[T3G]

According to the law, as soon as the timer comes on a pedestrian is not supposed to start crossing (I think this is foolish). So yes, WALK, then timer.

Lovely...

 

[Jonathan's Junction]

Do these countdowns come on as soon as the walk light is given? Or do they continue to use the illogical practice of putting the walk light on for a few seconds and then putting on a ridiculously long countdown coupled with the don't start crossing signal?

Yes, so "legally" the pedestrians have ~5 seconds to start crossing before the hand starts flashing. In practice obviously no one is following this.

 

[Monarch Butterfly]

Which is why ALL signalled intersections should have pedestrian refuge islands. Also there should be a pedestrian signal at the start of the pedestrian crossing that turns WAIT after the WALK, and another pedestrian signal on at the end of the pedestrian crossing that shows the COUNTDOWN after the WALK.

The pedestrian refuge island should have its own "beg" buttons, though a presence/motion detector would be better (like what the supermarket doors use).

 

[81-717]

Part of the problem is the egregiously long countdowns at some intersections. I understand that some people require more time (elderly, disabled, etc.) but in some cases it is just too much. I literally see countdowns starting at 35 in some places for crossing 5-6 lanes of traffic.

Some intersections have both an egregiously long countdown and an egregiously long (probably lasting up to 2 mins) green prior to that (egregious for those stuck at a red light in the perpendicular direction).

Do these countdowns come on as soon as the walk light is given? Or do they continue to use the illogical practice of putting the walk light on for a few seconds and then putting on a ridiculously long countdown coupled with the don't start crossing signal?

Some of the more sensible ones have the countdown even while the pedestrian green is on, and the flashing hand comes on later. I think having the countdown start as soon as the green turns on, and switching to the hand later on (say, about halfway through the countdown) is the most helpful & sensible.

 

[artyboy123]

Let’s Ride Them Rails!!!!! (LRT-r) · Luma

Hi all, (it's me, Mere!) Since the Eglinton LRT has indeed opened in our lifetime, let's ride them rails!!!! Join us at Union Station on March 1 when we will…

luma.com

i will be attending this! Sign up!

"Hi all,

(it's me, Mere!)

Since the Eglinton LRT has indeed opened in our lifetime, let's ride them rails!!!!

Join us at Union Station on March 1 when we will journey on a transit loop using GO, UP Express, and of course - the Eglinton LRT.

You're welcome to come as-is and socialize and take in the sights. Or you can bring your book, journal, headphones, etc. if you prefer a more solitary experience!

WHEN: Sunday, March 1 at 8:30am."

 

[Obsidian]

It's so unfortunate to hear the TTC's consistent fear of signalized intersections, I really dont understand what's wrong with management. Their logic makes absolutely no sense whatsoever and here's a prime example:

-Restricting (the longer) 2 car LRVs to 25km/h at signalized intersections because they are afraid of potential vehicle/pedestrian interactions
-Restricting (the shorter in length) streetcars to 10km/h at signalized intersections because they are afraid of potential vehicle/pedestrian interactions

So the coupled longer vehicles, which are more likely to have any potential "interactions", are allowed a higher speed limit? I mean what?

Unfortunately, the TTC's idiotic SOPs has worked their way onto Line 5 and Line 6. It's pathetic to see this organization's management sabotaging operations because of their non-nonsensical and idiotic fears. And then taking it one step further by punishing operators who dont follow the idiotic rules.

I wont even get into the traffic light issues of giving LRVs a red light approaching an intersection before other traffic. That itself is a whole other discussion of stupidity by the city.

The Ontario Line will not be operated by the TTC and i hope one day Line 5 and 6 which are owned by metrolink will also find a different operator for those lines.

 

[nfitz]

The Ontario Line will not be operated by the TTC ...

When was that announced? I thought negotiations between TTC and Metrolinx continued.

Though if they hit the ultimate layout, there'd be more track in 905 than 416, so there is logic to Metrolinx running it using more of a GO Train model.

 

[EastYorkTTCFan]

The Ontario Line will not be operated by the TTC

When was that announced? I thought negotiations between TTC and Metrolinx continued.

Though if they hit the ultimate layout, there'd be more track in 905 than 416, so there is logic to Metrolinx running it using more of a GO Train model.

The Ontario line is planned to be fully automated, with the TTC only providing staff for the stations.

 

[EastYorkTTCFan]

i hope one day Line 5 and 6 which are owned by metrolink will also find a different operator for those lines.

Only if they want to provide shuttle buses when the line is down, that was part of the reason why the TTC is operating the line beacuse they said that if they weren't operating it, they wouldn't provide shuttle buses

 

[nfitz]

The Ontario line is planned to be fully automated, with the TTC only providing staff for the stations.

That doesn't tell us who is the operator though. Where was it announced that TTC staff wouldn't be in the control centre - as they are for both Line 5 and Line 6 (at the TTC building on the southwest corner of Bathurst/Davenport facility I believe).

