The Great Canadian Transit Thread

[mistercorporate]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

Yonge is packed for the downtown section but, I can't recall ever waiting through 3 packed trains. Two a couple times when there were delays. I guess if you hugs the wall.

Montreal trains look good. Looks like grab bars are available throughout the train unlike the new ttc cars.

Yonge-Eglinton Southbound platform during morning rush hour, i've experienced that scenario twice a couple years ago, probably worse now.

[MalcolmTucker]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

Yonge is packed for the downtown section but, I can't recall ever waiting through 3 packed trains. Two a couple times when there were delays. I guess if you hugs the wall.

Montreal trains look good. Looks like grab bars are available throughout the train unlike the new ttc cars.

After I had a few days of 3+ train waits in 2010 I bought a bike.

[matt602]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

Yonge is packed for the downtown section but, I can't recall ever waiting through 3 packed trains. Two a couple times when there were delays. I guess if you hugs the wall.

Montreal trains look good. Looks like grab bars are available throughout the train unlike the new ttc cars.

2 years ago I literally had to let 7 trains pass northbound at Dundas before I could physically squeeze onto one. I suppose if I was a really pushy asshole I could have gotten on by the 5th one but myself and many others kept waiting. We only barely fit onto the 8th train, leaving quite a few people behind who were there before I even got on the platform. Every train that left had to attempt 2 or 3 separate door closings before leaving.

The new Montreal trains are awesome, been waiting a long time to see those go into service. I'll have to go see them soon.

[hipster duck]

The Yonge line suffers from at least three problems.

The first is that it is effectively the only subway line to serve downtown. Unless your destination is the Yorkville area, you will, by necessity, have to either transfer onto the Yonge line soutbound or the University line (which is the Yonge line, and subject to the same delays or emergencies) to get to where the vast majority of downtown's destinations are.

The second problem is that too many surface lines feed into the Yonge line. Not just all east-west surface routes, but quite a few north-south ones, too: Bayview, Leslie, Mount Pleasant. Since many of these routes terminate at the Yonge subway line, it effectively leads to a lot of trips utilizing the subway that would not otherwise involve the subway. For example: take a trip from Eglinton and Don Mills to St. Clair and Bathurst. If the Eglinton East buses were through-routed past Yonge, I would just transfer at Bathurst (1 transfer) to a southbound Bathurst bus. Instead, I have to make 2 transfers, and if I have to make two transfers, I might as well take the subway.

The third problem is that it has to serve an excessive amount of local traffic, too, since the north-south surface routes near Yonge street are woefully underdeveloped. You can't take a frequent bus up Avenue Road, Mount Pleasant or Bayview. There is no bus along Jarvis or Church.

The Yonge line would have capacity problems even without these compounding factors, but these all contribute to create a line that is bursting at the seams.

[The Chemist]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

Toronto's subway cars are actually wider than a typical metro train from my understanding.. IIRC when Toronto opened its subway in the 1950's the train cars were both the longest and widest globally.

Based on the photos above and the information I could find online, I don't think that's true anymore. The pictures don't look any wider than the rolling stock used on the majority of Shanghai's metro lines, for example - and in fact, Shanghai uses the same basic model as the new Toronto Rocket (Bombardier Movia) on several lines.

Longer platforms and trains could be another option no? Stations would be more expensive but that may not exceed the savings of a single bore.

Yes, and in fact they are adding a few longer (7 car rather than 6) trains to line 8. Hopefully the issue should be resolved in a few year when more rolling stock is available (as there are still headway improvements to be made on both lines), but the problem today is that the rolling stock factories in China are already at full capacity due to the enormous number of metro projects in the country, which means that new trains are very difficult to get in short order.

[1overcosc]

There's relief in sight for Yonge in the future even without the DRL.

The extension up to Vaughan should help because it a lot of bus & park-and-ride traffic going to Finch will be diverted to this line; in particular the busy Steeles West and Finch West buses which currently feed into Yonge will feed into University instead.

