[Bojaxs]

I have this same issue with GO Trains. They literally have buttons on the doors, but they open them up at every station and everyone in the lower carriage gets a whiff of that Arctic burn. It’s ridiculous.

I kind of give the GO train a pass because it's not level boarding. For some people it might be difficult to traverse the steps and have to hit a button. Plus the Bi-levels don't have buttons (I think).

The Alstom trains do have buttons, but they've de-activated them.

 

[APTA-2048]

I kind of give the GO train a pass because it's not level boarding. For some people it might be difficult to traverse the steps and have to hit a button. Plus the Bi-levels don't have buttons (I think).

The Alstom trains do have buttons, but they've de-activated them.

Bilevels have buttons, but their placement and operation is inconsistent. Some cars only have them at one door on each side. Some don’t have buttons on the inside.

GO Transit only uses them for passenger access when the train is on a long layover.

 

[robmausser]

I just rode Line 6 westbound. Clocked in at roughly 47 minutes from Finch West to Humber College. Speed aside, my biggest gripe is that they automatically open the doors at every stop and leave them open. It's freezing in the train at Humber College.

Why not utilize the buttons on the door? Keep them closed if no one is at the stop. This is what they do in Calgary with the C-trains.

EDIT: Heading back eastbound, a lot of riders don't seem to be paying their fare. I've lost count of how many people I've seen run and walk across the pedestrian crossing to catch the train and completely ignore the presto machines on the platforms.

They want these LRTs to operate and look and feel as little like a streetcar and as much like a subway as possible. Its all about optics. Thats why they painted them grey (no seriously, to match the subway trains stainless steel look. No, I'm serious this is not an opinion, Metrolinx stated this for real. Like its going to fool anyone)

Optics asside, you are right, its better. But everything in politics is about optics.

Ironically, you know what WOULD make them seem more like a subway? Transit priority and driving them faster than 30kmh

 

[jacnel]

I just rode Line 6 westbound. Clocked in at roughly 47 minutes from Finch West to Humber College. Speed aside, my biggest gripe is that they automatically open the doors at every stop and leave them open. It's freezing in the train at Humber College.

Why not utilize the buttons on the doors? Keep them closed if no one is at the stop. This is what they do in Calgary with the C-trains.

EDIT: Heading back eastbound, a lot of riders don't seem to be paying their fare. I've lost count of how many people I've seen run and walk across the pedestrian crossing to catch the train and completely ignore the presto machines on the platforms.

The Region of Waterloo also uses the door buttons with the ION. During the winter the doors remain closed unless you press the button. I think people would understand if the TTC did the same.

 

[jacnel]

Also the ION, despite having a more complex route with many more turns, conflict points, and 9km of additional track, can go end-to-end in 44 minutes scheduled. So the TTC has zero excuse for running Line 6 this slowly. A 10km straight, centre of the road, LRT (even with the additional stops) should be faster than the ION, it's half the size!

 

[hw621]

The Region of Waterloo also uses the door buttons with the ION. During the winter the doors remain closed unless you press the button. I think people would understand if the TTC did the same.

The ION also does the signal priority right. Why is the ION doing everything right but the TTC isn't, when the TTC has been operating a much bigger network and supposed to be more experienced?

 

[hw621]

Also the ION, despite having a more complex route with many more turns, conflict points, and 9km of additional track, can go end-to-end in 44 minutes scheduled. So the TTC has zero excuse for running Line 6 this slowly. A 10km straight, centre of the road, LRT (even with the additional stops) should be faster than the ION, it's half the size!

also built at a fraction of the cost too.

 

[T3G]

Also the ION, despite having a more complex route with many more turns, conflict points, and 9km of additional track, can go end-to-end in 44 minutes scheduled. So the TTC has zero excuse for running Line 6 this slowly. A 10km straight, centre of the road, LRT (even with the additional stops) should be faster than the ION, it's half the size!

That's an average speed of 25.91 km/h, in line with the best practices of Finch-style suburban lines in Prague, and that's with the bizarre speed restrictions around the last few stations at the south end (including the inexplicable slow zone right past Fairway) Imagine that number if they sorted out... whatever tf is going on in Kitcehener, you'd start to get pretty close to the average speeds of Lines 1 (29.2) and 2 (30.0)!

 

[KhalilHeron]

Also the ION, despite having a more complex route with many more turns, conflict points, and 9km of additional track, can go end-to-end in 44 minutes scheduled. So the TTC has zero excuse for running Line 6 this slowly. A 10km straight, centre of the road, LRT (even with the additional stops) should be faster than the ION, it's half the size!

Admittedly that doesnt make a ton of sense, the Fastest parts of the ION are where it has its own ROW through Waterloo, the section on King st is definitely slower

The ION also does the signal priority right. Why is the ION doing everything right but the TTC isn't, when the TTC has been operating a much bigger network and supposed to be more experienced?

