TTC: Automatic Train Control and Subway Platform Screen Doors

[jeffreym]

I wonder if I priced this at Home Depot I could do it for less than $10,000 - maybe $100,000.

Maybe they should be looking for a way to do it for $1M per station instead of trying to secure $700M in funding.

You need to redo the station's ventilation. Otherwise you'll just blow out the doors when the first train rolls in.

 

[BurlOak]

You need to redo the station's ventilation. Otherwise you'll just blow out the doors when the first train rolls in.

The barriers do not have to be full height.

 

[junctionist]

Platform doors will be useful if building cheaper surface-level or elevated stations. No one likes waiting for Scarborough RT trains when it's -20. With platform doors, you can have heated and cooled surface-level stations.

 

[LNahid2000]

Platform doors will be useful if building cheaper surface-level or elevated stations. No one likes waiting for Scarborough RT trains when it's -20. With platform doors, you can have heated and cooled surface-level stations.

Just adding some heat lamps would probably be way cheaper. Chicago does this for their stations...I'm not sure why the TTC has never considered it.

 

[Admiral Beez]

If platform doors are in place, I'd lke to rearrange the train crews. Eliminate the driver and doorman. Add one TTC Special Constable to every train, every hour of operation. The reports of women and teen girls being assaulted and intimidated concerns me - and now that the TTC cannot clam ignorance to the issue, they're exposed to class action litigation.

The same issue occurs on the buses and streetcars. I'm not sure how we can address the sexual assault and sexual intimidation issue here. This will become a greater issue when the streetcar driver is intentionally glazed in and separated from the passengers. When I was a lad my grandfather drove a London, UK city bus, which had a crew of two. It would be a difficult challenge with the union to keep costs down, so maybe that is not a solution.

The current method of controlling sexual assault on the TTC is for the victim or witnesses to press the emergency and then wait with the perp for some enforcement or help to arrive. This is not good enough,as it puts the onus on the victim instead of the service provider, especially since the service provider knows their passengers are at risk. What the TTC needs is a focus on deterrence of, not reaction to sexual assaults.

 

[BurlOak]

You need to redo the station's ventilation. Otherwise you'll just blow out the doors when the first train rolls in.

The barriers do not have to be full height.

Platform doors will be useful if building cheaper surface-level or elevated stations. No one likes waiting for Scarborough RT trains when it's -20. With platform doors, you can have heated and cooled surface-level stations.

I imagine that ventilation would be a bigger issue on underground stations.

Thus, the underground stops would get half-height (maybe 5 or 6 feet) doors and the outdoor stations full-height.

 

[pman]

Just adding some heat lamps would probably be way cheaper. Chicago does this for their stations...I'm not sure why the TTC has never considered it.

I don't know if the TTC has ever considered the Chicago solution, but I suspect the reasons they never implemented it are:
1. The TTC doesn't care about customer experience,
2. The TTC is generally useless at minor station renovation or even basic station maintenance, and
3. The TTC exists in a 1940's bubble and doesn't appear to be remotely interested in learning from other transit systems

 

[DSC]

I don't know if the TTC has ever considered the Chicago solution, but I suspect the reasons they never implemented it are:
1. The TTC doesn't care about customer experience,
2. The TTC is generally useless at minor station renovation or even basic station maintenance, and
3. The TTC exists in a 1940's bubble and doesn't appear to be remotely interested in learning from other transit systems

The lack of 'extras' like heaters may also be connected to lack of funds. Toronto fares cover 55% of operating costs, it's 75% here.

 

[Admiral Beez]

The lack of 'extras' like heaters may also be connected to lack of funds. Toronto fares cover 55% of operating costs, it's 75% here.

Sorry, maybe I'm thick this morning, but are you in Chicago? Where is "here"?

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

I wonder if I priced this at Home Depot I could do it for less than $10,000 - maybe $100,000.

Maybe they should be looking for a way to do it for $1M per station instead of trying to secure $700M in funding.

Probably not - it will need to stand up to use, with a high degree of reliability and accuracy. It doesn't sound like a Home Depot kind of job (though the 10M cost per station might benefit from economies of scale).

AoD

 

[TheTigerMaster]

If platform doors are in place, I'd lke to rearrange the train crews. Eliminate the driver and doorman. Add one TTC Special Constable to every train, every hour of operation. The reports of women and teen girls being assaulted and intimidated concerns me - and now that the TTC cannot clam ignorance to the issue, they're exposed to class action litigation.

The same issue occurs on the buses and streetcars. I'm not sure how we can address the sexual assault and sexual intimidation issue here. This will become a greater issue when the streetcar driver is intentionally glazed in and separated from the passengers. When I was a lad my grandfather drove a London, UK city bus, which had a crew of two. It would be a difficult challenge with the union to keep costs down, so maybe that is not a solution.

The current method of controlling sexual assault on the TTC is for the victim or witnesses to press the emergency and then wait with the perp for some enforcement or help to arrive. This is not good enough,as it puts the onus on the victim instead of the service provider, especially since the service provider knows their passengers are at risk. What the TTC needs is a focus on deterrence of, not reaction to sexual assaults.

I know all to well about sexual assault on the TTC, but this seems incredibly excessive to me. I'd fire the door guards and hire a few more Special Constibles. But here's no need to have them on every, or even 1/4 of trains.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

I know all to well about sexual assault on the TTC, but this seems incredibly excessive to me. I'd fire the door guards and hire a few more Special Constibles. But here's no need to have them on every, or even 1/4 of trains.

We don't need more special constables - we need etiquette patrol with the authority to issue tickets.

AoD

 

[ehlow]

Just adding some heat lamps would probably be way cheaper. Chicago does this for their stations...I'm not sure why the TTC has never considered it.

Because that takes away a hugely popular argument for building extremely expensive & slow to build subways in areas where there won't be ridership.

 

[Admiral Beez]

We don't need more special constables - we need etiquette patrol with the authority to issue tickets.

AoD

Call them what you want, and IMO the TPS-like uniform and ballistic vest is overkill. But you may find that Hyacinth Bucket's points on etiquette are insufficient when a woman is being sexually assaulted or intimidated.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Call them what you want, and IMO the TPS-like uniform and ballistic vest is overkill. But you may find that Hyacinth Bucket's points on etiquette are insufficient when a woman is being sexually assaulted or intimidated.

The issue is far greater than sexual assaults on the TTC - it is a general lackadaisical attitude towards enforcing decent behaviour. Instead of using uniformed officer, they should go for plainclothes - think mystery shopper instead of authority figures.

AoD