The Great Canadian Transit Thread

[TownGuy]

That's one massive parking garage. Larger than the ones they built in Whitby and Ajax, no?

[Chadillaccc]

One of Calgary's 7th Avenue LRT stations. Fourth Street Station.


Fourth Street Station by Chadillaccc, on Flickr

[GreaterMontréal]

fast! and the sound.
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very busy Metro station
Lionel-Groulx
2 line connecting
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[matt602]

I've always loved the sound that Montreal's metro trains make. Kinda like the chopper control sound on the TTC H5's when they're braking or accelerating from a stop.

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And the TR's, to a lesser extent.

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[GreaterMontréal]

The sound will disappear with the new MPM-10. The ''old'' sound is from the Jeumont. They will still use the sound for the door chime. 2013+

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[vegeta_skyline]

Originally Posted by vid

Thunder Bay Transit employees have been working without a contract for 18 months now, so as of next Monday, is a labour dispute regarding wages and vision benefits isn't settled, they will go on strike. If they do so it will be the first transit strike here since 1986.

It was recently revealed today that city bus drivers, who must be able to see well to do their job, get less than half the vision benefits that golf course maintenance workers do. Only bus drivers in Cornwall earn less than drivers in Thunder Bay. The starting wage here is $18/hour.

Taco Time pays its employees $12 to keep ground beef warm. For just 6 dollars more, you can drive a 15 tonne people tube through the streets!

Man that sucks.
Those guys should seriously contemplate moving down to TO. GO's expanding like crazy, the bus drivers alone make over 30$/hr. Or come over to Bombardier and run GO's trains for them like I do. Starting rate is 22$/hr working as a CSA, basically a service person on the train. And after about 3 years, if you make the cut you can be an engineer. Wages should be up to about 50$/hr by 2017-18

[Innsertnamehere]

That video reminded me how much I hated the thin doors on the H5s.. I won't be missing that haha.

Pickering Garage will be 1700 spots. A boost of roughly 1500 from current levels. (there are currently roughly 200 spots for temporary use that have been rented from the mall) I think that roughly doubles parking at Pickering as well.

In other news, I learned today about a very quiet transit project in Toronto. I hadn't even heard about it... apparently the Richmond Hill line is getting extended to Stouffville road by 2015. There are plans to eventually bring it up to Bloomington. The extension is largely to allow for the construction of a new train yard for up to 6 new Richmond Hill trains, but it also allows for a new station to serve the King City area.


GO is also starting to get into detailed planning for Stouffville All Day 2 Way service.. (or at least something that resembles it) They talk about upping peak trains to 10 from the current 6, with 6 off peak trains to Mount Joy (last station in Markham) 3 counter peak trains to Unionville, and 4 evening trains to Mount Joy. Essentially hourly all day 2 way service.

see here:

http://www2.markham.ca/markham/ccbs/inde...lle%20Corridor%20Rail%20Presentation.pdf

[caltrane74]

Still very hard to believe it, but Montreal a city 25% smaller than Toronto has a bigger subway system than Toronto and greater ridership in the range of a 100,000 riders per day. I don't even think the Spadina Extention will be able to increase the capacity, since its just an expansion of the Yonge Spadina line. Only when the Eglinton Crosstown Line becomes operational will Toronto have a bigger subway than Montreal, and in reality it won't count because in the suburbs it travels in a right of way, but with stop lights.

But the 10 km of subway in midtown should at least pull us even with Montreal's system. which is still sad, considering the city of Toronto is 600,000=800,000 residents larger than Montreal. Montreal system which seems to have older trains than Toronto, but the trains look newer than the Toronto trains with the exception of the "Toronto Rocket" trains, and then Montreal is also getting some new subways too, which will again pull them even or ahead.

