2014 Municipal Election: Toronto Transit Plans

[denfromoakvillemilton]

I guess not. Not really. I just posted it because it seemed relevant I guess.

You were right to post that. All these terms mean whatever people want them to mean. For example the old streetcars are called canadian light rail vehicles.

 

[drum118]

Does it matter that the Pembina Institute think that?

Has TTC/Metrolinx ever considered even partially implementing Calgary style crossing gates on at-grade LRT intersections?

Ask Houston and other cites with these gates how many they have to be replaced by divers crashing into them. See a note monthly on a system that has a gate taken out of action by been smash.

The Tide in Norfolk had a gate taken out this past week and I saw the area in Aug that has very few house along the route and the crossings. The driver had to be speeding to do it, as it is a 30 mph zone for traffic. All the gates have flashing lights and bell.

In Richmond, there is a RR crossing where 2 roads become 1 to the point drivers were driving around me as I sat at the gate for the train to cross the road. Other cars were doing the same thing on the other road of driving around the gates and go back the way I came. Pedestrians even climb over the couplers as the train that was slowly moving or stop even with a bike. Wasn't fast enough to grab the camera to get some shots of these fools doing these things.

 

[TOareaFan]

Ask Houston and other cites with these gates how many they have to be replaced by divers crashing into them. See a note monthly on a system that has a gate taken out of action by been smash.

The Tide in Norfolk had a gate taken out this past week and I saw the area in Aug that has very few house along the route and the crossings. The driver had to be speeding to do it, as it is a 30 mph zone for traffic. All the gates have flashing lights and bell.

Interesting....has Calgary had a similar experience?

 

[TOareaFan]

Pembina Institute considers LRT & BRT to be rapid transit:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calga...d-by-calgary-vancouver-pembina-says-1.2756613
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/201...ities_in_building_transit_pembina_report.html

Interesting quote from the star article:

One reason Calgary has built LRT is the concentration of employment in the core. The LRT hasn’t spawned much commercial development outside the downtown. In Toronto, however, the growth of highways north of the city, such as Highway 401 and Highway 407, has encouraged employment growth in other areas without any viable regional transit connections.

That seems to be saying that LRTs don't spur development....but highways do.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Ask Houston and other cites with these gates how many they have to be replaced by divers crashing into them. See a note monthly on a system that has a gate taken out of action by been smash.

The Tide in Norfolk had a gate taken out this past week and I saw the area in Aug that has very few house along the route and the crossings. The driver had to be speeding to do it, as it is a 30 mph zone for traffic. All the gates have flashing lights and bell.

In Richmond, there is a RR crossing where 2 roads become 1 to the point drivers were driving around me as I sat at the gate for the train to cross the road. Other cars were doing the same thing on the other road of driving around the gates and go back the way I came. Pedestrians even climb over the couplers as the train that was slowly moving or stop even with a bike. Wasn't fast enough to grab the camera to get some shots of these fools doing these things.

Don't have to be in some other city. In Toronto, drivers have been known to drive on the streetcar right-of-way going to places where they don't want to be.

And not just on the streetcar tracks, even wet cement doesn't stop them.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

I guess not. Not really. I just posted it because it seemed relevant I guess.

You were right to post that. All these terms mean whatever people want them to mean. For example the old streetcars are called canadian light rail vehicles.

ehlow was right to post them. It further proves that few planners give a damn about the "proper" definition of RT.

I wish the term RT would just die. It makes no sense at all. It has no meaning.

For example the old streetcars are called canadian light rail vehicles.

Not a good example, den. The CLRVs were designed to be Light Rail Vehicles in every sense of the word. They could even be coupled together like the Flexlity Freedom LRVs that will be used on ECLRT. In fact, the Scarborough RT was originally supposed to be an LRT line that used CLRV rolling stock.

Note that the vehicle on the right is a CLRV.

