I don't recall ever seeing 3-car trains. I only saw 6-car trains, even in the 1980s. Have you seen 3-car trains? I didn't ride it that often, living near the Orange line.
I thought they were 9-car trains like the other lines - to tell the truth, I haven't ridden it in years though - only ridden the Green and Orange lines recently. Ridership is still low enough that they run 6-car trains?
Here's the proof
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ligne_bleue_(métro_de_Montréal)
Parce qu’elle est peu achalandée, la STCUM n'exploita d’abord la ligne que les jours ouvrables de 5 h 30 à 19 h 30 et n'y faisait circuler que des rames de 3 voitures
[6]. Les étudiants de l'
Université de Montréal, source principale de la clientèle, obtiendront l'extension de l'heure de fermeture à 23 h 10 puis à 0 h 15 en
2002[7].
Translation
Because it is not very busy, the STCUM first operated the line only on working days from 5:30 am to 7:30 pm and only 3-car trains were used. Students at the Université de Montréal, the main source of the clientele, will be granted the extension of the closing time at 11:10 pm and then at 0:15 in 2002
Later the blue line would be open everyday but closed at 11:15pm. Then they added the 6 car train only during rush hours only.
Montreal did it right. They built a line they deemed necessary, knowing the ridership would be low and managed it accordingly and adjusting the service as ridership increased. Now, it closes as late as the other lines and have the 6 car train set permanently.
That's exactly how the TTC should have managed the Sheppard line, even better if it was build as plan from the beginning from STC to Downsview. The Sheppard Bus off-peak are quite fast and could have handled the initial ridership until the line became busier over time. Why the last train leaves Sheppard-Yonge at 2am is a bizarre mystery to me.
If you take politics out of it, the Blue line is build through a dense residential area - probably denser than the Danforth. The Sheppard line goes through suburbia - and not only suburbia, but suburbia with quite big yards. There's a bit of density right along Sheppard - but not enough.
Denser than Danforth? If that was true, the blue line would have add 9 car trains from the get go. The blue, even fully built had low ridership for years. There are pockets of density along the blue line (mainly St-Michel to Jean-Talon station, Parc Extension and Cotes-des-neiges) but there are less denser stations on the line, the same could be said for the Sheppard line where stations such as Don Mills and Sheppard-Yonge have way more density than most of the blue line. As for growth, Sheppard is growing way faster than the blue line.
It you take politics out of it, the Sheppard ridership projects for the full subway - don't support full subway ANYWHERE on the route, with a peak ridership well below 10,000 at Yonge - let alone at the outer edges at STC and Sheppard West station, where it becomes embarrassing even compared to the current ridership.
http://sheppardsubway.com/docs/2-Sheppard Corridor Tornto City Planning Expert Panel report- Feb 24-2014.pdf
According to this study, the ridership is projected to be at
12,500 approaching Yonge at peak by 2031 if the line was completed. Also, all the growth indicators used states that the subway has double and in some cases triple the potential that an LRT would bring to the corridor. Meaning that it does pass the 10,000 threshold.
LRT was studied as an alternative in Montreal for the Metro extension to Anjou. The province felt it would be cheaper and more affordable. This is the original study:
http://www.bv.transports.gouv.qc.ca/mono/1169035.pdf
- They define Tramway=TTC Streetcar (they also put Paris Tramway here as streetcars, not LRT)
- Tram-Train=LRT
Scenario
- ROW
- Priority light
- 1 lane each direction for cars
- Restrictive parking
- Minimizing the transfer between Metro and LRT at St-Michel
- Cancelling bus 141
- 12 LRT Stations
Conclusions:
http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/m...etude-demolit-loption-du-train-de-surface.php
"The comparative analysis carried out at this stage makes it possible to exclude the concepts of the tram-train and the SRB," says the document. It also shows that the tramway is much less efficient than the metro in the blue line corridor [between Saint-Michel and Anjou] and is therefore a very different project that can not meet the objectives set for the extension of the metro.
" The tram-train is not retained at the end of the analysis because it is impossible for it to reach adequate speeds in an urban environment. This option "therefore offers no added value in relation to the tramway". The SRB is also excluded because its capacity is too low to meet demand. It also presents "insertion challenges" that are more important than the tramway, since a dedicated track should be built on Jean-Talon boulevard, an artery that crosses several commercial zones. A tramway would be much less efficient than an underground subway. The capacity of the rolling stock would be four times lower than that of a metro train. The journey time between Anjou and the station Saint-Michel would be three times longer, 23 minutes instead of eight. "The tramway in the Jean-Talon corridor represents a loss of at least 50 to 70% of the time savings generated by the metro extension, a loss of at least 45 to 60% of the traffic generated by the extension of the Metro, a significant loss of the modal shift generated by the metro extension. "
The LRT ended up scoring less than the streetcar as said in page 34:
The higher speeds of the tram-train (LRT) constitute an advantage in a suburban area which can not be used in the study corridor (urban environment). In the project context, this mode offers no added value compared to the tramway and is not appropriate to the needs.
So Montreal clearly defines Jean-Talon street as "urban" where Toronto defines Sheppard Avenue East as "suburban".
They dismiss LRT right from the beginning. My analysis of what they are saying is that LRT at grade (even in it's own ROW) in an urban environment doesn't have added value when it's so similar to a streetcar. (scoring card) The subway already being on the same corridor must have played a huge factor as well.
I thought it would be interested to see how other cities thinks in regards to similar scenarios
