EnviroTO
Senior Member
So all the stations must be fully accessible by 2025... or earlier?
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Despite what Ford says The Streetcar in Toronto is here to stay.
- Thread starter Brans89
- Start date
drum118
Superstar
TTC like any business, must be 100% accessibly by no later than 2025.
TTC was going for 2020 until last year where it was going to slip a year or 2 due cost.
Maybe Ford has forgot that when he did his budget, as someone is going to have to pay the $million fines for not complying with the ACT by that date.
At some point, more elevators will have to be added to the existing one in case the first one is out of service. It something I have been pushing these past years, since it will be cheaper to do now than waiting for a court order to do it down the road.
GO was going for 2014 at one time.
W. K. Lis
Superstar
The following video is from a test run on a new light rail line in Bergen, Norway. Note the lack of sign pollution, especially at traffic signal controlled intersections.
[video=youtube;9O1KvY9uk5U]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9O1KvY9uk5U[/video]
This video is rated LRT. It maybe deemed inappropriate to mayors and others with a phobia for surface rail. Viewer discretion is advised.
[video=youtube;9O1KvY9uk5U]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9O1KvY9uk5U[/video]
This video is rated LRT. It maybe deemed inappropriate to mayors and others with a phobia for surface rail. Viewer discretion is advised.
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Loozrboy
New Member
Man, I can't believe I spent 27 minutes watching that entire thing. Totally worth it though. The highlight was around the 20 minute mark, when the tram nearly plowed through a screaming crowd of children :>
reaperexpress
Senior Member
So now, on top of there being two Valencia Metros (Spain and Venezuela), there are two Bergen LRTs? (New Jersey and Norway)
I liked the part near 24 minutes where it drives through a parking garage.
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Irishmonk
Senior Member
That is some fine LRT--more like commuter rail, though, than inner city stuff that we crave. Love the long, dark tunnels and impressive speed.
spider
Senior Member
The Bergen LRT trains must be on the small side, the track appears to be metre gauge but more telling is the narrow track spacing in the double track sections. The car width can't be much more than 125% of the track gauge, if the track is standard gauge, which I doubt, the cars can only be about 72" wide.
jwill
Active Member
the trams are 32m long, 2.65m wide, running on standard gauge apparently. Maybe the video is stretched vertically.
CDL.TO
Moderator
Loozrboy
New Member
Oh no! Maybe those people in Salt Lake City weren't completely insane...
Hehe. Well I'm sure light rail kills children every bit as efficiently as any other mode of transport the children aren't being careful around :-]. Watching that Bergen video, it seemed like a lot of Bergeners (Bergenites? Bergeninians?) were unaccustomed to seeing anything running on those rails, because there were rather a lot of surprised pedestrians and near misses on that one test run.
UD2
Active Member
as much as I like the Norway tram and as much as I am an advocate for Lord Miller's Masterpiece Transit Plan, that video simply carried too many close calls for me to feel safe.
LRTs belong in the middle of the street, not by sidewalks. Even from my fastforwarding through the video, I saw a near miss with a car coming out of a parking lot, a near miss with the tram almost cutting the hands off some teenagers who were trying to save their backpacks, I was geninuely scared when the tram almost rear ended a stroller, and I keep on wondering what would happen if one of the elementry school aged boys wantted to pull a prank on one of their pals and pushed him onto the track before the oncoming tram. And those uncontrolled crossings....
The way that the Norway LRT is designed, I'd lower the speed limit of those trams by 50%.
LRTs belong in the middle of the street, not by sidewalks. Even from my fastforwarding through the video, I saw a near miss with a car coming out of a parking lot, a near miss with the tram almost cutting the hands off some teenagers who were trying to save their backpacks, I was geninuely scared when the tram almost rear ended a stroller, and I keep on wondering what would happen if one of the elementry school aged boys wantted to pull a prank on one of their pals and pushed him onto the track before the oncoming tram. And those uncontrolled crossings....
The way that the Norway LRT is designed, I'd lower the speed limit of those trams by 50%.
Markster
Senior Member
It's pretty clear that those tracks haven't been used, and people just aren't used to seeing trains on them yet. When a train is going down the tracks every 10 minutes people won't think to use the curb as a seat.
Secondly, you seem to think that the train is nearly out of control, barreling down on people, about to chop children in half. The fact is, there's a driver, and at each close call, the train is obviously braking, ready to stop if necessary.
It's not particularly more dangerous than a road with cars. It's just a different vehicle.
