The Great Canadian Transit Thread

[Beedok]

Originally Posted by Doady

Hamilton to Oshawa is a huge distance, over 1 hours to drive, over 2 hours by train, over 100km long.

If they could get the train down to 60-90 minutes that would be very nice.

[eemy]

I thought Metrolinx was planning to electrify the Kitchener line first for the UPX albeit not past that point until after Lakeshore is electrified.

[matt602]

The part between Toronto and Hamilton is a lot more important than the entire stretch anyway. A lot more people make that commute than the Oshawa to Hamilton one, especially with the transfer that you sometimes have to make once you get to Union. Throw in the bus from Aldershot to Hamilton and it's pretty damned inconvenient.

The most pressing issues right now should be getting as much service as possible to the new James North station and getting the shovels in the ground for Hamilton LRT. Short of electrification, service on the Lakeshore line is already about as good as it can get.

[Innsertnamehere]

Originally Posted by jeremy_haak

I thought Metrolinx was planning to electrify the Kitchener line first for the UPX albeit not past that point until after Lakeshore is electrified.

yes, I just didn't mention it as I was largely discussing GO service. UPX is a seperate service from GO and will not be operated by GO.

The goal is to get GO service to Kitchener to around 1:30 (and HSR to around 0:45), and Hamilton service to around 50 minutes.

Also, there are almost 0 trips that go end to end on the Lakeshore lines.

[J.OT13]

Note that Lyon is actually being built a block east of where it is shown.

Originally Posted by Harley613

http://www.confederationline.ca/en/#target6079

[J_Murphy]

So out of curiousity, I am wondering what Taxi Cab services are like in other places across the country and how much they typically cost. I don't take cabs very often, but the last time I did I thought to myself how expensive it is. They seemed to jack their prices higher a few years ago when the price of gas went out of control, but now that gas prices are below the max of what they were, and considering that they mostly drive fuel efficient vehicles, I'm surprised they are still rising. Years ago you would see nothing but Crown Victorias and Impalas, but now they seem to mostly be Corollas or Civics with some vans.

Currently in the St. John's area, we have maybe 10-12 cab companies operating (maybe more) and I think they all operate at the same rate. Given that taxis are government regulated, there probably isn't much room to be competative with rates.

Here is a price structure taken from one of their websites:

"All taxi rates in the City of St. John's are set by the Municipal Government. All licenced taxis in the city have a "Flag Rate" of $3.25 and increment at $0.25 every sixth of a kilometer. There is also a charge of $0.25 every 30 seconds for "Stop Time".

So, your first kilometer is going to cost you $5 with every subsequent kilometer being a couple of bucks, depending on stop time.

[SFUVancouver]

We have a taxi oligarchy in Metro Vancouver with generally lacklustre service, byzantine rules regarding political boundaries and company service rights, high fare rates, and with taxi licences approaching a million dollars a piece and the supply hopelessly out of sync with demand, the entire system is set up to protect the incumbents and constrict supply to keep revenues up for the licence holders.

The flag tariff (initiating a trip) is $3.20 and generously includes the first 1/13th of a kilometre. That's your first 77 metres.
Each kilometre is $1.84, broken down into small increments.
In addition to that, a time-based fare is also applied at a rate of $32.86 per hour, broken down into minute increments, I believe.

Some positive rules are that a minimum of 20% (I think) of each company's fleet must be wheelchair-accessible minivan taxis and in the City of Vancouver hybrid vehicles are mandatory for the non-minivan taxis. The hybrid rule was grandfathered to allow fleets to phase out the older vehicles and since it's now been effect for at least a decade and the local City of Vancouver fleets are now fully hybrid, both Prius and larger Camry models. An interesting byproduct of the hybrid rule is that it resulted in the first gen and second gen Toyota Prius hybrids accumulating more mileage on Vancouver streets than anywhere else in the world. Toyota did buy-backs on many of the high mileage Prius 1s and 2s (including apparently one owned by a cabbie named Andrew Grant that clocked over 1.5 million km) and entered into long-term fleet partnerships with the local taxi firms.

[Taeolas]

Fredericton is still a Zone system; travel between each zone costs a set amount no matter how long it takes to get there (distance or time wise), with a little bit of variety in what the taxi's will charge (some companies give different discounts for different reasons). Generally speaking to get from one end of the city itself to the opposite end will be 10-12$. The lowest is about 9$ in my experience.

A trip out to the Airport from anywhere will be 16 to 26$ depending on what zone you come from.

[J_Murphy]

Originally Posted by Taeolas

Fredericton is still a Zone system; travel between each zone costs a set amount no matter how long it takes to get there (distance or time wise), with a little bit of variety in what the taxi's will charge (some companies give different discounts for different reasons). Generally speaking to get from one end of the city itself to the opposite end will be 10-12$. The lowest is about 9$ in my experience.

A trip out to the Airport from anywhere will be 16 to 26$ depending on what zone you come from.

Our Airport operates on a zone system, but elsewhere in the city it is a metered system. I've never been to Fredericton so I'm not familiar with the size, but that sounds like a reasonable price to get across town.

[Taeolas]

Originally Posted by J_Murphy

Our Airport operates on a zone system, but elsewhere in the city it is a metered system. I've never been to Fredericton so I'm not familiar with the size, but that sounds like a reasonable price to get across town.

