[Filip]

Which is my main issue with LRT and TC specifically. Building Eglinton as an LRT and stopping Sheppard before its logical terminus at STC limits the TTC's ability to interline and have a workable network so that in case of accidents or failures, there are ample tunnels to redirect the trains so that the network doesn't collapse; also it introduces a whole new rolling stock, with it, new maintenance costs, building facilities, sheds.. It simply doesn't make much sense.

DRL cannot be an LRT, that would be the end of transit planning in this city.

 

[CityPainter]

These graphs are disingenuous as hell, but it is impressive how much both ridership and the size of the bus fleet grew through Miller and Giambrone's tenure.

Wow, the bus portion of this chart is going beyond disingenuous into fraudelent territory. So in 2003 our 1,489 buses are represented by 1.5 icons, but in 2005 our 1,491 buses are represented by 3 icons, twice as many? And even though the number of buses in 2005 is lower than in 2004, the number of icons on the graph still increase? It's baffling, especially since the story here is generally positive even without that misrepresentation.

 

[rbt]

Which is my main issue with LRT and TC specifically. Building Eglinton as an LRT and stopping Sheppard before its logical terminus at STC limits the TTC's ability to interline and have a workable network so that in case of accidents or failures, there are ample tunnels to redirect the trains so that the network doesn't collapse; ...

You're not going to run Yonge trains via Kennedy to get around an issue at Lawrence. Nobody would sit through that diversion.

Neither Yonge or Bloor has spare capacity for this type of thing anyway. You would need to reduce Bloor frequencies by nearly 100% to accomplish a full Yonge line diversion.

Same problem for Eglingon. You cannot divert Eglinton south on Spadina/Yonge via Union without eliminating 50% or more of the trains north of Eglinton on Spadina and Yonge. The capacity doesn't exist. FYI, this is the same reason Eglinton will never carry more than 5000pphpd; there is no space on the lines they would transfer to.

Work cars are a bit different; but a good chunk of those have been built from old LRT vehicles before. Expect this to continue for Eglinton.

... also it introduces a whole new rolling stock, with it, new maintenance costs, building facilities, sheds.. It simply doesn't make much sense.

Not really. Rolling stock for Transit City is pretty damn similar to the vehicles ordered for the legacy streetcar network. I assume you don't believe we will have eliminated King, Queen, Spadina, Bathurst, College, and Dundas routes anytime soon. Even a full DRL doesn't predict a full elimination of the legacy network. The skytrain stock being eliminated still reduces us to 3 types on rails (Toronto Rocket/T1 and street-capable rail of two different widths).

The SRT, which is radically different and elimination of the H4/5/6 due to Toronto Rocket purchases leaves Toronto with fewer types in 2015 than we had in 2005.


Wilson isn't large enough, nor efficiently located, to cover all of transit city built as subway. See various yards discussions/documents for the Yonge line extension which resulted in a very large tail track.

Sheppard, Eglinton, and SRT as Toronto Rockets would almost certainly require either a massive expansion of Wilson yard (nearly doubling capabilities) or a separate set of facilities (preferred for redundancy, I.e. a major fire at Wilson yards).

 

[junctionist]

If only the actual TTC public spaces were as clean and polished as this video was made to be. It's a stark contrast to the poor attention to aesthetic and design issues that has defined the TTC in recent years, from handwritten signs to that cheap sounding set of tones they play before automated announcements in stations. (Surely, there's a more professional and modern sound to use than those squeaks.)

 

[M II A II R II K]

So the proposed DRL would run under Queen St, and perhaps eliminate the Queen Streetcar altogether.

 

[nfitz]

So the proposed DRL would run under Queen St, and perhaps eliminate the Queen Streetcar altogether.

Not if it services Union Station. The subway also wouldn't head any further east than Pape. I wouldn't be surprised if the subway only follows Queen East from Carlaw to River.

The King streetcar though looks more threatened ... but it's very premature.

I expect that unless the new subway stays under a single street for a long distance (and this doesn't sound the case), that most of the current track will stay, but service patterns would change.

