The Great Canadian Transit Thread

[lrt's friend]

Viva shows the same problems that rail transit has, the last mile problem.


I never like considering average wait times. Transit riders always remember the bad experiences when they wait the maximum time or worse when buses are not on schedule.

[Reecemartin]

Made this video about Viva, might be valuable for those who cannot visit the system irl:

https://youtu.be/D08auGeG6LY

[FFX-ME]

The problem with Toronto transit is that it is all broken up into useless components. Everything needs to be consolidated and placed under one roof.

[caltrane74]

Toronto suburbs are useless for transit. What use is a bus route or LRT Line when a block is 2 miles long?

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by caltrane74

Toronto suburbs are useless for transit. What use is a bus route or LRT Line when a block is 2 miles long?

Or main streets that have walls along them with everything backing away or there are massive parking lots in front. Hard for transit to be effective with that kind of suburban design.

[Doady]

Originally Posted by caltrane74

Toronto suburbs are useless for transit. What use is a bus route or LRT Line when a block is 2 miles long?

There aren't any 3.2 km-long blocks in the suburbs. Arterial corridors are not even spaced 3.2 km apart, so blocks cannot be that large. The distance from Derry Rd to Lakeshore is around 15km, so you are talking about blocks that span 1/5 the length of Mississauga.

And just because there is a barrier to car travel doesn't mean there is a barrier to pedestrian travel. Suburbs in Toronto utilize TOD concepts to minimize people's distance to transit. There are many paths that allow pedestrians travel in a relative straight line to the nearest transit stop and the density is higher along arterial corridors.

Transit ridership of Brampton Transit and MiWay is similar to major cities so if these systems are useless, it's not reflected in their ridership numbers. Last year, Mississauga's system got 39 million riders (56 million boardings). You won't find many systems in Canada or the US with better ridership than that unless they serve a large population.

And of course, Toronto itself is mostly suburban as well. I wouldn't call the TTC service in Etobicoke or North York or Scarborough useless either.

[GlassCity]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

Or main streets that have walls along them with everything backing away or there are massive parking lots in front. Hard for transit to be effective with that kind of suburban design.

This. Arterial streets in suburban Toronto look like highways. Even in areas where the grid is relatively tight, the fact that development ignores the street really damages the usefulness, and potential, of transit.

[Innsertnamehere]

As Doady says though, the suburban 416 has some of the highest transit rates in North America, even despite its suburban form. Even extremely suburban places like Brampton, which arguably has the most "highway like" arterial roads in the GTA, has higher ridership than most North American cities. Canadians seem to have a preference for public transit at a rate higher than most other countries, for some reason.

Of course you have York, Halton, and Durham regions with their generally abysmal transit ridership rates, but even those systems are generally respectable for North American bus networks.

The built form is crap in a lot of the GTA, but for some reason ridership is unusually high.

[GlassCity]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

As Doady says though, the suburban 416 has some of the highest transit rates in North America, even despite its suburban form. Even extremely suburban places like Brampton, which arguably has the most "highway like" arterial roads in the GTA, has higher ridership than most North American cities. Canadians seem to have a preference for public transit at a rate higher than most other countries, for some reason.

Of course you have York, Halton, and Durham regions with their generally abysmal transit ridership rates, but even those systems are generally respectable for North American bus networks.

The built form is crap in a lot of the GTA, but for some reason ridership is unusually high.

Oh absolutely. This is true across Canada - a lot of land use forms that would seemingly be inconducive to transit having much higher ridership than they would in the US. I have no idea why this is. But I do think that were we to concentrate more on the way the built form interacts with transit (really, with the street), ridership could be even higher.

[Doady]

Toronto suburbs and Canadian suburbs in general are not built 100% for the car. Even if they were 90% for the car, at least transit is not completely ignored. Not everything is black or white.

In 2017, Brampton Transit got 27 million riders, or 43 million boardings. Should they cancel the service? If Brampton Transit is useless, most other transit systems in North America need to be discontinued too.

[Aylmer]

Originally Posted by GlassCity

Oh absolutely. This is true across Canada - a lot of land use forms that would seemingly be inconducive to transit having much higher ridership than they would in the US. I have no idea why this is.

I would turn this on its head; What's curious is not that Canadians use transit, but that Americans seem almost culturally transit-averse in the same situations.

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by Aylmer

I would turn this on its head; What's curious is not that Canadians use transit, but that Americans seem almost culturally transit-averse in the same situations.

"The poor use transit and I am not poor." is what the Americans think. Canadians don't think that, unless you live outside a metro area.

[ainvan]

Compass Card wristbands could be launched before Christmas

Wristbands that have the same functions as Compass Cards for an alternative frequent user method of accessing Metro Vancouver’s public transit system could be made publicly available soon.

During his annual address to the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade today, TransLink CEO Kevin Desmond said the Compass Wristbands could be launched in a few short weeks.

Working just like a Compass Card, the wristband alternative would provide passengers with a less-hassle, card-less method of tapping in and out of the fare gates and card readers.

