News   Jan 03, 2025
 1.7K     1 
News   Jan 03, 2025
 2K     0 
News   Jan 03, 2025
 2.5K     0 

TTC: Easier Access Phase III

This is how public toilets on the Helsinki metro work:
Finland-Helsinki-Metro-6.jpg

Source

You pay, you get in... to keep out vagrants/addicts.
My phone slows with multiple windows open...

I wanted to add, this is more for women's safety when most vulnerable. There are workarounds - eg. wait for someone to leave the stall once the indicator changes.

Being cheap, I always used a long-distance train departing in 10+ minutes.

This is the practice in Northern Europe at least - even at McDonalds, you have to pay. If you're a customer, you get a token.

Guess it's because of better social services.
 
This is the practice in Northern Europe at least - even at McDonalds, you have to pay. If you're a customer, you get a token.

In Hungary it is the same way.

If you want to drop a deuce at McDonalds you need to pay. I recall last year having to buy lunch there when I had travelers diarrhea in order to avoid a rather messy situation.
 
I find it a frustration that there is so much ongoing, but slow moving construction at so many stations. Is it a fair criticism that the TTC would have been better off tackling them sequentially instead of concurrently? it seems like right now everything is half done - with at least a year to completion. Could they have knocked off many of these projects faster by focusing on one at a time - or were they all subcontracted out anyway and one project's completion schedule is independent of another?
 
I find it a frustration that there is so much ongoing, but slow moving construction at so many stations. Is it a fair criticism that the TTC would have been better off tackling them sequentially instead of concurrently? it seems like right now everything is half done - with at least a year to completion. Could they have knocked off many of these projects faster by focusing on one at a time - or were they all subcontracted out anyway and one project's completion schedule is independent of another?
To schedule work on many stations you hardly want to do them one at a time as each is unique. Ideally you do them in 'groups' and that's what TTC tried to do.
 
I find it a frustration that there is so much ongoing, but slow moving construction at so many stations. Is it a fair criticism that the TTC would have been better off tackling them sequentially instead of concurrently?

Not really. For the simple reason that I can't think of any reason that would have expedited work.

- or were they all subcontracted out anyway and one project's completion schedule is independent of another?

Design was done in-house by TTC; construction is tendered out in every case and is being done by multiple companies.

****

I think what you're trying to get at is fair enough, which is "Could the work be delivered more quickly?"

I'll answer that with 'yes'.

The important bit would be the 'how'.

The exact answers would vary by project, but in general.

1) Better efforts to have the as-built and ground conditions accurate, and the design appropriate to same. The TTC has encountered problems more than once with things not being where they were supposed to be and that necessitating change orders. To be fair, this is an issue construction in the private sector as well. Fixing it is a long term issue that includes more scrutiny during projects to keep on top of as-built vs as drawn, and making sure those changes work their way into public documents, software/mapping etc.

2) The TTC generally does not impose a minimum number of workers on site on jobs; and it has found itself more than once getting what a contractor could spare, who places resources with more demanding clients first.

3) The TTC may have improved, others here would know better than I.........but they have had an issue in the past with timeliness of change-order processing.

4) The TTC rarely plans for, or pays for weekend work or double shifts. If work is only getting done 8'ish hours a day, 5'ish days a week..........jobs move a lot slower. If Centercourt was managing TTC projects, just like their condos it would be 12-hour days and six day weeks with Sundays available as needed if work slips behind schedule. (72 hour base schedule gets a lot more done than 40)

5) The TTC doesn't often demonstrate a willingness to endure short-term pain. Under Andy Byford, work at Pape Station was advanced considerably when they closed the station for a couple of weeks and went all-out.
Elevator projects might not routinely benefit from that extent of closure, but at certain points, it could be helpful. Close the station for 3 days even, and you get 5 or more days work done, particularly if you go with double shifts or even 24/7.

***

In summary, its possible to get stuff done more quickly, Some of it is diligence, some of it is efficiency, some of it is being a demanding client, and some is being willing to pay a bit more in hourly or daily pay, but often making a good portion of that back through a shorter project timeline.
 
Last edited:
I find it a frustration that there is so much ongoing, but slow moving construction at so many stations. Is it a fair criticism that the TTC would have been better off tackling them sequentially instead of concurrently? it seems like right now everything is half done - with at least a year to completion. Could they have knocked off many of these projects faster by focusing on one at a time - or were they all subcontracted out anyway and one project's completion schedule is independent of another?
Just info from reddit so take it how you will but I heard from an escalator technician that even stuff like getting an escalator replacement takes YEARS on top of what it would elsewhere because of the procurement process, odball requirements, and then rules about staging and access. I think parallel is a lot faster way to get something done based off of that
 

Back
Top