reinventingthewheel
Active Member
Not sure where the cops stake out but I’ve seen cars pulled over on either side beyond the intersection, east and west.
Impressively, Google and Apple wayfinding will still direct you straight through sometimes.
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Impressively, Google and Apple wayfinding will still direct you straight through sometimes.
goodcitywhenfinished
Active Member
Image source
A reminder of what we could have on King for relatively low cost. And yet we choose to simply not unlock tons of east-west transit capacity.
Maybe it’s time for an advocacy campaign?
LRT for King
allabootmatt
Senior Member
In terms of urban design, yes, the Sydney Light Rail is phenomenal -- as are a lot of public-space projects in Australia.
As transit, however, it's almost useless. Much, much faster to take a bus on one of the parallel streets. I believe the average speed through the central stretch is around 10 km/h.
reaperexpress
Senior Member
It is a red light infraction at the intersections where they installed separate bike/transit heads and leave the vehicle signals red all day
nfitz
Superstar
Say, if they put the new platforms that high, that close to the streetcar tracks, that would help discourage some of the driving idiots. Big solid pieces of stone that would leave scratches. Perhaps one down the centre of the road too.
Cobblestones might help too.
Cobblestones might help too.
DSCToronto
Superstar
The final design of King Street is still not finalised as it will be 'rebuilt' after the City and TTC install new watermain and TTC tracks - the projects on King are (slowly) working eastwards towards Spadina. Not saying the final design will be like the above but it will, supposedly, be better than the current 'interim condition'
goodcitywhenfinished
Active Member
Seemed faster than our streetcars when I was there, especially through intersections but definitely not as fast as trams in Berlin or Paris.
I’ll take infrastructure over operational efficiency any day though. Once you have the infrastructure, operations can be improved at any point.
There is much more friction towards building infrastructure and I think that is where political and real capital should be prioritized.
goodcitywhenfinished
Active Member
T3G
Senior Member
I disagree. While theoretically true, the institutional inertia of an organization like the TTC pretty much guarantees that once something is the case, it is set in stone. I wouldn't hope to see any elimination of their ridiculous safety rules, either. If we put a ball and chain around our ankles in the form of a painfully slow transit mall, I can guarantee you there would be no fixing it.
DSCToronto
Superstar
@goodcitywhenfinished said that operations CAN be improved - which is true. However, you are unfortunately right that due to the TTC 'management' this is not likely to actually happen.
ownthesky
Active Member
I'm not sure if it's been brough up here before, but Prague used to have a swinging gate to block off tram-only corridors. Vehicles could push the gate, which offered essentially no resistance, but made it very clear you were not welcome unless you knew you had permission to enter the area.
ownthesky
Active Member
Here’s a functional passive barrier in Brussels, albeit much more hardcore!
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMkxmHXCc/
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMkxmHXCc/
CapitalSeven
Senior Member
N.I.H. Not Invented Here.
isaidso
Senior Member
Precisely, this is a TTC issue. Build the infrastructure like George Street in Sydney and then pressure the TTC to do better. Toronto can be painfully parochial at times, but that's not a reason to throw one's hands in the air and give up. Having a pedestrian realm as appealing as Sydney feels like fantasy in 2025 but we have to start somewhere.
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T3G
Senior Member
Having a pedestrian only zone would be nice, but what would be much nicer is having transit that can get you somewhere at a reasonable rate of speed. The King Street pilot might not be the fastest, but I don't see how making it into a full pedestrian zone will make it faster. Just ban cars where possible from the road and maintain the street as it is.
How are you going to pressure the TTC to do better? People have been pressuring them to have better line management for decades, and where has that gotten us? One must be realistic about the efficacy of citizen advocacy, and realize that the best solution to a problem is not to create the conditions for it in the first place.
How are you going to pressure the TTC to do better? People have been pressuring them to have better line management for decades, and where has that gotten us? One must be realistic about the efficacy of citizen advocacy, and realize that the best solution to a problem is not to create the conditions for it in the first place.
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