London Public Transit

[manny_santos]

London traffic is now so bad that it took me 90 minutes to get from Fanshawe College to Byron today on London Transit. Traffic on Oxford Street was backed up literally from Wonderland Road to Colborne Street around 5:00. No accidents or construction, just sheer volume.

I feel like I live in Toronto. Oh wait, I could get across the city on the TTC faster than that.

[manny_santos]

Something I'd like to see London Transit do is develop express routes for some of the major existing bus routes (2, 4, 6, 10, 13, 17). To highlight why:

I'm now at Fanshawe doing a post-graduate diploma. I got on the 4 Oxford East on campus today. Not everyone waiting for the bus was able to fit on. A number of students who got on there got off at Oxford and Highbury, a short walk from the college. For all I know, the students unable to get on could have been going to White Oaks.

At Western I had the same issue - I wouldn't be able to get on a 2 Dundas because it was full of students, many of whom got off before Western and Platt's. Other times I got on I'd be late getting to the connecting bus because one group of students got on at Natural Science, and then when another group got on at Weldon Library the driver would have to tell them 5 times to move to the back before everyone was on and the bus could leave. Repeat at Alumni Hall. Repeat at Western and Brescia Lane.

What I'm proposing is an alternate for students like myself who have to travel long distances to get to and from class. For the 4 Oxford East "Express" going westbound for example, the bus would pick up students at Fanshawe College, and then it would not stop again until Oxford and Adelaide, again at Richmond and Oxford, again at Dundas and Richmond, and then not again until it was south of Commissioners Road, after which it would stop at all the normal stops through to White Oaks. A similar approach would be taken on other high-volume routes serving Western and Fanshawe - through the central city, stops at major intersections only, and then normal stops in the suburbs. There would still be a 4A and a 4B as there is now.

My inspiration for this is the New York subway, where certain lines are designated as "express" and skip several stops in lower/central Manhattan while stopping at all stops in upper Manhattan and other boroughs.

Thoughts?

[haljackey]

I'm at Fanshawe too and I take the 4 (Oxford East) bus as well (to downtown).

Getting a "express" bus from campus directly to downtown would certainly be a huge plus. I remember when I was at western I saw a 2C (Dundas) express a few years back that said "to Dundas and Richmond ONLY". Haven't seen em for at least 2 years.

As for some of the other routes, I don't think express buses are needed. From major campuses to the downtown hub sound like good ideas, but having one from a mall (such as the 10) isn't as needed.

One thing we could do is emphasize carpooling a bit more. This would work best for those coming out of town or don't live close to a bus route (such as those new suburbs in Lambeth).

The GTA has been pretty good with this. They have put carpool parking lots inside of highway loop ramps and then a bus travels from there to downtown Toronto. It could be applied in London to a certain extent, such as in a loop ramp of the Wellington Road interchange. A 13 express bus would then take them to Wellington and Dundas or Richmond and Dundas.

I dunno, just spurting ideas here. Might be best to discuss it further on the Smartmoves site.

[MolsonExport]

Time for a Fanshawe-Byron subway.

[ericlewis91]

new bus route

39 Fanshawe

http://www.ltconline.ca/pdfscheds/39ltc.pdf

from hyde park walmart to masonville mall

not that useful, everyone has cars around here

this bus also changes into the 38 stoney creek at the end of the route then changes back from 38 to 39
(this will connect sunningdale/adelaide to masonville right to walmart)

[haljackey]

Everyone has cars except for the people who work for minimum wage at the mega-strip malls way out there.

The LTC is providing service here because they can't afford to get to/from work any other way. I wonder how much money the city is losing with this route?
-At least the Lambeth route is justified because people actually live there.

[ForestryW]

^^^ The LTC may be losing money, but don't forget that's the reason this is PUBLIC transit; it's the reason we don't hand our transit system over to a private company: so that we can provide transportation to those who need it, regardless of where they live.

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Time for a Fanshawe-Byron subway.

Surrrrrrre...

