Toronto Crosstown LRT | ?m | ?s | Metrolinx | Arcadis

[W. K. Lis]

I'm expecting that the doors will have a delay on them to open and close. With more delays before they open or after they close.

While other cities actually have the passengers pressing the door buttons (inside and outside) to open them individually, in Toronto we tend to have them all open and close at the same time.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Although the midtown transit line is set to begin service in a matter of months

I call Newfoundland steak on that supposition. My guess is at the earliest we’ll see service begin in spring 2024. Followed by a O-Train like shutdown soon after opening due to some oversight in operations, design or execution.

I call Spring 2024 because the lawsuits between Metrolinx and their contractors need to be settled, which can take months. And then construction work needs to be resumed and completed, followed by post-winter testing and trials.

 

[fanoftoronto]

I have replied back to this email asking this same question. If the signal priority is only for special cases or if it's gonna be on all the time. I made a point to emphasize that the LRT is gonna have 100s of people and should take priority over the 10 or so cars with 12 people total inside them.

Closing loop on this email with Metrolinx:

Confirmed yet again, that signal priority is only when LRV's are behind schedule.

My idea is - Metrolinx should create the schedule to be extremely aggressive and mimic grade separation levels of service. This would mean that the LRV's are always behind schedule, meaning that the signal priority is also always active!

Should I put this as my recommendation to Ivan?

 

[duffo]

Closing loop on this email with Metrolinx:

View attachment 498439

Confirmed yet again, that signal priority is only when LRV's are behind schedule.

My idea is - Metrolinx should create the schedule to be extremely aggressive and mimic grade separation levels of service. This would mean that the LRV's are always behind schedule, meaning that the signal priority is also always active!

Should I put this as my recommendation to Ivan?

The schedules and service plans were decided years ago, and are contractually binding. The consortium gets penalized if service is behind schedule. They can't just change them so that it is "always behind schedule"..

 

[trtcttc]

It really shouldn't be that difficult to implement TSP so that trains don't get stuck waiting for red lights - if a train is actively waiting at an intersection, re-order the signal phases so that the straight-through phase goes first, and the left turning phase goes afterwards. Why does the city insist on prioritizing the 4 or 5 left turning cars instead of an entire train?

This is Toronto… I still remember often seeing a supervisor standing at a street corner literally marking down when each streetcar passed by. That’s some very expensive timekeeping which somehow couldn’t be done at transit control

 

[Undead]

Better TSP will be a multi year pressure campaign on the local MPPs and City councilors. Start writing the emails and letters, boys and girls. It'll be a long fight, but we can't let them get away with this crap.

 

[GenerationLee]

I took these a few hours ago, walking to a bus stop to avoid Kennedy station. I haven't been to the area for a long time, it's looking good. Well, good in the sense that visually it's looking close to being done.

 

[fanoftoronto]

Closing loop on this email with Metrolinx:

View attachment 498439

Confirmed yet again, that signal priority is only when LRV's are behind schedule.

My idea is - Metrolinx should create the schedule to be extremely aggressive and mimic grade separation levels of service. This would mean that the LRV's are always behind schedule, meaning that the signal priority is also always active!

Should I put this as my recommendation to Ivan?

One final email response from Ivan regarding this issue.

It's disappointing that not only is there a 50 km/h speed limit on the LRV's in the above ground sections and a lack of true signal priority, but also that the LRV's will be forced to slow down to 25 km/h at intersections. This further gimps the speed on the surface section.

All this because the City of Toronto wants to prioritize single occupancy cars over 150 occupancy LRTs.

 

[T3G]

Can we import someone from a grown up tram operation, like Prague or Vienna or Budapest, to head our transit systems?

I would love it if the TTC and/or Metrolinx (I assume this rule came from the TTC, since they're afraid of their own shadow) could explain how come buses don't have to slow down when passing through intersections.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Can we import someone from a grown up tram operation, like Prague or Vienna or Budapest, to head our transit systems?

I would love it if the TTC and/or Metrolinx (I assume this rule came from the TTC, since they're afraid of their own shadow) could explain how come buses don't have to slow down when passing through intersections.

The speed limit on the surface and "transit" priority signals is not under the TTC control. It's the (Driver's) Transportation Services that directs and controls the traffic signals and speed limits.

 

[cplchanb]

One final email response from Ivan regarding this issue.

View attachment 498748

It's disappointing that not only is there a 50 km/h speed limit on the LRV's in the above ground sections and a lack of true signal priority, but also that the LRV's will be forced to slow down to 25 km/h at intersections. This further gimps the speed on the surface section.

All this because the City of Toronto wants to prioritize single occupancy cars over 150 occupancy LRTs.

while youre at it how about ask Ivan why theres light poles over the science center portal that has been continuously on for 3years

 

[W. K. Lis]

while youre at it how about ask Ivan why theres light poles over the science center portal that has been continuously on for 3years

In case of night test runs to watch out for raccoons, deer, coyotes, turkeys, squirrels, and the occasional transit nerd. Or a car that ends up on the tracks.

 

[H4F33Z]

One final email response from Ivan regarding this issue.

View attachment 498748

It's disappointing that not only is there a 50 km/h speed limit on the LRV's in the above ground sections and a lack of true signal priority, but also that the LRV's will be forced to slow down to 25 km/h at intersections. This further gimps the speed on the surface section.

All this because the City of Toronto wants to prioritize single occupancy cars over 150 occupancy LRTs.

That doesn’t make sense?? The city has literally made an exemption for the LRVs to go 60km/h, contrary to the signed limit. I‘m going to find this report.

EDIT: Seems I’ve already posted on this. Here’s the part of the motion from 2021

Link to Motion

This may just be a miscommunication from the person sending that email, but I stg, if the LRVs actually run at 50 km/h during revenue, I will riot

 

[CapitalSeven]

Regarding intersections, nearly every one the trains will be going through has a stop on one side for the other, with the result that they will be accelerating from or braking to a stop. I don't think the 25 kph limit in the actual intersections is that serious an issue, though I agree it's unnecessary.

 

[fanoftoronto]

Regarding intersections, nearly every one the trains will be going through has a stop on one side for the other, with the result that they will be accelerating from or braking to a stop. I don't think the 25 kph limit in the actual intersections is that serious an issue, though I agree it's unnecessary.

The issue is not for the intersection that has LRT stops, but rather ones that don't have stops. If there's a Green light, the LRVs need to slowdown to 25km/h while crossing the intersection. This greatly slows down the overall average speed of the surface section.