The Great Canadian Transit Thread - Page 306

kwoldtimer · #**6101** Posted **Mar 20, 2015, 5:18 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

So the spadina subway extension has been delayed again until the end of 2017 and is now $150 million over budget.

Late 2017, or not until 2019, depending on how they proceed, according to the Globe and Mail. For a late 2017 completion, it would be $185 million over budget.

caltrane74 · #**6102** Posted **Mar 20, 2015, 7:11 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

So the spadina subway extension has been delayed again until the end of 2017 and is now $150 million over budget.

$550 million over budget, and this city council wants to build a subway in Scarborough? You must be crazy. Hell No, I didn't like Scarborough to begin with, this will make curse their asses for real.

MalcolmTucker · #**6103** Posted **Mar 20, 2015, 7:22 PM**

The province will probably make them use Infrastructure Ontario like they did with the Eglinton line to avoid the weird project rules the TTC has.

Doady · #**6104** Posted **Mar 20, 2015, 9:06 PM**

Spadina subway being $150M over budget is probably not as bad as the Mississauga Transitway being $43M over budget.

SteelTown · #**6105** Posted **Mar 20, 2015, 9:30 PM**

Today was the official launch of SoBi Hamilton, Bike Share.

Gary Yokoyama
https://twitter.com/Yokoatthespec

CityofHamilton
https://twitter.com/CityofHamilton

Beedok · #**6106** Posted **Mar 21, 2015, 2:58 AM**

Hamilton is slowly improving. Now to get rid of some of those parking lots and people will realise what a lovely compact and walkable city they live in.

Doady · #**6107** Posted **Mar 21, 2015, 3:22 AM**

It's too bad Hamilton built so much money to build a freeway through their greenspace, furthering Hamilton's car dependence. If they had built LRT along King instead, maybe some of those parking lots would be gone by now.

Even with the high gas prices and increased provincial funding, Hamilton's per capita ridership has actually been declining in recent years. Compare to London for example where the ridership has skyrocketed. Everywhere ridership is increasing, but Hamilton is opposite. More and more parking is needed.

So yeah, don't expect the parking lots in Hamilton to be redeveloped any time soon.

goodthings · #**6108** Posted **Mar 21, 2015, 4:59 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doady

Spadina subway being $150M over budget is probably not as bad as the Mississauga Transitway being $43M over budget.

... and massively underused. No cars parked at Cawthra station everyday in my commute. Dixie as well, since getting to the parking lot is chaos, especially combined with the watermain construction. The section from Matheson to Dixie Stn took me 35 to 45 minutes before I switched to using 73 then 51 to reach the transitway.

Mostly empty transitway stations, with 2 to 3 passengers at most at Tomken, one, if any, at Central Parkway, 10 at Dixie, and of course, Cawthra takes the cake, where I have NEVER, EVER seen one passenger get on or off of it. The stations are so underutilized that I'm confident that I am the only person so far who used the kiss-and-ride facility at Tomken Station.

But even though the transitway facilities are pretty underused, combined with the fact that it embarrassingly doesn't run on Sundays, I think the ridership of the routes that pass through it skyrocketed, particularly the reverse peak direction. I mean, 109 east of Square One in the afternoon rush used to be a no man's land, but now you see more than a dozen people in the bus.

Another thing, Tomken and Dixie stations still have that blue thing on the structure, i.e. unfinished, and Tomken's surroundings particularly look like it has been abandoned.

Love the progress on the Erin Mills station, as the 109 passes by it. Same thing with the GO Terminal at Square One, looking good so far.

crazycrazydoesdoes · #**6109** Posted **Mar 21, 2015, 5:54 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by caltrane74

$550 million over budget, and this city council wants to build a subway in Scarborough? You must be crazy. Hell No, I didn't like Scarborough to begin with, this will make curse their asses for real.

That is outrageous for an extension that was practically useless to begin with. $3 billion to add 80,000ppd, the current ridership of the spadina stub.

Do you know that TTC subway collectors make a starting salary of $27/hr, as do the city's garbage men? I have a masters degree in architecture and don't make nearly as much.

Innsertnamehere · #**6110** Posted **Mar 21, 2015, 6:47 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by caltrane74

$550 million over budget, and this city council wants to build a subway in Scarborough? You must be crazy. Hell No, I didn't like Scarborough to begin with, this will make curse their asses for real.

It's NOT $550 million over. Just $150 over, presuming the city goes with a sole source contract to get it done by the end of 2017.

