A travellers log...
Started at Don Valley station, intending to go west first, and make a round trip.
Although the line supposedly opens at 7:30 on Sundays, there was a sign on the east end of the bus platform entrance (seen a few days ago) saying the station opens at 7:45, so this is when I arrived.
From other posts, it appears the first westbound train left at Kennedy around 7:30, so I never saw the first train, at least.
I tried to get into the station at the west side of the bus platforms, which should be the main entrance at Don Mills Road north of Eglinton, but there were construction barricades and high snow banks, so clearly they have no intention of opening that entrance. There's really no reason for that.
Got in at the secondary entrance at the southwest corner of DM&E, which was just being unlocked by an employee at 7:45.
The station was extremely cold! Of course, the platforms of the underground station go up to ground level and outdoors at either end, letting the cold in, but even so, I'm sure there was no heating inside the station.
First westbound train arrived at 7:54. It was packed. I tried to get on, but there was a crowd in front of me, and not all of them were able to get on, so neither did I.
First eastbound train arrived at 8:07.
Second westbound train arrived at 8:17. Although it was moderately crowded, I had no trouble getting a seat. According to the signs, there was another train 1 or 2 minutes behind it. Seems dubious.
Here are the times we arrived at each station:
Don Valley 8:17
Sunnybrook Park 8:19, followed by a 2 minute wait
I notice there is an annoying beeping sound during the whole time doors are open. Unless this is a safety feature for passengers, I think they should get rid of it.
I also notice that announcements in French are louder than English, and distorted, as though the speaker grill or the speaker itself is loose and vibrating.
Also, announcements seem to get cut off by the next part, for example, "Please remain seat/hold on to the handrails", or when a station name is announced twice, the second time is cut off.
Laird 8:23, Leaside 8:26
There was an announcement that one of the doors on this train is out of service. Perhaps this is the reason for the wait at Sunnybrook. Someone said they heard this also happened on the previous train, which caused a delay.
Mount Pleasant 8:28, Eglinton 8:30, Avenue 8:32
At this time, there was an emplyee walking through the train handing out orange brochures, similar in size to the Ride Guide Lite but showing bus connections with Line 5. Nice to have.
Chaplin 8:34, Forest Hill 8:36, Cedarvale 8:38, Fairbank 8:42, Caledonia 8:44
Kellesdale 8:46, followed by a 3 minute wait
Someone remarked that the trains were fairly warm earlier, but were getting colder as we went along. During the 3 minute wait with doors open, I could feel it getting very cold, and the other person remarked that the train is warming the station!
Later, I checked and determined the heat was coming from the seats, though I did not see any vents. On a later train, the seats were cold, but the train was not too bad, so perhaps other heated seats were working, just not mine.
Mount Dennis 8:51
Total time from Don Valley to Mount Dennis, 34 minutes.
When I got to Mount Dennis, the previous train (I presume) that was 23 minutes ahead of us, was still there on the opposite track. Apparently they wait until another train arrives, and there are 2 trains in the station, before they let one go.
It left within seconds, and there was not enough time to walk across the platform and board the other train. This also seems to be the standard.
I wanted to ride a different train going in the other direction, so I waited until another arrived. I did not look around the station, but I was here last month after Line 6 opened. I may check it out further another time.
The next train arrived at 8:55, but following their system, it waited until another train arrived on the opposite platform before moving.
Mount Dennis 8:59 departure time
Keelesdale 9:01, Caledonia 9:03, Fairbank 9:06, Oakwood 9:08, Cedarvale 9:09, Forest Hill 9:11, Chaplin 9:13, Avenue 9:15, Eglinton 9:18, Mount Pleasant 9:19, Leaside 9:22, Laird 9:24, Sunnybrook Park 9:27, Don Valley 9:29
I saw another employee handing out brochures, but he had 2 of them to give out, the other being a single sheet that he had to tear off from a notepad. Instead of moving along the car, he stood in one place opposite a door. I did not want to lose my seat, so I kept trying to get his attention, but I don't think he wanted to move from his spot.
Eventually he did come over, and I got the extra page, which wasn't much. It just showed the stations, and the usual list of dos and don'ts.
The train continued on to the open ground level right of way. Despite all the fuss that has been made about the ground level portion being so much slower, I found average times between below ground to be 2 minutes, and above ground 2 and a half minutes. Road traffic was light, which probably helped.
Aga Khan Park 9:30, Wynford 9:32, Sloane 9:35, O'Connor 9:38, Pharmacy 9:40, Hakimi Lebovic 9:44, Golden Mile 9:45, Birchmount 9:48, Ionview 9:50, Kennedy 9:51
Total time end to end from Mount Dennis to Kennedy, 52 minutes.
At Kennedy I got out to look at the connection to Line 2. I took an elevator up to the mezzanine level, walking along a connecting tunnel to the old station, and found I would have to walk down another level to get to Line 2's platform.
I notice the elevators are very fast. Most TTC elevators move fast until they get a few feet away from the destination floor, then take a half minute to crawl to the correct level. The new elevators go immediately to the correct level without the long pause.
Back to Line 5, the train I came in on was still there, but I wanted to move to another train again, so I took the one already on the opposite platform, even though it would not be the next to leave. There were less than 20 people per car. The opening celebration was over, and this was now likely a typical Sunday morning ridership.
I notice buses were also running on the street alongside trains: Route 34 Eglinton, and also Line 5 shuttle bus, even though there appeared to be no problems requiring the latter.
Kennedy 10:03 departure time
Ionview 10:05, Birchmount 10:08
At 10:09 there was an announcement that trains were stopped at both ways at Chaplin and Avenue stations due to a security incident.
Golden Mile 10:11, Hakimi Lebovic 10:13, Pharmacy 10:15
At 10:16 there was an announcement that the problem at Chaplin had been cleared, and trains were moving again.
O'Connor 10:17, Sloane 10:20, Wynford 10:25, Aga Khan 10:27, Don Valley 10:29
Total time from Kennedy to Don Valley, 26 minutes.
I got out at Don Valley, and wanted to check the main building with bus platforms, but found myself at the escalators back to the entrance I came in, the small building on the corner, and decided to leave the main building for another time.
I tried to leave by the doors facing Don Mills Road, but they were locked. THe doors have a sign saying to push on them if they don't open automatically, but that didn't work, and they were definitely locked. I went out by the north doors, where I had come in.
Sorry for the long post. You didn't have to read all of it! I took a lot of pictures, but nothing exciting happened, so I won't be posting them. James1256's pictures at Don Valley station look almost identical to the first few I took.
