MisterF said:
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What is the upper limit of a street running streetcar line? With all the obstacles that King streetcars have had to deal with for so long, it has to be significantly higher than 65,000.
I'd agree, not least because the priority signalling of even the more primitive type is not enabled, let alone a state-of-the-art system that controls intersecting traffic and lights as well as control the streetcar speed, interval/headway and priority at lights and time dwell at stops. This is of course the City's domain as much as the TTC's. It keeps being repeated that speed is not the end-all of this exercise as that pertains to capacity, but that fails to understand the importance of *throughput* as much as each car's actual capacity at any given time. I suspect a theoretical capacity, with optimized signalling and control, and with the present infrastructure and speed limits, is about 50% greater.
A 25% increase in speed in the pilot area does not equate to a 25% increase across the entire route....the capacity in the pilot area is physically constrained by the number of vehicles that travel through the corridor, which has nothing to do with travel times, and has everything to do with headways and frequencies.
Excellent rationale, but with a proviso: What's is optimally maximum for the number of vehicles is down to ability of a control system to stop bunching and optimize transit priority. Why we haven't heard more on this is puzzling, as some huge leaps have been made in developing the software and sensors to make this happen. One of the serious impediments of signal priority for streetcars is the need to co-ordinate the priority for *both directions* at intersections at the same time. The lights might be prioritized to a high degree in one direction, but at the expense of the best algorithm for the streetcars coming the opposite direction. Obviously intersecting vehicular traffic must take a lesser priority than either direction of streetcar, and that may well be the stickiest decision to have to make later.
A decrease in travel time theoretically means more vehicles can be throughput, however, real increases in the number of vehicles that can be allotted is constrained by King Street's operations on the peripheries. You can change the goal posts however you choose, but at the end of the day the math has to check out.
Absolutely. It's like an expressway that starts on one side of a congested city and ends on the other side, with no connections of equal capacity or speed limit. The Queensway, however, looks pretty inviting to connect the 504 through to instead of going up Roncy. The east end doesn't present a similar option at this time.
My post was an assumption that I actually think the baseline ridership was probably higher than they calculated, and the introduction of better counting technology erroneously showed a higher increase than what realistically occurred. Yes, there was likely an increase but I don't see how the numbers, when you break them down can in any way lead to a 25% increase in ridership across the line (which is what was stated by numerous people). Even a 25% increase eastbound at Spadina is hard to believe.
Munro specifically addressed that, it is was the optimal confluence of three factors: Time, direction and location. Other data indicated far less gain.
King is certainly near the top of the list for a shared row in a developed country (streetcar or bus).
The highest daily ridership of a Melborne line is about 40,000. I expected higher when I looked.
Melbourne has the same problems as well as solutions as Toronto. Some studies indicate Melbourne, as well as hosting some world leading aspects of tram performance, also hosts some of the worst.
Melbourne's trams among slowest in the world - ABC News (Australian ...
www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-19/melbourne-trams...slowest-in-the-world/8541228
May 18, 2017 -
Melbourne's tram services are among the
slowest in the world, new figures have revealed. Statistics from the network's operator Yarra
Trams shows
trams are sluggishly moving around
Melbourne at an average speed of only 16 kilometres per hour, with the speed dropping to just 11kph in the CBD.
Melbourne's trams among world's slowest. | SBS Your Language
https://www.sbs.com.au/yourlanguage/.../melbournes-trams-among-worlds-slowest
Nov 24, 2016 -
Melbourne's trams were among the
slowest in the world with an average speed of just 16 kilometers per hour.
Melbourne trams stopping at red lights putting it among world's slowest
www.heraldsun.com.au/.../melbourne-trams...worlds-slowest/.../fe9bdd856ce0ffffd4af97...
May 18, 2017 -
MELBOURNE'S trams spend more time stuck at red lights than
trams in any other city in the
world. With three-quarters of the city's
tram network operating on shared roads, 17 per cent of journeys are spent at red lights compared with the international standard of 2 to 5 per cent. As cars and
trams battle for ...
Edit: Enter the title of the last link above into Google to get linked around the paywall. An excerpt:
[...]
As Melbourne grows, there is a pressing need to separate trams and traffic.
Transport authorities are looking at smart transport technologies to help ease traffic congestion and deal with a spike in tram usage following the introduction of the city’s free tram zone.
A trial with VicRoads this year will involve installing devices inside trams and traffic signal boxes, to allow approaching trams to maintain a green light.
Yarra Trams spokesman Simon Murphy said trams played a critical role in keeping Melbourne moving and supporting major events.
More than 1000 days of events per year require tram service changes.
“Trams share the city’s roads and traffic congestion is the leading factor affecting tram performance,” Mr Murphy said.
“Which is why we continue to work closely with our on-road partners including VicRoads to find ways to make journey times more reliable.”
A VicRoads trial of part-time tram lane markings on Smith St in Fitzroy improved the average journey time during morning peak by up to 54 seconds.
Daniel Bowen, spokesman for the Public Transport Users Association, said Melbourne’s tram network had great potential to help even more people get around the inner suburbs without driving.
“If frequency, punctuality and reliability can be boosted, so people know the service is a dependable, viable option, more Melburnians will get out of their cars,” Mr Bowen said.
Melbourne has about 170 kilometres of mixed traffic lanes where trams share the road with motor vehicles.
The closest to that is Toronto with 70 kilometres.
Melbourne’s trams carried 204 million passengers in the 12 months to June 2016.
"Daniel Bowen, spokesman for the Public Transport Users Association" runs a blog on Melbourne Trams. Google his name for it.