The most important thing I think which gives Montreal the advantage in transit over Toronto is that it seems to have better coverage in the urban core of the city. Whereas in Toronto the subway circles the Financial District (not a bad thing by the way) It would be better if it could swing a bit further west before heading up Spadina. This way it could swing out to Bathurst, or Dufferin, before coming back up north instead of Spadina, again on Bathurst or Dufferin, then Toronto would have a higher ridership, likely more than Montreal. Because, like Chicago the subway on Spadina is in the middle of an expressway I don't think it maximizes the ridership potential both in the suburbs and in the core like I mentioned earlier. A bit of a missed opportunity, but live and learn I guess.

[vegeta_skyline]

Originally Posted by TownGuy

That's one massive parking garage. Larger than the ones they built in Whitby and Ajax, no?

Yup, according to GO Pickering is 1,700;
http://www.gotransit.com/public/en/improve/projects/pickering_parking.aspx

Tied with the new one at Erindale also 1,700 for the largest;
https://www.facebook.com/MetrolinxOfficial/posts/142422352603657
Though the Globe & Mail says 1,740 for it and only 1,500 for Pickering;
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on...o-keep-ontario-on-the-go/article5922073/

Ajax is 1,300;
http://www.gotransit.com/public/en/improve/projects/ajax_parking.aspx

Whitby is supposedly 1,400;
http://www.durhamregion.com/news-story/3460420-whitby-go-station-opens-new-four-storey-parking-lot/

Oakville has either 1,000 1,200 or 1,400 ;
http://www.insidehalton.com/news-story/2904928-parking-just-got-easier-at-the-oakville-go/
http://transit.toronto.on.ca/archives/weblog/2012/10/20-go_opens_n.shtml
http://www.wrra-oakville.ca/news-and-eve...1-facts-aabout-the-new-go-parking-garage

Also, Clarkson will have 1,500;
http://www.gotransit.com/public/en/improve/projects/clarkson_parking.aspx
although GO contradicts themselves saying it will have only 1,200 here;
http://www.gotransit.com/publicroot/en/travelling/stations.aspx?station=CLGO

Burlington, GO first parking garage has 600 spaces;
http://transit.toronto.on.ca/archives/weblog/2008/09/11-go_adds_mo.shtml

Aurora has 866 spaces;
http://www.archello.com/en/project/go-aurora

And lastly Centennial, GO`s smallest garage has maybe 250 spaces (it increased the number of space to 450 from 178, the difference does not factor in space lots to the garage);
http://dcnonl.com/article/id47872/--go-t...ion-on-parking-garage-in-markham-ontario
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centennial_GO_Station

[Innsertnamehere]

Toronto's network will be larger once the Spadina Extension opens, but Vancouvers network will still beat Toronto once the Evergreen line opens.

What do you mean by "capacity"? The spadina line will absolutely put less strain on the system than the Eglinton Crosstown. Spadina is expected to releive yonge by something like 8% actually.

Eglinton will really be a subway in all shapes and forms for 11km, but the through put with the surface portion means it won' t be true "rapid transit" by the strictest of terms despite it performing just as well.

Spadina does its job well, a Dufferin route might have worked better but it was a much better idea to stick it on University than on Dufferin as it allows people coming from the western Bloor-Danforth to get off downtown without getting on the Yonge line and also allows for people from the Spadina line to do the same thing.

Centennial garage wasn't built by GO and that it why its so small. It was built by The City of Markham.

[vegeta_skyline]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

Centennial garage wasn't built by GO and that it why its so small. It was built by The City of Markham.

I suppose its not accurate to call it "GO's" garage, but that's basically what it is;

[Innsertnamehere]

That picture also doesn't include a Gigantic "City of Markham" sign on the opposite side of the glass staircase in the photo haha.

It was built by markham for GO use as people were using the community centre's parking, which is located literally right next to the garage.

[ssiguy]

Wow, those are actual seats on those trains!

In Vancouver wishing for a seat even during the day or late night is like waiting to win the lottery...........you know it could happen but probably never to you. The Canada with it's massive 40 meter stations is already WELL over capacity despite running every 3 minutes & 30 seconds all day. It doesn't matter when you travel, if you dare get on after the very first station....Waterfront......you will never get a seat and after the third station you will hyperventilate until Richmond.

