Your Confederation Line Experiences

[TransitZilla]

Originally Posted by jchilds72

I left just as his plane was backing away from the gate, yet he was deplaned at Pearson and calling me 30 minutes before I got off the 80 in Carlington.

Yet another example of why we need improved cross-town service in the south of the city- e.g. Baseline BRT and better service on Hunt Club.

[VANRIDERFAN]

The odd times I've had to go to 101 Col By in the morning I've had no issues with the LRT, but some folk make this more difficult than necessary.
There are the ones who don't move closer to other people to allow others into the car. Last week the car I was in appeared full at first glance but I quickly realized there was lots of room for more people further inside.
Second and even more annoying are the clowns who try to push into the car as others are exiting. Good lord people show some god damn patience!

[Gat-Train]

I just got back from Toronto. There's a lot of things on their subway I wish they had here. For instance, an announcement telling you what side the doors open at the next station. And also LED lights on the system map to tell you what station was coming up.

But most of all, I wish we had more ads in our stations, especially underground. Our stations just feel so sterile compared to Toronto, Montreal or NYC.

[PHrenetic]

Originally Posted by Gat-Train

I just got back from Toronto. There's a lot of things on their subway I wish they had here. For instance, an announcement telling you what side the doors open at the next station. And also LED lights on the system map to tell you what station was coming up.

But most of all, I wish we had more ads in our stations, especially underground. Our stations just feel so sterile compared to Toronto, Montreal or NYC.

Good Day.

The LRVs...... yep - Jimmy decided not to get the options. A deliberate cheap-out on all kinds of customer aids. So much for <<world-clASS>>.

The ADs...... nope - I really like having an ad-free experience. They are visual clutter. Well-designed finishes integral to the stations would have been better.

YMMV.

[Catenary]

Originally Posted by Gat-Train

I just got back from Toronto. There's a lot of things on their subway I wish they had here. For instance, an announcement telling you what side the doors open at the next station. And also LED lights on the system map to tell you what station was coming up.

But most of all, I wish we had more ads in our stations, especially underground. Our stations just feel so sterile compared to Toronto, Montreal or NYC.

The ads are coming - there are ad frames in a few places, but all are filled with internal PSAa for now.

[passwordisnt123]

Rode the C-Line last night. Seems like the stench of sulfur and rotten eggs has spread to Rideau station. It's mainly on the escalators where it's worst. Once down at station level, the stench seemed to me to still be there but less pronounced.

Otherwise though, the ride was smooth, fast and convenient.

[scryer]

Originally Posted by passwordisnt123

Rode the C-Line last night. Seems like the stench of sulfur and rotten eggs has spread to Rideau station. It's mainly on the escalators where it's worst. Once down at station level, the stench seemed to me to still be there but less pronounced.

Otherwise though, the ride was smooth, fast and convenient.

Rumour has it that the stench is coming from our current political situation .

[jchilds72]

On my way home from the airport on Thursday afternoon, I noticed the smell after the train I was on hit the east tunnel portal and started descending to Rideau station. By the time we stopped there, I had a headache.

[lrt's friend]

The tunnel is probably cutting right through the site of the old Bywash, which was an open sewer that connected the Rideau Canal at the old turning basin through Rideau Street, the market, and down King Edward Avenue before emptying into the Rideau River. Maybe this is contributing to the sewage odour at Rideau Station.. The Bywash was filled in during the 1870s at the time when proper sewers started to be built.

The last time I was there, Rideau station smelled very musty. Like they need giant dehumidifiers running.

[J.OT13]

We took the train this morning. Although packed, it worked fine. Then I had to get to my doctor's in Vanier for 11 (walk in appointment scheduled this morning, not pre-planned). No way was I going to attempt getting to Vanier by transit; that's a fool's journey, so I figured I would return to Place d'Orleans to get my car.

Jumped on the train at Lyon at 9:34. Train leaves and lingers at Parliament for a while. Finally get an announcement "minor delay, moving soon" or something to that effect. Train leaves Parliament at 9:38 and all goes well until Lees. Doors open, stay open for a few minutes, then we get the same message. On the platform, they a message plays claiming "proactive switch clearing". It's mid-morning, it hasn't been snowing for hours. How is that "proactive". Do they not know what "proactive" means??

