Confederation Line (Stage 1) | In Service 1.0

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by PHrenetic

Good Day....

Definitely electrical, definitely not good.

It will be interesting to hear what the RTG's explanation is after a root cause analysis. My guess is water somehow got into an an inadequately sealed splice at the base of the pole and caused a short.

[PHrenetic]

Originally Posted by roger1818

It will be interesting to hear what the RTG's explanation is after a root cause analysis. My guess is water somehow got into an an inadequately sealed splice at the base of the pole and caused a short.

Good Day.... OMG..... a reason - stated - never in 30 years (length to end of maint. contract) !!

We never heard the cause of the Bayview bridge collapse; we barely heard anything of the Laurier and Rideau sinkholes; virtually nothing of the second Rideau hole, and the by-contract silence from both City and RTG (each stating the other) on anything and everything. Paranoid me says we will never see hide-nor-hair of comment on this one, and it would be extreme bonus if we do ! <snort> !

Your guess IMHO is spot on.... but what do we know !!

[OCCheetos]

Whatever the cause, the fire is probably only going to be a very minor setback. Much more minor than a bridge collapse or sinkhole. A train was out testing by Hurdman yesterday evening, so I'm guessing they're sure that it's an isolated issue.

[PHrenetic]

Good day.... 2 observations in passing Belfast this morning....

The storage shed is leaps-and-boundings.... almost all the stanchions and about 1/3 roof trusses are up. They are starting on the foundations for the second LMF sheds on the north side, and the foundations for the 'extra' shed at the southeast corner are going in.

And, looked into the trench between Tremblay and St.Laurent at the Belfast overpass..... heavy fog !!

EnJoy!

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by PHrenetic

And, looked into the trench between Tremblay and St.Laurent at the Belfast overpass..... heavy fog !!

The one nice thing about trains, as long as you are confident that no one is walking on the track or anything like that, you can run them in zero visibility as you don't have to steer them and you know how far ahead the next train is.

[PHrenetic]

Good Day.

In the latest construction update 158, the last photo of the tunnel (somewhere under downtown)....
- would someone else please take a close look at the roofline in the middle distance. That looks like one heck of a dipsy-doopy of ? misalignment ?
As in - like - wow !

http://www.ligneconfederationline.ca/wp-...ork-in-the-running-tunnel-2018-01-09.jpg

EnJoy!

[Kitchissippi]

My guess is that these are sections where they had to put support umbrellas because of specific geological anomalies or something like utilities/sewers running perpendicularly above the tunnel.

[J.OT13]

Ceiling panels going up Lyon Station Concourse.


https://twitter.com/JimWatsonOttawa/status/954070692160352256


http://www.octranspo.com/ready4rail/new_stations

[1overcosc]

^ Wow, looks like pretty much the entire structure is done, just needs finishings (tiles, ceiling panels, paint, glass railings). Hope we can at least have a September opening (June would be nice, but might be a little too tight, unless they do a partial opening east of downtown).

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

^ Wow, looks like pretty much the entire structure is done, just needs finishings (tiles, ceiling panels, paint, glass railings). Hope we can at least have a September opening (June would be nice, but might be a little too tight, unless they do a partial opening east of downtown).

Saw a train doing a test run near Hurdman last week. It would be nice to see the Eastern section opened early as a test as we wait for the remaining atations to be completed (Rideau especially). A soft opening should work out some kinks I would imagine.

[1overcosc]

Yeah. I think they should open uOttawa-Blair to regular customer service; given how far along the eastern segment this, they could do this for June or even April. It would work out the kinks, make travel between Hurdman and Blair/St. Laurent (important to a lot of crosstown trips) WAY easier, and even help with the train station (although there'd be no service downtown yet, connectivity to Hurdman and to uOttawa (from which one could easily walk to a lot of downtown destinations if the weather was nice) would help.

However, without the downtown segment open and without the possibility of bus transfers at uOttawa, ridership would be quite limited. I'd still run it at the normal scheduled frequencies (gives the system practice with signalling at full train load), but make it free to ride to draw people in; perhaps RTG can cover the operating costs of this partial route as part of its late opening penalty. The free to ride feature would encourage a lot of people to "joy ride" the system during this time period, helping a good chunk of the city's commuters get used to using the LRT before it opens for real.

This would work very well if the system itself had its proper opening in September. Summer is ideal for a trial like this.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

The free to ride feature would encourage a lot of people to "joy ride" the system during this time period, helping a good chunk of the city's commuters get used to using the LRT before it opens for real.

Agreed with most of your post except for this point.

A lot of people joy ride on OCTranspo and it does nothing but permeate the general stereotypes of bus travelers. Part of the appeal for LRT, at least for some I would imagine, would be the appeal of having a gate fare system for stations to weed out those trying to cheat the system. I hate to say it, but there are people who might take the train who wouldnt take the bus for this reason - buses have a very negative stigma amongst some, and carrying that over to the LRT might be an unwise choice.

