eglinton1661
Active Member
Matlow: Can you explain why the LRT is not opening with full aggressive transit signal priority on the surface? And can you confirm that it will be fully aggressive transit signal priority?
Lali: We will have a fully operational, functioning phase rotation TSP system before the end of Q2. That's across both lines. So we've got to look at both lines in the lens in respect to where we can get the most benefit, how do we do the plan and we work that through, and the commitment is before the end of Q2 to do that.
Matlow: We've known for many years that this one day would happen, that one day it would open. Why wasn't it set up for many, many years?
Lali: The board instructed us to go with a motion to look at this in greater detail. Which we did. We were following the policy which would have been around for a long time. And from that policy, it is clear that it hasn't been updated in respect to where we are today and what we require. Then we did a trial on the phase rotation on three sites for the streetcars on which a third site is about to go live. So we were following the policy, which had been in place for many years. The motion that was provided gave us the impetus with the city to one, look at the policy again and fresh where we can make improvements. We are validating improvements via the trials we're having, and will follow through.
Matlow: I know you're fairly new as CEO, so I don’t hold you to account for previous decisions. But can you just reveal? Can you explain, to the best of your knowledge, why wasn't that done in preparation for the opening date of the Eglinton line? Given that just intuitively, we all understand that when a vehicle needs to slow down and stop, it's not as fast as a vehicle that can go swiftly through the transit signal.
Lali: So the TSP, as it stands to the old policy, will be live and working on Line 5. But it's not aggressive as you say. The aggressive TSP is based upon the trials we're doing and the updated policy. So we follow policies based upon what the city has on TSP. If the policy is old, which it was in this instance, yes, that's what we followed. So that's so I would suspect the design for this is a decade plus old. The policy is probably a decade plus plus old.
Matlow: You mentioned earlier that there will be no opening event on the eighth. There has been a lot of organizing to do an event, both on the 6th as an announcement and then the opening announcement and then the opening event, I think, right down to reaching out to the shuffle demons to see if they were available to perform. So I'm just wondering, was that canceled?
Josh Colle: I'll start with the shuffle demons. That was news to me in the paper, so I'm not sure who reportedly reached out to them. So one of the things we've done is looked at lessons learned around the globe, and obviously in our own backyard, around openings. When you embrace the kind of phased opening, there's not often the same fanfare… so the intent was to plan an opening that reflected that. Having said that we are going to be doing things along the line beginning next week, that I would call activations. We're calling it surprise and delight for many of the communities and businesses and institutions who have been waiting a long time for this line to open. And so you will be seeing those types of events over the course of February, March, and then, obviously something big and fancy with full opening. Having said that, it's my understanding that there will be a plaque unveiling on February 6 that is not being driven by the TTC. And so we anticipate the province will be doing a plaque unveiling on the sixth.
Lali: We will have a fully operational, functioning phase rotation TSP system before the end of Q2. That's across both lines. So we've got to look at both lines in the lens in respect to where we can get the most benefit, how do we do the plan and we work that through, and the commitment is before the end of Q2 to do that.
Matlow: We've known for many years that this one day would happen, that one day it would open. Why wasn't it set up for many, many years?
Lali: The board instructed us to go with a motion to look at this in greater detail. Which we did. We were following the policy which would have been around for a long time. And from that policy, it is clear that it hasn't been updated in respect to where we are today and what we require. Then we did a trial on the phase rotation on three sites for the streetcars on which a third site is about to go live. So we were following the policy, which had been in place for many years. The motion that was provided gave us the impetus with the city to one, look at the policy again and fresh where we can make improvements. We are validating improvements via the trials we're having, and will follow through.
Matlow: I know you're fairly new as CEO, so I don’t hold you to account for previous decisions. But can you just reveal? Can you explain, to the best of your knowledge, why wasn't that done in preparation for the opening date of the Eglinton line? Given that just intuitively, we all understand that when a vehicle needs to slow down and stop, it's not as fast as a vehicle that can go swiftly through the transit signal.
Lali: So the TSP, as it stands to the old policy, will be live and working on Line 5. But it's not aggressive as you say. The aggressive TSP is based upon the trials we're doing and the updated policy. So we follow policies based upon what the city has on TSP. If the policy is old, which it was in this instance, yes, that's what we followed. So that's so I would suspect the design for this is a decade plus old. The policy is probably a decade plus plus old.
Matlow: You mentioned earlier that there will be no opening event on the eighth. There has been a lot of organizing to do an event, both on the 6th as an announcement and then the opening announcement and then the opening event, I think, right down to reaching out to the shuffle demons to see if they were available to perform. So I'm just wondering, was that canceled?
Josh Colle: I'll start with the shuffle demons. That was news to me in the paper, so I'm not sure who reportedly reached out to them. So one of the things we've done is looked at lessons learned around the globe, and obviously in our own backyard, around openings. When you embrace the kind of phased opening, there's not often the same fanfare… so the intent was to plan an opening that reflected that. Having said that we are going to be doing things along the line beginning next week, that I would call activations. We're calling it surprise and delight for many of the communities and businesses and institutions who have been waiting a long time for this line to open. And so you will be seeing those types of events over the course of February, March, and then, obviously something big and fancy with full opening. Having said that, it's my understanding that there will be a plaque unveiling on February 6 that is not being driven by the TTC. And so we anticipate the province will be doing a plaque unveiling on the sixth.
