TTC: Other Items (catch all)

[nfitz]

I find this odd for this site to make the top of the list and the only Canadian city on the list

2024 BEST WORKPLACES FOR COMMUTERS - BEST SITES​

111 Gordon Baker Road (Toronto, Ontario)

There's 3 other locations in Toronto shown there.

Looks like some clickbait/self nominated website. Though I don't see the relevance to the TTC, given it's primarily about roads and parking spaces.

 

[drum118]

There's 3 other locations in Toronto shown there.

Looks like some clickbait/self nominated website. Though I don't see the relevance to the TTC, given it's primarily about roads and parking spaces.

I guess TTC doesn't count for getting commuters to this site??

I miss those other sites as I was doing a quick review.

There are a number of places in Toronto that rank higher from my point of view for Toronto than 111 Gordon Baker, even for cars only.

No idea what they used to rank these sites, but Yorkdale should have rank over 111 Gordon since its next to the 401, Allen Expressway and other major roads, let alone TTC.

 

[DSCToronto]

I guess TTC doesn't count for getting commuters to this site??

I miss those other sites as I was doing a quick review.

There are a number of places in Toronto that rank higher from my point of view for Toronto than 111 Gordon Baker, even for cars only.

No idea what they used to rank these sites, but Yorkdale should have rank over 111 Gordon since its next to the 401, Allen Expressway and other major roads, let alone TTC.

Why waste your (and our) time on this clearly click-bait site?

 

[nfitz]

I guess TTC doesn't count for getting commuters to this site??

I miss those other sites as I was doing a quick review.

There are a number of places in Toronto that rank higher from my point of view for Toronto than 111 Gordon Baker, even for cars only.

No idea what they used to rank these sites, but Yorkdale should have rank over 111 Gordon since its next to the 401, Allen Expressway and other major roads, let alone TTC.

Who cares? It's not about transit - seems to target people who drive to work. It's one of those BS websites that's only purpose is to get gullible people to click on things.

Why are you enabling them?

 

[DSCToronto]

I was walking along New Cherry and Commissioners Street on Friday - the TTC has (as one expects) been somewhat tardy with putting up proper STOP signage. for 72 bus. They managed paper signs, so I guess maybe better than we might have had. There are also no shelters but these are erected by Astral (not TTC ) and WT were certainly working on sidewalks right up to last week so probably impossible to get them in place for a few months.

 

[crs1026]

It seems to have flown under the radar - but for those not in the enthusiast grapevine, Ted Wickson passed away recently. His obit here.

Edward Arthur Wickson | Obituary | Sharing Memories

www.arbormemorial.ca

If you have digested images or data about the history of the TTC, your paper trail probably crossed Ted's. His contribution to knowledge and memory of the TTC - and its public face - was enormous.

- Paul

 

[Metroscapes]

The issues north of Davisville have to do with a high water table/underground river through the area. There was some concern about 10 years ago that the TTC was going to need to shut down the line for a couple of months in order to completely rebuild the track through there (likely by removing the track and ballast, and installing a concrete structure to run the rails on).

For those interested, Yellow Creek used to flow through there (the same creek you can find nearby in the Vale of Avoca). It is now buried upstream of Mt Pleasant Cemetery. More information and pics here and here.

 

[chrisw]

Olivia Chow: 70% of TTC rides start or end with a bus or streetcar. Unpredictable schedules and slow service are a headache that impact thousands every single day. Today, we moved to start work to speed up TTC buses across four of the busiest routes with priority lanes and signaling.

Agenda Item History 2024.EX11.8

Agenda Item History 2024.EX11.8

secure.toronto.ca

EX11.8 - RapidTO: Surface Transit Network Plan​

To initiate three additional roadway-specific studies, public consultation, and design of the following individual roadways proposed for surface transit priority, and to bring study findings and recommendations to the appropriate Committee and City Council for approval at the appropriate time:

a. Finch Avenue East between Victoria Park Avenue and McCowan Road;
b. Dufferin Street between Wilson Station and Dufferin Gate;
c. Lawrence Avenue East between Victoria Park Avenue and Morningside Avenue; and
d. Steeles Avenue West between Pioneer Village Station and Bathurst Street.

Each roadway-specific study will require two to three years to undertake feasibility study, design, and community consultation prior to seeking City Council approval for implementation of the proposed changes which will include a phased approach to accelerate implementation of shorter segments of the roadway, where possible.

