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YRT/Viva Construction Thread (Rapidways, Terminals)

smallspy said:
Great success? That's rich....

In all seriousness, don't assume that the TTC doesn't think about busways. They've wanted on running on Danforth Ave. and Kingston Rd. from Victoria Park Station to Eglinton for some time now. Guess why there's been no movement on it....

Dan
Toronto, Ont.
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in this political gta climate, considering that this was built quickly and relatively on budget is in itself is already a major success. At least they got it done. Forget about the operations of it. This system has fundamentally linked NEWS York Region with much room for easy further development if required. OP was not referring to the actual performance of the BRT, rather the targeted perception of it. Who doesn't want an infrastructure project to have "great success?"...well maybe some naysayer lobbyists in denial with their deluded ideologies.......
 
smallspy said:
Great success? That's rich....

In all seriousness, don't assume that the TTC doesn't think about busways. They've wanted on running on Danforth Ave. and Kingston Rd. from Victoria Park Station to Eglinton for some time now. Guess why there's been no movement on it....

Dan
Toronto, Ont.
Click to expand...
I'm not saying there is great success, of course no it's so underused. I'm saying that IF IT HAD great success, then Torontarians would want BRT.
 
LNahid2000 said:
The TTC already has BRT, which has faster average speeds than any of Toronto's subway lines:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/York_University_Busway
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Yeah, but....Well, I guess. It's a very short BRT with no stops along the actual bus right-of-way, and it was built as a stopgap but one can't deny that they've found the value in it.

Significant to this thread (and perhaps mentioned elsewhere) TTC was looking at a BRT that would essentially have continued the Viva route from Highway 7 to Steeles all the way to Finch. The planning was not particularly well coordinated between York Region and Toronto IIRC, but it was proceeding in fits and starts. As with the Viva Rapidway, it was scuttled by the subway announcement back in 2007/08.

Of course, that was still under David Miller but it's worth recalling they were amenable to a bus right of way. Given how the LRT well has largely been poisoned in Toronto, I dunno that they'll ever go for BRT again but I don't doubt there are corridors that would benefit from it, especially if done with the Viva idea of building an LRT-upgradable system.
 
cplchanb said:
in this political gta climate, considering that this was built quickly and relatively on budget is in itself is already a major success. At least they got it done. Forget about the operations of it. This system has fundamentally linked NEWS York Region with much room for easy further development if required. OP was not referring to the actual performance of the BRT, rather the targeted perception of it. Who doesn't want an infrastructure project to have "great success?"...well maybe some naysayer lobbyists in denial with their deluded ideologies.......
Click to expand...

While there are still arguments to be made for and against the scale of the infrastructure built for the busways and the costs associated with it, I will give you that. YRT has done well getting everything done to this point, and to be fair, I do look forward to seeing the next sections completed and in service.

Now, if they'd run a couple of buses on it....

Dan
Toronto, Ont.
 
LNahid2000 said:
The TTC already has BRT, which has faster average speeds than any of Toronto's subway lines:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/York_University_Busway
Click to expand...

In Toronto I could see:
- the aforementioned Steeles
- The Hydro ROW from Kipling Subway to the Airport (with provisions to extend all the way to Long Branch/Humber College via Kipling). For the Airport Rocket and Mississauga BRT access.
- To replace the RT in in Scarborough (I know I will be shot for this but with the current line + hydro corridor its a very cost effective way to move the people. Plus feeder routes can use it so one less transfer for people)

-
 
muller877 said:
In Toronto I could see:
- the aforementioned Steeles
- The Hydro ROW from Kipling Subway to the Airport (with provisions to extend all the way to Long Branch/Humber College via Kipling). For the Airport Rocket and Mississauga BRT access.
- To replace the RT in in Scarborough (I know I will be shot for this but with the current line + hydro corridor its a very cost effective way to move the people. Plus feeder routes can use it so one less transfer for people)

-
Click to expand...

