[ON1]

MetroMan, my list had several other reasons why I believe that gridlock occurs. If you want to talk about Eglinton, we can discuss the reasons why gridlock occurs there (things such as the Allen, HOV lane, or lack of advance lights), but this is about the entire city.

Your post even points out another shortcoming of the streetcar... shouldn't a mass transit vehicle be able to navigate around a vehicle turning left so that 30-something people don't have to wait?

Also, streetcars certainly don't travel the speed limit. You either don't drive around Toronto often, or just take the streetcar. Do I want to go faster than them? Yes. Do I want to break the law? No. I'd just prefer to coast at a speed faster than a running dog.

 

[GraphicMatt]

If I were in charge of the city, I'd order an immediate review of the city's traffic light operations. I know Traffic Services says they have some kind of state-of-the-art system, but anecdotal observation reveals differently. I find in a lot of cases the lights are timed such that they encourage drivers to increase their speed.

An improved signalling system would also offer transit signal priority. I think operators should actually be able to hit a button to request a green signal. Right now, transit priority (where it's actually switched on) often holds green lights for streetcars that are loading. By the time the passengers are on board, the light's gone.

Other ideas:

1. Remove approximately every other streetcar stop during peak periods (This isn't going to be a popular move with some, but there's no reason the Queen Car needs to stop at both Yonge Street and Victoria Street.)

2. Stop pretending to run streetcar service to a schedule and instead run based on headways. Instead of short-turning vehicles, hold them at stops for a few minutes to space out service.

3. Switch to Proof of Payment on all streetcar lines during peak periods. Yes, this may result in more fare evasion. No, it shouldn't matter.

4. Give the TTC more autonomy when it comes to removing cars and other obstructions that block streetcars.

 

[Ak2809]

I conceed the issue of street cars, although I still dislike how they stop both lanes of traffic to load/unload.

 

[RC8]

I'm of the opinion that cars slow streetcars down, not the other way around.

I remember when the 510 was taken out of service last winter, it was faster to walk down Spadina than to take the replacement buses at Rush Hour. The bottleneck that is created at the Gardiner is ridiculous, and the addition of buses obviously had a very negative effect on Spadina.

I think getting rid of parking spaces and giving ROW to streetcars on King and Queen is an idea worth exploring. Not only would then streetcars not 'slow down' cars (not that they do, but regardless), but a lot more people would choose to take the streetcar and ease congestion. I fail to understand why people would drive on Queen or King for over a couple of blocks to be frank - there's tons of less crowded streets around them that can be taken that have no streetcars, no buses, or anything.

 

[nfitz]

An any-time issue really, since people don't seem to pay attention to the no stopping times on street signs. I'd love more enforcement of this.

Really? Is enforcement different on the west side than the east side. If your still parked on a through-route like Dundas on the east-side at 7 AM, it's very unlikely that your car will still be there by 7:40 AM ... and everyone knows it - so they move quickly.

True. But the time that cycling is viable would generally be April- November. So about five months ...

there's some interesting math there!

Your post even points out another shortcoming of the streetcar... shouldn't a mass transit vehicle be able to navigate around a vehicle turning left so that 30-something people don't have to wait?

This is why you restrict left turns - or put in turning lanes where possible. You don't see tremendous amounts of this in rush-hour.

Also, streetcars certainly don't travel the speed limit.

??? Where do you get this? They most certainly do ... I drive behind streetcars frequently ... they are normally at the speed limit, unless there is traffic in front of it. And I see the speed those overtaking on the right are doing ... they are normally speeding.

What streetcars don't do, is treat a road like an expressway, and drive 60 km/hr or more on a street with houses ... for the most part if you want to drive faster than a streetcar, your speeding.

Though I've seen them do 60 km/hr as well in the wee hours of the morning.

 

[junctionist]

In terms of one way streets and pedestrian liveliness, it seems to me that two way transit is important to keep the streets vibrant. New York has one way streets that are lively, but Manhattan is also blanketed with subway lines under major one-way streets. Yonge Street could be made into a one way street and it would still be packed with pedestrians. People need to perceive that getting to a certain point on a street will be easy and convenient. Going to a different street to travel in the opposite direction by transit discourages pedestrian activity in the first place. But I think that two way transit under/over/separated from traffic on a one way street makes it into a non-issue.

Cities more reliant on basic surface routes will probably see streets become less vibrant with cars and transit moving in one direction only, forcing pedestrians the inconvenience of getting to a different parallel street to travel in the opposite direction by vehicle.

 

[Chuck]

In terms of one way streets and pedestrian liveliness, it seems to me that two way transit is important to keep the streets vibrant. New York has one way streets that are lively, but Manhattan is also blanketed with subway lines under major one-way streets. Yonge Street could be made into a one way street and it would still be packed with pedestrians. People need to perceive that getting to a certain point on a street will be easy and convenient. Going to a different street to travel in the opposite direction by transit discourages pedestrian activity in the first place. But I think that two way transit under/over/separated from traffic on a one way street makes it into a non-issue.