[haljackey]

Here's a picture I took of London's bus hub: Richmond and Dundas streets in downtown London:

[Kokkei Mizu]

Originally Posted by haljackey

Here's a picture I took of London's bus hub: Richmond and Dundas streets in downtown London:

This is what London considers their downtown bus hub? lol I think London should invest in a little more.

[go_leafs_go02]

Originally Posted by Kokkei Mizu

This is what London considers their downtown bus hub? lol I think London should invest in a little more.

you can't even see it really in the picture.

It's a 4-legged intersection with bus stops on all 4 legs. They all have the sign.

A terminal would be better, but as far as I know, this intersection works well presently for transit.

[ForestryW]

I disagree. I don't think it's functional in the slightest. Kitchener-Waterloo got it right when they built a consolidated bus terminal for GRT, Greyhound, and other carriers.

Transit in London is eons behind K-W and the only excuse is complacency.

[haljackey]

If I recall correctly, even Woodstock has a bus terminal!

It doesn't make any sense that London doesn't have one. Imagine getting off your bus into a shelter or heated/air conditioned building, grabbing a coffee or magazine between transfers, and getting on another bus all in the same place. Makes sense to me...

Rerouting the east/west bound buses to King and Queen is a step for the better in my opinion, but not by much.

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by haljackey

If I recall correctly, even Woodstock has a bus terminal!

It doesn't make any sense that London doesn't have one. Imagine getting off your bus into a shelter or heated/air conditioned building, grabbing a coffee or magazine between transfers, and getting on another bus all in the same place. Makes sense to me...

Rerouting the east/west bound buses to King and Queen is a step for the better in my opinion, but not by much.

Well...there is Starbucks on the northwest corner of Dundas and Richmond...

McDonald's and public transit go together like fish 'n' chips. Never ceases to amaze me how often I get on an LTC bus and it reeks of Rotten Ronnies.

[MolsonExport]

'Could be worse. In the Excited States of America, transit hubs (and greyhound stations) smell like Burger Thing and vomit. Have it your way.

[haljackey]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

'Could be worse. In the Excited States of America, transit hubs (and greyhound stations) smell like Burger Thing and vomit. Have it your way.

Aww, you always know what to say.

[Snark]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

'Could be worse. In the Excited States of America, transit hubs (and greyhound stations) smell like Burger Thing and vomit. Have it your way.

Would that make it a "Vomper"?

[ldoto]

London transit officials are showing off their green side.

On Tuesday morning, LTC representatives unveiled their new multi-million dollar satellite bus storage and maintenance facility in the city's south end.

Local politicians and transit representatives were on hand for the official ribbon cutting ceremony.

The new facility is located on Wonderland Rd. south and features green-friendly technology.

"We have heat deflection on the roof panels...it means you're running less air conditioning in the summer months," said Larry Ducharme, the LTC General Manager. " We have solar panels on the roof which allows us to sell energy back to the province with the proceeds going to drive down operating costs."

Ducharme hopes the new hub will allow the LTC to expand its service and increase ridership since the new storage facility will allow them to reduce travel time in the southwest end of the city.

The LTC committed 2.6 million dollars to the project, while the provincial government put up 10 million dollars and the federal government kicked in an additional 9.5 million dollars.

[ForestryW]

[DEMANDS]Build central bus terminal.[/DEMANDS]

[Simpseatles]

One of my biggest beefs with the LTC has to be with advertisements. Some of the buses are basically just moving billboards. I don't mind small signs bellow the windows, but I can't stand the ones that cover up the entire bus, including windows. I've seen a giant Christmas one last year, a Westmount one (but they need all the people they can get), an awful Smart Moves one shwing a "futuristic" city bus and cars with happy kids on bikes, and my least favourite, the Station Park All Suite Hotel. "A world class hotel in a world class city!" Ya right, a "world class" city sure as hell wouldn't plaster an ad for a hotel on the side of a bus. They're just such an eyesore and it gives visitors a bad impression of our city.

Also, I saw a bus the other day that said hybrid on the side. I don't remember where but I was really surprised. I know you can find hybrids in many other places, but I've never heard anything about them being in London. Anybody else know what I'm talking about?