As for the "pull a prank" idea.... Kids everywhere resist the urge to throw their friends in front of cars all the time. No matter how annoying their friend might be.
Secondly, you seem to think that the train is nearly out of control, barreling down on people, about to chop children in half. The fact is, there's a driver, and at each close call, the train is obviously braking, ready to stop if necessary.
It's not particularly more dangerous than a road with cars. It's just a different vehicle.
As for the "pull a prank" idea.... Kids everywhere resist the urge to throw their friends in front of cars all the time. No matter how annoying their friend might be.
W. K. Lis
Superstar
From the Montréal Gazette, at this link:
Tramway would be city's legacy: Projet Montréal leader
Expense is worth it, Richard Bergeron insists
By JAMES MENNIE, The Gazette
A streetcar in Montreal, circa 1952. Proponents of bringing back the tramway say they are faster, quieter, greener and more convenient than buses on high-traffic commuter routes
MONTREAL - Montreal’s 375th anniversary in 2017 should be celebrated with the establishment of a 37.5-kilometre tramway system, Projet Montreal leader Richard Bergeron said on Thursday.
And while he acknowledged the project’s $1.5 billion price tag may seem daunting to the average taxpayer, “When we talk about public transit, we’re talking about big numbers.â€
“Was it smart to invest $743 million to extend the metro to Laval?†Bergeron asked reporters when challenged on the price of his proposed tram system. “History shows it was smart. … Ridership is double what was estimated. It’s efficient and Laval residents love it.
“Was it smart in the 1960s, in a Montreal that was poorer than it is now, to invest $3 million or $4 million in the original metro system?â€
Meanwhile, Bergeron argued, bigger sums are being spent of highways and no one seems put out by the expense.
“Look at the $3 billion being invested in the Turcot Interchange. … the Transport Department talks about economic development to justify the price and no one challenges them on it.â€
The promotion of tramway use is nothing new for Bergeron or his party, but the project unveiled Thursday is linked to Montreal’s 375th anniversary and would serve as a “legacy†of the event.
The network would run the length of St. Laurent Blvd., along Mount Royal Ave. and Masson St., Côte des Neiges Rd. and René Lévesque Blvd.
Bergeron argued that the presence of reliable, efficient public transit in the residential areas the tram would run through would curb the exodus of young families from the city to the suburbs, a population loss he estimated at 20,000 to 23,000 annually.
“We’ve got to do something to keep the middle class in Montreal,†he said. “(The loss) is balanced somewhat by immigration ... but once they’ve been integrated socially and economically, they move.
“This is serious, It’s Montreal’s main problem.â€
While Mayor Gérald Tremblay has spoken enthusiastically in the past about establishing a tramway system in Montreal, the city’s 2011 budget contained funding for studies but no construction.
But Montreal Transport Corp. vice-chairperson and city councillor Marvin Rotrand noted it is the provincial government, not the city administration, that funds the infrastructure systems for public transit.
“And (the province) has yet to approve funding for what (Premier) Jean Charest announced in September 2009 - métro extensions on the Blue Line to Anjou, on the Orange Line north to Côte Vertu and on the Yellow Line (into Longueuil).
“While we’re still hopeful for a tramway, we have no information yet on imminent government funding.â€
Bergeron estimated that if the project was going to be completed by 2017, construction would have to begin by next year.
He said the plan he unveiled to journalists Thursday had been in the possession of the city’s executive committee for a year and was composed while he, too, was a member of that decision making body.
Asked if he was concerned that the administration might end up using his tram proposal as part of it political platform for the 2013 campaigjn, Bergeron said: “The day we’re fighting over how will build (a tramway) more quickly, that we’re making firm promises to the public about it, I’ll be very happy.â€
jmennie@montrealgazette.com
© Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette
Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news...tréal+leader/4813565/story.html#ixzz1NbIebOUD
allabootmatt
Senior Member
I know I'm paranoid but... http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1004680--ttc-eyes-staff-cuts-before-fare-hikes?bn=1
Couldn't the budget review be used as an excuse to axe the streetcar contract, in the name of fake fiscal prudence?
Couldn't the budget review be used as an excuse to axe the streetcar contract, in the name of fake fiscal prudence?
jje1000
Senior Member
I have a hard time believing that the rest of Ford's allies would be as idealogically driven as he is- in contrast to the Fort York Bridge, this streetcar order can hardly be considered a frill.
More so, more money would be wasted on cancellation fees if this went ahead.