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Finch West Line 6 LRT

The train I was on that had the driver change waited at Tobermory for 5 minutes
Deeply unserious operating procedures. Why are driver changes happening at random stops on revenue service and not at terminals?

I would joke about doing that on Line 1 during rush hour, but from the sheer amount of delays already present most probably wouldnt notice anyway
 
Why are driver changes happening at random stops on revenue service and not at terminals?
Even Jane Street would be a better place since its right next to the yard. Tobermory makes no sense at all for a crew change location.
 
The Line 6 Finch West corridor is as dense as the iON LRT corridor and many said it didn't need an LRT either, yet the iON LRT is the most used transit route in KW now and is spurring further development along the corridor and the Region there is moving forward with it's stage 2 expansion down to Cambridge.
ION LRT got 15,000 boardings per day in 2024. The 36 Finch West bus got 39,000 boardings per day in 2024. But Kitchener-Waterloo is a unique case and arguably the Regional municipality had more discretionary spending room per capita than Toronto. Even then they only paid $800 million for 19 km of tram, versus $2.5 billion for 10 km of tram just a few years later.

Also, a corridor needing/being suitable for a tram is one thing. Having high ridership per km / per $ is another thing.

 
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Why are driver changes happening at random stops on revenue service and not at terminals?
Good question. I see this a lot on buses. There seem to be 2 ways to make a shift change:
1. At some obscure intersection. I've seen odd locations used for decades. Wait time is usually 5 mins, including time to adjust seat height and mirrors. My guess: A driver with seniority gets to have the shift change happen a short walk from his home.
2. The bus goes "Sorry... Out of Service" (Sorry buses, I calls 'em), and drives to the terminal. Then it gets driven back. I know of bus routes where I typically have to wait for 3 Sorry buses to go by before I get one in service.
 
ION LRT got 15,000 boardings per day in 2024. The 36 Finch West bus got 39,000 boardings per day in 2024. But Kitchener-Waterloo is a unique case and arguably the Regional municipality had more discretionary spending room per capita than Toronto. Even then they only paid $800 million for 19 km of tram, versus $2.5 billion for 10 km of tram just a few years later.

Also, a corridor needing/being suitable for a tram is one thing. Having high ridership per km / per $ is another thing.


Ion was done on the cheap- bare bones stations, and a route designed around existing rail corridors as much as around ridership potential. I'm not sure that it's accurate to say that the Region of Waterloo has more discretionary spending room. I don't think Ion Phase 1 would have been built at the time for $1.2 billion. We're going to see whether Ion Phase 2, 17 kilometres to Cambridge, gets built for an estimated $3.3 billion.
 
Deeply unserious operating procedures. Why are driver changes happening at random stops on revenue service and not at terminals?
Because one (or both) of the drivers are running late and thus out of position in terms of where they are supposed to be during their shift.

This is done to get them back close to on-time, and to allow them to take their breaks or end their shifts at the right time - and to prevent the need for paying out overtime.

I would joke about doing that on Line 1 during rush hour, but from the sheer amount of delays already present most probably wouldnt notice anyway
It can and does happen on just about every single route if things go pear-shaped - even buses.

Dan
 
At some obscure intersection. I've seen odd locations used for decades. Wait time is usually 5 mins, including time to adjust seat height and mirrors. My guess: A driver with seniority gets to have the shift change happen a short walk from his home.
Normally, it's done at the closest intersection to the division from which the route is dispatched. For reasons that have never been entirely clear to me, every bus driver has to report first to the garage before they actually go relieve their bus on the street, and thus the changeoff point is usually chosen for its proximity to the division.
 
43 minutes from Humber College to Finch West - must be a new record

I timed 41 minutes from Finch West to Humber College earlier this month, though it does seem to be inconsistent.

Meanwhile, Walter used my blog post as inspiration to do his own bike share vs Finch West LRT comparison which showed the bike share being faster even after including exiting and entering stations, as well as re-docking the bike share.

 
Ion was done on the cheap- bare bones stations, and a route designed around existing rail corridors as much as around ridership potential. I'm not sure that it's accurate to say that the Region of Waterloo has more discretionary spending room. I don't think Ion Phase 1 would have been built at the time for $1.2 billion. We're going to see whether Ion Phase 2, 17 kilometres to Cambridge, gets built for an estimated $3.3 billion.
Pardon the nit pick on "cheap-bare bones stations". ION surface stops don't seem cheap at all when compared to Line 6, unless you think Line 6 has expensive bare-r bones stops... Is it justifiable that Waterloo paid less than 1/3rd for something that started major construction in 2014 instead of 2019, and got better surface stops? All that money was blown on overbuilding the terminus stations and much much more.
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