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TTC recommends adding 5 new express bus routes in 5 years

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ttc-bus-routes-1.4151304

- The new routes would run along Lawrence Avenue West, Markham Road, Dufferin Street, Islington Avenue and Weston Road. The TTC is also proposing changes to a number of existing express routes, including Keele, Wilson, York Mills, and the University of Toronto Scarborough Rocket, among others. In the third stage of the plan, between 2022 and 2026, they recommend that an additional eight routes be added, though neither Byford nor Colle said what those might be. The recommendations will go to the TTC board for review on June 15.
 
smallspy said:
No matter how many times you say this, it's still not true.

Cars used to roll over and through them at traffic speed all the time until 15 years ago. What stopped that was the typical TTC knee-jerk reaction to two incidents involving careless operators.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.
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That's not what the streetcar instructors say when I asked them. I was told they aren't design for traffic speed. The stopping is a TTC part is a protocol.
 
Steve X said:
That's not what the streetcar instructors say when I asked them. I was told they aren't design for traffic speed. The stopping is a TTC part is a protocol.
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I remember as a teen in the 1980s taking the Queen east blue line streetcar and I swear we did well over 60 kph from River eastward. Those CLRVs could fly if the operator didn't GAF.
 
Steve X said:
They is a reason why the go slowly through intersections. The track switches weren't designed for high speed which wears them out or can cause derailment. TTC hasn't got cash to replace the design to modern technology. The LRT lines won't be using them either. For ROW, they fear cars will make illegal left turns in front of the streetcar. They rather have less damage than to improve speeds. I'm worried that TTC will implement the same thing on the LRT lines
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I'm not sure what you mean about the LRT lines not using modern switches. The TTC installed double balded ones at Leslie Barns. The only reason I see them not doing it right now with the rest of the city is 1.) cost and 2.) because of the mixed fleet the CLRVS and ALRVS may not be able to handle a double bladed switch or rather the current system used to change tham can't handle them. I think as soon as thy ave replaced all of the CLRVS and ALRVs they will begin to replace them once it's time to replace those sections of track.
 
EastYorkTTCFan said:
I'm not sure what you mean about the LRT lines not using modern switches. The TTC installed double balded ones at Leslie Barns. The only reason I see them not doing it right now with the rest of the city is 1.) cost and 2.) because of the mixed fleet the CLRVS and ALRVS may not be able to handle a double bladed switch or rather the current system used to change tham can't handle them. I think as soon as thy ave replaced all of the CLRVS and ALRVs they will begin to replace them once it's time to replace those sections of track.
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I meant the slow speed limit when crossing any intersection. Think how slow the LRTs will be on the surface.

I doubt they'll spend all that money to upgrade all of them. Many switches are still manual after all these years. It's not just the switch itself but also the radio wave to trigger the switch needs an upgrade. I would be nice to have signals indicating what the switches are set to from far so they can start plowing through intersections again. Considering how TTC is suppose to go pantograph with the new generation and now still stuck with the poles, I wonder if TTC would screw up the upgrade for switches too if it does happen. Either way it would be early 2020s till something happens as the ALRVs aren't retiring just yet.
 
Steve X said:
I doubt they'll spend all that money to upgrade all of them.
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As EastYork said, it'll be a 30 to 40 year project "replace[ing] them once it's time to replace those sections of track".

When there is no urgency to move quickly, going slow is often much cheaper and sometimes even free.
 
The problem remains that the TTC has been underfunded since 2010 by the city and since 1995 by the province. Both Ford and Tory wants cuts, cuts, cuts and more cuts. Which means no money to replace the needed track switches. The "new" track switches at Leslie Barns and LRT tracks in Ottawa and Waterloo use much better (and more expensive) track switches, but only because they are "new".

The TTC needs much better funding for its operational budget, from both the city and the province. No more cuts, cuts, cuts.
 
W. K. Lis said:
The problem remains that the TTC has been underfunded since 2010 by the city and since 1995 by the province. Both Ford and Tory wants cuts, cuts, cuts and more cuts. Which means no money to replace the needed track switches. The "new" track switches at Leslie Barns and LRT tracks in Ottawa and Waterloo use much better (and more expensive) track switches, but only because they are "new".

