Finch West Line 6 LRT

[lastcommodore]

What do you consider successful when it comes to a BRT?

Aside from trip times, personally, consider that Mississauga busway a failure.

Same story with all the BRT‘s in York region, though I don’t really have any experience with them in a rush hour!

The only one I know who is successful is Zum but they don’t even have a right of way for most of their routes!

You have the gold plated VIVA system, which you can drive for 20 minutes on any of the routes and not see a bus in that direction!!!

Forgot to reply to this but a BRT needs to be, well, RT

People complain that "the public" doesnt see BRT well because its on rubber wheels, and its true, but also our politicians... like you said a BRT with no buses is no BRT at all, and the VIVA system is insane how infrequent it is (tbh I feel bad for how stretched thin YRT is- I think the province should help fund them out for VIVA). I think BRT should minimum run 10 min. frequencies

I will partially challenge you on the MT... I do think it has wasted potential in the low frequency, but unlike others I do not consider it a failure in location... especially when it is set to be a crucial link btwn. MCC and uptown Toronto. It also has very high ridership, about 4M which is almost as much as the Milton line carries in Mississauga.
But the MT is not really a BRT- it's a transitway, it's supposed to fill a roll much more similar to express service than a subway service (Though it does have some failing even there with how slow/cautiously they drive the buses in the transitway)

Much to learn from both... but they are both failures in the service, which can change tomorrow with the willpower

 

[turbanplanner]

Forgot to reply to this but a BRT needs to be, well, RT

People complain that "the public" doesnt see BRT well because its on rubber wheels, and its true, but also our politicians... like you said a BRT with no buses is no BRT at all, and the VIVA system is insane how infrequent it is (tbh I feel bad for how stretched thin YRT is- I think the province should help fund them out for VIVA). I think BRT should minimum run 10 min. frequencies

I will partially challenge you on the MT... I do think it has wasted potential in the low frequency, but unlike others I do not consider it a failure in location... especially when it is set to be a crucial link btwn. MCC and uptown Toronto. It also has very high ridership, about 4M which is almost as much as the Milton line carries in Mississauga.
But the MT is not really a BRT- it's a transitway, it's supposed to fill a roll much more similar to express service than a subway service (Though it does have some failing even there with how slow/cautiously they drive the buses in the transitway)

Much to learn from both... but they are both failures in the service, which can change tomorrow with the willpower

Fair, everyone here will disagree but my golden metric for a system is if I can drive 5 or even 10 mins on an outdoor system and not see a single vehicle in either direction it's a failure to me.
I see more ZUM busses on highway 7 than any Viva ones! I've driven from 1 end of St Clair to the other and didn't see a single vehicle in my direction.


But ranting aside, you need something that can't be "messed with" and the TTC is happy to repeatedly close a streetcar line for years! Even track issues the longest we will close a subway line is a single weekend!
Busses and streetcars, aren't so lucky, and service changes, substitutions, and disruptions are far too common! As well as scaling back service or being forced to run slower for literally no reason!

 

[nfitz]

Red light truncation can shorten a red light so that the LRT vehicle doesn’t have to wait as long, but it doesn’t work at intersections with timed pedestrian crosswalks unless design changes are implemented as well.

Assuming the countdown already starts immediately after the pedestrian light goes green.

Which I don't believe is the case either at Swift or Bermondsey. Personally I'd like them to close the crossing at Swift - it's mostly used by people trying to short-cut the Bermondsey intersection.

 

[Monarch Butterfly]

Based on this report, it looks like the with TSP the trains will still be stopped by red lights.

"However, the city has not indicated any plans to implement red light truncation as part of TSP changes."

How will Traffic Signal Priority for LRTs impact your drive?

With LRT vehicles set to get priority at intersections along both Finch and Eglinton, will drivers be left in the dust as trains speed by?

toronto.citynews.ca

Again, the automobile disciples seem to be winning... again. Was there a "veto" waiting in the wings by he-who-must-not-be-named.

 

[Monarch Butterfly]

Assuming the countdown already starts immediately after the pedestrian light goes green.

Which I don't believe is the case either at Swift or Bermondsey. Personally I'd like them to close the crossing at Swift - it's mostly used by people trying to short-cut the Bermondsey intersection.

