TTC Commission Reports - December 2007

[299 bloor call control.]

The first interesting tidbit is that they've finally started putting all their reports online in PDF format instead of plain text/HTML.

Some interesting reports:

1) Collector Booth Signage - they're finally dealing with the issue of handwritten signs..
http://www.ttc.ca/postings/gso-comr...ement_of__Handmade_Signage_Staff_Response.pdf

2) Hybrid 40-ft buses - award of contract to DaimlerChrysler
http://www.ttc.ca/postings/gso-comrpt/documents/report/f3416/40ft_Hybrid_LF_Buses.pdf

3) Modification of Rear Seating on all CLRVs for more standing room
http://www.ttc.ca/postings/gso-comr...ustomer_Input_Regarding_Seating_Pref_rev1.pdf

4) Response to TTC Budget issues:
http://www.ttc.ca/postings/gso-comr...ustomer_Input_Regarding_Seating_Pref_rev1.pdf

 

[CDL.TO]

Thanks for that. However, your last link is erroneous.

I've been waiting for them to start work one the CLRV seating conversion, I've seen the test cars in service and it makes a big improvement.

For the signage issue, I have one word for the TTC: Whiteboards. London uses them with wonderful effectiveness, and people do tend to pay more attention to handwritten signs assume there isn't a mass of them. There is no need to start rolling out LED displays at stations.

 

[299 bloor call control.]

London also uses LCDs with much effectiveness as well. I took a picture of one talking about a delay on the District Line due to "Body on the tracks"

This is what we need at the entrance to every station:

 

[unimaginative2]

Whoa, did you make that? That's fantastic. It's absoutely what we need. At least as long as it's properly updated (i.e. diversions aren't 3 months old and subway lines never have delays unless they've been shut down for at least 2 days).

The hybrid bus report also says that they're looking at getting articulated 60-foot buses from New Flyer. That sounds like a good plan to me. The TTC should also re-examine 30-foot buses. It just makes sense on routes like Silver Hills.

 

[299 bloor call control.]

a 60-foot articulated bus makes sense because route demand is so great and adding a second bus is a great expense (i.e. a second operator to drive it). Adding more vehicles also adds to bunching.

a 30-foot bus makes less sense because the operating cost doesn't change at all in running a shorter bus.... you still have one bus driver (as much as we wish we could sometimes have 3/4 of a driver). The savings on fuel would be negated by the need to have another line of maintenance and parts for another vehicle. running "community buses" like they do in Calgary and Edmonton in the late evenings is also an option - in Calgary those routes are contracted out and in Edmonton, are given usually to cute 20-year old junior bus drivers. I'm not adverse to a few of those running after the bar. The downside of these is that they pretty much are impractical here in Toronto since we need slightly more capacity than these can hold, and the vehicles have horrid lifespans.

and thanks, yeah I threw that together quickly... with the networking of our stations with OneStop, there's nothing to say that this can't be done with a couple of LCD screens at each station entrance. I've noticed they've been using the TTC info space more and more for delays lately (most recently this morning to alert about the Bathurst station closure due to the gas leak and subsequent diversion of the 7 and 511 -- it made me choose to avoid Spadina completely)

Maybe when the contract comes up, we can negotiate these in... and the screens can be 80% service info and 20% advertising, the opposite of the screens on platforms now. (ads run in the space for TTC info, for example, and service info on the rest of the screen).