The Great Canadian Transit Thread

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

I guess, as long as you don't touch anything ...

I was just gonna say. There are a gazillion icky surfaces in a bus that could have touched by sick people.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Reecemartin

Pretty much all of Canadas new LRT vehicles share the same poor design, I give my thoughts on it in our latest video. Consider sharing and subscribing!

https://youtu.be/IfZjTXnn-9w

One thing that's unique to the Alstom Citadis Spirit is the top speed of 105 km/h and the length of vehicles, current at 48 meters, but can be extended to 59 meters, for a total of 96 meters, or 118 meters respectively. The speed beats every other urban rail vehicle in Canada, which is critical for Stage 2 and 3 when the trains travel long distances through the Greenbelt to reach the suburbs.

The speed will be closely matched by Montréal's REM (100 km/h).

I can reasonably see why we went with low-floor LRT considering the steep grades of the tunnel, tight turns along the line, especially through the now converted Transitway section, the speed requirements and the capacity needs (Alstom being the only manufacturer who could offer such a long LRV).

I'm certain a high-floor LRV or light-metro vehicle could have been designed to fit our needs, but I imagine the price of the rolling stock and of the project itself would have increased significantly.

All this of course does not excuse the reliability issues or the City's insistence on the most basic interior design and layout possible.

[MonkeyRonin]

Originally Posted by isaidso

Using PT is a bad idea altogether right now. Social distancing is impossible and you're bound to touch something while on board.

I used the subway a couple times last week. Was empty enough so I could just stand by myself in a corner and not touch anything.

I feel like taking an Uber or car share actually would be work, as you're then confined to a small space where who knows how many people have been touching the surfaces and/or have been in contact with the driver.

Better option of course is to just stay home, but when you can't...

[Reecemartin]

[Deleted]

[osmo]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

One thing that's unique to the Alstom Citadis Spirit is the top speed of 105 km/h and the length of vehicles, current at 48 meters, but can be extended to 59 meters, for a total of 96 meters, or 118 meters respectively. The speed beats every other urban rail vehicle in Canada, which is critical for Stage 2 and 3 when the trains travel long distances through the Greenbelt to reach the suburbs.

The speed will be closely matched by Montréal's REM (100 km/h).

I can reasonably see why we went with low-floor LRT considering the steep grades of the tunnel, tight turns along the line, especially through the now converted Transitway section, the speed requirements and the capacity needs (Alstom being the only manufacturer who could offer such a long LRV).

I'm certain a high-floor LRV or light-metro vehicle could have been designed to fit our needs, but I imagine the price of the rolling stock and of the project itself would have increased significantly.

All this of course does not excuse the reliability issues or the City's insistence on the most basic interior design and layout possible.

If I recall, Low-floor LRV is a requirement of Ontario accessibility laws and all new transit vehicles must be accessible in the province.

[MalcolmTucker]

Originally Posted by osmo

If I recall, Low-floor LRV is a requirement of Ontario accessibility laws and all new transit vehicles must be accessible in the province.

You can build accessible vehicles that aren't low floor. You just can't have low platforms then. And no I don't think so - I think it is a preference. Toronto let a 70% low model bid on their streetcar contract iirc.

[corynv]

Originally Posted by MalcolmTucker

You can build accessible vehicles that aren't low floor. You just can't have low platforms then. And no I don't think so - I think it is a preference. Toronto let a 70% low model bid on their streetcar contract iirc.

yeah,. the legal requirement is level boarding. unless it's roadside pickup, then it needs to be low-floor.

[MalcolmTucker]

Originally Posted by corynv

yeah,. the legal requirement is level boarding. unless it's roadside pickup, then it needs to be low-floor.

Level boarding does not equal level floor for 100% of the vehicle. you can have all your doors on low floor sections.



And if you're building substantial stations, can always do high floor for LRT. For streetside stations the cost differences can be large - $2 million for low floor, $10 million for high floor.

[corynv]

Originally Posted by MalcolmTucker

Level boarding does not equal level floor for 100% of the vehicle. you can have all your doors on low floor sections.



And if you're building substantial stations, can always do high floor for LRT. For streetside stations the cost differences can be large - $2 million for low floor, $10 million for high floor.

i was agreeing with you.

[J.OT13]

Ottawa's now empty transit system.

Lyon Station concourse:



Pimisi Station:



Bayview Trillium platform:



https://www.narcity.com/news/ca/on/ottaw...e-it-look-like-0-people-live-here-photos

[Acajack]

After maintaining most of their services, OC Transpo and STO have now begun reducing. I mean, they can only continue running empty vehicles for so long.

[Innsertnamehere]

with transit agencies burning cash so quickly I'm really surprised it's taken them this long to reduce frequencies. The TTC at this point has only eliminated express bus routes.. no frequency reductions, nothing. I get maybe not making frequency reductions on already infrequent routes, but no reason the subway needs 110 second frequencies and the King Streetcar needs to be every 2 minutes. Super frequent routes could probably be cut down to 10 minute service and save a ton of operating $$$ without greatly impacting service levels.

[p_xavier]

Originally Posted by Acajack

After maintaining most of their services, OC Transpo and STO have now begun reducing. I mean, they can only continue running empty vehicles for so long.

STM also starting on the 30th. There's a decrease of 85% of ridership.

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

with transit agencies burning cash so quickly I'm really surprised it's taken them this long to reduce frequencies. The TTC at this point has only eliminated express bus routes.. no frequency reductions, nothing. I get maybe not making frequency reductions on already infrequent routes, but no reason the subway needs 110 second frequencies and the King Streetcar needs to be every 2 minutes. Super frequent routes could probably be cut down to 10 minute service and save a ton of operating $$$ without greatly impacting service levels.

This may be so that they can ensure social distancing.

[Reecemartin]

[Deleted]

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by Reecemartin

We did a short tour of Finch Station, one of Toronto's busiest transit hubs! Check it out:

https://youtu.be/jgi0ARqeiqw

I do wonder what will become of this station once YN is built. Because it sits on a hydro corridor, I doubt any more density will get built, but maybe the current bus terminal can be moved and that plot can be built up.

[SFUVancouver]

While it seems like it's already been 2020 for a long time, Q4 2019 just wrapped up relatively recently and the American Public Transportation Association has published its ridership report. For Metro Vancouver, here are the stats:

Q4 2019 average weekday boardings
SkyTrain (Expo, Millenium, and Canada Lines): 512,400
Bus: 863,900
SeaBus: 17,000
WestCoast Express: 10,300

2019 full year boardings
SkyTrain: 165,061,600
Bus: 277,043,800
SeaBus: 6,263,400
WestCoast Express: 2,606,800

2019 TOTAL: 450,975,600

https://www.apta.com/wp-content/uploads/2019-Q4-Ridership-APTA.pdf

[Reecemartin]

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[Reecemartin]

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[Reecemartin]

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