[urbanclient]

At this point is it safe to say this is the most botched and blundered transit project in Canadian history?

21 minutes seems to be a consistent number to go from Leslie to Kennedy.

Dan

It was running on Tuesday. I took the 34 bus from Victoria Park to Kennedy and we beat the train LOL.

And yet we were told that Metrolinx figured 21 minutes from Leslie (Sunnybrook Park stop) to Kennedy. Roughly 7.3km in 21 minutes for an average speed of ~21km/h.

From Victoria Park to Kennedy is ~3.3km with the 34A scheduled to take 19 minutes. This allegedly beat the LRT which was supposed to make a journey 2x the length in 21 minutes. @LNahid2000 This is highly anecdotal, but if representative of RSD, does not bode well for the surface section. I can only hope RSD is not running if LNahid's story is true.

For reference, driving a car at this time of day is supposed to take 19 minutes from Leslie to Kennedy, according to Google Maps. This is comparable because the LRT has virtually no signal priority. For an LRT to do 21 minutes, then it must be averaging the same speed while in motion, plus a dwell time of only 12 seconds per stop/station (10 stops). This is all not to mention the longer routing due to climbs and descents to/from Don Valley and Kennedy stations. Line 1 has longer dwell times than 12 seconds.

 

[LNahid2000]

From Victoria Park to Kennedy is ~3.3km with the 34A scheduled to take 19 minutes.

The scheduled time is overstated. I got on the bus at 2:22pm and made it onto the 2:36pm 905A bus at Kennedy, so the actual trip took 13 minutes since I barely made the 905A.

 

[smallspy]

From Victoria Park to Kennedy is ~3.3km with the 34A scheduled to take 19 minutes.

When?

The 21 minutes that the LRT takes will be pretty consistent, with times only lengthening slightly at rush hours. And will be consistent in both directions.

The 34A may take 19 minutes during the middle of a weekday, but that time increases greatly at rush hours or during the middle of the day on Saturdays and Sundays.

Dan

 

[urbanclient]

The scheduled time is overstated. I got on the bus at 2:22pm and made it onto the 2:36pm 905A bus at Kennedy, so the actual trip took 13 minutes since I barely made the 905A.

When?

The 21 minutes that the LRT takes will be pretty consistent, with times only lengthening slightly at rush hours. And will be consistent in both directions.

The 34A may take 19 minutes during the middle of a weekday, but that time increases greatly at rush hours or during the middle of the day on Saturdays and Sundays.

Dan

Pardon my doomerism.

In other news, I roughly estimate the LRT will spend 12-14 minutes travelling, roughly 3 minutes for dwell times (20 seconds stopped including door opening and closing time like Line 1), and 4-6 minutes waiting at traffic lights. 19 to 23 minutes total travel time for the surface section, does that sound about right @smallspy ?

 

[duffo]

Pardon my doomerism.

In other news, I roughly estimate the LRT will spend 12-14 minutes travelling, roughly 3 minutes for dwell times (20 seconds stopped including door opening and closing time like Line 1), and 4-6 minutes waiting at traffic lights. 19 to 23 minutes total travel time for the surface section, does that sound about right @smallspy ?

For all the grumbling about travel time on the at-grade section, Line 2 between Runnymede and Bay (very similar distance and stop spacing) is not that far off from Line 5 between Leslie and Kennedy - if 21 mins ends up being realistic.

 

[hw621]

For all the grumbling about travel time on the at-grade section, Line 2 between Runnymede and Bay (very similar distance and stop spacing) is not that far off from Line 5 between Leslie and Kennedy - if 21 mins ends up being realistic.

Line 2 has no level crossings, but lots of slow zones. So I guess the comparison is fair.

 

[nfitz]

Line 2 has no level crossings, but lots of slow zones. So I guess the comparison is fair.

Line 1 has had most of the slow zones.

Line 2 currently has none between Runnymede and Bay (or heck, Royal York and Warden). If you go back to the historical travel time from a couple of decades ago from Bay to Runnymede (7.2 km) it's 14 minutes. Significantly faster.

 

[hw621]

Line 1 has had most of the slow zones.

Line 2 currently has none between Runnymede and Bay (or heck, Royal York and Warden). If you go back to the historical travel time from a couple of decades ago from Bay to Runnymede (7.2 km) it's 14 minutes. Significantly faster.

View attachment 695759

I just remember, when I had to take Line 2 to Kennedy,it took forever to go from Warden to Kennedy. I was under some much stress to catch the Stouffville train.

 

[kai]

Some testing this evening. Walked from Don Valley to Kennedy between about 6:30 pm to 7:45 pm. Trains were going by non-stop, in a couple cases less than a minute apart, but more like a few minutes.
Screenshots below with timestamps of each clip for anyone curious. (Started rolling as each train was very close, not from a long distance).

