News   GLOBAL  |  Apr 02, 2020
 8.5K     0 
News   GLOBAL  |  Apr 01, 2020
 39K     0 
News   GLOBAL  |  Apr 01, 2020
 4.8K     0 

W. K. Lis

Superstar
Member Bio
Joined
Dec 24, 2007
Messages
24,074
Reaction score
14,768
City:
Toronto
We have the word "Station" for the underground transit stops, but we have been using the word "Stop" for the at-grade "Stations" for light rail transit "Stops".

The English language has used non-English words synonyms on many occasions. For example, "chair" comes from the Old French "chaiere", while "stool" was the Old English of Germanic origin.

Maybe, in your travels, you came across a word that is used for "stop" but could be used here in Toronto in-place of "stop"?

Unless we want to use "Station" for all light rail "stops/stations"?
 
Queens Quay can be called a station, and Spadina/Queens Quay is called a "stop". I think that's how they are differentiated. A station can be a stop, but a stop may or may not be a station.
 
We have the word "Station" for the underground transit stops, but we have been using the word "Stop" for the at-grade "Stations" for light rail transit "Stops".

The English language has used non-English words synonyms on many occasions. For example, "chair" comes from the Old French "chaiere", while "stool" was the Old English of Germanic origin.

Maybe, in your travels, you came across a word that is used for "stop" but could be used here in Toronto in-place of "stop"?

Unless we want to use "Station" for all light rail "stops/stations"?


"Stop"

Because that's the colloquial usage.

Otherwise you will end up like Viva with their "RTVs" and "Vivastations", words which no one uses in real life.
 
I think it's just based on the local frames of reference. ETS, C-Train and O-Train only use the term station, as I think ION does as well. But people in Toronto already have an idea about what a streetcar stop is, and the crosstown surface stops/stations are similar enough to the existing stops on segregated street car lines that people will continue to use the term stop.


I think though that ETS is going to use the term stop and station on the valley line, based on elaborateness of the stop/station
 
Perhaps "platform for alighting and boarding"?

You're on to something. There are languages (German being one) that employ compound words that compress a whole thought into one word.

Is there a German word for 'place with obscure name giving little geographical context where one boards or alights from tram"?

- Paul
 
I think stops and stations are fine, and it's okay to interchange them, as those are the common terms people use in English-speaking countries in my experience.

I actually wish we had a better term for LRT or light rail. It's always seemed to be a clunky/technical term (which I guess is okay for the planning stage), that's mostly specific to North America. Everywhere else they seem to just call them trams, or metros (if mostly underground/grade-separated). Trams on tramways, buses on busways, and metros are all easier terms in my mind.
 
What I find interesting is in German speaking countries there seems to be one two terms to deal with traditional streetcars/trams and light rail; Straßenbahn and bahn. This is a casual observation from me. But if you want specific definitions of the two, here's the German Passenger Transportation Act via wikipedia: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straßenbahn

Deutschland

Google translation: Trams are defined in Germany in § 4 Abs. 1 Passenger Transport Act and operated in accordance with the Regulation on the construction and operation of the tram (BOStrab), they differ from the railways , which are subject to the Railway Construction and Operating Regulations (EBO). This separation is based on the different operating requirements for trams whose trains usually take part in public traffic , drive on sight and, for example, direction indicators(Blinker) and on railways, where the trains with higher speeds and larger masses especially on special railway body, controlled by signals, run. Mixed operation with tram vehicles on railway lines and vice versa requires compliance with both regulations, unless special permits are issued by the supervisory authorities. Such systems are usually referred to as light rail . The leaders and drivers of tram railcar are referred to the BOStrab [11] as Fahrbedienstete . Their training is carried out by teaching staff and the examination by the manager or a member of staff of the tram company commissioned by him. The driving staff are to be re-trained at regular intervals thereafter.