“Coming soon, wearables. We’ve got this model to help us debut wearables, so that’s going to be coming soon, maybe in time for Christmas. We’ll see,” he said.

Earlier this year, TransLink also rolled out VISA, Mastercard, and mobile wallet capabilities on its Compass system. During the Compass planning phase, officials also mentioned the possibility of a Compass smartphone app in the future.

And in January, it installed special radio-frequency identification (RFID) sensors at all SkyTrain stations and SeaBus terminals to enable a special tap-free RFID Compass Card for people with disabilities who have difficulty with tapping a normal Compass Card on a fare gate card reader.

DailyHive

[ainvan]

TransLink's Mayors' Council suspends Surrey LRT in favour of SkyTrain

Following some extremely heated debates and discussions, TransLink’s Mayors’ Council has voted to formally suspend all planning and further expenditures on planning for the Surrey Newton-Guildford (SNG) light rail transit (LRT) project.

This follows a recommendation forwarded to the Mayors’ Council by TransLink’s staff and its board of directors in response to the new Surrey City Council’s decision to oppose the project earlier this month.

It also recognizes the City of Surrey’s request to change the technology and the timing of the Fraser Highway project from LRT to SkyTrain, but with the stipulation that the project only uses the funding envelope currently allocated for South of Fraser rapid transit projects. This funding totals $3.5 billion when both Phase Two and Phase Three plans are combined. The 10-year plan will be reworked to include a SkyTrain extension in Surrey.

This means SNG LRT is now effectively dead.

SNG LRT was expected to cost $1.65 billion, running a length of 11 kms along the Newton and Guildford corridors. About $77 million or 5% of the SNG LRT budget has already been spent on planning and pre-construction work.

Previous early estimates for the 16-km-long Fraser Highway SkyTrain extension from King George Station to Langley Centre — assuming a 2022 construction start date — peg the project at $2.9 billion, including a 25% contingency.

DailyHive

[ainvan]

TransLink's new $400 million Green Bond to fund sustainable transit projects

TransLink has issued its first-ever Green Bond, with a value of $400 million. This makes it the first public transit authority in Canada to conduct such a capital-raising program.

This is also TransLink’s first bond issuance since it began financing projects through bonds in 2010 and the organization’s largest bond issue yet.

In a previous interview, Rob Malli, the Chief Financial Officer of TransLink, told Daily Hive that Green Bonds could help fund electric-battery buses, new rail rapid transit lines, and perhaps even the Burnaby Mountain gondola to Simon Fraser University.

While TransLink’s conventional bond program already went towards projects that are environmentally friendly, the Green Bond program seeks investors who are dedicated to green and low-carbon projects.

A Green Bond program adds a higher level of accountability towards, and the public transit authority says the interest among investors has been “significant.”

This is further enforced by TransLink’s approval earlier this fall of pursuing a green plan to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 80% and use 100% renewable energy by 2050. Much of these targets rely on transitioning to a bus fleet comprised primarily of electric-battery vehicles.

DailyHive

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

"The poor use transit and I am not poor." is what the Americans think. Canadians don't think that, unless you live outside a metro area.

Well... transit usage rates might be a lot higher in Canada on average, but it's still a low percentage of the population as a whole. We're talking about stuff like a Canadian city having double or triple the transit rates of a similar US city, which could play out like 5% of people using transit compared to 10-15%. In that scenario, the vast majority of each population could very well be in agreement, with only 5-10% of people differing. Not enough to say, "one country think X, and the other thinks Y".

[Innsertnamehere]

From my experience from taking transit in the states, he isn't wrong. Only the poorest of the poor take it there.

Canada often has higher transit rates than many parts of Europe too, not just the US. For example, calgary has a higher transit modal share than any city in France other than Paris.

[Doady]

Transit usage in Canada is actually 4 or 5 times more than US, same as Europe, if the numbers for UK and France are any indication. I don't see why keep lumping Canada in with the US when talking about transit.

[ainvan]

TransLink to build 4 new bike parkades at train stations

The number of TransLink-operated bike parkades in Metro Vancouver could nearly double with the public transit authority’s plans to build new facilities at four rail stations in the region.

A Request For Proposals (RFP) issued by TransLink seeks contractors to build secure bike parkade facilities at SkyTrain’s Burquitlam Station and Lafarge Lake-Douglas Station and the West Coast Express’ Maple Meadows Station and Port Coquitlam Station.

“Part of TransLink’s mission is to connect the region and enhance its livability by providing a sustainable transportation network. Improving cycling infrastructure supports that. Bike parkades make taking a bike to transit easy and worry-free,” said TransLink in a statement to Daily Hive.

“We believe having a safe and simple place to park a bike before connecting to transit could encourage more people to try it.”

Cyclists can currently access TransLink’s bike parkades using their registered Compass Card, with parking space available on a first-come, first-served basis. It costs only $1 per day to use the parkades, with fees capped at just $8 per month.

DailyHive

[nephersir7]

Montreal metro elevator retrofit plan for the next 4 years: