[crs1026]

^That down-on shot is worthy of a photography magazine !

I would caption it "The Fleet is In" - looks like there weren't many trams out on the line when it was taken.

- Paul

 

[nfitz]

Reminder that pedestrians and cyclists are STILL forbidden to go north on Black Creek Dive from Eglinton Avenue West.

View attachment 669190

That picture is taken looking north at Eglinton and Black Creek. In the distance you can see the Todd Baylis/Black Creek intersection, which has pedestrians cross-lights in all 4 corners for pedestrians crossing any way.

It's very clear from the trail that it's heavily used by pedestrians. Why the inconsistent messaging? Or even the restriction - at least until you get much further north closer to the 401.

 

[A 6264]

That picture is taken looking north at Eglinton and Black Creek. In the distance you can see the Todd Baylis/Black Creek intersection, which has pedestrians cross-lights in all 4 corners for pedestrians crossing any way.

It's very clear from the trail that it's heavily used by pedestrians. Why the inconsistent messaging? Or even the restriction - at least until you get much further north closer to the 401.

I've been in the opposite situation, 40 to 50 years ago. I was riding my bike on a road in Toronto that was unfamiliar to me, and a cop car stopped and asked if I realized this was an on-ramp to an expressway (I forget which one), and I said no, I didn't, and promptly turned around and went back. Luckily I didn't get hassled; I think the cop realized I didn't know where I was, because there were no signs saying no bicycles or pedestrians allowed, and there really should have been.

 

[Steve X]

You can't tell this person what they can't do.
View attachment 669221

You can’t tell people what to do but if they take the risk and get hurt, they can’t blame the city as they can’t decode the meaning of the sign.

I don’t support urbanizing every road in the city. Cars gotta have a few faster alternatives in and out the city. There is already very congested and urbanized roads with very low speed limits. If they keep doing this to every road, it’ll be like Paris or London without a good transit system.

 

[nfitz]

You can’t tell people what to do but if they take the risk and get hurt, they can’t blame the city as they can’t decode the meaning of the sign.

What's the risk here, on the grass (actually a well-worn dirt trail) for one longish block with no driveways, between two intersections with pedestrian crossings?

It looks like a bizarre hang-over from decades ago.

 

[TOtramz]

looks like there are a lot of trains in storage so they must be trying to do a maintenance push before starting revenue demonstration?

 

[6ixGod]

I’m surprised why nobody has tried this yet on Line 5….I mean why not.

 

[zang]

Cars gotta have a few faster alternatives in and out the city. There is already very congested and urbanized roads with very low speed limits.

Just because someone *can* go faster, doesn't mean they have the right to go faster.

We spent 80 years widening lanes, building highways and parking lots to service drivers to the city. When there's construction, transit and cycling are always the ones to get turfed from the route before cars (take a trip along Harbord these days). Hell, we even removed whole sidewalks in the core in the name of cars. Making things faster and easier for cars only exacerbates the problems that cars create. It is a sheer volume-of-traffic problem. We know this. It's well studied and proven. We can't keep pretending that if we make something easy for cars it won't just add to the problem. If people have no other routes, they will take cars.

If they keep doing this to every road, it’ll be like Paris or London without a good transit system.

Bike lanes and pedestrian routes are also good transit.

Edit: I will also add that London has congestion charges, and Paris has been cracking down on cars hard. It isn't just about lacking enough transit.

 

[kev1n1m]

So someone on Reddit just posted, "When the system opens this year, the first part of the line will already be 15 years old."

That's kind of wild to think about. Like imagine taking delivery of your new car and it's already 15 years old. Or imagine moving into a new construction condo but it's already been sitting there for 15 years.

First of all, is this an accurate thing to say? And second of all where would this 'first part' be?

He further implies that because of this the line will need to begin immediate repairs nearly as soon as it opens. Like your car needing its first major service the moment you take delivery. Or your brand new house needing a new roof as soon as you move in.

Except none of that is true. It's been 15 years since the line started construction, not since the first parts of the line were finished. I don't know when the first track was laid, but it certainly wasn't 15 years ago. I'm guessing it wasn't even 10 years ago. Every line is going to have portions of infrastructure that have to sit vacant for some period of time. Most wear and tear will come from steady constant use. So yes some parts of the line will have to undergo maintenance earlier than expected because of the delays, but that reddit post you're referencing is sensational BS with no basis in reality.

