TTC: Other Items (catch all)

[Jonny5]

the frequent north-south service operating on the .... 65 Parliament, 75 Sherbourne

LOL. I recall the last time I chose to try one of those options. The fun part was Next Bus saying they were about 7-10 minutes away, and then 10 minutes later they were still 5 minutes away. Those routes don't have frequent service, and what service they have is among the worst managed in the entire network and the least accurate on arrival and departure times, which is saying something as Next Bus--or whatever vehicle prediction application--are essentially useless now. Almost no routes aren't now out +/-5 minutes now. The system is completely broken everywhere. Even the subway is "next train 2 minutes" and it only shows up 7 or 8 minutes later.

I dare say the TTC is once again becoming as decrepit as it was in the years right before Miller was elected and finally some some money was thrown at them to bring them out of the early 90's. Remember in like 2006 when they were still actively fighting against things like "next stop" announcements (not even automated, but even driver announced) as things that no one would ever want and weren't needed. The only thing missing from back then is the scratchitti plague.

 

[nfitz]

LOL; Drum is literally quoting the TTC from here: https://www.ttc.ca/news/2022/Octobe...6-Carlton-during-construction-along-the-route

He just didn't use quotation marks or make that clear.

I thought that was clear. By changing "They" to "You" in my response, I thought the humour in my comment was obvious - but you seem to not like my pronoun choice.

So, there is no change to the streetcar ...

Precisely. Ergo for most users there's nothing to speed up trip times, or improve customer experience.

Even for bus users, although they've got this new route, the route they put in Nextbus was all on College/Carlton - so the predictions for it travelling on Harbord/University/Gerrard will be virtually non-existent - which will make customer experience worse.

 

[drum118]

I made sure this time the Quote marks are used compared to my other posting. Only reporting what TTC sends me.

TTC adds onboard public Wi-Fi to two more routes

Oct. 11, 2022

TTC customers travelling on the 34 Eglinton East and 165 Weston Rd North bus routes now have access to onboard public Wi-Fi.

The first phase of the program rollout began with the 35/935 Jane route in May 2021, followed shortly after by the 102/902 Markham Rd route in June 2021. With the two new routes, the TTC now has 181 Wi-Fi-enabled buses on the road.

"We’re always looking for opportunities to modernize our system and offer a better experience for transit riders. Providing Wi-Fi on our buses is just one of the ways we’re doing that," said TTC Chair Jaye Robinson. "I am pleased to see this project continue to move forward and include two new routes."

The initiative is part of a larger City of Toronto program, ConnectTO, aimed at prioritizing and providing Wi-Fi access to Neighbourhood Improvement Areas (NIAs). All four routes were chosen due to their popularity and location in key NIAs.

"The TTC is committed to innovation, modernization, and equal access,” said TTC CEO Rick Leary. "Our customers have told us that improved connectivity is important, especially for those with long commutes, and we are proud to continue to find ways to deliver an even better transit experience.”

Both new routes are part of the second phase of a pilot project that will allow the TTC to evaluate a variety of Wi-Fi service models and gather customer feedback. The learnings from this pilot will inform the development of a business case for a permanent expansion of the program across the TTC’s bus and streetcar networks.

Customers are reminded to look for decals on Wi-Fi-enabled buses to inform them that onboard access is available.

Customers may also notice Wi-Fi enabled buses on other routes during the pilot and are encouraged to connect whenever onboard Wi-Fi is available.

The TTC continues to solicit customer feedback about this project. Customers can connect with the Customer Service team by phone, on Twitter, or by completing this form https://www.ttc.ca/customer-service/complaints-compliments-suggestions/Forms/suggestions-form on the TTC's website.

 

[Allandale25]

Latest post by @Steve Munro

Will Line 2 Renewal Ever Happen?

Those of us who can remember back to days before the pandemic, when Andy Byford was the TTC’s CEO, will know that there were frequent questions at the TTC Board about upgrades to the Bloor-Da…

stevemunro.ca

 

[tiffer24]

Ten years and counting. Impressive.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1491864979536031754

 

[W. K. Lis]

A pet peeve of mine are the people (usually able-bodied) who use the front doors of buses to exit the vehicle. Delaying the entry of people getting on.

I would like to see an announcement, when a passenger requests a stop, saying "Please exit the vehicle by the rear doors, please".

On the streetcars, would like to see, when a passenger requests a stop, saying "Please press the red button to open the door, please". Same as using elevators. Helps to keep the warm air in the streetcar in winter, or cool car in the streetcar in summer. Having the entering passenger press the button would be harder to request, unless they use a radar system to announce it. But that's how they do it in cities outside of Toronto, like in European cities.

 

[M II A II R II K]

So Rocketman is canceling itself in a month.