A coupler for the CLRV

A two car CRLV train testing in Boston

 

[ehlow]

Interesting quote from the star article:

That seems to be saying that LRTs don't spur development....but highways do.

I mean, they're talking about employment & commercial development only, not residential. Outside of downtown, transit (subways) hasn't created as much employment development as expected in places like North York Centre & Scarborough Town Centre, mainly residential.

This has some info, but it's restricted to Toronto only.
http://www1.toronto.ca/City Of Toronto/City Planning/SIPA/Files/pdf/S/survey2013.pdf

Downtown is still by far #1 in terms of jobs in Toronto.

 

[ehlow]

Oh yeah one thing we we're talking about earlier is how transit can be stopped by a red light at a traffic signal.

I just want to point out that subways are also not immune to similar delays underground, but for other reasons.

How many times have you ridden the subway and it comes to a complete stop, or slows to a crawl and takes forever going northbound at Sheppard? Or, it slows to a crawl near Davisville because of the track quality.

Another common scenario is when drivers change at Bloor or Eglinton, often the subway will stop for anywhere from 20 seconds to a few minutes. I've been on a subway that stopped because a dog got on the tracks.

I'm not saying that full grade separation isn't a good thing, I'm just saying that sometimes a transit vehicle stopping for an occasional short period of time isn't always the end of the world, especially if overall the experience is fast & reliable.

 

[JasonParis]

Hypothetical situation...

What are people's thoughts if a Mayor Tory announced that Sheppard East won't be continued due to hopes that the subway will eventually be extended instead. In return, the Finch LRT will be fully-built from Finch (on the Yonge line) all the way to Humber College?

 

[TheTigerMaster]

Most of us will be dead by time Sheppard is ready for a subway. I wouldn't delay the LRT because of it

I may support canceling SELRT in favour of extending FWLRT east to Yonge if the FWLRT between Keele and Yonge would move more people than SELRT.

 

[sixrings]

Most of us will be dead by time Sheppard is ready for a subway. I wouldn't delay the LRT because of it

I may support canceling SELRT in favour of extending FWLRT east to Yonge if the FWLRT between Keele and Yonge would move more people than SELRT.

I would support cancelling the SELRT as long as both FWLRT and the Eglinton LRT was extended.

 

[JasonParis]

That's sort of what I'm getting at. Since support for Sheppard seems more tepid, regardless of LRT's justification on that corridor, perhaps a Mayor Tory would use that situation to better extend another line (i.e. Finch West or potentially even Crosstown into Etobicoke/YYZ) instead.

 

[sixrings]

That's sort of what I'm getting at. Since support for Sheppard seems more tepid, regardless of LRT's justification on that corridor, perhaps a Mayor Tory would use that situation to better extend another line (i.e. Finch West or potentially even Crosstown into Etobicoke/YYZ) instead.

Not a fan of stubs and to be honest if the Danforth line makes it to sheppard then I don't know how that would change the needs of sheppard

 

[ehlow]

Hypothetical situation...

What are people's thoughts if a Mayor Tory announced that Sheppard East won't be continued due to hopes that the subway will eventually be extended instead. In return, the Finch LRT will be fully-built from Finch (on the Yonge line) all the way to Humber College?

I'd be OK with that, but it does suck for those who take transit along Sheppard East, since I doubt they would ever get a subway, they would be left with nothing for decades.

You also have a less effective feeder to the Stouffville GO RER aka SmartTrack and the McCowan subway, with the bus line instead of an LRT.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

I would support cancelling the SELRT as long as both FWLRT and the Eglinton LRT was extended.

At the moment I could not support extending Eglinton.

If you read the ECLRT's Travel Demand Forecasting Report, a westward extension of the ECLRT of approximately 12 KM west to YYZ would have an AM peak hour ridership of only 2,900 at the peak point (Jane).

This compares to a maximum loading point of 5,300 persons for the 13.5 KM SELRT and 3,400 for the 11 km FWLRT.