[JSF-1]

I thought that the tunnel noise was acceptable.

Same, I don't recall really being bothered by the tunnel noise. If you want to hear some real tunnel noise go ride the the Vaughan extension. I did that when Line 6 opened and felt like I was on the elevated section of the SRT again with how loud it gets.

 

[Bordercollie]

You are misstating the history. There was a subway, until Harris cancelled it. And one for Sheppard, until Lastman cancelled most of it (he only cared about the North York segment, and nobody cared about Scarborough....which gave rise to Ford's eventual platform). The cancellations were publicly known, but there was no blowback and little advocacy to challenge those decisions.
The political mood of the day was very much about not spending money on subways because they were considered too expensive. Love him or hate him, Ford fought for an underground line on Eglinton. But in general, LRT was all the voters would accept.

- Paul

You know for some sections that are supposed to be 30 years old, I didn't notice the difference in tunnel design. Or did they not re-use the old tunnel?

But comparing it to line 6 there are a ton of complexities that would prevent the line from opening. There are probably 10x the number of elevators, escalators, fire panels, sprinklers that all need to be tested and certified. That's a lot more complicated than a bunch of makeshift bus stops.

 

[Bojaxs]

Rode it today. I'll keep it short;

Pros;
- Underground is great! Transfers between Lines 1 & 5 make Toronto feel like an actual transit city and remind me of switching between Underground lines in London.
- Surface portion better than Line 6, still needs improving. Will probably rarely ever ride this part of the line.

Cons;
- Audio is terrible! The constant demanding to sit down or hold the hand rail was very annoying! It was also louder than it needed to be.
- Wish they designed the Leslie & Eglinton intersection to allow the line to be entirely grade separated up to Don Valley Station.
- Capacity is an issue. I rode this line a couple times between 4pm-530pm ( took a break and ate at the Yonge & Eg food court) and the trains were quite full. People were cramming in at Yonge & Eg and Cedarvale stations.

Wish it were a subway, but good enough for now. Especially the underground portion. But as more people ride the line, capacity is going to become an issue. People are saying we can solve capacity by adding a third car to the trains, but Bombardier doesn't even manufacture these trains anymore, so how will we get those third cars? Are they in storage at Mt. Dennis?

 

[SashaLemon]

So when are they going to tunnel the rest of it?

 

[WB62]

This issue could be solved by putting down boarding markers on the platform like at some of the subway stations. Since the line is automated through the underground portion the trains will always stop at the same place. It may be a bit more dicey on the surface portion due to the weather ruining the decals but I think operators do a good enough job stopping the in the proper positions.

Every station already has this:

 

[Coolibop]

Every station already has this:

View attachment 714301

Some (on the outdoor stops) are already worn and tearing... Not a good look.

 

[nfitz]

I'm surprised they didn't put some kind of barrier or walls like on Line 4, where the trains don't stop - I don't think there's any plan for 3-car trains in the forseeable future. Especially when they've bothered to stick barriers on the platform between the cars (!).

 

[JSF-1]

Every station already has this:

View attachment 714301

I'm talking about these markers. If you want people boarding in a specific area then show them where to board. These are already being rolled out onto Line 1, so there omission on Line 5 which is automated underground makes no sense.

 

[kotsy]

Pros;
- Underground is great! Transfers between Lines 1 & 5 make Toronto feel like an actual transit city and remind me of switching between Underground lines in London.

Have you never seen or used some of the other underground subway transfers in Toronto that have existed for decades?

When we have transfer points where 4-5 lines connect we can start with the London Underground comparisons.

 

[Bojaxs]

I'm talking about these markers. If you want people boarding in a specific area then show them where to board. These are already being rolled out onto Line 1, so there omission on Line 5 which is automated underground makes no sense.

View attachment 714303

Or just to promote common courtesy while using public transit. Nothing grinds my gears more.

Getting off at Yonge & Eglinton earlier today, some goof just standing right in front of the door waiting to get on, giving me that "Gen Z stare". As soon as the doors opened I made sure to drive my shoulder into him and bump him out of the way. How hard is it to stand to the side and let people off before getting on?

One thing that I was happy to see was most people standing to the right of the escalators. I saw this heavily encouraged in both Montreal & London. I wish Metrolinx and the TTC would promote this as well.

 

[Bojaxs]

When we have transfer points where 4-5 lines connect we can start with the London Underground comparisons.

It wasn't meant to be a direct comparison. I was just saying how switching between lines was reminiscent of my time in London. All I'm saying. Not in any way suggesting Toronto is on par with London. I get what you're saying.

 

[T3G]

People are saying we can solve capacity by adding a third car to the trains, but Bombardier doesn't even manufacture these trains anymore, so how will we get those third cars? Are they in storage at Mt. Dennis?

I don't know how much peak service demands, but the news was reporting that there were 24 trains on the line yesterday, which would mean 48 cars in use. They own 76 cars, so there is room to scale up.

I don't know why people keep mentioning the fact that these trains are not being manufactured anymore. Is there actual basis for this concern? Most rail vehicles ordered all over the western world are bespoke, surely if they threw enough money at them then Alstom would make more, hence why they made 60 more cars for the TTC's downtown network. A Flexity in Toronto is only supercifically similar to a Flexity in Vienna.

 

[thettctransitfanatic]

It is. Many of the underground stations have one entrance without any escalator or elevator, which is honestly a huge accessibility issue given the depth and amount of stairs.

The most egregious of them is Fairbank, which has one such exit where one would board the southbound Dufferin bus. It is far far superior to take the escalators up and cross the intersection twice rather than go up the flights of stairs. The sufferin' on Dufferin shall continue.

Nope the worst one is definitely Avenue which warns you at the secondary exit that the staircase is the equivalent of a 9 storey building (150 steps to be exact), and tells you to use the main entrance if you have mobility issues. Avenue is the deepest on the whole line and even the escalators, you have to take like 5 to street level. In fact it has dethroned Highway 407 as the deepest on the whole TTC network.

 

[McGillicuddy]

Every station already has this:

View attachment 714301

On the one hand, I think it's a wonderful idea to have a huge sign where people can't possibly ignore it.

On the other hand, I keep seeing people stand right on top of it and wait for a train that won't even stop there.

 

[Bojaxs]

I don't know why people keep mentioning the fact that these trains are not being manufactured anymore. Is there actual basis for this concern? Most rail vehicles ordered all over the western world are bespoke, surely if they threw enough money at them then Alstom would make more, hence why they made 60 more cars for the TTC's downtown network. A Flexity in Toronto is only supercifically similar to a Flexity in Vienna.

I mean, I'll agree with you on this. Simply because people keep saying that Metrolinx can't order any more MPI locomotives because Wabtec shutdown their Motive Power division, and closed the Boise, Idaho plant. But I'm sure if Metrolinx threw enough money at Wabtec, they would gladly dig up the blue prints and manufacture them in their plant in Texas.