Anyway, at 9:53 we leave Lees, same story at Hurdman, St-Laurent and Cyrville; train sticks around for a few minutes, the doors wide open the entire time but the announcement is different though - train backup or something to that effect. What I don't understand is that west bound, I saw maybe 5 or 6 trains going by from Lees onward, seemingly on regular schedule.

Finally arrive at Blair at around 10:12. Yup, 36 minutes to get from Lyon to Blair. Heading down the far-west side stairs to catch a bus to Place d'Orleans, I immediately see one pulling in, but the bus stop is all the way on the other end, so I run like the wind to catch it! Why aren't day time buses right at the door, I don't know.

Anyway, takes less than 15 minutes for the bus to get to Place d'Orleans and 15 minutes to drive to Vanier. Maybe I'll stick with my car for a little while still.

[TransitZilla]

^ You probably would have been better off busing to Vanier!

Originally Posted by J.OT13

On the platform, they a message plays claiming "proactive switch clearing". It's mid-morning, it hasn't been snowing for hours. How is that "proactive". Do they not know what "proactive" means??

The switches seem to need ongoing intervention during snowstorms to ensure they are free of snow; if snow builds up at all, it gets compacted by the switch movements and blocks the switches from fully opening.

They had crews out on the tracks today so they would have needed to stop trains intermittently to ensure they had clear access.

I'm not sure why they thought the current switch heater setup would be adequate, but it sounds like they will need to add an auxiliary heating tracer wire, to ensure there is no snow buildup.

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by bradnixon

^ You probably would have been better off busing to Vanier!

I was thinking exactly the same thing. There may be issues with bus service to Vanier, but its better than taking the train/bus all the way back to Orleans only to drive back into Vanier at the best of times.

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by bradnixon

Yet another example of why we need improved cross-town service in the south of the city- e.g. Baseline BRT and better service on Hunt Club.

There was a letter to the editor this week complaining about the poor service cross-town in the southern tier of the city. Basically the user wanted to travel from the Hunt Club-Greenboro area to Algonquin College. They claimed it takes way too long to make that trip.

The city continues to grow but our transit grid is terribly inadequate and has not been improved as the city grows. In theory, this trip can be made by the Trillium Line and Confederation Line, but is ridiculously indirect and would require 3 transfers. We should not expect regular users to make 3 transfers for any trip.

[JCL]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

There was a letter to the editor this week complaining about the poor service cross-town in the southern tier of the city. Basically the user wanted to travel from the Hunt Club-Greenboro area to Algonquin College. They claimed it takes way too long to make that trip.

The city continues to grow but our transit grid is terribly inadequate and has not been improved as the city grows. In theory, this trip can be made by the Trillium Line and Confederation Line, but is ridiculously indirect and would require 3 transfers. We should not expect regular users to make 3 transfers for any trip.

Well, there use to be Route 116 that operated from Greenboro to Baseline Station. But that was shortened to Merivale and Viewmount due to Route Optimization in September 2011, as approved by the Transit Commission in April 2011 as a result of Mayor Watson's campaign of $20 million of "efficiencies" in OC's annual operating budget!

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by JCL

Well, there use to be Route 116 that operated from Greenboro to Baseline Station. But that was shortened to Merivale and Viewmount due to Route Optimization in September 2011, as approved by the Transit Commission in April 2011 as a result of Mayor Watson's campaign of $20 million of "efficiencies" in OC's annual operating budget!

And they cut service on the remaining portion of the route, now Route 96. That was so short-sighted, it was incredible.

And we know that Viewmount and Merivale is such an important transit destination.

[TransitZilla]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

And they cut service on the remaining portion of the route, now Route 96. That was so short-sighted, it was incredible.

And we know that Viewmount and Merivale is such an important transit destination.

I agree that was a terrible decision.

Having said that, the letter in the Citizen said it takes 2 hours from Bank/Hunt Club to Algonquin. That is not even close to being the case.

The fastest trip on transit between those points is to use the SE Transitway to Heron, then the 88 across Heron/Baseline. (The Travel planner suggests this would take 45 minutes). This would still be the fastest way even if there was better service across Hunt Club.