This is made incredibly worse by the fact that the stations can only be "expanded" by another 10 meters..........not even enough for another subway car but just a 15 meter joining/articulated section.

The original SkyTrain routes {which everyone wishes the Canada Line was} have 70 meters stations but all were designed for easy conversion to 100 meters to accommodate 3 MK11 trains running every 80 seconds and currently they run every 90 seconds in rush hour and all trains to Surrey are now 2 MK11 trains or roughly the capacity of 7 MK1s.


Due to this the original SkyTrains have very high capacity especially due to it's faster de/acceleration than standard Metro and automation but the Canada Line is a route on Mickey Mouse would love and there are petitions south of the Fraser to get taken off the bus routes that now all go to Bridgeport Canada Line and get our service on bus straight to downtown like it use to be.

[Innsertnamehere]

.. 40 meter trains at 3:30.. that sounds like really, really low capacity.. way lower than Sheppard in Toronto which is 100 meter trains every 5 minutes..

[miketoronto]

Originally Posted by caltrane74

Still very hard to believe it, but Montreal a city 25% smaller than Toronto has a bigger subway system than Toronto and greater ridership in the range of a 100,000 riders per day.

Some research needs to go into the ridership figures for the Montreal Metro.

Not long ago, I remember reading reports from the STM, citing the daily METRO ridership was in the order of about 650,000 riders. That is below the TTC subway numbers which are in the 800,000 to 1,000,000 range depending on if you are counting linked or transfer trips.

My guess is that Montreal has started counting unlinked trips on the METRO, and that is what has pushed the daily ridership over that of Toronto.
Other than that, I highly doubt METRO ridership has almost doubled in just a few short years, since these reports were published.

The new STM website makes it hard to find these old ridership reports. But they are out there somewhere.

Just for note:

2012 Subway Ridership

Toronto: 318,760,400176,244,100
Montreal: 176,244,100

Considering STM carries about 1.3 million riders a day on the entire network. You tell me how the subway is carrying over a million of those riders? I doubt most riders are transferring as much as you see in Toronto between buses and subway. Something is being counted differently in Montreal.

[GreaterMontréal]

All cities use unlinked trips.

''Daily and annual ridership figures are based on "average weekday unlinked passenger trips" (where transfers between lines are counted as two separate passenger "boardings" or "trips"),''

that's why they probably started using it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_North_American_rapid_transit_systems_by_ridership

Montréal have 200 000 more riders than Toronto.

+The blue line extension 80 000+ in 2020

[miketoronto]

Originally Posted by GreaterMontréal

All cities use unlinked trips.

''Daily and annual ridership figures are based on "average weekday unlinked passenger trips" (where transfers between lines are counted as two separate passenger "boardings" or "trips"),''

that's why they probably started using it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_North_American_rapid_transit_systems_by_ridership

Montréal have 200 000 more riders than Toronto.

+The blue line extension 80 000+ in 2020

Canadian cities generally do not use unlinked trips, as they inflate numbers. American cities are really the only ones who use unlinked trips, because otherwise their ridership numbers would be even more worse.

[GreaterMontréal]

2012 Subway Ridership

Toronto: 318,760,400176,244,100
Montreal: 176,244,100

Considering STM carries about 1.3 million riders a day on the entire network. You tell me how the subway is carrying over a million of those riders? I doubt most riders are transferring as much as you see in Toronto between buses and subway. Something is being counted differently in Montreal.

''This ridership figure is the sum of the "Heavy Rail (HR)" and "Intermediate Rail (IR)" figures for Toronto from the APTA Ridership report – in other words, this figure includes ridership on the Scarborough RT line which APTA considers to be "Intermediate Rail (IR)".''

''318,760,400[note 4]''



but just like the TTC those numbers are just payed trips without transfer from buses

[Nouvellecosse]

Wait, so if the Montreal Metro carries more riders per day than the Toronto subway, how does the Toronto subway carry far more riders per year? I mean, 176 million vs 318 million?

Unless a year is a lot longer in Ontario.

[Beedok]

More weekend and holiday travel?