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TTC: Next Bus/Streetcar Arrival System

Because it's half-a-block down the street the wrong way.

And what about people on buses; who might want to switch to a different route ... the VIVA stop information is quite readable from the buses themselves.

Whole things just seems half-assed to me ... like those awful next train displays in the subway. I'd have assumed that the display would have been on the side of the shelter - perhaps visible from both sides, yet still sheltered from the elements.
 
Anyone know what happened to this? I thought I'd heard during August that it would be running in September; but now wer're well into October.

It's over 6 months since the first 2 streetcar lines went on-line, and I'm really amazed that they haven't even been able to expand it to a 3rd line (something I keep thinking about while I wait for a 506, wondering if I should just give up and hoof it up to the BD).

This morning in particular, I was walking in the rain, rather than waiting for an infrequent, often off-schedule bus, when it passed me 1-minute early ... and I thought if I'd have known it was going to come, I'd have stayed in the shelter where it was dry.
 
Next vehicle information

Whan's this ?

Have you more fotos ?

100.jpg
 
What is the question?

Does "Whan's this" mean "what is this"?
If so, those are two monitors used to display information. In this case the left monitor shows "Next Vehicle Information", specifically the next vehicle to enter the stations route and estimated time until arrival. It also shows the TTC slogan "Thank you for taking The Better Way". On the right monitor it shows the current time, the weather forecast, and a route map with the location of vehicles on the route and their direction.

Does "Whan's this" mean "when is this"?
If so, the picture was taken at 10:55AM sometime during the past year.

Does "Whan's this" mean "where is this"?
If so, the picture was taken at Spadina station.

Does "Whan's this" mean "Whan's this"?
If so, then no, it doesn't belong to Whan, it belongs to the TTC.


As for more photos: Why? From other angles it is still two monitors showing the same information.
 
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Months after the installation of a next vehicle sign in the shelter NE of the Dundas/Spadina intersection in Chinatown, the TTC finally turned it on, on Thursday around noon.

Unfortunately, last I checked it only told the "official" TTC time, not the time to wait for the next vehicle.

4177938348_9e6be12438_b.jpg


4177178515_99cce89d24_b.jpg
 
I knew Finch was to be the test location for buses, but I hadn't seen anything further until today.

Today wiring and support for the video displays have been installed at every bus bay.
 
Until they add the Dundas Route to NextBus, I wouldn't expect any real information to show up there.

The Dundas route was there at one point (like all of the streetcar routes). They removed all of the routes except for 509 and 510 when people started to complain about Queen with visual evidence. So I'm sure it's just a matter of the TTC giving them the okay. Mind you, I don't know if it's absolutely necessary that Nextbus be involved for the TTC to put up the information at the stops.
 
Is it cynical to speculate that the reason the streetcar routes keep disappearing off the NextBus page after briefly showing up is because someone at the TTC doesn't like it when their bad route management is made so obvious?
 
There may be some resistance to offering data on NextBus -- you can already note consistent areas of patchy service on the two routes that have long been available, 509 and 510.

Here's a common result when clicking on the existing 510 northbound info for Bremner Blvd.:

14 minutes
16 minutes
22 minutes

14m,2m,6m headway (on a ROW). Although it's not clear whether the predictor algorithm thingummies can actually detect what's coming from the loop at Lakeshore, this is likely indicative of service on the route section south of King.

But everyone at the TTC already knows there's an issue. I understand that both operators and route supervisors have repeatedly asked for more time for vehicles to travel along Queen’s Quay.

What’s apparently missing is a clear response from operations and planning management to their own frontline staff on why it’s been so hard to improve reliability on this portion. If extra time is not the only fix, let’s hear what else is needed and when it can be provided.

-ed

BTW: With buses running Spadina this long weekend, who monitors the service? S/c or bus supervisors?

http://www3.ttc.ca/Service_Advisories/Route_diversions/510_Spadina_Trackrepairs.jsp

PS:
About 20 minutes after my first sample, the route is still not evenly spaced:

1
minute
14
minutes
20
minutes

Valid as of 12:38 PM Thursday, April 1
 
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They are going to wish they had gone the Google Transit route with scheduled rather than actual information. Their custom travel planner can't connect with GO or other GTA transit systems and their NextBus data will make it strikingly obvious how poorly the TTC keeps things on schedule.
 

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