Straßenbahnen werden in Deutschland in § 4 Abs. 1 Personenbeförderungsgesetz definiert und nach der Verordnung über den Bau und Betrieb der Straßenbahn (BOStrab) betrieben, sie unterscheiden sich damit von den Eisenbahnen, die der Eisenbahn-Bau- und Betriebsordnung(EBO) unterliegen. Diese Trennung orientiert sich an den unterschiedlichen Betriebsanforderungen an Straßenbahnen, deren Züge üblicherweise am öffentlichen Straßenverkehr teilnehmen, auf Sicht fahren und zum Beispiel Fahrtrichtungsanzeiger (Blinker) besitzen müssen, und an Eisenbahnen, wo die Züge mit höheren Geschwindigkeiten und größeren Massen vor allem auf besonderem Bahnkörper, durch Signale gesteuert, verkehren. Mischbetrieb mit Straßenbahnfahrzeugen auf Eisenbahnstrecken und umgekehrt erfordert die Einhaltung beider Verordnungen, wenn nicht von den Aufsichtsbehörden Sondergenehmigungen erteilt werden. Derartige Systeme werden meist als Stadtbahn bezeichnet. Die Führer und Fahrer von Straßenbahntriebwagen werden nach der BOStrab[11] als Fahrbedienstetebezeichnet. Deren Ausbildung erfolgt durch Lehrbedienstete und die Prüfung durch den Betriebsleiter oder einen von ihm beauftragten Bediensteten des jeweiligen Straßenbahnbetriebes. Die Fahrbediensteten sind danach in regelmäßigen Abständen nachzuschulen.

Also on that Wikipedia page is the Austrian and Swiss legal provisions. Grab a coffee and enjoy.

My favourite and probably the most simplistic form of "stop" would be: haltestelle. It works for all surface stops regardless of whether it's a bus, streetcar, tram, or lrt.
 
Last edited:
I wish Crosstown stops were same side of the street and fully covered, thus more credibly described as stations, especially with middle platforms which are given the same platform width as two side platforms.

What Metrolinx proposes to build on Eglinton Avenue East does not help rebut the "LRT=streetcars" rhetoric of the suburban conservatives even with the underground stops in the core.
 
I guess the old British term for a lesser station - "halt" - has lost favour...
Being English, and never having heard it before - it would appear so.

Though it appears to be a mainline thing - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Train_station#Halt

Searching in England currently, the closest thing I can see is "Halt Domestic Violence" opposite Leeds Station - but that probably says more about Leeds than flag stops.

The only word I know is stop. Tramklink in London uses "stop". Blackpool is the only historic operator still going, that I can think of offhand, and they use stop. Looking abroad, Edinburgh trams uses "stop".

Checking 1900-1930 England newspapers at newspapers.com I get 380 matches for "Tram stop" (with some false positives for "tram stops" and only 4 matches for "tram halt". Two of which really say "from half", the second actually is correct, in context, from a 1927 Manchester Guardian, but is written by a "special correspondent in the Rhineland - then part of France. The third is in the same publication and year, in a letter from the editor noting how much tidier Vienna noting that there are bins at each "tram halt" and severe fines are enforced for littering.

Looks more like a continental term than a British term.

Stop has served us well here since the 1800s. And it's used elsewhere.

But what of the more substantial termini, like Exhibition and Dufferin Gate Loop, which can be operated with fare collection and turnstiles?


Is there a German word for 'place with obscure name giving little geographical context where one boards or alights from tram"?
For alighting, the only word that comes to mind is vernichtungslager.
 
Last edited:
I wish Crosstown stops were same side of the street and fully covered, thus more credibly described as stations, especially with middle platforms which are given the same platform width as two side platforms.

What Metrolinx proposes to build on Eglinton Avenue East does not help rebut the "LRT=streetcars" rhetoric of the suburban conservatives even with the underground stops in the core.
Melbourne does middle platforms on some of its dedicated tram lines, and they seem to work quite well.
 

Back
Top