GO RER will help divert pressure off Yonge too, while in 2020 the new signalling system will improve capacity on Yonge itself.

DRL is needed but there's good interim relief coming too.

[swimmer_spe]

Too bad tunneling is so expensive. An express tunnel making the loop along Bloor between the U down to Union could provide relief too.

The stations could be: Lower Bay - Bloor Yonge - College - Lower Queen - Union - St Andews - St Patrick - St George, and going the opposite way too.

[osmo]

It is always quicker to take the opposite train to get ahead of the rush and then back track.

5:30pm and you can't get on a train Northbound at Queen Station? Head to Osgoode and take it southbound to beat the rush that gets on at Union and King stations. You will get a seat as well.

[DizzyEdge]

What's the longest a TTC subway train can be? just the # of cars which could be attached together, not worrying about platform lengths.

[TorontoDrew]

Originally Posted by DizzyEdge

What's the longest a TTC subway train can be? just the # of cars which could be attached together, not worrying about platform lengths.

The TTC’s new subway trains are a “six-car-fixed” I'm not sure how long the platforms are on the Eglignton Line but for lines 1 and 2 they pretty much are as long as they can be .Each train can hold up to 1100 people though you don't want to be on one when it's like that. Mostly line 1 during rush hour.


Our new Livery looks pretty good if you ask me.

posted on the ttc site

posted on blog.to

posted on farm7.staticflickr.com

[1overcosc]

Those subway trains are very plain but somehow still look awesome and they totally fit.

I am getting a little disappointed at how almost every city in Canada seems to be using red and white as livery colours. I know they're our national colours but come on guys, try for some variety.

[Innsertnamehere]

To be fair Toronto has nearly 100 years of history with the red livery.

The TTC subway could add a small 7th car once automatic train control comes online. Right now the platforms are a bit longer than the trains to account for driver error in braking, but once driving is automated the trains can use the whole platform length. I imagine the TTC will take advantage of this and order slightly longer trains in the 2020's to replace the T1s.

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by matt602

2 years ago I literally had to let 7 trains pass northbound at Dundas before I could physically squeeze onto one. I suppose if I was a really pushy asshole I could have gotten on by the 5th one but myself and many others kept waiting. We only barely fit onto the 8th train, leaving quite a few people behind who were there before I even got on the platform. Every train that left had to attempt 2 or 3 separate door closings before leaving.

The new Montreal trains are awesome, been waiting a long time to see those go into service. I'll have to go see them soon.

That's nuts. Never experienced anything remotely like that.

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

The Yonge line suffers from at least three problems.

The first is that it is effectively the only subway line to serve downtown. Unless your destination is the Yorkville area, you will, by necessity, have to either transfer onto the Yonge line soutbound or the University line (which is the Yonge line, and subject to the same delays or emergencies) to get to where the vast majority of downtown's destinations are.

The second problem is that too many surface lines feed into the Yonge line. Not just all east-west surface routes, but quite a few north-south ones, too: Bayview, Leslie, Mount Pleasant. Since many of these routes terminate at the Yonge subway line, it effectively leads to a lot of trips utilizing the subway that would not otherwise involve the subway. For example: take a trip from Eglinton and Don Mills to St. Clair and Bathurst. If the Eglinton East buses were through-routed past Yonge, I would just transfer at Bathurst (1 transfer) to a southbound Bathurst bus. Instead, I have to make 2 transfers, and if I have to make two transfers, I might as well take the subway.

The third problem is that it has to serve an excessive amount of local traffic, too, since the north-south surface routes near Yonge street are woefully underdeveloped. You can't take a frequent bus up Avenue Road, Mount Pleasant or Bayview. There is no bus along Jarvis or Church.

The Yonge line would have capacity problems even without these compounding factors, but these all contribute to create a line that is bursting at the seams.

