TTC: Other Items (catch all)

[steveintoronto]

The cost of expanding Bloor-Yonge would be better worth being directed to Relief Line North to hit Sheppard.

Absolutely. And with absolutely minimal imposition on existing routes of service. The emphasis has to be on *by-passing* the TTC, not steroids to get an intrinsic infrastructure limitation to do what it was never intended to do.

 

[Kyle Campbell]

Short term, what about bringing in double-decker buses to add some capacity in the bus system until projects are built? They seem to work well in Ottawa, octranspo even now uses them on crowded mainline routes and not just for express routes.

 

[Richard White]

Short term, what about bringing in double-decker buses to add some capacity in the bus system until projects are built? They seem to work well in Ottawa, octranspo even now uses them on crowded mainline routes and not just for express routes.

They would be a non-starter. With all the grade separation in Toronto for the CP/CN/GO tracks along with the DVP, 400 series highways and Gardiner you could not pass below bridges very easily. That is why GO transit limits their usage in Toronto.

 

[amnesiajune]

They would be a non-starter. With all the grade separation in Toronto for the CP/CN/GO tracks along with the DVP, 400 series highways and Gardiner you could not pass below bridges very easily. That is why GO transit limits their usage in Toronto.

I can't think of many places in the city where this would be an issue. Go Transit's d0uble-deck buses are only 50 cm higher than the TTC's bus fleet. The big problem is that they're a poor fit for local bus service, since they're slower to load & unload people. Obviously that's not a problem for Go Transit, but in Ottawa they're only used for suburban express buses.

 

[Richard White]

I can't think of many places in the city where this would be an issue. Go Transit's d0uble-deck buses are only 50 cm higher than the TTC's bus fleet. The big problem is that they're a poor fit for local bus service, since they're slower to load & unload people. Obviously that's not a problem for Go Transit, but in Ottawa they're only used for suburban express buses.

Let me put it to you this way, GO transit uses it only for their long haul routes and not local routes. They did lower the buses a bit but even still knowing the TTC there would be endless studies to determine if the busses were suitable. By the time anything was purchased our issues would be resolved.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

Let me put it to you this way, GO transit uses it only for their long haul routes and not local routes. They did lower the buses a bit but even still knowing the TTC there would be endless studies to determine if the busses were suitable. By the time anything was purchased our issues would be resolved.

The purchase of electric buses was done with very little study or debate.

 

[Richard White]

The purchase of electric buses was done with very little study or debate.

That's because you had Councillor Cuckoo Bananas bring the idea forth as the next best thing. He also made sure that there was plenty of kool-aid to go around.

 

[amnesiajune]

The purchase of electric buses was done with very little study or debate.

Same with the purchase of hybrid buses, and natural gas buses. Same thing with Presto fare gates, and Presto in general (which was quietly tucked into the Scarborough Crosstown LRT agreement). The TTC can be pretty quick as long as nobody on city council decides that their decision upsets the ~70,000 folks in their ward.

 

[Johnny Au]

I can't think of many places in the city where this would be an issue. Go Transit's d0uble-deck buses are only 50 cm higher than the TTC's bus fleet. The big problem is that they're a poor fit for local bus service, since they're slower to load & unload people. Obviously that's not a problem for Go Transit, but in Ottawa they're only used for suburban express buses.

Let me put it to you this way, GO transit uses it only for their long haul routes and not local routes. They did lower the buses a bit but even still knowing the TTC there would be endless studies to determine if the busses were suitable. By the time anything was purchased our issues would be resolved.

There goes the plan to use the Chinese straddling bus, even if it were mass-produced.

 

[Streety McCarface]

There goes the plan to use the Chinese straddling bus, even if it were mass-produced.

That was a colossal failure that ran into way too many problems to be feasible.

 

[nfitz]

Since they like deep tunneling these days including in sparsely populated areas they could build a completely new Bloor platform underneath the Yonge platform

Could build a new southbound tunnel - under Yonge. Two platforms that join western end of existing Line 2 Yonge Platform. Very little impact to existing service. If you are willing to put up with cut-and-cover, could even do it above Line 2.

 

[Richard White]

That was a colossal failure that ran into way too many problems to be feasible.

IIRC it was also a scam of some sort. The company that designed it committed fraud and a bunch of people went to jail.

 

[Richard White]

Could build a new southbound tunnel - under Yonge. Two platforms that join western end of existing Line 2 Yonge Platform. Very little impact to existing service. If you are willing to put up with cut-and-cover, could even do it above Line 2.

The only problem is you would need to build around various structures currently in place along Yonge like the Xerox Tower, 2 condo buildings, 2 Bloor West and the HBC Building not to mention various other buildings.

 

[Kyle Campbell]

Ottawa they're only used for suburban express buses.

That was true at the start, but not anymore. I take Route 6 every day which is one of the busiest non-transitway routes in Ottawa traveling up Bank Street in the old core (used to be the 1, but got renumbered). It's now almost exclusively double-deckers. They do have a longer dwell time, but that became moot because the route was so crowded that the logjam of people trying to maneouver around each other to get to the door made for long dwell times anyway. They've become so pervasive now (every new bus for the past several years is a DD) that the bus rider culture has adapted. E.g. people know to go downstairs one or two stops ahead.

There are a lot of low clearance areas in Toronto though, so it would limit their usage but not prevent it. What about increasing the number of articulated buses? Toronto's fleet is fairly small still, and I'm not sure if it's still true but when they were reintroduced the TTC increased the time between buses on routes they were on because they were bigger. Seems to defeat the point of adding capacity.

All the rail options are a long way away so there must be something more immediate that can be done.

 

[steveintoronto]

There are a lot of low clearance areas in Toronto though, so it would limit their usage but not prevent it.

It's an interesting point with the Alexander-Dennis third gen models GO is using. My immediate thought was "low obstructions would make this problematic" but tour buses are old fashioned DD and seem to get around.

At this stage, I suspect it's more a budgetary and service limitation, not obstructions.