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TTC: Other Items (catch all)

W. K. Lis said:
The bus came out worse than the streetcar.
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That's my impression too. I'm surprised the bus is considered repairable since it looks like a lot of straightening and rebuilding will need to be done. The streetcar seems to have retained its shape pretty well, although I imagine they'll have to source a new windshield from somewhere.
 
TheTigerMaster said:
Did the streetcar derail?
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I heard that it did. At one point the Star (I think) tweeted something like 'Derailed streetcar collides with bus' as if it had left the tracks and then hit the bus.

I find the position of the bus on the crosswalk a little odd for having been in the process of turning left, although the streetcar may have shifted it.
 
hawc said:
Almost as rich as the TTC employees. Many ticket collectors and drivers making well over six-figures for a job you can do with a grade 8 education. Love them public sector unions. Our property tax dollars hard at work.
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If you're so obviously jealous about the money that you think they make, why don't you apply?

Dan
Toronto, Ont.
 
Just for reference, there were 1395 TTC employees on the 2013 Sunshine List.

Over 12,000 people are employed by the TTC and just over one-tenth of them appear on the annual Sunshine List as a result of overtime.
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Of the 1395 employees on the list, 217 are operators and 21 are station collectors.
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“If we didn’t budget for overtime and plan for overtime than in fact our costs would be greater,” Ross said. “We’d have to in fact pay somebody a full-time salary plus benefits to fill in that work.”

Ross said the TTC budgets for expected overtime and warned without paying the commission would run the risk of not meeting service demands or “extraordinarily high” costs as a result of hiring more people.
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hawc said:
Almost as rich as the TTC employees. Many ticket collectors and drivers making well over six-figures for a job you can do with a grade 8 education. Love them public sector unions. Our property tax dollars hard at work.
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Don't be naïve. You need to know far more than the $$ figure to understand WHY a person's pay is over $100K (or lower, for that matter). How many hours does this cover? Does the person volunteer for every possible hour of overtime? Has the regular staff number been reduced too much so that overtime (for someone) is inevitable? As Dan says, if you are jealous - as you seem to be - maybe you should apply to work at TTC and work a huge number of hours.
 
I was looking at the concept of adding a 7th car to the subway trains. Not a half size car, but a full one. Being different, the half size car would probably cost just as much and it may make maintenance more difficult in the future - having to deal with differing sized cars.

Based on this figure from Steve Munro, the front cars are 76' long and the middle ones are 75' long. Thus, adding an extra car would require platforms that are 527' long - lets say 530'. However, the entire train does not have to be at the platform, only the doors do. The distance between the front and last doors for a 7 car train would be 509' - let's say 510'. This is very close to the 500' platform length that exists across the TTC network. There are a few options.

  1. The first set of doors in BOTH the front and last cars stay permanently closed. This way, all other (3 + 4x5 + 3 = 26) doors line up at the station. All but the first and last set of doors open at all stations. The train pulls into the station the same amount regardless of which direction it is going.
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  2. The first set of doors in ONE (last) car stays permanently closed. This way, all other (4 + 4x5 + 3 = 27) doors line up at the station. The train pulls into the station by DIFFERENT amounts, depending on the direction it is going (i.e. when the train reverses after a terminal station, the last door becomes the front door - so the train would have to pull forward a bit more so that this door would be beyond the platform).
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  3. The same as 2, but have the one door on the last car be closed for all stations north of Bloor, and the first door closed for all station south of Bloor. This way a rider from Finch or Sheppard can make their way to the last doors before the train gets too busy, and know that those doors will open at their destination in the core. This requires a bit more complex electronics to have differing doors open at different times - but in the grand scheme of things, still pretty easy.
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  4. The same as 2 or 3, but a few key stations have their platforms extended by 10' (3m). I would say the key stations should be the interchange ones (Sheppard, Eglinton, Bloor and St. George), as well as very busy ones (Union, King, Queen, Dundas).


The two questions are:

  1. Can the platforms actually be extended? I found this drawing for the Sheppard West (at GO) Station. It shows a platform length of 500' (152.4m), but it also shows two rooms about 4.0m long and 3.5m wide. It also shows a 2m wide x 4m long "walkway" a beside these rooms. It appears this "walkway" is the walkway for emergency exits from the tunnel - and not used for any equipment. Thus, this "walkway" would simply be converted to a platform. Due to its narrow width, this one set of train doors would only be for exiting cars and not entering. It appears that only one of these "walkways" is needed (i.e. at one end of the platform only) since they are longer than needed to fit the last set of doors. So the answer is, for this station, it appears the platform can be extended enough. Is this a typical station? Can it be done with the other stations? Do other stations have curved track immediately adjacent to the platform? I am not sure, but it is looking like the answer is yes, this can be done.
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  2. Can this new 7 car train fit on the TTC track network. All tracks are switching to moving block in anticipation of ATC. Thus, any length of train will work and the signalling system can keep track of the front and rear of each train - not simply knowing which block the train is in. The last remaining concern is the various storage tracks in the network. This includes in yards, as well as pocket tracks. This is one thing I do not have an answer to - as I could not find any such drawings online.

TRCarSpecs1C.jpg


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Detail View of Platform End
 

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W. K. Lis said:
That's in 1996 dollars. With inflation, that threshold number should be over $140,000.
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It's still a valid litmus test, IMO. Median family incomes in the GTA are around $75,000/yr, so $100,000/yr is still a high income (relatively speaking, for one person) in this day and age, by any reasonable measure. Wages haven't really kept up too well with inflation in the last two decades, so you can't really just adjust the benchmark for inflation.

I believe the top rate for a TTC operator used to be around $30 / hour, so approx $58K/year for a typical 40-hour work week, before overtime. That's good pay, but certainly not ridiculous, as many would argue.

I'm not criticizing these employees for making over $100K, as there is good reason (tons of overtime which actually saves costs), and these are obviously a minority of TTC non-management employees.
 
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Most Platforms cannot be expanded to fit a full 7 car train.

Closing off doors at the ends will only delay operation more at peak time.

Since the driver is to have full control and operation of doors, very hard to have screens in the tunnel for them to help in closing the doors.

What should happen when the new TR are move over to the BD, a new full 7 car train of equal length car be built that will fit the 500 feet platforms. Should had happen from day 1 for the new ones.

Going to a shorter 7th car will only have 3 doors and a different setup internally. Will be place in the centre of the current train.
 
The Richmond Hill GO train extends TWO CARS beyond the end of the platform here, so those in the back cars have to make their way forward. These trains don't even have the benefit of being articulated, though the connections between the cars is very tight and secure.

Attaching overflow cars to the Rockets is something the TTC should definitely look into.
 
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