felix123
Active Member
On streetcar 4453 to Humber for the past 45 minutes. The driver is going achingly slowly. There are 2 streetcars right behind him. Is there a slow order on the entire line today, or does the driver just hate Christmas?
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Amare
Senior Member
^A lot of streetcar drivers like to go on joyrides these days. Trust me, there's no slow order whatsoever except for the ~200m rail stretch along Queensway just when streetcars exit Humber Loop going eastbound and on the approach westbound towards the loop. Which of course the TTC will take years to address.
W. K. Lis
Superstar
The tracks are new, so why are they going slow? Could it be because there is no transit priority? Nothing to impend the all mighty automobile.
The Queensway should be closer to a light rail rapid transit. If the original Queen Subway was put in, using the streetcars of the time, The Queensway right-of-way would have been a natural extension of the Queen Subway. The original right-of-way opened to streetcar service on July 21, 1957 (3 years after the Yonge Subway opening on March 30, 1954), and the real only "improvement" was to put in far-side platforms. See link.
Amare
Senior Member
Last I heard, there was some track defect or something to that nature that caused them to impose the speed restriction and that happened pretty much just a few months of the rail reconstruction being complete. It has nothing to do with transit priority.
As to why they havent fixed the problem yet, only the TTC knows.
Towered
Superstar
I wound up driving behind some streetcars on both Queen and Roncy today and they were ridiculously slow, like 10-20 km/h. For what reason? Not much traffic today. This kind of thing causes road rage.
Steve X
Senior Member
1. Too much running time on route
2. Slow order in place due to bad rails. That would be really bad if it derails at high speed and you're driving behind it.
Amare
Senior Member
^Except point 2 doesn't really apply except for on one stretch of rail along the route. However, you could make that point that streetcars crawl through switch points as well and there's a fair bit of them along the 501 route.
Point 1 is probably more of what's taking place, which is why drivers are going on their joyrides. That and the fact there's basically no route supervision whatsoever.
Point 1 is probably more of what's taking place, which is why drivers are going on their joyrides. That and the fact there's basically no route supervision whatsoever.
Admiral Beez
Superstar
If they’re welders or otherwise highly skilled, any terminated or furloughed BBD workers can likely find good work elsewhere. But hopefully BBD can get some new business. They need to build the Eglinton Crosstown, K-W and Hurontario cars still?
Irishmonk
Senior Member
How long until AI robot drivers take over these routes (and the TTC at large) and obviate the relatively quixotic tendencies of the current human operators. Ten years? Twenty?
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W. K. Lis
Superstar
The AI would still have to drive slow because of TTC underfunding and budget cuts of track maintenance.
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crs1026
Superstar
This downgrading of the supposed ‘LRT’ quality row, which is newly rebuilt, just reinforces my fears that under TTC management, Eglinton and Finch will not be managed as higher order transit, Their operating performance and scheduling will gradually regress to traditional streetcar plodding. A good reason why ML is painting their equipment something other than TTC streetcar red.
- Paul
smallspy
Senior Member
There is a 7km/h restriction for every single intersection on the Queensway stretch. No, I don't know why either.
The issue that I had heard from a bunch of operators over the past couple of days is that the schedules are now far too padded for quiet days like Christmas Day or the latter half of Christmas Eve. They are fighting just to try and stay less than 10 minutes early on many routes.
Dan
Amare
Senior Member
To be honest I think the speed restriction at intersections has extended beyond just the intersections on the Queensway ROW. I've been noticing over the past couple of months, many operators have been slowing down at all signalized intersections before accelerating again once the vehicle has cleared the intersection. I dont know if this is official protocol, but I wouldnt be surprised at all since the TTC has some kind of obsession with crippling streetcar operations by finding anyway possible to slow down service in the name of "safety". I know management claims that streetcars should reduce their speed at intersections on the ROW to reduce the chances of streetcars getting into collisions with left turning vehicles, and to be honest, it's one of the most laughable policies they have.
As for the additional running time given to the schedules during the holidays, it leads me to the question of what in the hell kind of planning management is doing? Do they really think people are going to be cramming the streets on Christmas Day to the point vehicles will be running behind schedule?
Richard White
Senior Member
I think it is being done to limit the number of extra vehicles and operators needed. I noticed 30 minute headways on the 17 Birchmount during the holidays. They probably think that nobody will be outside of their homes so they do not need as much service.
crs1026
Superstar
I was "trapped" on a westbound 501 today, when it arrived at Humber Loop ahead of schedule, to find four Flexities lined up in the loop waiting their time to come east. Our car stopped east of the paved platform, so our operator would not open the doors. When people complained that he was making them late, he replied "You can't be late, we're ahead of schedule". For him, maybe.
In my case, I watched as the connecting 66 bus came down the Queensway into the loop. The streetcars pulled ahead just in time that I could finally disembark and run for the bus. At Boxing Day headways, I would have been pretty annoyed had I missed that bus while I was waiting to arrive at the platform.
- Paul
In my case, I watched as the connecting 66 bus came down the Queensway into the loop. The streetcars pulled ahead just in time that I could finally disembark and run for the bus. At Boxing Day headways, I would have been pretty annoyed had I missed that bus while I was waiting to arrive at the platform.
- Paul