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Can commute be improved for Toronto drivers?

Admiral Beez said:
And that's why public transit and city planning fails. Why shouldn't it be relevant that many people don't like public transit? Instead, why not make it so many of those folks will prefer transit?
Click to expand...

Presumably, the more functional public transit is, the more popular it will be. Who doesn't want to get somewhere very quickly and cheaply, while being able to read or get something done? But apparently some planners in the past felt that no one wanted to use public transit by principle, which was unwarranted and resulted in bad planning.

I think that the denser the city gets, the more difficult it will be for drivers. A lot of new infrastructure could be built, but urban livability would probably be sacrificed with greater noise and pollution as well as more space dedicated to parking and car-related facilities.
 
Admiral Beez said:
And that's why public transit and city planning fails. Why shouldn't it be relevant that many people don't like public transit? Instead, why not make it so many of those folks will prefer transit?
Click to expand...

If people don't like aspects of the existing public transit system and we can show cost-benefit to making improvements along those lines, then absolutely, do it.

But the kind of person who just hates the idea of ever taking transit - we can't build a city for them.
 
The article is dumb (and the author admits as much) because clearly bus/streetcar is not the optimal way to get from Finch & Islington to the Toronto Star building at 1 Yonge Street.
 
Perhaps we could disperse some of our over enthusiastic parking enforcement officers to educate our pedestrians on how to use a cross-walk. Maybe they could hand out $40 tickets for traffic impeding violations.
 
KEEP RIGHT!

That was taught when I took my driving lessons years ago. How quickly we forget. Most seem to favor the left lane over the the right lane. Even on the suburban roads, I see people making right turns straight into to the left lane. (Don't get me started on the drivers who need two lanes to make turns.)

We are supposed to drive in the right lane, UNLESS there are parked cars, slower traffic, obstacles, or you are making a left turn. Instead, we see drivers in the left lane, even when the right lane is clear. Worse are slow drivers in all the lanes. Even more appalling would be where two slow (5 or 10 kilometer under the limit) drivers are in sync to each other in parallel lanes.

If the drivers could stay to the right (except to pass), even streetcars would have less obstacles for them, since it is the single-occupant cars that cause most of the congestion.

From the MTO Driver's Handbook:


Keep right

Keep to the right of the road or in the right-hand lane on multi-lane roads unless you want to turn left or pass another vehicle. This is especially important if you are driving more slowly than other vehicles.
Click to expand...
 
theterribleone said:
http://www.thestar.com/news/article...ttc-commute-takes-2-hours-10-minutes#comments

Ouch. 2 hours.
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Once the Spadina subway extension opens, this will be much easier. Finch West bus to Keele & Finch then subway to Union. Finch West LRT will make this easier still.

In the mean time I would suggest taking 36 to Dufferin, taking 196 to Downsview (the bus stops at Finch) and then taking the subway to Union. Never obey the trip planner as it usually gives you stupid routes.
 
W. K. Lis said:
KEEP RIGHT!

That was taught when I took my driving lessons years ago. How quickly we forget. Most seem to favor the left lane over the the right lane. Even on the suburban roads, I see people making right turns straight into to the left lane. (Don't get me started on the drivers who need two lanes to make turns.)

We are supposed to drive in the right lane, UNLESS there are parked cars, slower traffic, obstacles, or you are making a left turn. Instead, we see drivers in the left lane, even when the right lane is clear. Worse are slow drivers in all the lanes. Even more appalling would be where two slow (5 or 10 kilometer under the limit) drivers are in sync to each other in parallel lanes.

If the drivers could stay to the right (except to pass), even streetcars would have less obstacles for them, since it is the single-occupant cars that cause most of the congestion.

From the MTO Driver's Handbook:
Click to expand...

Uh, this rule of thumb is more applicable to a 4 lane divided highway out in the boonies than an arterial road in Toronto during rush hour. It's pretty hard to keep to the right lane and only use the left lane to pass if you were traveling on, say, Dufferin Street at 5PM.
 
A pet peeve of mine is that they want you to drive in the right lane, but that is usually the first lane to end or exit - usually with very little warning. See how long you last driving in the right lane of the 401 eastbound collector lanes through Scarborough... When my younger brother was learning to drive, I suggested that he make his way to the left lane and go with the flow, as it is less likely he would have to make sudden lane changes.

On topic, there are some infrastructure improvements which could help greatly. Two major bottlenecks I know of are the top of the southbound DVP where 12 lanes merge into 3, and the ramp from the southbound 400 to the westbound 401 where heavy volumes of traffic must merge over 2-3 lanes. With the first, widening the DVP to at least 4 lanes between the 401 and Eglinton would help incredibly, since the cause of this congestion is due to heavy merging. With the 401, rebuild the interchange so that the westbound collectors turn into an off ramp for Weston Rd, while the 400 south ramp turns into the 401 west collectors uninterrupted. Southbound 400 drivers wanting to get off at Weston Rd would have to get off at Jane or Finch, and make their way over from there.

