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TTC: Other Items (catch all)

I can't think of many places in the city where this would be an issue. Go Transit's d0uble-deck buses are only 50 cm higher than the TTC's bus fleet. The big problem is that they're a poor fit for local bus service, since they're slower to load & unload people. Obviously that's not a problem for Go Transit, but in Ottawa they're only used for suburban express buses.

It's actually 60 cm - 3.8m versus 3.2m - but that extra 60 cm buys a lot of additional locations that can be used.

I don't know if you recall the CNG buses here in Toronto, but there were a lot of locations where they were prohibited from operating. Some of them had to do with lack of ventilation, but many of them had to do with the height of the tanks on the roof and the potential for striking low-hanging objects or low ceilings.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.
 
It's actually 60 cm - 3.8m versus 3.2m - but that extra 60 cm buys a lot of additional locations that can be used.

I don't know if you recall the CNG buses here in Toronto, but there were a lot of locations where they were prohibited from operating. Some of them had to do with lack of ventilation, but many of them had to do with the height of the tanks on the roof and the potential for striking low-hanging objects or low ceilings.

The TTC's hybrid buses were also 3.4 meters high (I believe they're one inch shorter than the CNG buses). They were used all over the city.
 
Same with the purchase of hybrid buses, and natural gas buses. Same thing with Presto fare gates, and Presto in general (which was quietly tucked into the Scarborough Crosstown LRT agreement). The TTC can be pretty quick as long as nobody on city council decides that their decision upsets the ~70,000 folks in their ward.
Actually, they had done a pretty comprehensive lifecycle cost study of diesel vs. hybrid vs. electric in a report that accompanied the Board discussion. They did their homework on it.
 
How long until the electric buses come into service anyways? I’m eager to ride them.

Electric motors have instant torque, which should mean faster acceleration and a less sluggish ride
 
That was true at the start, but not anymore. I take Route 6 every day which is one of the busiest non-transitway routes in Ottawa traveling up Bank Street in the old core (used to be the 1, but got renumbered). It's now almost exclusively double-deckers. They do have a longer dwell time, but that became moot because the route was so crowded that the logjam of people trying to maneouver around each other to get to the door made for long dwell times anyway. They've become so pervasive now (every new bus for the past several years is a DD) that the bus rider culture has adapted. E.g. people know to go downstairs one or two stops ahead.

There are a lot of low clearance areas in Toronto though, so it would limit their usage but not prevent it. What about increasing the number of articulated buses? Toronto's fleet is fairly small still, and I'm not sure if it's still true but when they were reintroduced the TTC increased the time between buses on routes they were on because they were bigger. Seems to defeat the point of adding capacity.

All the rail options are a long way away so there must be something more immediate that can be done.
Buying artic and DD buses cost more. TTC's budget them to save operator hours not increased capacity. the 153 artics they bought back in 2013-14 were to replace 185 Orion V's. Same with the streetcars, they order larger ones to replace more CLRVs with less Flexity's. 21 CLRV were placed by 14 Flexity's.

Ordering DD buses wouldn't save them money so it's pretty much ruled out. Buying hybrids wouldn't either so it was ruled out till politicians came in and said we want them.
 
So they'll spend 3+ billion for a single stop subway of dubious value, but won't shell out a small fraction of that to take some pressure off the overcrowded subway. Yay politics.
 
So they'll spend 3+ billion for a single stop subway of dubious value, but won't shell out a small fraction of that to take some pressure off the overcrowded subway. Yay politics.

I don't think buses would be very effective at relieving the overcrowded subways, I think the best things to do are the DRL, expanding platforms to 8 cars in length, and of course, CBTC. There are a lot of problems with the SSE and one of them is that the current LRT option is no longer viable (Stoufville sub being used for RER, inflated LRT costs, capacity concerns (especially with interlining at Kennedy with Eglinton East)).
 
Actually, they had done a pretty comprehensive lifecycle cost study of diesel vs. hybrid vs. electric in a report that accompanied the Board discussion. They did their homework on it.

I never said they didn't. They just didn't have a long, public and circular debate where every possible objection to change was raised.
 
I don't think buses would be very effective at relieving the overcrowded subways, I think the best things to do are the DRL, expanding platforms to 8 cars in length, and of course, CBTC. There are a lot of problems with the SSE and one of them is that the current LRT option is no longer viable (Stoufville sub being used for RER, inflated LRT costs, capacity concerns (especially with interlining at Kennedy with Eglinton East)).

All of the above is correct, but you won't see it for almost a decade even if all goes well. Adding capacity to the bus and streetcar system (and maybe more transit priority measures) might buy some time to get it accomplished.

It'll be interesting to see what effect if any the crosstown adds to the existing crowding problems. Would people travel west to the Spadina line and then down rather then getting on the overcrowded Yonge line.
 
The only problem is you would need to build around various structures currently in place along Yonge like the Xerox Tower, 2 condo buildings, 2 Bloor West and the HBC Building not to mention various other buildings.
For a single track and 2 platforms? Shouldn't be anything in the middle of Yonge Street. The connection to Line 2 centre platform is easy enough. Don't really need anything else.
 
New TTC retail strategy is out.

Its on the agenda for Feb 15.

Shows some promise, but its late, lacking in detail, and insufficiently ambitious.

http://www.ttc.ca/About_the_TTC/Com...Febrary_15/Reports/13_New_Retail_Strategy.pdf

Interesting. They're currently getting $159/sqft for leases. That's actually pretty decent as a city-wide average for fairly inconvenient space (restocking and after-hours maintenance like deep cleaning is a huge PITA at many locations).
 

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