[TheTigerMaster]

I would be hesitant to even call that rapid transit.

 

[diminutive]

I'm reading about BART and each line seems to be only one train every 15 minutes. I guess they overlap to produce more frequent service in SF, but if you're outside of that, 15 minute headways is not very good by Toronto subway standards.

Yes, BART has many flaws, including very long headways (by our standards).

On the other hand, it’s also serving places up to 60km away from downtown San Francisco, places which, in Toronto, would be lucky to get a GO train every 30 minutes.

As a hybrid system, with more of a regional focus, your view of BART will tend to depend on what you’re comparing it to. Compared to most N.American commuter rail systems, BART’s fantastic. Compared to the TTC subway it’s obviously plagued by long headways and other issues.

I wasn't trying to say it's the best system on Earth or anything. Given the job it was intended to do though (provide regional rapid transit over an auto-centric and dispersed urban area) and the geographic context of the Bay Area, I think it does a good job. It's like what GO-ALRT would have been.

 

[innsertnamehere]

GO lakeshore is supposed to move to 15 minute service in a decade or so..

Also Cleveland runs its metro system on 15 minute frequencies as well.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

GO lakeshore is supposed to move to 15 minute service in a decade or so..

Also Cleveland runs its metro system on 15 minute frequencies as well.

Today I learned that Cleveland has a metro. A metro that uses toy subway cars :

[video=youtube;k9RpkGDaJKY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9RpkGDaJKY[/video]

 

[Hipster Duck]

I find it ironic that we're trashing BART but, in other threads, we think that electrified regional rail in the 905 will be the greatest thing since sliced bread.

BART is effectively an S-bahn/regional rail system. If we build a GO-REX it probably won't have ridership figures that much higher than BART and while it may not cost as much to build, it will not be a walk in the park, either.

 

[ShonTron]

Today I learned that Cleveland has a metro. A metro that uses toy subway cars :


It makes the billion dollar boondoggle called the Sheppard Subway look like a smashing success.

Ironically, Cleveland Hopkins Airport, the still photo in the YouTube link, is the only truly underground station in the Cleveland system, called "The Rapid." (Tower City, the central station, is built into a side of the Cuyahoga River valley.) The Red Line isn't quite the joke that it looks like when you understand it was built on the cheap in the 1950s through 1970s using electrified railway rights-of-way and a underutilized downtown railway terminal.

 

[ehlow]

Yes, BART has many flaws, including very long headways (by our standards).

On the other hand, it’s also serving places up to 60km away from downtown San Francisco, places which, in Toronto, would be lucky to get a GO train every 30 minutes.

As a hybrid system, with more of a regional focus, your view of BART will tend to depend on what you’re comparing it to. Compared to most N.American commuter rail systems, BART’s fantastic. Compared to the TTC subway it’s obviously plagued by long headways and other issues.

I wasn't trying to say it's the best system on Earth or anything. Given the job it was intended to do though (provide regional rapid transit over an auto-centric and dispersed urban area) and the geographic context of the Bay Area, I think it does a good job. It's like what GO-ALRT would have been.

Very good point, compared to GO 15 minute frequencies is amazing.

 

[innsertnamehere]

many are trashing BART as SF otherwise doesn't really have a Metro system. It is otherwise served by LRTs with some small tunnel sections. (Muni)

 

[rbt]

Very good point, compared to GO 15 minute frequencies is amazing.

That's 15 minute frequencies in peak period on some routes. Also GO LakeShore service actually hits 10 minute frequencies in rush.

BART is 20 to 30 minute frequencies on most branches during the day and 30 minutes to hourly on weekends and evenings. Obviously the central portion where routes overlap have higher frequencies but I'm not sure I've ever had a trip where I could just take the first train; it's always had to be a specific branch or was within walking distance.

BART is pretty good but connection times can still make it a 2 hour trip to go from suburb to suburb (I.e. Richmond Amtrak station to Pleasanton) with about 40 minutes of that being on the actual trains; so it has lots of room for improvement.

 

[diminutive]

many are trashing BART as SF otherwise doesn't really have a Metro system. It is otherwise served by LRTs with some small tunnel sections. (Muni)

San Francisco isn't a very big city, though. San Fransisco only becomes a big city if you consider the entire Bay Area, which is why BART makes some untypical tradeoffs, for a metro system, in order to serve a big chunk of the region.