Others includes people blocking doors instead of moving into the middle and the damn doors themselves. They take forever to close. Slows down service and encourages people to bully themselves in.

[SkahHigh]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

Those subway trains are very plain but somehow still look awesome and they totally fit.

I am getting a little disappointed at how almost every city in Canada seems to be using red and white as livery colours. I know they're our national colours but come on guys, try for some variety.

Then comes Montreal

Edit: And Vancouver

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

Those subway trains are very plain but somehow still look awesome and they totally fit.

I am getting a little disappointed at how almost every city in Canada seems to be using red and white as livery colours. I know they're our national colours but come on guys, try for some variety.

Red and white are the livery colours of Toronto, Ottawa and Calgary. Any others?

I think combinations of blue and yellow (usually a stripe of blue and yellow on a white background) are by far the most used transit colours.

[TorontoDrew]

Originally Posted by SkahHigh

Then comes Montreal

Vancouver
Edmonton
York Region

Could merge with Montreals look. Hamilton and Halifax could be twins.

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by TorontoDrew

Vancouver
Edmonton
York Region

Could merge with Montreals look. Hamilton and Halifax could be twins.

Sudbury is white buses with brown and green. North Bay is white with blue.

[1overcosc]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

The TTC subway could add a small 7th car once automatic train control comes online. Right now the platforms are a bit longer than the trains to account for driver error in braking, but once driving is automated the trains can use the whole platform length. I imagine the TTC will take advantage of this and order slightly longer trains in the 2020's to replace the T1s.

With automated braking you can have trains go over the platform length actually, by having all space beyond the frontmost door and the rearmost door beyond the platform.

The Confederation Line will have platform overhang initially: 96m trains on platforms that are 90m long. Although long term that will actually be eliminated; as the current fleet plan calls for train lengths to be upgraded to 118m and platforms to 120m as ridership climbs (projected to happen around 2030).

[Symz]

Another story from CBC about high speed rail in Ontario.

The Ontario government wants to see a proposal completed for a Toronto-to-Windsor high-speed rail project by October, according to a London-area MP.

The governing Liberals have been consulting with various stakeholders along the Toronto-to-Windsor corridor this month, as they map out what the proposed rail project could look like.

Karen Vecchio, the newly elected MP for Elgin-Middlesex-London, was at a stakeholders meeting held in London on Tuesday afternoon.

Karen Vecchio
Tory MP Karen Vecchio was present at the stakeholders meeting held in London on Tuesday, which centered on the province's intent to bring high-speed rail service to the Toronto-to-Windsor corridor. (parl.gc.ca)

She came away from the meeting convinced that the provincial government is serious about making high-speed rail a reality. And it appears they plan to close in on a proposal in the months ahead.

"From what I understand, they want to have this studied and they want to have a proposal given to the government … by October of 2016," she told CBC Radio's Afternoon Drive in an interview on Tuesday.

Vecchio still has many questions, including what the ridership profile will look like and how much it will cost to use.

"Who is the ridership, what are we trying to do with this and what will the final outcome be?" she said.

Jeff Casello, an associate professor at the University of Waterloo, believes it is definitely possible for the province to establish high-speed rail between Toronto and Windsor.

"Is it feasible? It absolutely is. And if you ask me is it necessary, I think it absolutely is necessary as well," he told CBC News in a telephone interview on Tuesday.

But he said what gets built will depend on what the province wants to spend.

"I think the province needs to start thinking about, you know, what are the levels of investment they want to make and what's the level of quality of service they want to operate," he said.

In October, the provincial government appointed David Collenette as its special adviser for high-speed rail.

Collenette, who was at the Tuesday meeting in London, has been tasked with looking at economic development opportunities, as well as with looking at the experience of high-speed rail in other places around the world. The government says he will also give advice on possible financing models for this project.

The government says the rail project will be part of the $130 billion the province is spending on infrastructure over a 10-year period.

source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/on...il-proposal-by-october-mp-says-1.3440700