 

[nfitz]

A pet peeve of mine are the people (usually able-bodied) who use the front doors of buses to exit the vehicle. Delaying the entry of people getting on.

And yet I've seen operators getting peevish on relatively empty bus, when you use the back door instead of the front door. At the same time, if the bus is packed, I'm not going to fight my way through lots of people, when I'm sitting right behind the driver.

 

[T3G]

Why have an announcement that says please twice?

I'm with nfitz, if I'm in the front of a bus I'm not going to fight my way to the back. That would take much longer.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Why have an announcement that says please twice?

I'm with nfitz, if I'm in the front of a bus I'm not going to fight my way to the back. That would take much longer.

I often see people who are maybe closer to the rear door, push themselves through to exit through the front door. Again delaying those who want to get on.

 

[T3G]

This is a false solution. The real answer would be to implement all door boarding on every vehicle in this city and finally get in line with the standards of every major world city, and stop forcing everyone on through one door.

 

[DSCToronto]

This is a false solution. The real answer would be to implement all door boarding on every vehicle in this city and finally get in line with the standards of every major world city, and stop forcing everyone on through one door.

Last time I looked, London (UK) was a major City. They only allow front-door bus boarding. Fare evasion is a real problem and having ticket inspectors on buses is even more difficult than on streetcars. (And we know how well THAT is done here!)


Transport for London said the 1,000 New Routemasters in operation would be converted. The company loses more than £3.6m a year in fares dodged across the new fleet, which has double the evasion rate of other London buses.

Passengers will only be able to board by the front door, with those in the middle and rear becoming exit-only.

 

[Northern Light]

Last time I looked, London (UK) was a major City. They only allow front-door bus boarding. Fare evasion is a real problem and having ticket inspectors on buses is even more difficult than on streetcars. (And we know how well THAT is done here!)


Transport for London said the 1,000 New Routemasters in operation would be converted. The company loses more than £3.6m a year in fares dodged across the new fleet, which has double the evasion rate of other London buses.

Passengers will only be able to board by the front door, with those in the middle and rear becoming exit-only.

That's actually a remarkably trivial sum all things considered.

One has to carefully weight the financial cost of inefficient operation; and enforcement vs more of an honour system.

Back in 2019, the TTC estimated it lost ~61M to fare evasion on roughly 1.2B in annual fare revenue.

That's about 5% of revenue.

The TTC obscures what they spend on fare enforcement, but its almost certainly into 8 figures (greater than 10M per year).

Balancing that, and the dis-efficiency cost of single-door boarding, among other things can quickly add up to a number that merits comparisons to the evasion cost itself.

 

[T3G]

Last time I looked, London (UK) was a major City. They only allow front-door bus boarding. Fare evasion is a real problem and having ticket inspectors on buses is even more difficult than on streetcars. (And we know how well THAT is done here!)


Transport for London said the 1,000 New Routemasters in operation would be converted. The company loses more than £3.6m a year in fares dodged across the new fleet, which has double the evasion rate of other London buses.

Passengers will only be able to board by the front door, with those in the middle and rear becoming exit-only.

I will stand corrected on the London issue; I guess it is a comfort of sorts to know Toronto is not alone in making their transit system less efficient than it could be. FWIW recovering fare revenue would not be nearly so important if we just funded our transit systems to the extent they should be.

As for the rest, well, why don't we have one door boarding on the Flexity cars? That same justification could, and should, apply to every bus in this city too. Having everyone crowd on through one door is astoundingly inefficient.

 

[drum118]

Last time I looked, London (UK) was a major City. They only allow front-door bus boarding. Fare evasion is a real problem and having ticket inspectors on buses is even more difficult than on streetcars. (And we know how well THAT is done here!)


Transport for London said the 1,000 New Routemasters in operation would be converted. The company loses more than £3.6m a year in fares dodged across the new fleet, which has double the evasion rate of other London buses.

Passengers will only be able to board by the front door, with those in the middle and rear becoming exit-only.

You can add Amsterdam to the front door list as well Stockholm, Brussels and a few other places for buses. Amsterdam Trams are a mixture of all doors and front doors with some cars having gates to get off only. Some of the lowfloor cars have a collector at one of the doors in the middle where you can pay your fare in cash, credited/debit or the smartcard.

I can't recall what took place on other systems we rode if they were all doors or front. Most trams were all doors, with a few having smartcard readers. Amsterdam was the only system we were asked for proof of payment by enforcers and the only system we saw them for.

Mississauga has about 85% of riders using the rear door and it is announced to do so at every stop where someone wants off. You still have about 5% of able bodies getting off at the front since they are standing there in the first place. Bulk of the riders getting off the front are for people who need to or the ridership is too high to try to get to the rear door.