Liberty Village Crowd-funded bus?

[TOareaFan]

Looking at the typical user....works at King and Bay and lives in Liberty Village in one of the condo's right beside the proposed stop here are the options:

Option 1 - King streetcar. 7 min walk, 2 min wait and then on the steetcar for 15 min without traffic (25-30 min with traffic and standing). Have to assume a 39 minute commute (and will quite often get to work early if it is busier but will always have to leave 39 minutes before work).

Option 2 - QQ Streetcar (once open). 7 min Walk south to Fleet street, 4 minute wait (fewer cars), 15 min (estimate) ride with a seat (17-22 with traffic once ROW on south of street), 5 min walk. Total time with traffic is 38 minutes (more walking but almost guaranteed to get a seat).

Option 3 - GO Train (must plan ahead). 11 min walk, 3 min wait (planned to arrive just in time), 8 minute GO Train, 2 minutes to get to street, 5 min walk. Total time is 29 minutes.

Option 4 - New Bus. 3 min wait (plan to arrive just in time), 20 minute drive, 5 min walk at the end. 28 minutes.

Option 5 - Drive (which I do know a bunch of people do)

So the Bus or the GO Train would be the best alternatives. However, each you have to plan in advance (and hope that the streetcar is really busy). Human nature always hopes for the best so they will revert back to the streetcar on the chance that it runs like a dream for that specific day!

Thanks....nice analysis.....of course it all goes out the bus window if (as others have suggested here) it turns out you can't do the bus trip in 20 minutes.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Ah. I see it. Thanks. Under satellite view the "future road" didn't show up.

Just don't expect suburban front yards along the Front Street extension. They could have buildings fronting against a boulevard (for snow windrows & trees) and sidewalks, an improvement over just sidewalks along some other downtown streets.

 

[CDL.TO]

Just don't expect suburban front yards along the Front Street extension. They could have buildings fronting against a boulevard (for snow windrows & trees) and sidewalks, an improvement over just sidewalks along some other downtown streets.

Fundamentally, the south side of this street will be 5 railway tracks and the Gardiner Expressway. I'm wouldn't expect urban magic.

 

[TOareaFan]

Today is launch day.....i am hearing on the radio that the first departure did not go......anyone know?

 

[shlammed]

As a LV resident, I have no interest in the service since I do not work downtown. However, I can tell you from my own experience (and a lot of it) that their route to Union via Wellington/Niagara to Bathurst/Front is way faster than you could ever dream on King.

Once the Strachan overpass is completed in the next week or so, the bottle neck there will no longer exist. People leaving LV will be able to split into left and right turn lanes again. People going south on Strachan will no longer get stuck behind people going right into LV as there will be a dedicated right turn lane, etc etc.

Point being, sometimes Strachan backs up at King. Make a right onto Wellington and there is basically NO ONE there. Smooth right to Bathurst. Making the left on Front from there is a piece of cake with an advance. From that point on, your only challenge is Front but you've already bypassed a shitload of traffic that LV residents have to get around every morning.

 

[shlammed]

Today is launch day.....i am hearing on the radio that the first departure did not go......anyone know?

No one showed up for the first ride which means they basically wasted $5.

 

[TOareaFan]

No one showed up for the first ride which means they basically wasted $5.

Perhaps I misunderstood the service......wouldn't that first bus have to go (even if empty) as there may have been people who paid the $5 because they wanted to be on the first westbound trip from Union to LV? Or did they already know there was no one at Union that wanted to make the westbound trip?

 

[shlammed]

Perhaps I misunderstood the service......wouldn't that first bus have to go (even if empty) as there may have been people who paid the $5 because they wanted to be on the first westbound trip from Union to LV? Or did they already know there was no one at Union that wanted to make the westbound trip?

There is no west bound trip.

Right now the service only brings you from LV to union in the morning. Depending on how the trial goes, it will expand from there (assuming the city doesn't shut it down).

 

[TOareaFan]

There is no west bound trip.

Right now the service only brings you from LV to union in the morning. Depending on how the trial goes, it will expand from there (assuming the city doesn't shut it down).

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/tra...erty_village_bus_hits_the_road_on_monday.html

The first bus was set to depart from Pirandello and East Liberty Sts. at 7 a.m. and it was scheduled to run four return trips, with the last at 9.15 a.m.

http://www.citynews.ca/2014/10/06/crowd-funded-bus-in-liberty-village-provides-alternative-to-ttc/

The westbound bus departed Union Station, at Front Street and University Avenue, at the following times.

7:20 a.m.
8:10 a.m.
8:50 a.m.

 

[Tuscani01]

So they apparently managed 15 minute trips, and that was with construction that will likely be done by the end of this week.

 

[TOareaFan]

So they apparently managed 15 minute trips, and that was with construction that will likely be done by the end of this week.

interesting....how long does the streetcar take at 7:45 a.m., 8:30 a.m. and 9:15 a.m.?

 

[Tuscani01]

interesting....how long does the streetcar take at 7:45 a.m., 8:30 a.m. and 9:15 a.m.?

Apparently 30 minutes when you factor in the walk from King to Union.

Edit: Just re-read the post on the LV facebook group and the 15 minutes also includes the walk from Union to King.

 

[TOareaFan]

Apparently 30 minutes when you factor in the walk from King to Union.

Leave out the walk (on the presumption that as many people taking the LV express don't actually work at University and Front as there are people on the streetcar that don't work at King and University ....although there are more jobs at the latter than the former).

 

[shlammed]

interesting....how long does the streetcar take at 7:45 a.m., 8:30 a.m. and 9:15 a.m.?

How long depends on if you can even get on one. It's not uncommon to wait for 2, 3 even 4 to go by before one has room. The farther east you are from LV the less of a chance you have to get on a king street car.

 

[TOareaFan]

How long depends on if you can even get on one. It's not uncommon to wait for 2, 3 even 4 to go by before one has room. The farther east you are from LV the less of a chance you have to get on a king street car.

ok...but pick a stop that serves LV...say King and Atlantic....can you get on there? how long is the trip then at those times?