 

[ssiguy2]

A great surprise from Soa Paulo. It's 100km monorail system is going ahead with the first leg of 24 to begin construction to begin next year to be done by early 2015. I hoping to have the entire 100 km system to be up and running by 2021. All lines will have capacity of 20,000 pphpd and some sections having 30,000 pphpd capacity. By 2025 they are expecting the system to carrying a whopping one million passengers a day
Another big surprise is that Scomi didn't get the contract but our own Bombardier! Scomi was considered the front runner but they are going with Bombardier's Innovia monorail system. It's Bombardier's first monorail venture into South America and bodes welll for the soon to be announced systems in Rio and Manageus. Curitiba is also considering monorail to replace some of it's over burdened BRT system routes. It also just got the 4km Riyad system.
If only Toronto had such vision it might a true rapid transit system instead of a bunch of disjointed, low capacity, and expensive LRT system.

 

[Electrify]

A great surprise from Soa Paulo. It's 100km monorail system is going ahead with the first leg of 24 to begin construction to begin next year to be done by early 2015. I hoping to have the entire 100 km system to be up and running by 2021. All lines will have capacity of 20,000 pphpd and some sections having 30,000 pphpd capacity. By 2025 they are expecting the system to carrying a whopping one million passengers a day
Another big surprise is that Scomi didn't get the contract but our own Bombardier! Scomi was considered the front runner but they are going with Bombardier's Innovia monorail system. It's Bombardier's first monorail venture into South America and bodes welll for the soon to be announced systems in Rio and Manageus. Curitiba is also considering monorail to replace some of it's over burdened BRT system routes. It also just got the 4km Riyad system.
If only Toronto had such vision it might a true rapid transit system instead of a bunch of disjointed, low capacity, and expensive LRT system.

According to this render, the trains look a bit like like our new ones as well.

source: monorails.org

 

[W. K. Lis]

So the proposed DRL would run under Queen St, and perhaps eliminate the Queen Streetcar altogether.

If the DRT follows a U shape line, the Queen streetcar could remain to provide local service between the two arms and regular service past them, with the DRT providing express service south of Bloor and Danforth.

 

[Dan416]

If the DRT follows a U shape line, the Queen streetcar could remain to provide local service between the two arms and regular service past them, with the DRT providing express service south of Bloor and Danforth.

Durham Region Transit? Sure you mean the DRL.

 

[MisterF]

LOL.. DRL as an LRT and I'm moving to greener pastures.. Maybe back to Madrid?

I agree it should be subway but to be fair, an underground LRT would work the same as a subway line. Madrid has very small metro trains, no bigger than a lot of LRT trains. It works for them because they have so many lines.

Not if it services Union Station. The subway also wouldn't head any further east than Pape. I wouldn't be surprised if the subway only follows Queen East from Carlaw to River.

It's very unlikely that a Queen subway would serve Union Station. But the study is looking at different alignments, so it might not follow Queen at all.

I assume you don't believe we will have eliminated King, Queen, Spadina, Bathurst, College, and Dundas routes anytime soon. Even a full DRL doesn't predict a full elimination of the legacy network.

Yeah, you'd need a lot more than one new subway line to eliminate all the streetcars.

 

[nfitz]

Durham Region Transit? Sure you mean the DRL.

The TTC is carrying out the DRTES ... Downtown Rapid Transist Expansion Study. Recall that on January 28, 2009, City Council asked "The Toronto Transit Commission be requested to come up with a more inspiring name for the Downtown Rapid Transit Line that reflects the communities and neighbourhoods it will serve. "

 

[Dan416]

The TTC is carrying out the DRTES ... Downtown Rapid Transist Expansion Study. Recall that on January 28, 2009, City Council asked "The Toronto Transit Commission be requested to come up with a more inspiring name for the Downtown Rapid Transit Line that reflects the communities and neighbourhoods it will serve. "

I was actually kinda mocking this newfangled name. No reason we can't just call it DRL as we always have. Until we have a half-decent name to call it, I'm going to continue calling it the DRL.

 

[nfitz]

I was actually kinda mocking this newfangled name. No reason we can't just call it DRL as we always have. Until we have a half-decent name to call it, I'm going to continue calling it the DRL.

Ironically that's what Giambrone used in his report. I doubt we'll have a real name for it until we have a final routing.

 

[LAz]

Cute video. Though it disgusted me when they said that transit city failing is a bad thing. Make me want to put up stuff around the city saying "do both yourself and the city a favour, oppose transit city."

I just don't see how one can not be thrilled with funding being cut to that. It's like christmas coming early or something.