The Great Canadian Transit Thread

[goodthings]

miketoronto's favourite transit system, Brampton Transit, will cut services and hike fares next year.

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/10/...squeeze_could_mean_big_transit_cuts.html

"The proposed transit cuts, which would eliminate $15.5 million from the budget, include reducing service on weekends and off-hours, delaying the installation of bus service in new developments, decreasing the frequency on certain routes, and a 25-cent fare hike."

A stunning move IMO.

So that means, cash fare will be $3.75. Very bad news in the 905 considering YRT unveiling their $4.00 cash fare also recently.

Mississauga will retain their cash fare of $3.25. While the TTC, I haven't heard of yet.

[Doady]

Brampton probably wouldn't have to go through with ALL those proposed cuts and fare hikes, if any. Worst case scenario is just 6.5% tax increase, and they just need to reduce that to match inflation, not avoid tax increase altogether. And cutting transit funding is not the only option for them either.

Brampton Transit ridership growth has slowed down the past year. That might be part of why transit is being targetted.

[Chadillaccc]

Not really sure where to put this. Can't find a railway station thread, so I thought I'd post this here.

This is the old Canadian Northern Railway Station in Calgary. It is now St. Mary's Parish Hall in Mission, close to St. Mary's Cathedral.




http://theroadtriphound.com/2013/03/12/p...unique-building-transformations-of-1913/



This was the old Canadian National Station in downtown, just next to the Palliser Hotel. Taken in 1939.


http://www.canadiancar.technomuses.ca/eng/espace_dexposition-showroom/mclaughlin/images

[Innsertnamehere]

Looks like there are some new infrastructure announcements incoming for Ontario..

The Ontario government’s statement will emphasize spending, particularly on infrastructure, to increase economic growth. The overall infrastructure outlay – $35-billion over three years – will remain unchanged, but Mr. Sousa is expected to announce new projects within that funding envelope.

He will also announce a dedicated infrastructure trust fund, into which the government can divert money to separate it from general revenue and ensure it is spent on capital projects. The fund could eventually be used to store dedicated revenue from the new taxes or fees the government hopes to put in place to fund public transit expansion.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/poli...-to-spending-and-growth/article15303331/

[Chadillaccc]

London needs to get its shit together and start planning for an LRT.

[Beedok]

What I want is a GO Train that goes Kitchener-Brantford-Hamilton. Make GO about more than just Toronto.

[Chadillaccc]

That is a good idea. Make it a connected network rather than just a radial network.

[Innsertnamehere]

a midtown GO line in Toronto is a bit higher of a priority I think, though that is an interesting idea.


rumors are that the eglinton LRT will be extended to the airport, but we will know at 1:15 when the speech starts.

[White Pine]

I just saw a GO transit car in... Pembroke! That was kind of wierd.

[TownGuy]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

Looks like there are some new infrastructure announcements incoming for Ontario..




http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/poli...-to-spending-and-growth/article15303331/

For all their flaws it's nice to see a government that actually understands our need for infrastructure. I can't remember the last time it was actually a top priorty rather than an afterthought...or used to buy a vote here or there.

[Aylmer]

Originally Posted by White Pine

I just saw a GO transit car in... Pembroke! That was kind of wierd.

What?
Haven't they removed the tracks to Pembroke?
And even if they haven't; Whut?

[miketoronto]

Originally Posted by goodthings

miketoronto's favourite transit system, Brampton Transit, will cut services and hike fares next year.

Nothing has been decided yet, and it is only one plan to reduce the city tax increase.

From what I have heard, most city councillors have come up against any transit cuts, due to how good Brampton has been doing with transit.

Also, I would suspect most of the cuts would be to secondary neighbourhood routes, and not really the arterial service. Some of the neighborhood routes could probably go, as main arterial service is very close.

So lets not jump the gun with any of this. They have also proposed to close a petting zoo among other things.

Toronto once threatened to stop Sunday TTC service during budget deliberations. Again this is just part of the political game to throw out the worst case plan.

[kora]

Vancouver, Worst Traffic Congestion In North America: TomTom
The Huffington Post B.C.
Posted: 11/06/2013

Vancouver has the worst traffic congestion in North America. Worse than Toronto, worse than New York, worse even than Los Angeles.

That's according to the TomTom Traffic Index, which ranked the west coast city worse than all of North America's major cities in the second quarter of 2013, in a comparison of non-congested travel times against peak hours.