The TTC needs much better funding for its operational budget, from both the city and the province. No more cuts, cuts, cuts.
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After digesting Steve Munro's rather excellent analysis of the 501, I'm left concluding that most of the criticisms that are levelled against streetcars are totally self-imposed. The problems are a) money b) fear of single car driver political rage and c) the cumulative effect of a culture of operational mediocrity, such that TTC management doesn't aspire to doing better.

Switches are one good example where the TTC has sunk to mediocrity instead of excellence. Headways (especially combined with over use of short turns) is another. Allowing left-turning cars to impede streetcars is another (this is Council's contribution, not TTC's). The Queensway grade separation has never been treated as the fast track that it could be.

If streetcars are going to plod, we shouldn't be waxing poetic about them. Personally I would favour spending the money, annoying the motorists, and pushing the TTC towards higher standards. The we could be proud of having them, instead of defending them as a lower-cost solution that has mediocre metrics.

- Paul
 
We constantly talk about how the TTC needs more cash from governments to operate more efficiently and to enhance service and while that remains to hold true, there are definitely things that can be done now to make service run more efficiently without additional funds and it starts with TTC management.

Management is a mess when it comes to things such a basic line operations. Day after day, they are asleep when it comes to spreading out buses and streetcars on various routes to ensure proper headways. Numerous people on this thread have also mentioned headways and recovery times as issues, as well as their fear of how operators drive resulting in speed restrictions. Everyone here is smart enough to realize these are common issues and yet they have failed to come up with a solution. I'm sorry but there is seriously something wrong with the people at the top over there if they have yet to clue into these problems.
 
The #1 thing that would improve TTC service is to crack down on closures of TTC bus and streetcar routes for events. Yesterday 505 Dundas streetcar was detoured for "Portugal Day Parade" while Line 2 was closed St George to Broadview. 505 Dundas is one of the main alternate routes for that section of subway. This also caused severe traffic congestion in the area and severe delays to 506 Carlton and 501 Queen.
 
The TTC needs a publicly declared "streetcar excellence" strategy with new metrics and regular oversight within the public's view. Byford's CEO Report would be a good medium to table this.

The metrics should be focussed on velocity (a refinement of Steve Munro's analysis), short turn and gap elimination (schedule adherence isn't cutting it as a way of tracking this) and target vehicle capacity (when the car arrives at my stop, is there room to get on - comfortably?). There should be both a standard and a "stretch goal" - which is not aspirational but is TTC's commitment to where it will be in 2 years. With consequences intended if it's not met.

TTC Management has fallen into the trap of degrading customer experience as a solution to operational risks or problems. Switches are a good example: We don't have confidence that we can avoid mishaps, so we instruct operators to go slower, and we downgrade schedules to reflect this. (Hypothetically - How about - you can go through the switch at full speed, but if it's misaligned and the lead axle goes the wrong way, people get fired, operators and maintainers. I bet that would start a meaningful discussion about what can be done to ensure that this never happens. With the current strategy, everyone shrugs, mutters something about "its the best we can do" and nothing gets moved forward).

In a different culture, things like bonuses would be keyed to these metrics. But TTC, being public sector, can't use incentive compensation without getting flak from the pundits. The CEO Report, and the tying of the organization's reputation to this strategy in the media, might be enough to create more internal commitment and effort.

Thought for the day: with all the short turns, TTC ejects more people from their seats every day than United Airlines does.

- Paul
 
andrewpmk said:
The #1 thing that would improve TTC service is to crack down on closures of TTC bus and streetcar routes for events. Yesterday 505 Dundas streetcar was detoured for "Portugal Day Parade" while Line 2 was closed St George to Broadview. 505 Dundas is one of the main alternate routes for that section of subway. This also caused severe traffic congestion in the area and severe delays to 506 Carlton and 501 Queen.
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Really? The #1 thing? From my experience TTC service is much worse during weekday rush hours than on weekends, and your #1 suggestion does nothing to address this time period. It seems your post was just another excuse to rant about the street closures that you hate.
 
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