[poomar]

i'm sure this has been asked many times before but after looking at the photos of the new construction, I just can't understand why the stops are on the other side of the traffic lights...! it adds so much time to the trip, particularly since there isn't signal priority and i don't see an obvious safety reason either. is this just another example of TTC idiocy?

 

[CDL.TO]

i'm sure this has been asked many times before but after looking at the photos of the new construction, I just can't understand why the stops are on the other side of the traffic lights...! it adds so much time to the trip, particularly since there isn't signal priority and i don't see an obvious safety reason either. is this just another example of TTC idiocy?

1. It really doesn't add much time, if any. With near-side stops, it's just as likely that you might be sitting there loading the vehicle while the light is green.
2. There is no space for platforms on the near-side because of the left-turn lanes.

 

[drum118]

Sat saw crews working on the sidewalks on the north side.

A fair bit of work done over the last few days at the loop that is to a show case for the Corso festival
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUVFQ_LmrDY

 

[poomar]

thanks CDL. i suppose you might be right but whenever i take the spadina streetcar it always seems to be rather counter-productive having to wait for the light to go green, cross and then stop again.

 

[CDL.TO]

thanks CDL. i suppose you might be right but whenever i take the spadina streetcar it always seems to be rather counter-productive having to wait for the light to go green, cross and then stop again.

But sometimes when I'm on a bus or a different streetcar line, I say 'hurry up' to myself as the vehicle loads while sitting at a green light, only to have the driver close the doors just as the traffic light changes to yellow.

 

[W. K. Lis]

The excuse mentioned previously

realize that this is Toronto Transportation continuing to veto any decision to put in full transit priority, whether it be on Spadina, St Clair, or the Queensway. TTC Staff have asked, at the very least, to put left-turn signals at the END of the signal cycle, but to my knowledge, Transportation said that it would be a safety hazard, since they're "advance" signals and should come first.

is ridiculous. In the province of Quebec, which does not have LRT's nor streetcars (yet), has a lot of signaled intersections where the left turn signal is delayed until after the green. Instead, the vehicles get a solid green, then the yellow, and then a red with the left turn arrow, before just the red.

Quebec also had the count down pedestrian signal, years and years before we got ours.

We just think that the 100+ people in the light rail vehicle should get priority before a single occupied vehicle.

 

[CDL.TO]

The excuse mentioned previously is ridiculous. In the province of Quebec, which does not have LRT's nor streetcars (yet), has a lot of signaled intersections where the left turn signal is delayed until after the green. Instead, the vehicles get a solid green, then the yellow, and then a red with the left turn arrow, before just the red.

Quebec also had the count down pedestrian signal, years and years before we got ours.

We just think that the 100+ people in the light rail vehicle should get priority before a single occupied vehicle.

But would that really change anything? You would just shift when different signals occur around, you wouldn't change the length of green time that a streetcar gets. Some streetcars that previously would have gotten a green would then have to stop.

 

[unimaginative2]

The TTC's signal priority plans are just insignificant tweaks that will have little or no impact on travel time. They need a real GPS-driven system that knows when cars are approaching and will ensure a green light.

 

[W. K. Lis]

They need a real GPS-driven system that knows when cars are approaching and will ensure a green light.

Which will only activate the transit priority signal when needed. Not when there is nothing there.

 

[DSC]

The TTC's signal priority plans are just insignificant tweaks that will have little or no impact on travel time. They need a real GPS-driven system that knows when cars are approaching and will ensure a green light.

The problem is surely that the present streetcar/bus priority signals, even when they are installed, are not always turned on (Spadina being a very good, or bad, example). The other problem is that where they DO work (e.g. King) the streetcar turns the light green as it approaches the intersection THEN it stops to let people on/off; other traffic cannot pass it, or turn. Ideally the light would go green only after the streetcar is ready to move or, as noted above, the stops could be AFTER the light. Discuss!

 

[unimaginative2]

Which will only activate the transit priority signal when needed. Not when there is nothing there.

Exactly, W.K. Lis. The system would also be tied in with headway management.

DSC, the problem isn't just that the systems aren't turned on. Even when turned on, the systems are minimally effective, and employ homemade TTC technology that is decades old. We need an up-to-date, off-the-shelf system that meets all of the requirements for eliminating unnecessary stops and maintaining proper headways.

There are also advanced systems used in other cities, such as the moving right of way, that could be used where a dedicated ROW is not possible. Such a system uses signals to direct cars out of a lane as the streetcar is approaching. The lane operates normally when no streetcar is present.

 

[Le Gique]

fire trucks and buses on the PROW

any word on whether emerg vehicles or ttc rubber-tyred vehicles actually use the raised median?

 

[RedRocket191]

any word on whether emerg vehicles or ttc rubber-tyred vehicles actually use the raised median?

They can, but the centre poles mean that they can't go very quickly.

 

[Le Gique]

That's why I'm wondering if any actually can/will use completed portions of the ROW when adjacent traffic is congested.

 

[Chris84]

Phase III Start

In this article (dated June 7’th) from Joe Mihevc’s latest e-newsletter, he states: “ Phase III of the transit improvement project is expected to start late next monthâ€. So we’re talking late July now? Not April, not mid-June.
I know the re-insertion of the stops at Wychwood was blamed for delaying things back in the spring. Anyone know why the start date keeps moving into the future? Is there a lack of resources at the City or TTC, or a lack of contractors available to do the work? How will we get Transit City built?