duper
Active Member
My office window looks over Queen street. I haven't looked at the numbers online, but it sure seems like the route was approaching 50% flexities today.
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thettctransitfanatic
Senior Member
Yeah, quite a few Flexities were on Queen today, with the January changes on Monday, the Flexities will appear on 501 in increasing amounts till the route is fully converted sometime around late Spring or early Summer ( for the Humber-Neville section, Long Branch likely won't be converted till the fall ), assuming BBD stays on schedule,
nfitz
Superstar
11 cars out now, of the 32 scheduled on non-Long Branch service. 35 scheduled earlier today. So about 1/3.
We may have seen our last scheduled CLRV on Kingston Road or King Street with 503 converted to buses after today's rush hour is over. Looks like the last car was 4146 which got back to Russell at about 7:30 pm. Who knows when we'll next see streetcars on 502 or 503.
At the rate they are going, CLRVs are going to become a rare sight other than 506 - though I assume some route will get streetcars back when all the construction bustitutions start for the Roncesvalles/King/Queen intersection work.
Might be sooner than that. They look to be about 25 cars short currently to fully convert 501A. But once the construction bustitutions start February, they'll need less cars on 501A (maybe about 7?), and they'll need about 7 less cars on 504A.
So perhaps only 11 more cars needed for full conversion of 501? 8 new cars entered service in December - and they have 5 cars currently being prepared for service.
If construction bustitiution starts February 17, then we might just see all-Flexity service on 501 before Spring starts!
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drum118
Superstar
4520 is now tracking.
thettctransitfanatic
Senior Member
Definitely the last CLRV on King Street, Kingston Rd, not sure when it or 502 will be converted, highly rumoured that 511 will get streetcars back ( it will ), presumably sometime between February and April, and yes, construction bustitution does start on February 17th for 501L, but those 7 could also be used for 511.
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nfitz
Superstar
I'd heard that, but if you look at the construction tender, the original closing date of December 6 has slipped to January 31. This makes me wonder if construction won't be starting in February, and bustitution will be delayed. Though it wouldn't be the first time that TTC switched to buses long before construction started.
Though the bigger impact is not the 501L bustitution but the ones for 501A and 504A, which reduces the streetcar demand by another 14 or so cars.
They will also freed up 8 cars from 503 with the January 6 2019 board, and the was 8 cars from October 2018 when they cut back on the 504/514 service. That's at least 21 and up to 37 cars available for additional service, somewhere.
It only takes about 12 CLRVs to run 511.
Additional options are the 4 or so cars needed to remove AM peak buses on 506, 7 cars for 502, and 18 cars for 505.
thettctransitfanatic
Senior Member
Apologize for getting off-topic, but 511 will get streetcars back sometime between February and April, not 502 or 505. 505 still has the water main work along Dundas, and 502, who knows when it will get them back. I think likely the busitution for 501L will happen first with February Board, and construction will pick up eventually.
steveintoronto
Superstar
^Speaking of "the last CLRV" the oldest left in the fleet was on service yesterday on route 506: 4002. It's in amazingly good condition considering the age, but as the driver who was loving it explained, it was part of the rebuild tranche. For all the 'limitations' of the older design, it braked and tracked a hell of a lot better than the Flexities. Braking on the Flexities leaves a huge amount to be desired. Smooth it isn't, but of course, the design was never intended for on-road use, it was for dedicated RoWs where stop and go traffic isn't an issue.
Whatever, it was good to ride 4002, and will be for the next while at least.
Whatever, it was good to ride 4002, and will be for the next while at least.
thettctransitfanatic
Senior Member
I have to admit, I don't like the breaking on the Flexities either. It throttles sometimes. The reason 4002 is in great condition is because it is a candidate for a CLRV the TTC might preserve.
nfitz
Superstar
I hadn't realised that there were more phases of watermain work on Dundas - gosh until Fall 2019 - https://www.toronto.ca/community-pe...t-watermain-replacement-and-road-resurfacing/
Though once they are just between University and Bay in Spring 2019, I wonder if they'd restore streetcars, and just detour it ... shame there aren't any eastbound curves at McCaul. Perhaps Dundas has seen it's last scheduled CLRV already!
So with 8 cars from 503 in January and 21 cars being freed up in February (or March/April), restoring 12 (as rumoured) for Bathurst seems a no-brainer, I'm not sure why they wouldn't also get rid of buses on 502 and 506, which would only require another 11 or so cars.
Though restoring some of the 504 service-cuts - particularly off-peak, along Broadview and Roncesvalles would be appreciated by me!
I assume the next route for Flexity's after 501 will be 511. Not impossible we'll be seeing some there as soon as the route is restored, on Sundays at least.
thettctransitfanatic
Senior Member
I would like to see the Roncesvalles service cut in particular restored, but knowing TTC, it will not happen. I don't know about 502 getting them back, 506 might happen with those extra cars, 511 will be getting them back ( it is not a rumour ) just sometime, between February and April, and Flexities will likely be deployed there once 501A is done, and likely will stay through the summer. I don't know if streetcars on 511 will be a full time thing though, usually they are just there for the summer season.
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drum118
Superstar
4520 out testing on 506 at Coxwell
4572 is in the yard on track 13 at the front and the first time out of the service bay in a week.
4518 & 19 GPS all over the place.
Nothing for 4521 yet
4572 is in the yard on track 13 at the front and the first time out of the service bay in a week.
4518 & 19 GPS all over the place.
Nothing for 4521 yet
thettctransitfanatic
Senior Member
Gonna keep a eye on 4572's GPS to see if it enters service on Monday. I suspect it will.
dowlingm
Senior Member
4518 testing on King St E (Transsee)
Andy_in_Toronto
Active Member
The second streetcar from the Kingston plant will be shipped in the next few days according to their Twitter account!