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TTC: Flexity Streetcars Testing & Delivery (Bombardier)

Red October said:
This frustrates me too. Especially if you're running short on time to get somewhere, the streetcar moving slowly/staying stopped for no apparent reason is infuriating.
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Surely you would be more frustrated if the TTC made no effort to space their vehicles out properly? Personally I am not too concerned about schedules on very frequent routes as long as streetcars or buses arrive regularly and not in convoys with huge gaps. Schedules are clearly important if a route is not too frequent (more than 8-10 minutes?) and I have no problem with a driver/operator stopping to be sure she does not pass a stop early.
 
Is anyone surprised that Bombardier just announced its plans to move jobs and production from Downsview's Q400 plant to Mexico and China? All the while asking for taxpayer bailouts. Those guys from Montreal certainly have brass balls.
 
They should send the Q400 frame folks up to Thunder Bay and get them to do the fab. They'd do a far better job than the gong show that is Sahagun.

Speaking of which, stumbled across this:

http://www.gettyimages.ca/detail/ne...ction-of-a-railcar-cabin-news-photo/172566983

That's totally the frame for a FLEXITY - likely Outlook (not Freedom), for Toronto, based on the date - the telltale is the curved round structural elements that frame the cab. Neat to get an inside look at the jigs and fixturing.
 
One of the biggest issues with Spadina and running the service is how fast they get cars through the loops, drivers during morning rush will simply stay parked in the pickup area of Spadina Loop with most passengers loaded for a minute or two while a queue of two or more cars wait behind to deboard and then pick up passengers, WHO THEN THEMSELVES WAIT! this sort of queuing is incredibly frustrating especially when your trying to get off the cars and onto the subway but the driver ahead wont move, likely due to the need to keep scheduling i would presume.

I suspect cars move slowly along the route to avoid creating even bigger backlogs at the loops. That is no excuse but may explain some of the madness for it. cars should be moved in and out of the loop as soon as they are boarded to allow for efficient flows. Schedules should change to reflect this. In the off peak the issue is not as present simply due to the lower number of streetcars on the route and thus less propensity to queue
 
Sounds like it is all perceived delays. If they're following a schedule, and are right on time, even though it could go faster... then it would be ahead of schedule, and you'd get bunching.

This reminds me of the stories of the operators at the Morgantown PRT who told me that kids complain endlessly there that "the car just sits there with the door closed after I push the button, and 5 minutes later, THEN the door opens." What they don't realize is that the system is waiting for other passengers who are going to the same desitination... if every car boarded and departed as soon as one passenger boarded, it'd be terribly inefficient and the throughput would plummet.

I know it's not the same technical situation, but it's the same human response - perceived vs. actual/overall capacities, that kinda thing.
 
Duck said:
Sounds like it is all perceived delays. If they're following a schedule, and are right on time, even though it could go faster... then it would be ahead of schedule, and you'd get bunching.

This reminds me of the stories of the operators at the Morgantown PRT who told me that kids complain endlessly there that "the car just sits there with the door closed after I push the button, and 5 minutes later, THEN the door opens." What they don't realize is that the system is waiting for other passengers who are going to the same desitination... if every car boarded and departed as soon as one passenger boarded, it'd be terribly inefficient and the throughput would plummet.

I know it's not the same technical situation, but it's the same human response - perceived vs. actual/overall capacities, that kinda thing.
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That is by and large pretty much it. It is a question of frequency versus speed. On the line there is already bunching along the length of the queen to bloor stretch. It is the case though through my frequent anecdotal experience though that moving cars out of the spadina loop during morning peak could be done faster, even if there may be a slower speed accomplished along the subsequent portion of the route to avoid bunching, as there is often little Streetcar traffic during the morning peak headed southbound towards college. The line in many respects is now saturated with riders.

I cant imagine then what "service increases" on the line would mean, greater frequency at lower speeds? (because of the aforementioned problems)
 
I do not understand this apparent trade-off between frequency versus speed.

If all cars sped up on this route, say to an average of 20 km/h, that would increase the frequency of cars.

If this increased speed results in bunching, take a couple of cars off the route.
 
In the case of spadina station though the time gate should be somewhere in the tunnel after the station. That way cars can unload, move forward, load...as soon as a car arrives behind them the loading car can move forward into the tunnel 4 or 5 car lengths and wait for whatever correct spacing is required then go.

This buffering allows for people to get off as soon as they get to the station and cars to fill up in a more distributed way. People might complain about waiting in the tunnel. But they would have had to wait in the station before. In theory the car could just move very slowly to the first stop once they clear the pickup location in spadina.
 
It seems Spadina would be the perfect test case for conditional signal priority. With its own right of way, lots of leading left turn signals, and way too many minor intersections with stops/lights, it would be very easy to space out the streetcars using traffic signals.
 
From Budget 2016:

Canadians need immediate investments in their communities’ public transit systems, so that they can get to work on time, and back home at the end of a long day. The Public Transit Infrastructure Fund will make these long overdue investments. Funding will be provided to support projects that will deliver increased capacity, enhanced service or improved environmental outcomes. Projects could include:
  • Fleet replacement, including the purchase of new subway cars, low-floor buses, and street cars by the Toronto Transit Commission (p.92)
Budget PDF here

This could mean that the TTC could get federal funds for the 60 extra LFLRVs that they have yet to order. I'd say thats good news.
 
alexanderglista said:
From Budget 2016:

Canadians need immediate investments in their communities’ public transit systems, so that they can get to work on time, and back home at the end of a long day. The Public Transit Infrastructure Fund will make these long overdue investments. Funding will be provided to support projects that will deliver increased capacity, enhanced service or improved environmental outcomes. Projects could include:
  • Fleet replacement, including the purchase of new subway cars, low-floor buses, and street cars by the Toronto Transit Commission (p.92)
Budget PDF here

This could mean that the TTC could get federal funds for the 60 extra LFLRVs that they have yet to order. I'd say thats good news.
Click to expand...

But no money for DRL....I could care less about the 60 cars we wont see for 10 years...Unless theres concrete funding DRL will remain a pipedream
 
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