Johnny Au
Senior Member
The Rogers Centre is getting rid of its artificial turf. It can perhaps be reused for the Eglinton Crosstown LRT.
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howl
Active Member
Salsa - apparently you've never been on the Tube in London. Many stations are 20m to 30m down (seven to ten storeys). The deepest station is Hampstead at 58m (20 storeys). There are three reasons for this: One, there are hills and railways can only go up certain grades; Two, many lines have to go under the river Thames, which deep (capable of docking warships); and Three, there is a layer of easily mined but strong rock (I don't recall if its chalk or sandstone or something else) that makes construction easy at that level.
crs1026
Superstar
Cut and cover worked for the Bloor line - sort of. There were some pretty buildings demolished in those pre-preservation days, and land prices were in a different league than today. Arguably those back-alley parking lots that emerged along the Bloor line after the construction were an enhancement that has served the city well. I'm not so sure one could make the same case for the lines we are building today.
It's true that other cities do well with deep tunnels. The key is they have put in sufficient elevator and escalator capacity, and those devices are maintained to a high standard. An elevator outage is an urgent matter. TTC will have to up its game to follow suit. It can be done, it just takes the right mindset.
- Paul
It's true that other cities do well with deep tunnels. The key is they have put in sufficient elevator and escalator capacity, and those devices are maintained to a high standard. An elevator outage is an urgent matter. TTC will have to up its game to follow suit. It can be done, it just takes the right mindset.
- Paul
44 North
Senior Member
Correct, they do have some bloody deep stations and long escalators. The layer they've bored through isn't rock however, but a clay seam - which in many ways is better than rock. Easy to mine, under pressure, and extremely impermeable. The layer however changes depth south of the Thames, which is a reason their Tube hasn't extended as far south of there.
Worth noting to those that don't know, but London also uses two types of rolling stock: Subsurface and Deep Tube trains. Also that 55% of their Tube is actually on the surface.
muller877
Senior Member
The right hand turn onto the side street is greater than 90 degrees. So it will require either a right turn lane or an island (otherwise turning traffic will have to slow down so much it will create a dangerous situation. It also makes an effective "kiss and ride" drop off location.
muller877
Senior Member
Dumb question about the design of the station. Why do subway/LRT stops require staff parking? How many workers who work next to a subway have free parking? Or free TTC service? Unacceptable benefit that very few people get.
They should be like the rest of us. Buy a token and take the TTC to work.
1. TTC needs to make sure they are including a taxable benefit on the workers T4
2. Auction off the spot yearly (with the prior year's winner having a right of first refusal). I'm sure there are people that live near here would pay $1000+ / year for this spot.
3. If the auction idea it too capitalist for people, sell the land so we can have another coffee shop near the TTC.
TheTigerMaster
Superstar
More often than not, I see these parking spots being used by work vans/trucks.
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
Station opening and closing times aren't exactly great for using public transit, and besides the parking lot can be used by maintenance crew and whatnot. I think it is a case of making a mountain out of a molehill, especially considering the size of the lot.
AoD
wopchop
Building Toronto
Except that the parking spots are basically there for maintenance and contractor vehicles, not for everyday working staff.
BMO
Senior Member
This. If you drive along Highway 7 it's hard not to find a handful of stations that have Maintenance vehicles parked in the Rapidway stations.
muller877
Senior Member
It's not just at this lot but throughout the system I see cars parked in bus loops and in special parking lots. Most of the time it is their own car and not a maintenance vehicle. If the bus loop is too big, then use it for bike parking or rent out the spots to a car sharing company.
It's a public asset and should not be used for personal benefit.
And most shift workers have to use the night bus system. Is it good enough for the public but not good enough for TTC employees? Or pay for public parking nearby?
muller877
Senior Member
Let's look at Google Maps and a random bunch of stations with a bus loop. My conclusion....the TTC should either police this better or they are available for everyday working staff.
Wellesley Subway
https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.6651...axx0_i2oIEBTcAVZKw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1
3 personal cars (if you look in the other way it looks like there is 1 maintenance vehicle)
Rosedale
3 personal, 1 maintenance
https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.6765788,-79.3889603,172m/data=!3m1!1e3
Royal York
2 personal (with a parking lot literally just across the fence)
https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.6479...03&h=100&yaw=61.883572&pitch=0!7i13312!8i6656
wopchop
Building Toronto
I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but looking at a personal looking vehicle and automatically concluding that it isn't a contractor or maintenance worker is a bad conclusion.
It could be that the "personal vehicles" are simply contractors/maintenance workers that weren't at the shop when the van/work truck left and met it at the job. It could be a TTC supervisor that has a vehicle and covers a wide area. It could be a contractor that drives a personal vehicle (very common). It could be a lot of things other than a worker illegally parking for the day.
It could be that the "personal vehicles" are simply contractors/maintenance workers that weren't at the shop when the van/work truck left and met it at the job. It could be a TTC supervisor that has a vehicle and covers a wide area. It could be a contractor that drives a personal vehicle (very common). It could be a lot of things other than a worker illegally parking for the day.
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
Er, most shift workers in quasi-industrial jobs have access to free company parking lots, unless they don't drive. Certainly transit workers (e.g. bus drivers) have free parking at the depots. So I am not sure what the complain is about.
AoD
crs1026
Superstar
Yes and no. If you aggregate the value of the benefit across all TTC stations, it is certainly a material chunk of change. TTC should be maximising its revenue, so if cars can be parked there, maybe they should be charged for this.
That said, it would be inflammatory to staff relations to retract the benefit, and there are likely legal grounds to prevent the TTC from doing that (google the term 'estoppel'). It's a battle I would not pick to fight....but no harm in reminding TTC workers that they are enjoying a benefit here.
The taxable benefit aspect is interesting. Having endured the odd CRA employer's audit in my time, this might actually meet a threshold that they would attend to. (Mum's the word!)
One does notice that TTC employees seem to park on every available bit of land, including boulevards and places where parking isn't desirable. There may be good reason to enforce parking rules a bit more. This will likely lead to the finding that there are more employees' cars than space available. Again, maybe better not to open the box.
- Paul