T3G
Senior Member
Besides appeasing railfans and forcing an additional transfer for people along the line, what benefits exactly would phased opening achieve?
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afransen
Senior Member
I'm guessing partially opening would create some operational complexity with high volumes of transfers in a place where it was not designed for.
robmausser
Senior Member
All the reasons above, and the most behind station is Eglinton/Yonge, which is kinda the most important station in the system.
Another reason is when you do partial opens it leaves opportunities for journalists to say its a failure, etc because its slow etc (might not operationally be able to run smoothly with partial open) and the closures that would result in ongoing finishing work would also make great "Metrolinx bungles another project again" articles.
Journalists are vultures and they will spin even the smallest thing into a huge problem. Better to have them write that its delayed and open when its ready and working well.
Another reason is when you do partial opens it leaves opportunities for journalists to say its a failure, etc because its slow etc (might not operationally be able to run smoothly with partial open) and the closures that would result in ongoing finishing work would also make great "Metrolinx bungles another project again" articles.
Journalists are vultures and they will spin even the smallest thing into a huge problem. Better to have them write that its delayed and open when its ready and working well.
duffo
Active Member
In Seattle they're partially opened their new line and I only saw journalism about how "the line is finally open"
nfitz
Superstar
I've been seeing vehicles regularly between the DVP and Victoria Park since about New Years. Was there a pause? Offhand, I haven't seen much on weekends before.
T3G
Senior Member
Journalists?
If the line partially opened, this line of thinking would be peppered over every LRT adjacent discussion on this very forum! We would be hearing all about how the line should have been a subway, which famously are never delayed in their construction.
nfitz
Superstar
eglinton1661
Active Member
Went by Eglinton East today. LRVs are probably not running at full operating frequency, but there are definitely a lot of them testing at once. West-bound some LRV displays say "Eglinton // to Mount Dennis" and not just LRV testing/training.
There has been a lot of (fair) criticism in this thread about the lack of signal priority, waiting for left turning vehicles etc. But I will say this: even with all of those shortcomings, the LRVs *do* move faster than vehicle traffic, especially at key chokepoints, which make all the difference imo. At intersections like Leslie and Sloane cars and buses were stuck for as long as three signal cycles. By that time the LRV was through and far, far ahead -- enough so that you couldn't even catch up in a car.
There is so much doomerism in this thread about a line that's not even open yet. I really think it's worth withholding our judgement until after this thing is up and running.
There has been a lot of (fair) criticism in this thread about the lack of signal priority, waiting for left turning vehicles etc. But I will say this: even with all of those shortcomings, the LRVs *do* move faster than vehicle traffic, especially at key chokepoints, which make all the difference imo. At intersections like Leslie and Sloane cars and buses were stuck for as long as three signal cycles. By that time the LRV was through and far, far ahead -- enough so that you couldn't even catch up in a car.
There is so much doomerism in this thread about a line that's not even open yet. I really think it's worth withholding our judgement until after this thing is up and running.
Mind_the_gap
Active Member
Something really bothering me is the current lane setup southbound on Leslie at Eglinton. Normally, I wouldn't care about a slip lane being removed, but here it seems to have backfired.
Leslie approaching Eglinton has always been 3 lanes - 2 south to east, one west. Since they removed the slip lane/island to create a new west side pedestrian crossing, every entitled a**hole utilizes the centre (left) turn lane as a second right turn lane, with those less courageous trying merge into the correct lane at the very last moment.
The whole southbound right lane on Leslie between Lawrence and Eglinton can be an absolute clusterf***. This impacts bus riders the most. Some honest drivers sit in line all the way from Lawrence, which from experience can take 40mins.
In my opinion, this is one of those unintended side-effects of the delayed opening of Line 5, since there weren't meant to be all those 54 passengers on Leslie at this point anyway.
If the City really cared, they could turn that centre turn lane into a bus-only lane, and add the vertical bar signal to the southbound signals.
Leslie approaching Eglinton has always been 3 lanes - 2 south to east, one west. Since they removed the slip lane/island to create a new west side pedestrian crossing, every entitled a**hole utilizes the centre (left) turn lane as a second right turn lane, with those less courageous trying merge into the correct lane at the very last moment.
The whole southbound right lane on Leslie between Lawrence and Eglinton can be an absolute clusterf***. This impacts bus riders the most. Some honest drivers sit in line all the way from Lawrence, which from experience can take 40mins.
In my opinion, this is one of those unintended side-effects of the delayed opening of Line 5, since there weren't meant to be all those 54 passengers on Leslie at this point anyway.
If the City really cared, they could turn that centre turn lane into a bus-only lane, and add the vertical bar signal to the southbound signals.
Rainforest
Senior Member
Depends on which section opens first .. if that was a section between Mt Dennis and Allen Road, then it could relief the crowding on the bus. No additional transfers necessary, all buses would still run through. However, riders who board at Mt Dennis or west of it and wish to reach the western side of Line 1, would simply take the LRT to subway, and never need the bus.
I get the objections .. not consistent with the contract, and even if it was, running both the LRT and the full bus schedule means higher operational costs.
smallspy
Senior Member
It's been so bad that for the past 3 or 4 months the police have been parking a cruiser there - on the ROW, but off of the active lanes or tracks - during the morning rush.
The afternoon rush hours are usually far better, but there has been the odd one where it's taken an inordinately long amount of time to traverse that stretch.
While this is true, the bigger issue is what the prevailing traffic patterns are.
If I recall the charts from pre-construction, the predominant traffic conditions were going south on Leslie, west on Eglinton then south on Laird. If this is still the case - or what they were trying to build to - it strikes me that the intersection needs two right turn lanes, not two left turn lanes.
Dan
AHK
Senior Member
The basic morning commute drive route from the western portion of the Don Mills area (and points north) was south on Leslie, west on Eglinton to Leaside, through Leaside, one way or another, to Bayview / Bayview Extension southbound, to downtown. Reverse in the evenings.
Upset with the amount of traffic, residents along Moore Avenue / Southvale Drive used to note license plates, get owners' addresses from MTO, and send them complaining letters asking them to avoid their community - until MTO changed the rules to make vehicle registration information private (IIRC) during the Bob Rae NDP government.
Also, if I recall correctly, at one point there were plans to actually extend Leslie southbound from Eglinton through the park to connect directly with the Bayview Extension - plans which died a natural death due to widespread opposition - hence the still ongoing bottleneck at the Leslie and Eglinton intersection.
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PL1
Senior Member
AHK
Senior Member
Thanks - corrected.
Regarding license plate / vehicle registration data - it had previously not been considered to be personal protected information. I believe there was a $5 service charge for every license plate query. The incident which triggered the change took place in Ottawa. A male driver saw an attractive woman in the car next to him at a traffic light, asked her name, which she declined to provide. He noted her license plate, paid the query fee and got her personal information, and used it to contact her. She complained to the provincial government.
This was at a time when there were increasing concerns about privacy of personal data, leading to the enactment of PIPEDA type legislation at both the provincial and federal levels. And specifically, the Ontario government changed the rules to keep driver and vehicle registration data confidential.
A co-worker in the early 1980's would drop his daughter off at school in the mornings, and come back through Leaside, Southvale Drive to Bayview to come downtown in the mornings - and after being identified as a frequent flyer through the area, was the recipient of one of these letters.
