The Great Canadian Transit Thread

[gunnar777]

Originally Posted by MeIsThomas

Here's some aerial shots of Hamilton's West Harbour GO Station from last month:


West Harbour GO Station - May 8, 2015 by Metrolinx, on Flickr


West Harbour GO Station - May 8, 2015 by Metrolinx, on Flickr

Everytime I see an update on West Harbour, I wonder how the heck they're gonna have it even operational in time for Pan Am. I realise those pics are nearly a month old but still.

[SteelTown]

There will only be tracks and platforms completed on time for the Pan Am Games. It'll still be a major construction site while the Games is happening.

[Innsertnamehere]

By the looks of it the north platform and a single access bridge will be open for the games, nothing more than enought to get the trains in and out.

[gunnar777]

Originally Posted by SteelTown

There will only be tracks and platforms completed on time for the Pan Am Games. It'll still be a major construction site while the Games is happening.

Ah okay, I could only see one possible platform, so that makes sense.

[caltrane74]

Has anyone gone for a ride on the UPX yet?

[Beedok]

Found this gigantic thing:

Sadly not finished.

[1overcosc]

Where did you find it? Would love to see the entire GGH coloured in with the GO lines too. Would be a powerful illustration of the sheer size of the combined transit network in the area.

[Beedok]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

Where did you find it? Would love to see the entire GGH coloured in with the GO lines too. Would be a powerful illustration of the sheer size of the combined transit network in the area.

http://kevin.branigan.ca/post/GTHA%20transit

[eemy]

It's also missing some systems such as Durham, Oakville, Milton, Orangeville and Brantford.

[gunnar777]

Originally Posted by caltrane74

Has anyone gone for a ride on the UPX yet?

I'm pretty surprised that Saturday came and went with basically not a peep on here about the opening of the UPX. I figure either people aren't considering it to be "transit" (fair enough), or they just don't care. There was a lot of talk about it here during construction though. My friend rode it on Saturday and said it wasn't too full, but seemed fast. I'm glad we now have the infrastucture in place, and though I feel it should be run as transit, I suppose that the increases in Kitchener line service between Union and Bramalea will sort of make up for it, as it'll make the same stops and run every 15 minutes off-peak.

[1overcosc]

Toronto's subway system has apparently completely failed. Since 6:30am, no subway service, period.

If this doesn't get the city of Toronto to finally invest in proper maintenance of infrastructure, I don't know what will.

[Metro-One]

If they are as irrational as the people against Translink in Vancouver they will quote the cost of every art project that the Toronto transit authority has been involved in, then blame them for the failure, and then wish to restrict their funding even more...

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

Toronto's subway system has apparently completely failed. Since 6:30am, no subway service, period.

If this doesn't get the city of Toronto to finally invest in proper maintenance of infrastructure, I don't know what will.

I was under the impression the TTC is undergoing a major overhaul of the subway system for years now. Think you are jumping the gun on this one.

[1overcosc]

Yes, to the TTC's credit they are investing in repair & maintenance albeit after decades of underfunding... but clearly not at a rapid enough pace.

I've seen estimates that the TTC's repair backlog is in the billions.. which is somewhat terrifying.

IMO, clearing that backlog, or at least the worst parts of it, should take precedence over say, the big bus frequency increase they just passed.

[WhipperSnapper]

They only have few hours to work on the subway every day. And, again, who doesn't have a backlog? For example, to make the system entirely barrier free is probably in the hundreds of millions.

The communication system went down this morning and as a result the subway was closed for safety reasons. They are many things that could of disrupted communication including outside influences.

[gunnar777]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

Toronto's subway system has apparently completely failed. Since 6:30am, no subway service, period.

If this doesn't get the city of Toronto to finally invest in proper maintenance of infrastructure, I don't know what will.

You're absolutely right. Toronto is the only major city to which I've been where it's considered normal to shut down the one and only downtown section of the already completely inadequate subway system on any given weekend.

If it had simply been this one particular communications failure, that wouldn't have been so bad because at least part of most rail systems worldwide will fail unexpectedly at some point or another. What is bad is the city's parochial view that it's okay to have let the subway system remain both minuscule and in such disrepair, such that one can count on the system being offline, simply because it's a Saturday or Sunday. That is what's pathetic here.

[niwell]

^What exactly is your solution then? The weekend shutdowns on the Yonge line are to replace the ageing signal system, and IIRC they have also had to do major maintenance on the tunnel lining due to how it was originally built. The alternative would be to shut down the entire line for a long time (a year or so?) or let it fall into further disrepair. It's not a minor undertaking.

The period of disinvestment in the TTC (both capital and operational) lasted far too long but playing catch-up doesn't take overnight. There is a huge amount of construction on the transit system and studies for expansion going on right now.

[Doady]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

Toronto's subway system has apparently completely failed. Since 6:30am, no subway service, period.

If this doesn't get the city of Toronto to finally invest in proper maintenance of infrastructure, I don't know what will.

The feds and province download too much onto Toronto, this is the result. Shutdown of subway service.

Liberals canceled the Ontario Transit Vehicle Program when they came into power, meaning TTC lost like $20 million a year to replace buses (1/3 subsidy for each bus). Before that the PCs cancelled 75% subsidy for capital costs and 50% subsidy for operating costs, the TTC lost hundreds of millions in funding per year.

All that money has to come from somewhere. We are merely seeing an example of where that money came from.

[gunnar777]

^^I'm glad you asked. What I have seen outside of Toronto is that when one system goes down, others are modified to help pick up the slack. As GO owns enough corridor to run unimpeded weekend trains from Union/Exhibition to all interchanges, except for Kipling, on the Bloor-Danforth, Sheppard and SRT lines, why not consider that option? It will not replace the Yonge line downtown, but it will be much better than transferring to buses on clogged streets. I can already imagine that the same small minds would waste time poring over the cost of diesel or how it would be impossible to have Metrolinx pick up the slack for the TTC. But I would ask them why, then, does everywhere else seem to just suck it up?

And I respect your response - I realize that the city is playing catch-up, but honestly "studies" for expansion? They've been done, many, many, many times over. And it's not an excuse at this point, when there continue to be many city councillors, urban planners, nimbys, and a recent ex-mayor, who to this day put the brakes on progress. There are enough of them to fairly represent the general population after all.

[WhipperSnapper]

Co-operation among the agencies is an obvious problem in Toronto however, studies become obsolete quickly in a rapidly changing city like Toronto. They need to be fairly current to get the most bang for your buck.