Rush hour road tolls could also work. Transit is at operating at peak efficiency during this time, so there is a viable alternative to driving. It also comes down to supply and demand, that there is only so much road capacity to go around, and too many people want to use it. Adding a premium on what is available will help to control volume what is there. Increased parking rates could also work, and be less controversial as well since it is easier to increase a charge than to add a new one. Plus many cities in Canada and around the world (including ones which are far more car dependent) have had great success reducing congestion due to expensive parking rates.
 
1. Stop building highway/lane and then stop in the middle of nowhere.
2. Stop people from crossing solid lines or using the ramp to get 5 cars ahead.
3. Give streetcar right of way and move them to side streets. Add Bus lanes without taking away driving lanes.
4. Make it easier for drivers to take the public transit to get to downtown core. e.g. build overnight parking on major terminals.
5. Finish 407 and then move traffics that are only passing through Toronto onto the 407.
6. Replace vehicle registration fee with a toll.
7. Remove limits on bus transfers. e.g. Free ride within 3 hours.
8. Build more bicycle lanes and connect them together. Ban cyclist from passing from the right elsewhere.
9. Fine jaywalkers heavily. Have turn signals at busy crosses.
 
Archanfel, I was wondering about this back with your "Bank of American" post, but is English your first language?
 
Electrify said:
A pet peeve of mine is that they want you to drive in the right lane, but that is usually the first lane to end or exit - usually with very little warning. See how long you last driving in the right lane of the 401 eastbound collector lanes through Scarborough... When my younger brother was learning to drive, I suggested that he make his way to the left lane and go with the flow, as it is less likely he would have to make sudden lane changes.

On topic, there are some infrastructure improvements which could help greatly. Two major bottlenecks I know of are the top of the southbound DVP where 12 lanes merge into 3, and the ramp from the southbound 400 to the westbound 401 where heavy volumes of traffic must merge over 2-3 lanes. With the first, widening the DVP to at least 4 lanes between the 401 and Eglinton would help incredibly, since the cause of this congestion is due to heavy merging. With the 401, rebuild the interchange so that the westbound collectors turn into an off ramp for Weston Rd, while the 400 south ramp turns into the 401 west collectors uninterrupted. Southbound 400 drivers wanting to get off at Weston Rd would have to get off at Jane or Finch, and make their way over from there.

Rush hour road tolls could also work. Transit is at operating at peak efficiency during this time, so there is a viable alternative to driving. It also comes down to supply and demand, that there is only so much road capacity to go around, and too many people want to use it. Adding a premium on what is available will help to control volume what is there. Increased parking rates could also work, and be less controversial as well since it is easier to increase a charge than to add a new one. Plus many cities in Canada and around the world (including ones which are far more car dependent) have had great success reducing congestion due to expensive parking rates.
Click to expand...

The westbound 401, just west of the 410/403 cutoff, the right lanes are forced to merge into the left instead of the left merging. Very frustrating as well. One should be able to stay in the right lane on the 401 from the Quebec border to Windsor without having to change lanes, when just cruising along.
 
W. K. Lis said:
The westbound 401, just west of the 410/403 cutoff, the right lanes are forced to merge into the left instead of the left merging. Very frustrating as well. One should be able to stay in the right lane on the 401 from the Quebec border to Windsor without having to change lanes, when just cruising along.
Click to expand...

Not just there, but EVERYWHERE! I chose that stretch of the 401 because if coming off the southbound 404, the right lane exits at: Victoria Park, Kennedy, and Markham (a new right through lane appears between Kennedy and Markham). 400 north is a good example as well, the right lane exits at: Finch (this could arguably be an auxiliary lane, but to someone unfamiliar with the highway it appears to be a through lane since it is 5km between the 401 and Finch), 407, ends after 7, reappears, then ends at Major Mackenzie. North of Elgin Mills Rd, a lot of arterials narrow from two lanes to one - guess which one has to merge?

This one here made me laugh. On Woodbine Ave north of 19th Rd it widens with this sign posted:

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=...id=geBV0umrXfogJKaBWCWfAw&cbp=12,9.11,,0,4.47

Then just over the hill:

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=...o39usJG_-ZCXDl-SVkfY6A&cbp=12,359.89,,0,20.09

I think it is better in the US, the right lane tends to be a through lane over much longer distances, and if it ends or exits there is more warning than what we tend to have. However, cops there will actually ticket you for driving in the left lane.
 
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