Checking Google Maps, from one edge of the city to the other seems to be about 10km or so, give or take a suburb or two. A Taxi from one end to the other (going through downtown to take the bridge) is in that 10-12$ range (+tip), and takes about 15 minutes, so that would be about average.

[SteelTown]

Hamilton now adding green paint for cyclist, so they can turn safety.


http://www.thespec.com/news-story/459666...m_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

[Chadillaccc]

CTrain ‘high-five guy’ makes commuting less miserable
Dylan Robertson | Calgary Herald June 24, 2014

• Video Link

A local mystery man has been putting a smile on Calgary commuters’ faces.

Dubbed “high-five guy,” the charismatic man who appears to be in his 20s has been occasionally spotted on LRTs over the past month.

Witnesses tell the Herald the man announces he is not mentally unstable and wants to brighten everyone’s day. He then goes up and down the train carriage exchanging a high-five or fist-bump with each commuter.

Alex Maissan saw the mystery man Monday around 6:30 a.m., as his LRT headed west on 7th Avenue.

“I was listening to music; tired and kinda grumpy. I could hear someone talking so I took a headphone out. People were looking around clueless,” said Alex Maissan. “Then all of a sudden he runs up to the front of the car and announces he’s giving everybody a high-five before 4th Street. And he did it!”

Maissan says it gave quite a few people a smile. “You feel a little awkward at first, but once you do it you feel pretty great,” he said.

Full story: http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/calgar...muting+less+miserable/9970752/story.html

[Taeolas]

And on the small city Transit scene, Fredericton is looking for a "budget neutral" Transit System update.

Mainly it involves:
* Full hourly service for its routes, Monday to Saturday (currently there's a 2 hour dinner time gap around 7-9pm on weeknights, and Saturday is 2 hour service for the afternoon and late morning)
* Cutting the last run of the night so they leave around 10-10:15 instead of 11.
* Cutting 2 low traveled routes to Lincoln and Silverwood completely.
* Adjusting existing routes to remove choke points and make them flow a bit easier.
* Still no Sunday service.

As a regular bus user in Fredericton, I'm satisfied with most of those changes. We should have gone to full hourly service years ago and we should be looking at adding Sunday service now; but I'll take what we can get. Hopefully in a year or two, if use increases steadily, we can see Sunday added in as well. (Especially since the city now allows businesses to open any time they want on Sundays).

The loss of the late night run is a bit annoying, but it wasn't being used much so cutting it makes some sense. Cutting Lincoln and Silverwood runs are a bit iffier. That's needed for the "Budget Neutral" goal, but feedback from people is quite loud so far. I'm hoping the Council will accept the proposed changes + a small budget bump to keep the routes going in some shape.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

CTrain ‘high-five guy’ makes commuting less miserable
Dylan Robertson | Calgary Herald June 24, 2014

• Video Link



Full story: http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/calgar...muting+less+miserable/9970752/story.html

Just watch; someone will eventually complain and he'll be banned from the C-Train.

We used to have a bus driver who would sing while driving. Most people enjoyed it, but because of a few complainers, he was told to stop.

[1overcosc]

Some new pictures of the Confederation Line tunnel underneath downtown Ottawa:

Inside the tunnel near the western portal:


Excavation of the future Lyon Station. Unlike most subway construction projects in which cut and cover is used to dig out the stations even when the tunnel itself is bored, the Confederation Line's underground stations are being dug out from inside the tunnel.


Installation of the support umbrella at the future Parliament station:


Roadheader hard at work just west of Parliament station:

[Rusty van Reddick]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Just watch; someone will eventually complain and he'll be banned from the C-Train.

We used to have a bus driver who would sing while driving. Most people enjoyed it, but because of a few complainers, he was told to stop.

I've never heard of anybody being "banned" from the C Train- that would be insane and unfeasible. There are also far, far more serious issues with drunken behaviours and the like for riders to complain about, so I'm saying no, this will never happen.

I took the 300 bus home from the airport a few weeks ago and the driver took it upon himself to play tour guide which entailed all sorts of contentious crap- he let us know what a waste public art was ("see this sculpture? It cost taxpayers $400,000") and how you won't be able to see the Calgary Tower anymore because of us building up instead of out (and on that note, "we're starting to see people move back downtown," as if the tens of thousands of us who live inner city just recently appeared there in the smoldering ruins of the city). I'd never have complained but prayed he's shut the fuck up because the first impression he was giving visitors was that we were a bunch of sprawl embracing, art-mocking rednecks. Not that the greeters at the airports wearing cowboy hats provide a better first impression but that's another story.

[bikegypsy]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

• Video Link

Wow! Great attitude!

[Doady]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Just watch; someone will eventually complain and he'll be banned from the C-Train.

We used to have a bus driver who would sing while driving. Most people enjoyed it, but because of a few complainers, he was told to stop.

When Mississauga Transit had bus drivers announce stops, there was this one bus driver who not only announced the stops, but used the PA system to greet everyone on the bus as "Wal-Mart shoppers" and sarcastically point out all the "attractions" in Mississauga along the way. The stop announcements are all automated now, so no more sarcastic commentary about Mississauga or its residents.

[ehlow]

Originally Posted by Rusty van Reddick

I've never heard of anybody being "banned" from the C Train- that would be insane and unfeasible.

There was a man known as "Zanta" banned from the TTC.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Zancai

There's a graphic novel about him now. He was also on Kenny vs Spenny.

[1overcosc]

Planned frequency of Ottawa's Confederation Line:



8 minute frequency until 2am on Friday & Saturday nights!