That, and the eventual complaining that would be bound to happen when the free rides are taken away. I'm sure some would lobby for the entire system to be free in perpetuity if you gave them even a sniff of the possibility.

Maybe they could offer free rides on Fridays or Mondays or something, but something entirely free for a set period of time makes me weary of the side effects.

[Catenary]

Originally Posted by JHikka

Agreed with most of your post except for this point.

A lot of people joy ride on OCTranspo and it does nothing but permeate the general stereotypes of bus travelers. Part of the appeal for LRT, at least for some I would imagine, would be the appeal of having a gate fare system for stations to weed out those trying to cheat the system. I hate to say it, but there are people who might take the train who wouldnt take the bus for this reason - buses have a very negative stigma amongst some, and carrying that over to the LRT might be an unwise choice.

That, and the eventual complaining that would be bound to happen when the free rides are taken away. I'm sure some would lobby for the entire system to be free in perpetuity if you gave them even a sniff of the possibility.

Maybe they could offer free rides on Fridays or Mondays or something, but something entirely free for a set period of time makes me weary of the side effects.

Free rides for the first couple weeks is a pretty common promotion for a new transit line. Toronto's TYSSE opening in December had one day of free transit across the entire system, but it was just an extension.

[McC]

Originally Posted by JHikka

Agreed with most of your post except for this point.

A lot of people joy ride on OCTranspo and it does nothing but permeate the general stereotypes of bus travelers. Part of the appeal for LRT, at least for some I would imagine, would be the appeal of having a gate fare system for stations to weed out those trying to cheat the system. I hate to say it, but there are people who might take the train who wouldnt take the bus for this reason - buses have a very negative stigma amongst some, and carrying that over to the LRT might be an unwise choice.

That, and the eventual complaining that would be bound to happen when the free rides are taken away. I'm sure some would lobby for the entire system to be free in perpetuity if you gave them even a sniff of the possibility.

Maybe they could offer free rides on Fridays or Mondays or something, but something entirely free for a set period of time makes me weary of the side effects.

Are you saying that many people don’t ride transit because some people fare hop? That’s a new definition of the free rider problem to me. Where did you get this idea from?

[1overcosc]

A uOttawa-Blair trial would probably have extremely low ridership without free fares, which would create its own set of problems. Imagine the criticism, OMG WE SPENT BILLIONS ON THIS THING AND IT'S EMPTY.

[OtrainUser]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

A uOttawa-Blair trial would probably have extremely low ridership without free fares, which would create its own set of problems. Imagine the criticism, OMG WE SPENT BILLIONS ON THIS THING AND IT'S EMPTY.

While it may have low ridership to start, it would still be a good way to iron out all the bugs before the whole system goes online with full ridership otherwise they are just asking for a disaster to happen.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by OtrainUser

While it may have low ridership to start, it would still be a good way to iron out all the bugs before the whole system goes online with full ridership otherwise they are just asking for a disaster to happen.

Between government and the tech industry, I think a good chunk of the Ottawa public is familiar with the idea of a "soft launch".

Call it one, it'll work.

[J.OT13]

I say free rides, but you need a Presto (or Multi) to get through the gates. This would encourage ridership, get people familiar with the system and test the fare gates while limiting fare hoppers (if you have a smart card, it's probably loaded).

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by McC

Are you saying that many people don’t ride transit because some people fare hop? That’s a new definition of the free rider problem to me. Where did you get this idea from?

Not the fact that people fare hop - the type of people who fare hop are people they don't want to be around on the bus. Gated stations for trains resolves this.

Originally Posted by Catenary

Free rides for the first couple weeks is a pretty common promotion for a new transit line. Toronto's TYSSE opening in December had one day of free transit across the entire system, but it was just an extension.

Free rides for a day are fine (we do it every Canada Day). What we're poking around is an extended free ride for a section that's ready to test and operate. I'm not sure how wise it would be to do it for an extended period of time.

[Aylmer]

I don't get who these supposed hoards of fare hoppers are supposed to be. I fare-hop short distances all the time (like Bank-Mackenzie, say) and so do lots of totally normal and well-to-do people who don't think 800m on a bus is worth $3.50. I assume you're referring to visibly poor or homeless people - "ragged people", as Paul Simon might say. But I highly doubt that LRT stations will turn into dickensian London if it's free for a few weeks any more than it did when the Trillium Line was free back in the day for months on end. And I don't think that the people who really want to get into the station to sleep will let unattended fare gates or $3.50 stop them anyways. In both the free and the fare scenario, it would all come down to station attendants making sure that everyone is being respectful of the public space.