The TTC brought their own "experience" while GRT actually went through the effort to learn best operating practices and apply them

 

[APTA-2048]

The ION also does the signal priority right. Why is the ION doing everything right but the TTC isn't, when the TTC has been operating a much bigger network and supposed to be more experienced?

Because every rule change and every new policy over the last decade or more has slowed down service apparently for safety and fear of litigation. Throw in a lot of micromanaging from higher ups and a disconnect from what they see and what operators and passengers experience.

For me this has tracked with the gradual decline in quality of service from the TTC. If you know me, you know how much of a fan of the TTC I am, so I cannot express how incredibly angry I am at everyone that has driven it to the state it is in now.

 

[Cobra]

View this content on Instagram

View this content on Instagram

Has a decision has already been made? The text of the post reads more like a proposal whereas the image looks like an announcement.

Spoiler: Contents

View attachment 701692

well, it will be an election year.

Great timing and it will be hilarious watching her opponents advocating to kill signal priorities and keep transit slow to protect drivers

 

[jacnel]

The ION also does the signal priority right. Why is the ION does everything right but the TTC isn't, when the TTC has been operating a much bigger network and supposed to be more experienced?

I think that actually, the lack of experience running rail transit in the Region of Waterloo, and a more consensus-based data oriented Regional government, are the two reasons why the ION is good. Since Regional Council didn't really know how to build or operate light rail transit they put out RFIs to the private sector to help them do so. Thus, because the Region went into the project with an open mind, they actually listened to the experts from Europe who responded to the RFI. Hiring them as part of the consortium who built (and now operates) the train. Keolis was a big part of the design, build, and operations for the line, their first Light Rail project in North America. Keolis has lots of experience building light rail in Europe. So, when the Region asked them to design a good LRT, they just put Transit Signal Priority into the project from day one because that's what you do in Europe, and the Region didn't object because they understood the benefits. For the Region of Waterloo, they knew that they wanted a good LRT, because so much was riding on this project being successful. So at each stage of the process, the focus from all stakeholders (Regional Council, local council, Regional Staff, the consortium, even the public) was "how do we make this thing great?" and wouldn't you know it they put thoughts to paper and did it. The goal with the ION was always to be a shining example of what Waterloo can do, so eyes were on the project the entire time making sure the Region squeezed every little benefit they could out of the system.

Toronto on the other hand never really spoke with any experts around what good light rail transit is, applied existing assumptions from the streetcar network to Finch West without realizing that it is this conservative "we've always done things this way" line of thinking that made this mess (and is why the Spadina and St. Clair streetcars suck). Transit Signal Priority was included in the design for Finch West's build but was never included in the operational contracts signed between Metrolinx and the TTC. So the TTC and Toronto Transportation did what they always do and half-assed something together that's operationally slow and inefficient but is the "easiest" option without getting council involved. Council was also MIA pretty much throughout this entire process and didn't understand any of the attributes that make a LRT good, Waterloo Region Council was involved and educated by experts at each stage of the process and they ensured that the final product was delivered to spec.

We could learn a lot from the Region of Waterloo. Over there improving transit is just something Regional Staff are allowed to do on their own. Council just approves a transit masterplan for the decade and leaves implementation details up to the experts (Staff). The City of Toronto has politicians who know nothing meddling and stalling at every stage.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Back in the early 1990s I worked at Ontario Place, and even back then I’d bemoan how slow the streetcars down Bathurst were to buses. Some of the best days were when the streetcars were out of service and replaced by buses. We'd absolutely fly down Bathurst.

 

[jacnel]

Because every rule change and every new policy over the last decade or more has slowed down service apparently for safety and fear of litigation. Throw in a lot of micromanaging from higher ups and a disconnect from what they see and what operators and passengers experience.

For me this has tracked with the gradual decline in quality of service from the TTC. If you know me, you know how much of a fan of the TTC I am, so I cannot express how incredibly angry I am at everyone that has driven it to the state it is in now.

I couldn't have said it better myself. Council needs to get the rot out of the TTC, Leary destroyed the place. Seems like the culture there is now just "how do I prevent doing paperwork?" service quality and speed be damned.

Transit Signal Priority for Line 6 will do a lot of heavy lifting at speeding up the TTC, but Toronto City Council needs to also tell the TTC to calm down, stop micromanaging, and instead focus on giving their customers what they want: fast, reliable service.

 

[Kyle Campbell]

It has been said that this is day one of real service, and TTC doesn't want Ottawa issues on this line to the point it may take 6 months to see a decrease in runtime to a point. Until there is a real transit priority signal system in play. Let's see what April will bring for service quality

So to avoid an Ottawa style disaster, they chose a worse PR disaster? At least people were happy and hopeful when the Confed line opened, the disappointment came later