Yes, it does need a human, and for this reason Ottawa's fare gates don't have this option. I have heard people ask about it though, so there clearly is demand. It would be nice to be able to buy tickets at a TVM using the funds loaded onto a PRESTO card.

In Ottawa, the driver can hit a button on the TCH screen to deduct a second fare from a PRESTO card and print a transfer. The PRESTO device reads "Tap for accompanying passenger" when in this mode. With the TTC's VISION system using the same Clever Devices system as Ottawa, this could be...

The problem is that Metrolinx isn't sticking with S&B for the next order of equipment, instead going with Famoco, which is a device-only manufacturer. A benefit of the current system is that they can switch equipment providers if they choose to. It might not always be a good idea, but at least...

That checks out. I believe OC Transpo is moving the BFTPs onto the same internally managed FareGo implementation, rather than Metrolinx/Accenture's, giving them more control over their equipment and more flexible fare options. As it stands now, OC Transpo uses STO's Multi system to implement the...

I was speaking to an S&B technician in Ottawa and he confirmed that the readers on Ottawa's buses run software from Metrolinx/Accenture, and report directly to them. This differs from Ottawa's fare gates and TVMs, which run S&B FareGo, and support internal cards like employee and accessibility...

Ottawa's solution of equipping the gates with 2D scanners and having transfers on the buses print out with a timestamped QR code looks more and more reasonable all the time.

That's been there for over a year now - it's just as bad in the summer when it isn't covered in snow.

Ottawa's single-use and limited-use media, such as transfers and day passes, are not contactless/RFID. They are just printed QR codes on paper, and every fare gate has a 2D scanner to validate them. On a bus, they are visually inspected. This system works well for Ottawa, as the buses were...

Duplicate bicycle signal heads are not required by regulation, but are listed as a "should" in OTM book 12A. Your design might work well with a white bar transit signal atop the regular yellow signal, and then the two bike signals.

The Ontario Northland buses are dispatched from North Bay, so the bus would go back to the garage upon arrival in North Bay on Friday. If they didn't add a corresponding southbound schedule Friday morning to ferry the bus down to Allandale, then they're deadheading a bus down from North Bay on...

It could have been whipped up really quickly: why else would they wait until August to roll it out, and only a week or two before it started? Southbound, it seems that there is quite a buffer between the bus arriving and the train departing, to deal with the variability in highway travel...

I'm a little late to this conversation, but I think I'm the person you're referring to on SSP. I doubt that a new signal system will come soon, but I know that there is a desire to move dispatching in house. The line is currently dispatched by RailTerm, who is also the dispatcher for VIA...

I believe their maximum capacity was 4 planes/year. If you drove past the hangar when the doors were open, there was often two planes in different states of assembly. Bombardier actually contracted the assembly work out to another company that staffed the facility. The order book was empty when...

The TTC is replacing the existing onboard CAD/AVL system with one from Clever Devices, the same vendor OC Transpo uses that integrates the PRESTO functions into the driver's screen. It makes sense to wait until this system is installed to integrate it, rather than try and hack the readers into...

Ottawa is trialing a PRESTO and Multi compatible farecard integrated into the U-Pass this summer. I have some suspicions that the card is based on the Multi system instead of the PRESTO system, but nothing would stop the TTC from doing something similar in a stopgap situation.

They aren't upside down, they're the wrong signs. Flipping them over wouldn't change the direction the lines point, the signs need to be entirely replaced.

The new ones were purpose built, but they're still built in Germany, based on DB specifications. The paint is almost the same as DB, the seats are the DB patterns, and although the buttons don't say "Bitte Drucken" anymore, there are a number of German labels inside and outside the trains. Most...

I wonder if the STO is also Federal. They operate more buses in Ottawa than OC does in Gatineau, but somehow I doubt they are federally regulated. It should be noted that signalling on most of the Trillium line is now CTC, upgraded when the service was increased in 2013. I am unaware of any...

Anything that meets your requirements is probably so expensive that you wouldn't want to ride it in winter anyways. Semi-disposable winter beaters are unfortunately the way to go.

It should be noted that all of OC Transpo's operations, including the buses are federally regulated. For example, AODA doesn't apply to OC Transpo, though they follow it in spirit.