Cities more reliant on basic surface routes will probably see streets become less vibrant with cars and transit moving in one direction only, forcing pedestrians the inconvenience of getting to a different parallel street to travel in the opposite direction by vehicle.

This is very true, and in a way, Toronto is screwed. Narrower streets of 4 lanes or less work extremely well in Europe because the biggest cities are underground transit oriented. Toronto is a surface transit oriented city right now, but our streets aren't wide enough to allow for dedicated transit lanes, a curbside stopping lane, and 2 through lanes of traffic.

There is no solution for Queen, King, College, and Dundas until they finally get underground transit. We're at a crappy point where our streets aren't wide enough to handle the demands we place on them, and yet we're not really big enough to support a large inner city subway system. Thus, we're stuck with unheard of congestion!

 

[Mulder]

I drive downtown all the time, even during rush hour it's not really THAT bad on streets. Then again I also know of some shortcuts.

It's the highway system going into and leaving downtown that needs some fixing. You have only 2 lines leaving downtown. Seriously, it shouldn't take 2 hours to go 35 KM from downtown to Markham main street, which has happened to myself at times.

Of course there has been talk of extending the Allen south. But what good does that do? You still create a bottleneck at 401, which is already one of the slower parts during rush hour threw Toronto. IMO, Blackcreek should be extended south of Lawrence with actual interchanges at Lawrence, & Eglinton, This was loosen traffic all along that route. I doubt it's possible to extend any further south than Weston unless you bury it.

After that, I think DVP/404/401 interchange needs a huge remodeling. There is just too many ending/merging lanes in a short period of time. Esp southbound, with 4 going into the 3 lanes of the DVP in about a KM. I honestly don't know how that can be fixed with such limited space and really no where to add anymore lanes save for up or down. Even going eastbound from there is a mess. Getting on at warden means you have to go over 2 lanes this also causes tieups.
After Kennedy I find the 401 to be fine until Brock road, which looks like that will be addressed with the 407 expansion.

 

[nfitz]

It's the highway system going into and leaving downtown that needs some fixing. You have only 2 lines leaving downtown. Seriously, it shouldn't take 2 hours to go 35 KM from downtown to Markham main street, which has happened to myself at times.

I don't see any way of fixing this, that wouldn't cost $billions, and then pour lots more cars into downtown, making traffic within Toronto itself much worse. Beyond trying to clean up a few bottlenecks, honestly, the only solution I see that would improve travel times consistently on many of these roads is tolling.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Each motor vehicle that comes into Toronto carries at least 1 person, the driver. How many passengers does that driver carry? Most of the time, automobiles carry zero (0) passengers, sometimes 1, occasionally 2. Most motor vehicles can carry up to 5, a very rare occurrence. The average count made with surveys is 1.3, but sometimes it goes up to 1.6.

The new low-floor streetcars can seat up to 70 passengers, and will a capacity for 170 passengers. Streetcars should be given the priority most of time because of their capacity compared with the automobile. Period.

I just wonder how many passengers Rob Ford carries in his SUV, and what is the capacity his SUV?

 

[GraphicMatt]

680 News Traffic today reported that the westbound QEW between Appleby & Brant was slow due to volume. On a Sunday morning. I'm convinced that the real economy-killing gridlock isn't on our downtown streets but increasingly in the 905.

Getting yourself from a suburban community into or out of downtown can be a slog, but it's doable. Getting from point to point within the 905 is often far worse.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

Of course there has been talk of extending the Allen south.

There has?

 

[nfitz]

There has?

On and off for years. Most recently one of the candidates in the last mayoral election proposed extending it to the Gardiner, in a tunnel.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

On and off for years. Most recently one of the candidates in the last mayoral election proposed extending it to the Gardiner, in a tunnel.

Thank you, I remember that now.

 

[brockm]

To fix traffic congestion in Toronto, and in all urban centres around Canada I would start with a repeal of the Bank of Canada Act, followed by an outright dismantling of the Canadian Mortgage Housing Corporation.

I would bring an end to the post-war subsidization of mortgages and consumer debt. This would bring an end to the affordability of suburban living over time and lead to market forces that would drive urbanization due to efficiences from economies of scale, as happened during the industrial revolution -- and still happens in countries which are not driven my consumer credit subsidies.

The entirety of Western economies are based on the principle that we print money to issue cheap credit, which causes inflation, therefore subsidizing the constant expansion of credit through higher cost of living, based on the faulty assumption that no doing so would lead to a lack of investment and endless spiral of demand destruction.

Of course, Western civilization underwent humanities greatest economic expansion in the history of existence before John Maynard Keynes came along and convinced us all that no further economic growth is possible without massive debt accumulation and money-printing.