News   Nov 14, 2024
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Ottawa Transit Developments

Meh, Vancouver is longer than both and continues to move forward on expansions.
And yet with notably less stations and about 40% of the ridership or Toronto or Montreal. And very little commuter rail.

There's a perception that Vancouver is a lot smaller than Toronto - but Skytrain's mandate is to serve not just the City of Vancouver, but the entire 2.5 million Metro Vancouver Regional District, with only 20 stations in the City itself - while until very recently, the TTC subway served only the 2.7 million people in Toronto.
 
And yet with notably less stations and about 40% of the ridership or Toronto or Montreal. And very little commuter rail.

There's a perception that Vancouver is a lot smaller than Toronto - but Skytrain's mandate is to serve not just the City of Vancouver, but the entire 2.5 million Metro Vancouver Regional District, with only 20 stations in the City itself - while until very recently, the TTC subway served only the 2.7 million people in Toronto.

Looking at the metro area, Vancouver's population is about 2.4 million, while Toronto is anywhere between 5.5 to 9 million (GTA vs GTHA vs Golden Horseshoe). As an aside, I once heard someone say that Vancouver's population of 2 million (at the time) is the ideal size of a city: big enough to have the amenities and vibrancy of a large city, but small enough to have a something of a small-town feel and avoid big-city problems like crowding, pollution etc.
 
Looking at the metro area, Vancouver's population is about 2.4 million, while Toronto is anywhere between 5.5 to 9 million (GTA vs GTHA vs Golden Horseshoe). As an aside, I once heard someone say that Vancouver's population of 2 million (at the time) is the ideal size of a city: big enough to have the amenities and vibrancy of a large city, but small enough to have a something of a small-town feel and avoid big-city problems like crowding, pollution etc.

I might buy that for Calgary, Edmonton, and Ottawa, but I think Vancouver is pretty solidly in big city territory, now, at least on a Canadian scale. It definitely has crowding, and traffic issues.
 
Looking at the metro area, Vancouver's population is about 2.4 million, while Toronto is anywhere between 5.5 to 9 million ...
Skytrain's mandate is to serve the Vancouver metro area.

TTC subway isn't, and it's mandate it so cover the city of Toronto with some special deals to serve slighly beyond the border in places. Perhaps this will change if Doug Ford manages to implement Wynne's proposed subway upload.
 
I might buy that for Calgary, Edmonton, and Ottawa, but I think Vancouver is pretty solidly in big city territory, now, at least on a Canadian scale. It definitely has crowding, and traffic issues.

You definitely don't want to live in New York, Tokyo, or Shanghai then (we were talking on a global scale)
 
You definitely don't want to live in New York, Tokyo, or Shanghai then (we were talking on a global scale)

Toronto isn't comparable to those in the global scale either. Vancouver is quite comparable in size to cities like Madrid and Rome. It's definitely far too large for "small town feel".
 
Take the doom and gloom in the article with a bit of salt. For example, they make the point of saying the trains didn't run for 6 days after a storm, but don't mention the fact they didn't run because of a signalling problem caused by a snow blower damaging a sensor on the track. There are lots and lots of legitimate problems, but the article is sensationalizing things
 
Take the doom and gloom in the article with a bit of salt. For example, they make the point of saying the trains didn't run for 6 days after a storm, but don't mention the fact they didn't run because of a signalling problem caused by a snow blower damaging a sensor on the track. There are lots and lots of legitimate problems, but the article is sensationalizing things

Yes and no. When a train gets stuck in a not unusual Ottawa snow event and has to be pushed back to the maintenance yard, there has to be a concern. How do we know that the system will work next winter after we layoff hundreds of bus drivers?
 
Yes and no. When a train gets stuck in a not unusual Ottawa snow event and has to be pushed back to the maintenance yard, there has to be a concern. How do we know that the system will work next winter after we layoff hundreds of bus drivers?

Hence a bit of salt. What we need to know is what RTG and the city learned from the issues found, and what they plan to do to rectify it. I figure this will come out after this weeks fedco meeting when councilors demand to know. If the answer is I dunno, that's a big problem. But I expect they will explain what their proposed remediation plans are
 
Take the doom and gloom in the article with a bit of salt. For example, they make the point of saying the trains didn't run for 6 days after a storm, but don't mention the fact they didn't run because of a signalling problem caused by a snow blower damaging a sensor on the track. There are lots and lots of legitimate problems, but the article is sensationalizing things

That isn't even the only issue they are having

From the article:
The reports say that "panels are coming loose and breaking on LRVs [light-rail vehicles] due to snow building up on the vehicles," and that snow and ice are "frequently causing the doors to freeze shut."

Both brakes and bogies — the underframe of the rail car that holds the wheels — also freeze up if the vehicles "sit for any amount of time" outdoors during a snowfall.

The on-board heating system doesn't always work, and neither does the communications system. Late last week, one train had to be towed back to the garage by another train — not the first time that's happened — and an operator reported smelling smoke at a station.
 
Vancouver is quite comparable in size to cities like Madrid and Rome.

You're joking right?

If you really believe this, you've clearly never traveled to any of these cities. Or even bothered to look up some basic stats....

Metro populations:

Vancouver: 2.5 million
Madrid: 6.7 million
Rome: 4.4 million

Madrid is the third to the fifth (depending on which stats you use) largest metro area in the EU behind London and Paris. Rome is the fifth to seventh largest. Based on core area populations, Madrid is the third largest city in the EU and Rome is the fourth largest.

Vancouver is not even close. It's comparable to Valencia, Brussels, Stockholm or Prague.
 
You're joking right?

If you really believe this, you've clearly never traveled to any of these cities. Or even bothered to look up some basic stats....

Metro populations:

Vancouver: 2.5 million
Madrid: 6.7 million
Rome: 4.4 million

Madrid is the third to the fifth (depending on which stats you use) largest metro area in the EU behind London and Paris. Rome is the fifth to seventh largest. Based on core area populations, Madrid is the third largest city in the EU and Rome is the fourth largest.

Vancouver is not even close. It's comparable to Valencia, Brussels, Stockholm or Prague.

What I remember from Rome is being on Linea A, and a woman getting on the train and just before the door closed a pick pocket on the platform reached in and took her wallet, then the door shut and the train started moving. Rome feels smaller than that 4.4 million number would suggest, ignoring the hordes of tourists around the Trevi fountain. But I'll take back my example, we're way off topic.
 

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