Need "pedestrian refugee islands", so humans can at least get halfway across the intersection.

 

[Obsidian]

Need "pedestrian refugee islands", so humans can at least get halfway across the intersection.

How come the GO Train doesn't need all these restriction at it's grade crossing.
The arms come down and all traffic must stop.

 

[lastcommodore]

How come the GO Train doesn't need all these restriction at it's grade crossing.
The arms come down and all traffic must stop.

They do

All these crossings need a minimum amount of time for pedestrians to cross. It is why the crossings blare long before the train comes. Arms come dows earlier but pedestrians inside still have time to leave

The issue is that for many tram crossings they are already near or at the minimum crossing time so truncating it more is not possible. At this point either predictive modelling and phase adjustment needs to be done so the tram never encounters this, pedestrian refuge islands to reduce time needed, or train-style pre-emptive elimination of the phase entirely

 

[mikey7767]

Again, the automobile disciples seem to be winning... again. Was there a "veto" waiting in the wings by he-who-must-not-be-named.

Is anyone really surprised by this? This is Toronto we're talking about.....the city of red lights. As I've mentioned before, TSP ain't gonna be a major solution to the speed issue. It will still be slow. #surfaceLRT

 

[Steve X]

Is anyone really surprised by this? This is Toronto we're talking about.....the city of red lights. As I've mentioned before, TSP ain't gonna be a major solution to the speed issue. It will still be slow. #surfaceLRT

If they keep driving at the speed they allow them to drive, it's a made in Toronto problem not even streetcars around the world have such absurd way of operating them.

 

[Monarch Butterfly]

They do

All these crossings need a minimum amount of time for pedestrians to cross. It is why the crossings blare long before the train comes. Arms come dows earlier but pedestrians inside still have time to leave

The issue is that for many tram crossings they are already near or at the minimum crossing time so truncating it more is not possible. At this point either predictive modelling and phase adjustment needs to be done so the tram never encounters this, pedestrian refuge islands to reduce time needed, or train-style pre-emptive elimination of the phase entirely

Guess that's a complaint Chicago gets with their heavy rail Brown Line at their level crossings...

(Do the Chicago transit trains slowing down to a crawl like Toronto transit trains at intersections? Don't seem to me.)

 

[Amare]

Here we go again, a section of this deficient line is down again due to a mechanical problem with one of the trains:

@Obsidian here's another reference point for you to indicate that everything is certainly not fine with the Citadis (also worth mentioning this could be a combination problem with Mosaic's maintenance practices).

 

[Obsidian]

Here we go again, a section of this deficient line is down again due to a mechanical problem with one of the trains:

@Obsidian here's another reference point for you to indicate that everything is certainly not fine with the Citadis (also worth mentioning this could be a combination problem with Mosaic's maintenance practices).

View attachment 716167

where does it say it has to do with a vehicle?
Since they shut down a section of the line. I am inclined to believe it wasn't vehicle related.

 

[Amare]

where does it say it has to do with a vehicle?
Since they shut down a section of the line. I am inclined to believe it wasn't vehicle related.

You're inclined to believe it wasn't vehicle related because they only shut down a section of the line, huh?

You can believe whatever you want, the bottom line is that the shutdown today was due to a mechanical issue with a vehicle. Feel free to call the TTC if you need further confirmation from them.

 

[Bordercollie]

You're inclined to believe it wasn't vehicle related because they only shut down a section of the line, huh?

You can believe whatever you want, the bottom line is that the shutdown today was due to a mechanical issue with a vehicle. Feel free to call the TTC if you need further confirmation from them.

View attachment 716317

It was also closed due to weather related issues again due to the "Storm".

 

[zang]

You're inclined to believe it wasn't vehicle related because they only shut down a section of the line, huh?

You can believe whatever you want, the bottom line is that the shutdown today was due to a mechanical issue with a vehicle. Feel free to call the TTC if you need further confirmation from them.

View attachment 716317

You sound very certain that a statement that doesn’t mention a vehicle mentions a vehicle.

Has the thought crossed your mind that there are mechanical parts on the track (namely switches and sensors)?