By comparison, there are some European cities like Cologne which make due with urban LRT type systems and more proper regional rail/S-Bahn. Ditto for Australian cities like Sydney or Melbourne, neither of which have what we'd think of as a Metro system.

 

[ehlow]

That's 15 minute frequencies in peak period.

Off-peak during the day it's 20 minutes on most branches, and in the late evenings and weekends it pushes hourly.

I'll take GO Lake Shore service over Pleasanton BART service. Spent a week in Pleasanton in February, so I'm pretty familiar with that BART route.

What did you find better about GO Lakeshore vs BART?

 

[innsertnamehere]

^Frequencies? at least thats what I get from his post.. every 30 minutes all day with express services and local services at peak making frequencies approach 10 minutes.

 

[ehlow]

^Frequencies? at least thats what I get from his post.. every 30 minutes all day with express services and local services at peak making frequencies approach 10 minutes.

Oh I didn't realize GO Lakeshore was 10 minutes at peak, for some reason I thought it was 30 min both peak and off peak. (I guess because they say 30 min all day)

Sorry I almost never take GO.

 

[Tuscani01]

So my post about Canadian Tire at Eglinton and Laird moving into the Future Shop space was premature. It will be a new concept Canadian Tire store opening up in the Future Shop space. The existing Canadian Tire will remain along side it for the near future.

 

[Monarch Butterfly]

Northbound Allen Expressway could close for nearly two years

From The Star, at this link:

Metrolinx and the city are looking at a potential closure of a section of Allen Rd.


By: Tess Kalinowski Transportation reporter, Published on Fri Apr 11 2014

A partial closure of the busy Allen expressway, previously rejected as too disruptive to motorists, is back on the table at Metrolinx and the city.

If it goes ahead, the northbound lanes of Allen Rd. between Eglinton and Lawrence Aves. could be closed for nearly two years to accommodate launch and extraction shafts for the giant tunnel boring machines near the Eglinton West subway station.

The construction, which is already reducing traffic lanes in both directions, and limiting turns onto the Allen, is also frustrating local traffic and pedestrians, who have lost one crossing signal.

Closing the Allen would allow more room for construction staging. But it would also mean that 150 trucks a day hauling soil away from the tunnel site could avoid driving on Eglinton and the southbound Allen, said Metrolinx spokesman Jamie Robinson.

Work began early this year on the shafts for the boring machines that will be pulled out of the ground on the west side of the Eglinton West station and relaunched on the east where they will continue driving toward Yonge St.

“The reality is this is long-term. . . . This work is underway now until summer 2016,†said Robinson.

Although construction of the station will continue to affect traffic until the LRT opens in 2020, it won’t require the Allen’s closure.

Councillor Joe Mihevc said construction is already making life difficult for people who live and work along Eglinton.

“I am very supportive of this project as are people in our community. We would look at this request from Metrolinx very seriously. We want to see (the Eglinton Crosstown LRT) done as quickly as possible,†he said.

Robinson said turn adjustments, portable signs and other communications encouraging motorists to avoid using Eglinton as a throughway, have already reduced traffic. Metrolinx is suggesting drivers use north-south alternatives to Allen such as Bathurst St. and Avenue Rd.

Councillor Josh Matlow said he won’t support an Allen closure until he sees evidence that it’s the only option. “I accept facts but Metrolinx has not demonstrated to me the need for closing the Allen yet. I am open to actively listening to them but until they do that it’s not something I support,†he said.

The city is also awaiting traffic data, said Martin Maguire, manager of transit projects for transportation services.

When the issue of closing the Allen arose about two years ago, the mayor’s office asked Metrolinx to look at other options.

The agency came up with alternatives and a report that was being prepared for the works committee never moved forward, said Maguire.

“It’s come up again and . . . we need to understand the area traffic impacts if this was to go ahead . . . as well as some description of the benefits that an Allen closure would have to their project in terms of schedule and costs,†said Maguire “The closure might allow them to accelerate the tunnelling activities but it’s not absolutely required in order to complete the project.â€

Metrolinx, which is consulting the community on the issue, hopes to see a report on the Allen closure’s impact go to the city’s public works committee in June and on to council in July.

If that doesn’t happen, it won’t get looked at until 2015, after this year’s municipal election, Maguire said.