Also saw a couple people crossing over the tracks, one driver leaned on the horn for quite a long time and had to slow down a bit.

Eastbound

Westbound

 

[urbanclient]

Line 1 has had most of the slow zones.

Line 2 currently has none between Runnymede and Bay (or heck, Royal York and Warden). If you go back to the historical travel time from a couple of decades ago from Bay to Runnymede (7.2 km) it's 14 minutes. Significantly faster.

View attachment 695759

Assuming 14 minutes is correct, this proves that Line 5 Eglinton is scheduled to sit at red lights on the surface section for 6-7 minutes if smallspy's information about a 21 minute surface section runtime is accurate. I speculate Line 5 will sit at red lights anywhere from 4 to 9 minutes. Could be on the lower end if travel speeds are hampered by lower top speed of 60km/h.

 

[pleaseLRT]

Noticed today that all the fencing around Don Valley station has been removed. There used to be fences directly in front of each entrance; now all gone

Also, the signage for Don Valley station's entrance was updated around 2 weeks ago. Now includes the Line 5 logo and mentions the elevator. Not sure how many station entrances have similar signage to Don Valley

 

[A 6264]

I was out yesterday evening, and saw several things that have been reported here. I saw the fences had been removed from the doors in front of the secondary entrance at Don Mills, as pleaseLRT showed above, and I presume that just happened yesterday. I saw trans running continuously (maybe not less than a minute apart, as kai said, but 4 minutes apart might be right). I was on a bus, after a 20 minute wait. I have often thought the 34 Eglinton might be running under deliberately degraded service over the last 10 years, so that when the LRT does open, it will look so much better by comparison. And by the way, on average, the bus was moving faster, but the train wasn't doing half bad.

I am always pessimistic about the opening date. Whenever anyone predicts line 5 might be opening soon, I always say, not a chance, not this year, maybe not even next year. But seeing all this activity, including that buses are using some stations (without passengers on board), it looks like they are actually trying to get everything ready. They are giving an appearance that if approval came from on high, they could just unlock the doors and hang up a sign, "open for business", and say, "Come on in!" Yes I know it's not that simple.

And yet we still don't have an official opening date. Unlike Finch West, we don't even have a rumoured opening date. It looks to me like there are 2 groups of people running things. One group is getting fed up, like the rest of us, and wants the line opened. The other group is saying, oh no, oh dear, we're too scared, we could never work up the courage to open this line, not now, not ever.

I think these 2 groups need to get together, and fight it out. Maybe they could agree to a coin toss. Maybe they could go out back and have a fistfight. Whatever they want.

As for my pessimism, I think I'll turn over a new leaf and have 50% hope that maybe the line will open this year, after all. Depending on which way the fistfight goes.

 

[Natika33]

I vote for an epic battle of rock, paper, scissors.

 

[duffo]

It's hard to portray the cautious side as doomers when they are dealing with trains colliding in the yard and (reportedly) signal issues that prevent them from running proper service levels

 

[TOtramz]

I was out yesterday evening, and saw several things that have been reported here. I saw the fences had been removed from the doors in front of the secondary entrance at Don Mills, as pleaseLRT showed above, and I presume that just happened yesterday. I saw trans running continuously (maybe not less than a minute apart, as kai said, but 4 minutes apart might be right). I was on a bus, after a 20 minute wait. I have often thought the 34 Eglinton might be running under deliberately degraded service over the last 10 years, so that when the LRT does open, it will look so much better by comparison. And by the way, on average, the bus was moving faster, but the train wasn't doing half bad.

I am always pessimistic about the opening date. Whenever anyone predicts line 5 might be opening soon, I always say, not a chance, not this year, maybe not even next year. But seeing all this activity, including that buses are using some stations (without passengers on board), it looks like they are actually trying to get everything ready. They are giving an appearance that if approval came from on high, they could just unlock the doors and hang up a sign, "open for business", and say, "Come on in!" Yes I know it's not that simple.

And yet we still don't have an official opening date. Unlike Finch West, we don't even have a rumoured opening date. It looks to me like there are 2 groups of people running things. One group is getting fed up, like the rest of us, and wants the line opened. The other group is saying, oh no, oh dear, we're too scared, we could never work up the courage to open this line, not now, not ever.

I think these 2 groups need to get together, and fight it out. Maybe they could agree to a coin toss. Maybe they could go out back and have a fistfight. Whatever they want.

As for my pessimism, I think I'll turn over a new leaf and have 50% hope that maybe the line will open this year, after all. Depending on which way the fistfight goes.

Remember that they are taking the current portion of RSD on a week to week basis.
Thus, if people like you and others notice a similar level of activity for at least a week, that means that no matter what the RSD is progressing to the next milestone

That's my copium anyways haha