What would really make that trip (and many other cross-town trips) faster is Baseline BRT.

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by bradnixon

I agree that was a terrible decision.

Having said that, the letter in the Citizen said it takes 2 hours from Bank/Hunt Club to Algonquin. That is not even close to being the case.

The fastest trip on transit between those points is to use the SE Transitway to Heron, then the 88 across Heron/Baseline. (The Travel planner suggests this would take 45 minutes). This would still be the fastest way even if there was better service across Hunt Club.

What would really make that trip (and many other cross-town trips) faster is Baseline BRT.

I know it appeared to be an exaggeration but I wouldn't put all my stock in the travel planner these days. I took it that the person didn't live right next to the Transitway. With all the problems with the Confederation Line, shifted buses to downtown service, traffic problems (Baseline can be unpredictable at rush hour), and bus trip cancellations, we don't really know for sure what people are facing in reality. There was more than one twitter comment yesterday saying it took 2.5 to 3 hours to travel from downtown to Orleans. Mind you, in the days of buses only, snow could cause havoc as well. Unfortunately, this is the exactly the circumstance when rail should be able to deliver something better than the old Transitways. Sadly not so far.

[Richard Eade]

I was out on Line 1 on Friday afternoon and I was treated to R1 service to bridge a gap in the train line from Parliament/Parlement to Rideau stations.

The east-bound train, which was not full, emptied at Parliament/Parlement and everyone climbed their way up to Queen Street. I say ‘climbed’ because the middle (longest) up-escalator was NOT moving – meaning everyone not using the elevators had to use the stairs.

Up at street level, there was a ‘Green’ man pointing out where people had to go to get a bus to Rideau Station. This was helpful, since, for some reason, I find that I get turned around coming up from the underground stations. I followed his directions to the bus stop as I slowly regained my bearings.

The stop must have had a hundred people waiting when I arrived. All of them were trying to get on buses, obviously. Six buses passed, two of them were 40-foot R1 buses, that did not stop because they were already so packed, presumably, from a previous stop. The other buses (16, 18, etc.) were high-capacity buses, but they were already mostly full and could not take enough passengers to reduce the crowds much. I eventually squeezed onto the back of a # 18 for the short distance to Rideau Street.

A ‘red-vest’ was letting people through the fare gates as fast as he could into Rideau Station, and another was directing people down to the east-bound platform – which was already packed with people. As well, there was a packed train held in the station, so there was no relief from the crowds on the platform.

After a few minutes, the ‘held’ train left and, after four minutes, another train pulled in. It was also crowded, but not packed. There was room on it for, maybe, half of the platform to squish on. I was one of the lucky ones. As I stood there, feeling like a canned sardine in a corner by the door (which people seemed paranoid about getting near or touching), I listened to the announcement that the train was now "running normally".

I admit that I was not filled with hope at that statement. Maybe this was what OC Transpo now considers ‘normal’. Perhaps the people left on the platform and those still arriving after catching later R1, and other, buses should get used to the new ‘normal’.

[lrt's friend]

Richard, you showed great patience putting up with all that. I would have walked to Rideau Station to avoid that kind of crowding on bridge bus service.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by bradnixon

^ You probably would have been better off busing to Vanier!

Originally Posted by roger1818

I was thinking exactly the same thing. There may be issues with bus service to Vanier, but its better than taking the train/bus all the way back to Orleans only to drive back into Vanier at the best of times.

I checked the travel planner to compare before I left; the best Vanier option was Line 1 to St-Laurent and transfer on the #14 bus, a 28 minute trip. According to OC Transpo, you can catch the #14 every 15 minutes at St-Laurent.

According to the planner, The trip to Place d'Orleans was 38 minutes. Nearly every bus from Blair goes to Place d'Orleans.

My decision was based on he fact that urban buses have a tendency to not show up. Even if the #14 is supposed to pass every 15 minutes, I likely would have waited 30 minutes, and the same to get back. Going to Place d'Orléans, buses are spectacularly reliable and I have a slew of options. I knew it wouldn't take much more than 15 minutes to then drive into Vanier and I knew it would be a whole lot easier to leave the doc's office with my car than having to play "will the bus show up?" on my way back.

In conclusion, I went with guaranteed reliability over a theoretical time advantage.