Coldrsx · #**6111** Posted **Mar 21, 2015, 8:20 PM**

New Valley line update:

Beginning Monday, March 23, 2015, City contractors will be operating hydrovacs at various sites along the Valley Line right-of-way to pinpoint utilities for relocation.
Beginning March 23, 2015, City contractors will be using hydrovacs to probe various locations along the Valley Line alignment for about three weeks.
Probing is being conducted to locate utilities in preparation for relocations.
These utilities must be moved out of the Valley Line right-of-way before construction begins in 2016.
The work will produce some noise, but drilling crews will only be at each location for a few hours.
Probing will only take place between 9:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. each day in areas affecting road right-of-way near businesses and residences.
Some locations will require short-term lane closures and/or pedestrian detours.
Each site will be restored to its original condition after the work is completed.

theman23 · #**6112** Posted **Mar 21, 2015, 8:38 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by crazycrazydoesdoes

Do you know that TTC subway collectors make a starting salary of $27/hr, as do the city's garbage men? I have a masters degree in architecture and don't make nearly as much.

umm...
Why should you?

1overcosc · #**6113** Posted **Mar 23, 2015, 2:10 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by crazycrazydoesdoes

That is outrageous for an extension that was practically useless to begin with. $3 billion to add 80,000ppd, the current ridership of the spadina stub.

Do you know that TTC subway collectors make a starting salary of $27/hr, as do the city's garbage men? I have a masters degree in architecture and don't make nearly as much.

Has there been any discussion on removing the human collectors? With ticket machines and remote help link technology they're not really needed anymore... Ottawa's Confederation Line will open without human ticket collectors.

1overcosc · #**6114** Posted **Mar 23, 2015, 2:13 PM**

Cost overruns like this are soon to be mostly a thing of the past thanks to the new P3 procurement process. Do not worry about the TYSSE fiasco being repeated elsewhere, it's not likely.

It's quite something that if the TTC did not switch to P3 for the remaining work, thus opening in 2019, it would open one year after the Confederation Line in Ottawa, despite the Confederation Line starting construction 3 years later. Goes to show just how much better P3 construction is.

Innsertnamehere · #**6115** Posted **Mar 23, 2015, 2:25 PM**

ticket collectors will move out of their booths after presto is implemented, they will sort of roam the stations for customer service instead.

lrt's friend · #**6116** Posted **Mar 23, 2015, 10:52 PM**

There is value in having real human customer service. We saw that with the TD Place shuttle service last summer for Red Blacks games.

1overcosc · #**6117** Posted **Mar 24, 2015, 12:21 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

There is value in having real human customer service. We saw that with the TD Place shuttle service last summer for Red Blacks games.

In Ottawa, the cost of putting human attendants in every Confederation Line station was estimated at about $3M/year just with Phase 1. To put in perspective, that's about the value of a single year's worth of fare hikes. While there is certainly benefit to having human attendants, I don't think it's quite worth that much.

1overcosc · #**6118** Posted **Mar 24, 2015, 12:24 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

ticket collectors will move out of their booths after presto is implemented, they will sort of roam the stations for customer service instead.

Seems like a good idea if Toronto is insistent on keeping them.

It's obviously harder to phase out existing jobs than to avoid creating them in the first place, so it's harder for Toronto to go humanless than it will be for Ottawa to be humanless on day 1.

That said, I think Toronto should definitely start by eliminating ticket collectors from lesser used stations.

1overcosc · #**6119** Posted **Mar 24, 2015, 12:30 AM**

Also, by replacing human collectors with machines, you're not eliminating jobs. Yes, you're getting rid of a customer service clerk, but you're creating new jobs for the engineers, programmers, and technicians who will design, build, program, and maintain the machines. In fact, you're actually improving the economy because those engineers, programmers, and technicians are much higher value jobs than the low value service clerks.

It's the same sort of deal with the self checkouts at grocery stores... the people who avoid them "to save jobs" aren't doing anything of the sort.

niwell · #**6120** Posted **Mar 24, 2015, 12:35 AM**

I'm not 100% certain, but I don't think Toronto really hires many (any?) dedicated ticket booth collectors anymore. Grandfathered in positions but also apparently plenty of operators who are on some form of disability and can't perform their regular duties. Such as the ticket collector who was caught sleeping on the job and ended up dying from a heart condition a few months later. Also subway drivers who have had someone jump in front of the train. I haven't read any definitive stats on this but it's what I've heard from a number of sources.