 

[MisterF]

Yes, we need more overall pedestrian and cyclist paths, but I think you're missing the point that unsafe infrastructure is worse than no infrastructure. At least the latter doesn't give a false sense of security. This intersection was more than capable of having proper, safe infrastructure, at likely zero difference in cost of what was actually put it. I'm sure somewhere a calculation was made that 0.6 seconds would be saved for drivers if protected bike/pedestrian crossings were put in and priority (as always) was given to cars. We know how to make dutch junctions (we even have at least one, see Bloor & St. George), yet always default to older, less safe crossings.

Untrue. Protected intersections (fully or partially) are a standard part of new bike lane designs. Quite a few have now been built, including along in the Port Lands and on University, Sheppard, and the Finch hydro trail to name a few. Eglinton was designed before protected intersections were incorporated into designs so that's why it doesn't have them. "Couldn't be bothered" is not an accurate description at all.

You can’t tell people what to do but if they take the risk and get hurt, they can’t blame the city as they can’t decode the meaning of the sign.

I don’t support urbanizing every road in the city. Cars gotta have a few faster alternatives in and out the city. There is already very congested and urbanized roads with very low speed limits. If they keep doing this to every road, it’ll be like Paris or London without a good transit system.

If the problem is a lack of good transit then the solution is to build good transit. Which is happening, just very slowly.

 

[duffo]

Except none of that is true. It's been 15 years since the line started construction, not since the first parts of the line were finished. I don't know when the first track was laid, but it certainly wasn't 15 years ago. I'm guessing it wasn't even 10 years ago. Every line is going to have portions of infrastructure that have to sit vacant for some period of time. Most wear and tear will come from steady constant use. So yes some parts of the line will have to undergo maintenance earlier than expected because of the delays, but that reddit post you're referencing is sensational BS with no basis in reality.

15 years, no, but I got a tour of the completed Mt Dennis OMSF and one of the LRVs nearly 8 years ago - I can imagine a non-trivial amount of maintenance is required over that period, even if the system is not fully operational.

 

[TOtramz]

15 years, no, but I got a tour of the completed Mt Dennis OMSF and one of the LRVs nearly 8 years ago - I can imagine a non-trivial amount of maintenance is required over that period, even if the system is not fully operational.

Even so, I really wished they had just done the necessary repairs accrued over all these years during the signals related shutdown 6 months ago rather than right before revenue demonstration!

 

[zang]

Untrue. Protected intersections (fully or partially) are a standard part of new bike lane designs. Quite a few have now been built, including along in the Port Lands and on University, Sheppard, and the Finch hydro trail to name a few. Eglinton was designed before protected intersections were incorporated into designs so that's why it doesn't have them. "Couldn't be bothered" is not an accurate description at all.

So is this just Metrolinx defaulting to what was planned 15 years ago rather than what's been in the city's plans since at least 2023?

If the problem is a lack of good transit then the solution is to build good transit. Which is happening, just very slowly.

Yes, but we also have a premier gunning to dismantle things that stand in the way of cars, so are we actually progressing? $5 says he wants Toronto to remove streetcars on King & Queen once the Ontario Line is finished.

 

[urbanclient]

Extremely surprised noone has mentioned this today or over the last few days. Today, July 28th is exactly 90 days from October 26, 2025, the start of the TTC board period exactly 42 days after the September 14, 2025 board period. Given that it has been hypothesized that Line 5 cannot start operations during the winter months, then it is highly possible that Line 5 will not open until spring 2026. 90 days are needed for revenue service demonstration.

 

[bearcat]

Extremely surprised noone has mentioned this today or over the last few days. Today, July 28th is exactly 90 days from October 26, 2025, the start of the TTC board period exactly 42 days after the September 14, 2025 board period. Given that it has been hypothesized that Line 5 cannot start operations during the winter months, then it is highly possible that Line 5 will not open until spring 2026. 90 days are needed for revenue service demonstration.

Honestly at this point I have given up on guessing or looking at clues when it opens. It opens when it opens lol.