Recent content by Rainforest

Well let's what the improved TSP can achieve. And once the TSP-driven improvements reach the practical limit, I guess the next issue to look at is the Alstrom car design and their acceleration profile. If they are considerably worse than the cars purchaced for Line 5, then maybe the Alstrom...

TTC strikes are not that frequent to design the transit operations around avoiding the strikes. But even looking from that angle: it is likely that the people who operate the control centre will be in the same union as the drivers. If the union goes on strike, then the control centre will be on...

The rich can be replaced, too. Once sophisticated robots win their person and property rights, they will outsmart human investors in their business decisions. "Old money" will repeat the fate of medieval landowners .. family history etc, but not much relevance. Edit: Actually, not even sure...

I wouldn't be so sure. They still have a control centre with personnel, right?

It is true that automated lines incur lower labour costs. And, perhaps we should pay a bit more attention to that component when designing the future lines. That said, the saving in labour cost will be relatively small in comparison with the total Line 5 operating cost, and even smaller...

I agree that rebuilding the line is a bad idea, and should not happen. However, artificially splitting the line is another bad idea. The new "transfer" station, initially not designed as a transfer station, will become a bottleneck. If you only have one platform for each of the two half-lines...

The planners and the politicians do not talk to each other directly. Responsibility for that coordination rests with the high-level managers at Metrolinx, TTC, or the City's Transportation Department. The planners have to perform the modeling and produce the best results based on their...

The track connection between the Yonge line and Sheppard is for non-revenue moves only. It was never meant to enable any kind of service interlining. With Sheppard being a short stubway and having no yard on its own, that track connection lets the Sheppard trains enter the service in the...

Still not a great design overall. With the amount of money spent, should have added 20% more and build a high-capacity subway line. Not needing that capacity today, or even 15 years from now? True, but what about 50 or 70 years from now. It will be quite hard to boost the capacity even then...

Well that's how it is supposed to be. Even when in street median and subject to traffic lights, but: not competing for space with any other vehicles, and the stop spacing is fairly wide. I am glad if this is going to work on Eglinton. And, still very confused why it can't / doesn't work on...

Yes, Line 5 will be the fastest during the rush hours. Even with the ridiculously slow operation on surface similar to what we see on Line 6. Those slow sections make 40% of the length. The other 60% is tunneled or elevated, and that will make the overall travel time competitive.

Even that is better than nothing. At least, the residents of Finch West would know that their transit has slightly improved, rather than became worse. Is 20 kph enough to justify LRT construction in the other corridors? I'd say, need to do better than 20 kph for that. The existing Finch LRT...

Speed of a true rapid transit line may not be achievable. But at least, this thing needs to run faster than a mixed-traffic bus. The mixed-traffic bus deals with all the same impeding factors: traffic lights, pedestrians wandering across. In addition, the mixed-traffic bus gets blocked by other...

Sadly, this is true. However, it is a good idea to address the TSP improvements first, simply because there exists a political consensus that it has to be done. And then, dependent on the outcome of TSP improvements, the TTC will have to decide if they want to: - Accept the outcome and do...

Removing stops is always controversial, and arguments can be made to keep each particular stop. Well, usually something has to be sacrificed in order to achieve something. The situation as it stands: - Surface LRT Line 6 turned out to be much slower than the forecasts. Those forecasts were the...