Shift: London's Rapid Transit Initiative

[haljackey]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

Why not? I would think having payment media in common with the rest of the province is a bonus. Especially when there's consideration about extending GO service to London or possibly upgraded VIA services/HFR, bolstering traffic between the GTA and London. I would bet there's also plenty of residents in London who have Prestos because they travel to the GTA often enough.

There's a lot of anti-Toronto resentment here. Don't get me wrong, I think it's a good idea but I just don't see it happening.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by haljackey

There's a lot of anti-Toronto resentment here. Don't get me wrong, I think it's a good idea but I just don't see it happening.

This is like saying Londoners won't use tap-to-pay because people in Toronto are using it. I have my doubts that antipathy towards Toronto drives absolutely everything Londoners do.

More to the point, eventually LTC is going to have to upgrade its tech. Might as well see if the province is willing to pony up and share the cost instead of having to bear all of it later. Presto is now mature enough that London wouldn't be test market like Ottawa was. Presto is also now future-proofed with features like contactless payments set up. London gets to leverage the pain and cost that the GTA and Ottawa have borne.

It's also a bit of a strange concept to push for electric buses while not being able to get on and pay just by tapping your credit/debit card.

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

All that talk of BRT and electric buses is great. But how about something basic like implementing Presto. London could probably get the province to pay for the conversion to Presto. Would be a lot more useful to have the same card as most other transit agencies in Ontario.

Presto has run into a lot of problems, and some of them are still ongoing. Be careful what you wish for.

Compass in BC seems not to have issues, so something based on that might be good.

[haljackey]

BRT getting slammed during budget meeting

Daryl Newcombe on Twitter: CITY BUDGET: Wow! BRT remains a touchy subject! Councillor Paul Van Meerbergen takes opportunity to slam Bus Rapid Transit Plan for “social engineering” and “shoe horning everybody onto a bus” during debate of capital funding in budget.

https://twitter.com/DNewcombeCTV/sta...54127284707330

[tyeman200]

Originally Posted by Djeffery

The Mayor said on the radio afterwards that buses have a 10 year lifespan, so he thinks this can be done in about 10 years if federal and provincial funding allows. I found that a little surprising, in that they used to routinely keep those things rolling past 25 years. 25 might be too long, but do they really replace them around 10 now?

Yeah, those old buses were meant to last. These new ones, apparently not. The LTC has already retired buses that they bought back in 2003-2005.

[jammer139]

Even more expensive would be Fuel Cell buses. https://www.wardsauto.com/alternativ...uel-cell-buses

[haljackey]

I don't think we need fuel cell cars / buses here yet.

Our power comes from pretty clean sources overall (although nuclear ain't that green), so going electric makes sense.

To make more of an environmental difference, these should be used in places where electricity mostly comes from dirty sources.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by haljackey

I don't think we need fuel cell cars / buses here yet.

Our power comes from pretty clean sources overall (although nuclear ain't that green), so going electric makes sense.

To make more of an environmental difference, these should be used in places where electricity mostly comes from dirty sources.

It's not about environmental considerations (those are nice). It should be mostly about the lower operating cost driving down total cost of ownership and improved user experience.

[jammer139]

Getting rid of diesel buses spewing a toxic stew out the tailpipe is only a good thing for all those around the the buses.


The worst offenders are the school buses which seem to be everywhere in the city. Still don't understand why we have so much school busing inside the city. Was never the case in my day. You either walked, rode your bike or took the LTC bus to school.

[Djeffery]

My employer partnered up with a company to do a prototype Hydrogen FCHEV delivery truck about 15 years ago. I'll have to do some digging to see why that disappeared. I know the company that made our HEV trucks went bankrupt and left us in a pretty bad spot with aftermarket support, so it might have just been something as simple as too much money was spent dealing with that issue that we dropped the fuel cell test.

[tyeman200]

Originally Posted by jammer139

Getting rid of diesel buses spewing a toxic stew out the tailpipe is only a good thing for all those around the the buses.


The worst offenders are the school buses which seem to be everywhere in the city. Still don't understand why we have so much school busing inside the city. Was never the case in my day. You either walked, rode your bike or took the LTC bus to school.

From my experience, my high school was in the middle of nowhere so the only option was the school bus. Our school used about 12-15 buses alone.

[ssiguy]

What's going on with SHIFT? Has construction begun on any of the system?

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

What's going on with SHIFT? Has construction begun on any of the system?

There was supposed to be some preliminary sewer work down on Wellington just south of the river this year that had to be done before SHIFT work could start, but I think it might have been one of the covid delays. I wouldn't be shocked if the whole thing gets delayed, due to budgets from all 3 levels of government. The only physical thing I have seen relating to SHIFT is a property on Dundas east beside the old EOA Bar was bought by the city and demolished a year or more ago now.

[jammer139]

Two engineering contracts heading to City Hall.


https://lfpress.com/news/local-news/...-61b44c16601a/

[haljackey]

Wellington has been resurfaced recently. most notably the S-curves and between Commissioners and Southdale. Seems kind of odd since it's going to be dug up soon due to BRT.

I think the downtown Loop is the first section to get underway- maybe they will do east next followed by south? That would at least give this new pavement a few years of active service.


EDIT- looks like Jammer's article confirms Wellington Gateway is the last leg to get underway.

[Djeffery]

Most of the BRT routes have had some type of roadwork done recently, as well as Wharncliffe is also due for a total rebuild and was recently repaved. Personally though, a simple grind and pave isn't that expensive and I would rather have the roads smoothed out for the few years between now and whenever they actually do the major road work. Dundas had major reconstruction from the Fairgrounds to the east and it still wasn't built to what the BRT will need.

I will be interested to see what the "straightening of the S-curve" on Wellington is going to look like.

[ssiguy]

There is a slight bend between Commissioners and Southdale but that's it. Are you sure you are not talking about the one between Commissioners and Baseline?

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

There is a slight bend between Commissioners and Southdale but that's it. Are you sure you are not talking about the one between Commissioners and Baseline?

Between Baseline and Commissioners is arrow straight. They are talking about lessening the S curve north of Baseline, south of Grand. Not really sure how they are going about that.

[ssiguy]

Seeing that the new Wellington & Bradley apt complex proposals is being touted as a TOD due to being right along the Wellington BRT corridor, is there any progress on the project?>

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

Seeing that the new Wellington & Bradley apt complex proposals is being touted as a TOD due to being right along the Wellington BRT corridor, is there any progress on the project?>

Nothing really going on. They did buy and demolish a couple houses on Wellington near Grand, but that is more immediately about a sewer project on that side street. I'm not sure if those houses would ultimately have had to go when BRT is built, but I suspect so.