News   Jul 26, 2024
Maple House Wins Sole Canadian ULI 2024 Americas Awards for Excellence
 343     0 
News   Jul 26, 2024
Three Towers up to 55 Storeys Proposed near Sheppard West Station
 905     1 
News   Jul 26, 2024
A Peek Inside The Canada Malting Silos & Bathurst Quay Revitalization
 794     1 

New Streetcars

Haha, the sad part is you might actually be able to improve service on certain routes if you flooded them with buses. A lot of the problem with some streetcar routes now is that there just aren't enough vehicles available.
 
GraphicMatt said:
Haha, the sad part is you might actually be able to improve service on certain routes if you flooded them with buses. A lot of the problem with some streetcar routes now is that there just aren't enough vehicles available.
Click to expand...

Do you realise how many buses you would need - and how that would screw up automobile traffic?
 
I do. I'm just saying if you wanted to rig a 'pilot project' to successfully show that buses can provide better service than streetcars, it wouldn't be that hard. Throw dozens of buses at a route like Bathurst and you'd probably see some improvement in service in the short-term.

I don't think any of this will happen, though. Council is still way too progressive.
 
Also, as a safeguard, I wonder if it'd be possible to get the downtown streetcar tracks protected as heritage infrastructure. Surely there's an argument to be made for their historical and cultural importance to the city.
 
GraphicMatt said:
Also, as a safeguard, I wonder if it'd be possible to get the downtown streetcar tracks protected as heritage infrastructure. Surely there's an argument to be made for their historical and cultural importance to the city.
Click to expand...
An argument against it is that they get replaced every x number of years. Hard to call the King tracks heritage infrastructure when they date all the way back to 2003 (give or take).
 
A lot of the streetcar tracks were just replaced. It would make no sense to rip them up now before their costs have been fully ammortized.
 
Apparently they need to perform an EA to remove the tracks. There's a reason why the "wrong way" tracks are still in place on richmond and adeleide. Back in the day they just asphalted over them (until very recently there were tracks peeking throught at Bay and Bloor... and St Clair and Mt Pleasant) but I doubt they could do even that today.

The TTC was already considering throwing a few buses in the mix on Bathurst in the morning rush. Ridership growth, full service on St Clair and a fleet that is literally falling apart from old age means the streetcar shortage is critical. They waited about three years too long to order the new cars.
 
Gee, if only there were some way that he could have determined the cost prior to all the pre-election rhetoric...
 
I wonder how long it will take Mr. Ford to realize it's not about moving cars, it's about moving people.

It's not the streetcars (each of which generally carries over 50 passengers) that are congesting the road, it's the cars (each of which generally carries no more than 2 people) that are congesting the roads.
 
You know what the worst thing in all this? When Ford becomes Mayor, people are going to start seeing brand spanking new subways just a month later and the new streetcar fleet will be rolling in just as he's running for re-election. Who do you think people are going to credit for all that? Not Miller or Giambrone. I'm sure Ford be happy to take the credit.

If Ford does nothing and just lets plans proceed as scheduled, by the time he's finished his second term (oh gawd...) most of Transit City will be in place and he'll be perceived as the most pro-transit Mayor in 30 years.
 
Last edited:
MetroMan said:
You know what the worst thing in all this? When Ford becomes Mayor, people are going to start seeing brand spanking new subways just a month later and the new streetcar fleet will be rolling in just as he's running for re-election. Who do you think people are going to credit for all that? Not Miller or Giambrone. I'm sure Ford be happy to take the credit.
Click to expand...

That was partially the fault of the previous administration. Knowing how long it takes to manufacture an order of subways and the inevitable delays (usually ~1 year) it was in Miller's interest to get the order filled as early as possible.

I also think that the streetcars will probably not arrive on our streets until late 2014 (remember: 1 year delay!), so I don't think Ford will be able to take credit for them, either.
 
Hipster Duck said:
That was partially the fault of the previous administration. Knowing how long it takes to manufacture an order of subways and the inevitable delays (usually ~1 year) it was in Miller's interest to get the order filled as early as possible.

I also think that the streetcars will probably not arrive on our streets until late 2014 (remember: 1 year delay!), so I don't think Ford will be able to take credit for them, either.
Click to expand...

Hopefully we'll only have 4 years of that fat ass.

I can't wait til an NDP coloured mayor takes over again.
 
You must log in or register to post here.

Back
Top