 

[EastYorkTTCFan]

That doesn't tell us who is the operator though. Where was it announced that TTC staff wouldn't be in the control centre - as they are for both Line 5 and Line 6 (at the TTC building on the southwest corner of Bathurst/Davenport facility I believe).

Probably exactly the way that are operating lines 5 and 6. Why would you want to introduce another layer into it if you don't have to?

 

[JSF-1]

I took another ride on the Crosstown today since I wanted to get some pictures from each underground station for my video, however I think my camera's memory card is corrupt because none of the pictures I took saved; there's 3 hours of my life I won't get back.... anyways I just wanted to also talk about some observations.

1) Firstly I noticed quite a few people push the door button to get off even though they don't have to, even I did it a couple of times. On top of that on the trip home the operator I had would close the doors after letting people off if we were at a stop light at the surface stops but keep them unlocked so people could let themselves on, and some did. So I don't buy whatever excuse the TTC has for not just using the door buttons on the LRT's and Streetcars. We;ve been conditioned for decades to push the yellow bars to exit the back of the bus so getting people to push the button to let themselves on or off when its enabled isn't a stretch. Hell I believe one of the new bus fleets use the button (I can't remember if its the New Flyers or the Nova Electrics), so the transition from bars to buttons among the riders is already starting.

2) It seems that they have really laid off of the platform intrusion announcements to the point that I don't even think it plays anymore. On the topic of announcements I know people have complained about the loudness and quality of the announcements onboard (they are indeed bad) but I notice that those announcements also play on the outside of the train for some reason. Like the announcement about sitting down or holding onto the hand rail plays on the outside speakers as well.

3) They really need to change the announcement at the terminals because they always say the train is out of service when its not. Surely the out-of-service announcement should be controlled by the operator and only played when its actually true.

4) Another observation is that I am still stunned that Traffic Services (or whoever) decided that the left-turn phase should come before the transit phase. Surely it shouldn't be hard to have the transit phase happen first if a train is detected at the intersection. If no train is detected then the left-turn phase can happen first. It seems painfully obvious that the LRT should be allowed to proceed through the intersection first but it appears our car loving overlords at TTS don't think so. Finally is it just me or do you hit more red lights going east then you do going west?

Other then that it was an enjoyable ride and I am just disappointed that I spent all of that time and climbed all of those stairs for nothing... Luckily I caught all of the video footage on my cellphone or I would be truly pissed since I need the video more then the pictures.

Here's 2 pictures that I took with my phone:

This is I believe one of the track intrusion sensors. I believe this because anytime I stood on the yellow line waiting for the doors to open a red light would come on on the device. This red light isn't on if no "intrusion" is detected. It's like those sensors on automatic sliding doors.

Here's just a picture of the driver panel.

 

[A.Malik.77]

That doesn't tell us who is the operator though. Where was it announced that TTC staff wouldn't be in the control centre - as they are for both Line 5 and Line 6 (at the TTC building on the southwest corner of Bathurst/Davenport facility I believe).

With an automated system the operator becomes a more malleable term. Using public sources of information, operations of the new Line 3 will be shared between Hitachi/Transdev as the P3 partner and TTC. The exact roles of the TTC have not been publicly released, but the line will be integrated with the existing TTC system (with TTC branding at stations as per the renderings recently released by the province).

This is a description of the operational role from the P3 contract issued by Infrastructure Ontario in 2022:

And this is the most recent update from TTC from a report to the board from 11/2025:

These negotiations are confidential and I expect evolving based on how TTC and Metrolinx’s relationship has changed post-opening of Lines 5 and 6.

 

[Obsidian]

When was that announced? I thought negotiations between TTC and Metrolinx continued.

Though if they hit the ultimate layout, there'd be more track in 905 than 416, so there is logic to Metrolinx running it using more of a GO Train model.

Connect6ix (a consortium including Transdev Canada and Hitachi) will operate and maintain the 15.6-kilometre Ontario Line for 30 years under a contract awarded by Metrolinx.

The contract for the Rolling Stock, Systems, Operations and Maintenance (RSSOM) package—which includes the operations role—was officially awarded to the Connect 6ix consortium on November 17, 2022

Big milestones reached for major Ontario Line contracts

Awarding two contracts & issuing RFQs for two others brings project closer to major construction.

www.metrolinx.com

 

[afransen]

Counterpoint: not knowing exactly how many seconds until green turns yellow is likely to make drivers more reckless, and make them "gun it" more aggressively when they see the flashing hand without the timer, knowing that green could turn yellow at any moment. With the timer, they're more likely to be able to make the right decision to either "gun it" gently & accelerate slightly, or slow down gradually & stop.

There are also intersections that have flashing hands and even pedestrian countdowns, but if the opposing signal isn't actuated by a detector reverts to walk signal. As a driver I have sometimes slowed expecting a yellow and been surprised by this.