The Great Canadian Transit Thread - Page 108

Chadillaccc · #**2141** Posted **May 13, 2013, 5:27 AM**

Do you live in Woodstock Ontario? Sounds like what they're going through. The new transit terminal has been approved for like 6 years, not even a shovel in the ground yet.

GernB · #**2142** Posted **May 13, 2013, 11:59 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

Do you live in Woodstock Ontario? Sounds like what they're going through. The new transit terminal has been approved for like 6 years, not even a shovel in the ground yet.

Lethbridge AB. Fairly good bus service overall for a small (~100,000) city, but downtown stops are just a total mess. Very surprised more people haven't been killed running across 4th Avenue and/or 6th Street trying to make their connections. I've seen some really close calls. The idea was to build a transit terminal on 5th Street South generally equidistant from the two downtown shopping centres, and everyone - businesses, city council, taxpayers - seemed to be on board. But it never happened, and probably never will now.

kwoldtimer · #**2143** Posted **May 13, 2013, 11:59 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

Do you live in Woodstock Ontario? Sounds like what they're going through. The new transit terminal has been approved for like 6 years, not even a shovel in the ground yet.

Kitchener will have its Regional multi-modal transportation hub in place by 2017, when the LRT starts running. At that point I'm hoping that the existing bus terminal can be given over for redevelopment - it's on a prime site overlooking Victoria Park and it's ugly!

vid · #**2144** Posted **May 13, 2013, 10:10 PM**

Thunder Bay's new transit terminal is going forward but the city doesn't tell its people what it is doing so we don't know where it is going or when it will begin work. Last I heard from an inside source, it is going beside out bus barns, in a residential neighbourhood that isn't really near anything. It's a terrible location for it but this city does things like that.

They're rushing.

caltrane74 · #**2145** Posted **May 14, 2013, 8:54 PM**

TTC's New Bendy Bus Has Been Spotted!!

http://www.nowtoronto.com/news/story.cfm?content=192425

Somewhere in the industrial wilds of Quebec, a brand new TTC bendy bus is idling, waiting to make its debut on Toronto’s potholed streets.

At least, that appears to be the case, according to a photo posted to the Toronto Reddit page on Wednesday.

The photo is the first known image of one of the commission’s new sixty-foot articulated buses, also nicknamed “artics,” 153 of which are being purchased at a combined cost of $144,489,831.20.

Metro-One · #**2146** Posted **May 14, 2013, 8:55 PM**

You guys call them bendy buses??? Or is that your own personal term?

Here we usually call them accordion buses for slang.

Dwils01 · #**2147** Posted **May 14, 2013, 9:29 PM**

Bendy bus is a new one. I've heard accordion buses used lots. I call them articulated buses which I believe is the correct term.

vid · #**2148** Posted **May 14, 2013, 11:26 PM**

I've never heard of accordion bus, it's always either articulated bus or bendy bus.

Interesting that Nova is using the first gen headlights on that model. The third gen headlights look cooler.

Rotax · #**2149** Posted **May 15, 2013, 12:25 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by vid

I've never heard of accordion bus, it's always either articulated bus or bendy bus.

Interesting that Nova is using the first gen headlights on that model. The third gen headlights look cooler.

These are the same headlights most transit agencies use on the LFS Artic (STM, RTC, Metro Transit, etc). Halogen dual headlights are also available (I believe Translink uses them on their Novas).

vid · #**2150** Posted **May 15, 2013, 12:34 AM**

TBTransit has been using the halogen dual headlights for a while now so I guess I just assumed that was standard these days.

The combination orange destination bar and dual halogens makes the buses visible from miles away at night.

Beedok · #**2151** Posted **May 15, 2013, 3:22 AM**

You guys all don't know what you're talking about. They're slinky buses.

Wharn · #**2152** Posted **May 15, 2013, 4:08 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

Do you live in Woodstock Ontario? Sounds like what they're going through. The new transit terminal has been approved for like 6 years, not even a shovel in the ground yet.

At least we have a train station. Access to the most civilized form of intercity transport is still here. Perversely, VIA has better service in and out of Woodstock than Greyhound does. There are 3 daily trains along the Windsor-Toronto line, while there is only limited bus service to a truck stop near Highway 401.

Quote:

Originally Posted by caltrane74

TTC's New Bendy Bus Has Been Spotted!!

Oh dear God help us all.

Nouvellecosse · #**2153** Posted **May 15, 2013, 4:46 AM**

Those are the same ones common in Halifax. They work great and are very quit and comfortable.

Although I don't think the TTC livery is very flattering to it...

DrNest · #**2154** Posted **May 15, 2013, 1:15 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wharn

Oh dear God help us all.

That was my exact thought when I saw the photo of the bendy bus.
A lot of cities in England introduced them, then shortly got rid of them because they were a congestion causing nightmare.
The grid system in Toronto is obviously very different to that of almost every English city, so they may work better here. Time will tell.

begratto · #**2155** Posted **May 15, 2013, 1:29 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrNest

That was my exact thought when I saw the photo of the bendy bus.
A lot of cities in England introduced them, then shortly got rid of them because they were a congestion causing nightmare.
The grid system in Toronto is obviously very different to that of almost every English city, so they may work better here. Time will tell.

The same buses work very well in Montreal, where we've got a few hundreds of them. And more are on the way. They're usually quite appreciated. The key factor is that the STM didn't cut service on the lines with artics: they replaced conventionnal buses by these bigger ones, so overall they're much less crowded than the buses they are replacing.

TransitSupporter · #**2156** Posted **May 15, 2013, 2:07 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

Although I don't think the TTC livery is very flattering to it...

That was my immediate thought when I saw the photo... (i.e. boring)

Calgary has 60+ of the Western Flyer artics. I appreciate the extra seating, although some of the seats are in awkward places like inside the accordian. Also I find the suspension fairly stiff on the Flyer and the buses here seem to bounce a lot.

kwoldtimer · #**2157** Posted **May 15, 2013, 2:42 PM**

Maybe we should get some like these:

White Pine · #**2158** Posted **May 15, 2013, 5:39 PM**

For some reason I used to call them slinky busses when I was a kid. (Saw them a lot in Ottawa)

vid · #**2159** Posted **May 16, 2013, 12:48 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wharn

Oh dear God help us all.

Won't somebody think of the car drivers?!?!

We should do what people in Thunder Bay suggest: Instead of having a thousand buses, have tens of thousands of mini-vans shuttling everyone all over the place. That way, the constant congestion will be caused by thousands of small, non-descript vehicles instead of occasional congestion caused by large, noticeable vehicles!

Also, more drivers means more jobs!!

"But what if the bus snaps??"

"But what if the bus snaps while going down a hill?? All the people in wheelchairs will go flying into the lake!!!"

I bet that bus would be more palatable if it was two storeys tall and made of wood!

Sorry, I have had a stressful day and am snapping.

GlassCity · #**2160** Posted **May 16, 2013, 2:03 AM**

I had no idea these buses were such a controversial thing. We have a few in Vancouver and people are pretty apathetic about them.