The study said that an average drive in Vancouver takes 36 per cent longer than when traffic is flowing freely, a 2.8 per cent jump over the same period last year.

Commuters face 93 hours of delays per year in a 30-minute commute, which adds up to 11.6 working days, while the delay per hour is 41 minutes, according to a Wednesday news release.

The evening peak time commute takes 76 per cent longer than normal traffic conditions, while the morning peak takes 61 per cent longer.

Meanwhile, an average drive through Los Angeles takes 35 per cent longer than when traffic is flowing at a normal pace, putting it second to Vancouver. Toronto (27 per cent) came seventh on the worst congestion list while Montreal (25 per cent) came tenth.

Vancouver's traffic congestion came third when taking South American cities into account, behind Rio de Janeiro (50 per cent) and Sao Paulo (39 per cent).

TomTom arrives at its rankings by analyzing data from millions of GPS users around the world.

............... full study at http://www.tomtom.com/lib/doc/trafficindex/2013-1101%20TomTomTrafficIndex2013Q2AME-mi.pdf ............

Rankings for Canadian cities in the Americas:
3. Vancouver
9. Toronto
12. Montreal
17. Ottawa
25. Calgary
37. Edmonton

[franktko]

Cool. Montreal was #1 in decreasing congestion since last report, from 28% to 25%... Didn't feel that over here!! lol

[Ontario1]

The ion for Waterloo Region is making some good progress.
http://rapidtransit.regionofwaterloo.ca/en/multimedialibrary/Reports2013.asp

[ssiguy]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

London needs to get its shit together and start planning for an LRT.

I agree, to an extent.

London has a horrible track record on infrastructure, both planning and building. I don't think London needs or even wants an LRT. London is laid out very differently from Hamilton or KWC. It doesn't have one long stretch nor a core up against lake but roads from all directions leading into the core.

I think a good BRT system would serve Londoners far better and in a more cost effective way. London also has almost no roads wide enough to accommodate an LRT and certainly none that come near the core. London also has no streets that go to the centre of the city that actually go across the city.......the road system is very disjointed and completely so in the inner city. The only exception is Oxford which is incredibly busy and has no room for any form of widening.

With London's disjointed road system, thin roadways and corridors, many river and rail crossings but few bridges to do it with, and high density of older heritage stlye buildings in the core, even building an effective BRT will be a challenge and LRT may not be possible at all.

[Chadillaccc]

Very true. However, Calgary and Edmonton both have radial networks similar to what London's would have to be. London's street layout is pretty detrimental though.

[Innsertnamehere]

TTC released it's capital budget up to 2023 yesterday, some highlights:

Over $9 billion total

$353 million for 60 new streetcars on top of the already existing order of 204
$3.305 billion for the Scarborough Subway extension
Transition to a 15 year life cycle for buses, instead of the 18 year cycle currently
60 new Toronto rockets added to the current order to deal with increasing ridership
$132 million for the SRT life extension
Preliminary 2023 budget (new for this year) includes the need for 372 new subway cars to replace the T1s this means the Bloor danforth line will likely start to see new trains in 2025 or so.


biggest news is the 60 new streetcars IMO, thats on top of the 204 currently on order. Toronto currently has something like 240, so it will go from 240 smaller streetcars to 264 larger ones.(meaning a much, much higher capacity)

delivery of the extra streetcars would occur after 2018, meaning streetcar deliveries would extend into 2021. (all lines would presumably still have new streetcars on them by 2018) Thunder Bay will be building them for over a decade by the time the $1.6 billion dollar order is done.

Toronto is looking at spending almost $2.5 billion in the end to upgrade the fleet, between the catenary upgrades to Pantograph, the new streetcar yard, general network upgrades, and the streetcars themselves.



I look forward to this capital budget (hopefully) raising upwards towards $20 billion if the transit taxes pass and the Yonge extension and the DRL get added.


Some details about the scarborough extension:

only $500k is to be spent on it in 2013, and $4 million in 2014. (largely for studies)

ATC Is going to be installed on Bloor (the same signalling system currently being installed on Yonge to allow for higher capacity)

Demolition of the SRT will cost around $120 million

[WhipperSnapper]

Eglinton needs streetcars.


I noticed they are tunneling under Lakeshore to access the new yard. It makes sense but, there is still something wrong about it.

[Coldrsx]

Feds and Edmonton differ on transit funding/strategy

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Fede...fer+funding+expansion/9157611/story.html