allen Road. The transit signals are strung high over Allen Road (using regular traffic signals of course). The transit signals are always red, unless a vehicle shows up to trigger them. I fear that someone will mistake the transit signals for a car signal and slam on their brakes in the middle of the road. The transit signals could easily be put up in the left turn area for buses, and use a white bar transit signal.
Jane and Interchange Way
 
From the Torontoist.com via youtube.com comes this video:

[video=youtube;zozVg-g1TGI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zozVg-g1TGI[/video]

My comment:
I noticed towards the end of the Seattle, Washington video the transit signals changing from the vertical (GO) to the horizontal (STOP). Here in Toronto, Ontario, they would duplicate the signals, add English word signage (so that the French, Chinese, Polish, etc. wouldn't understand it), and use regular traffic signals just confuse the motorists to think the signals were meant for them.
 
It's not surprising that the only difference in the transit signal from a normal traffic signal--the casing colour--may not be noticed by Quebec drivers. After all, their traffic signals have the same casing colour as our transit signals, black. In fact, they even look similar (link to Google Street View example).

I think we should use that style of signal in Toronto. They're a sleeker black and mounted in a visible manner that doesn't overpower the streetscape. They're much more attractive. Transit signals should be clearly distinct by the design of the signal they display, as exemplified above in post 4 by W.K. Lis.

Using the exact same type of signal for light rail as for cars with just a different casing colour and perhaps an English language sign is confusing and pathetic in a city with so many visitors. It's not clear enough.
 
Why do you need a signal at all? The same transit priority transceiver suction-cupped to the bus or streetcar's windshield can display the transit signal to the operator. Car's and pedestrians just need to pay attention to their red or don't walk lights.

Hell, seeing as our streetcar right of ways have no priority over through traffic, why have special signals for them anyways?
 

Back
Top