With all the obsession with building subways everywhere, people are overlook the many opportunities for improving bus service. Speaking of BRT, one of the ideas that I really wish to see implemented was proposed in Transit City. It called for bus lanes on Wilson Ave between Jane St and Wilson subway station, thought I would extend that further up to Weston Rd. It's a segment that gets heavy bus traffic because of all the routes that overlap it. And unfortunately these buses can be terribly slow due to congestion throughout much of the say. Now there's also a major hospital there along with plenty of new development. Therefore I think there should be a BRT here that functions just like the one on Highway 7, with dedicated bus lanes and stations in the middle of the road that are spaced far apart like an express bus.


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The same thing should be done on McCowan Rd between Finch Ave and STC. Look at all the bus routes that converge there. It's extremely inefficient to not have dedicated bus lanes here.


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As far as I know, the only proper BRTs that might come to Toronto in the near future are Dundas (as part of the Dundas BRT project connecting Halton, Peel, and Toronto) and the Ellesmere -Highway 2 BRT, connecting Durham to Scarborough city centre via UTSC.

The plans for the latter are partially visible within the old Scarborough-Malvern (now Crosstown East) LRT EA. Also, the CityPlanTO transportation projects map also includes it.
 
salsa said:
With all the obsession with building subways everywhere, people are overlook the many opportunities for improving bus service. Speaking of BRT, one of the ideas that I really wish to see implemented was proposed in Transit City. It called for bus lanes on Wilson Ave between Jane St and Wilson subway station, thought I would extend that further up to Weston Rd. It's a segment that gets heavy bus traffic because of all the routes that overlap it. And unfortunately these buses can be terribly slow due to congestion throughout much of the say. Now there's also a major hospital there along with plenty of new development. Therefore I think there should be a BRT here that functions just like the one on Highway 7, with dedicated bus lanes and stations in the middle of the road that are spaced far apart like an express bus.
Click to expand...
Good luck getting the transit priority to work on that stretch. For some reason they decided to put an insane amount of traffic signals on Wilson between Jane and the railway bridge, and also poorly timed. A side street gets almost the same amount of green signal time per cycle as Wilson during rush.
 
11th said:
Good luck getting the transit priority to work on that stretch. For some reason they decided to put an insane amount of traffic signals on Wilson between Jane and the railway bridge, and also poorly timed. A side street gets almost the same amount of green signal time per cycle as Wilson during rush.
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If that's the case, then the signal timings should be changed. But at the very least, buses shouldn't have to be stuck behind a queue of cars at every intersection. Eliminating just that problem alone with dedicated lanes would be an improvement.
 
Leo_Chan said:
https://twitter.com/vivaNext/status/824373346825539588
Partial rapidway means rapidway in one direction e.g. Hwy7 btwn Bathurst & Yonge to be eastbound only. Hope that helps!

This is unfortunate. I have lost faith in calling Rapidways "Rapid Transit".
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Wow, what an overreaction.

Between Bathurst and Yonge, Highway 7 is almost an actual highway. The speed limit is 80, and there's only one traffic light between them. There is relatively little traffic, vehicles move at/above the speed limit at almost all times of day. The distance between Bathurst and Yonge is about 2.2km, it should take less than 2 minutes to travel either way assuming a green light at the one intersection, and maybe 3-3.5 minutes with a red. With such a high speed limit, the acceleration profile of buses vs cars, and the low traffic on Highway 7, a rapidway would likely provide anywhere between 0 and 15 seconds' time savings for a trip in either direction.

So, can you explain why your faith in rapidways is contingent on wasting a bunch of money for a very generous 7.5 seconds of average travel time savings, and taking away two lanes of traffic causing congestion on a roadway that currently has none?

Also, it's 2.2km. By the time their current planned segments open, Viva should have somewhere in the range of 40km by a rough estimate, and there are hundreds if not thousands of km of rapidways around the world.

There are lots of legitimate criticisms of Viva's rapidways. Saying Bathurst-Yonge being a rapidway in one direction only makes rapidways no longer "rapid transit"...sad!
 
Megaton327 said:
There are lots of legitimate criticisms of Viva's rapidways. Saying Bathurst-Yonge being a rapidway in one direction only makes rapidways no longer "rapid transit"...sad!
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I can't understand why they decided on a rapidway in one direction but not the other. What is so special about eastbound that makes this necessary?
 
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