 

[T3G]

A nice idea, but not nearly wide reaching enough for me. Every single suburban stroad with a TTC line should have bus lanes as an absolute bare minimum.

The timeframe is also agonizing. 2-3 years so every self proclaimed jilted special interest group can cry about how having good bus transit will make their disgusting suburban hell unlivable and probably end up blocking the project altogether? There is no reason this should take more than 6 weeks to implement city wide. Other than the impotency of the modern political process, of course.

 

[chrisw]

"Paint is cheap, consultation is expensive."

Some excerpts from Jedwin Mok.

Jedwin Mok: So I find it quite disappointing that the Rapid TO lanes, unlike the King Street Pilot that was executed very quickly and expediently, they're undergoing massive amounts of community consultations. The merits of which are questionable.
...
So consultation is expensive but bus lanes are cheap. They're made of paint, they can be put out incredibly rapidly. If you deploy them you can measure the data. You can see how they perform, you can see how many people the streets move. That's what we did for the King Street Pilot. So why can't we do the same for long neglected suburban boroughs of Toronto? I urge city council and staff to paint the lanes. No more consultations. Because paint is cheap and consultation is expensive. Thank you.

City UX: Consultation before quick-build implementation is like shooting in the dark; drawing conclusions without empirical data.

Alongside our Eastern European urban design projects, CityUX is committed to street experiments - a powerful tool for urban change.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1752552705984242138

 

[PL1]

Hopefully it won't take 2-3 years to give priority signals to transit. Such a study to change the road configuration seems a bit more reasonable.

(Edit to remove doubled word)

 

[Northern Light]

"Paint is cheap, consultation is expensive."

Some excerpts from Jedwin Mok.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1752552705984242138

The consultation here has been bloated to say the least.

That said, part of the problem is too many suspect solutions (queue jump lanes); instead of focusing on basics such as managing service, better bus design, all-door loading, no cash fares on buses, fare validation in bus interiors, so people don't block doors fumbling for cards, tighter route times, less crowded vehicles by employing better and more precise loading standards, (number of seats expected to be occupied expressed as a percentage of capacity), along with fewer stops, and fewer traffic lights.

That, and obstructing left turns that are at uncontrolled intersections (no lights etc.) so that buses/streetcars don't generally get caught behind a left-turning vehicle, particularly on high volume routes and/or at locations that become a frequent issue.

By contrast, we see too many ideas that are either of the do-next-to-nothing variety, or alternatively require major reconstruction of the road and millions or tens of millions of dollars.

 

[allengeorge]

@Northern Light do you have a sense of why, institutionally, none of the above approaches was considered? Is it too hard to force procedure changes within the TTC? Will politicians balk at remove stops? Will transportation balk at removing lights and removing uncontrolled lefts?

It’s surprising that none of the above were even listed.

 

[DSCToronto]

@Northern Light do you have a sense of why, institutionally, none of the above approaches was considered? Is it too hard to force procedure changes within the TTC? Will politicians balk at remove stops? Will transportation balk at removing lights and removing uncontrolled lefts?

It’s surprising that none of the above were even listed.

Take a deep dive on Steve Munro's site (or even a shallow one) and it is clear that, though the TTC always blames 'external forces' like road conditions and construction for delays, the best and cheapest way to fix a LOT of what is wrong with the TTC is having them do their job properly and make an effort to properly manage routes.

 

[Northern Light]

@Northern Light do you have a sense of why, institutionally, none of the above approaches was considered? Is it too hard to force procedure changes within the TTC? Will politicians balk at remove stops? Will transportation balk at removing lights and removing uncontrolled lefts?

It’s surprising that none of the above were even listed.

@smallspy is almost certainly better placed to speak on the internal workings of the TTC than I.

In respect of the City and TTC, I can certainly say some of the following.

1) Removing TTC stops often meets w/objections from Councillors, some of whom sit on the Commission itself.

2) There are people within Transportation who make removing traffic lights for which there is no objective case next to impossible, even when others in Transportation advocate for it; it never even gets to Council. There is a partial excuse (though I don't care for it) that the MTO Traffic Manual is written in such a way as to strongly discourage any uncontrolled crossing of roads by pedestrians. That's true, it should be fixed, but shrug, moving on.....

@reaperexpress may have thoughts on that.

3) I am aware of a City Councillor to whom it was suggested to block just one uncontrolled left turn that is very close to a traffic light, and said Councillor vetoed that. I would argue that is a policy fail, a policy for blocking such turns is needed, then there would no councillor consultation, only notification.