I know you're moving fast taking down dialogue but this is misrepresenting the conversations going on...
No, this isn't what was said. Staff said the aggressive form of TSP -- giving transit the signal ahead of left turning vehicles -- would be new to North America. Not that TSP entirely isn't used elsewhere.
The exact quote was, "I believe this sort of aggressive form of TSP is being used in other places in Europe, but I'm not as familiar with it being used elsewhere in North America."
And in case people think the staff indicated they would love to talk to peers, and haven't, the answer was that they have engaged in discussions and would love to visit those places (Vienna, Prague), and Myers put direct pressure on the CEO to authorize trips to those places.
Fair enough. Here's the full transcript:
Myers: when we say, you know, we're now testing aggressive transit signal priority. This is not something new to the rest of the world.
TTC: Correct.
Myers: It's just new to Toronto
TTC: through the chair. It is actually, it is actually relatively new, I believe this sort of aggressive TSP has been used in other places Europe, but I'm not as familiar with it being used elsewhere in North America, we would be, again, a bit of a pioneer, I think, in North America.
Myers: So it's new to North America, but it's not new to Europe, correct?
TTC: Correct. Or Asia, yeah.
Myers: So as we sort of go forward and try to figure out the right steps, are we talking to those other transit systems who have been operating these types of LRT lines with this type of aggressive transit signal priority. Are we talking to them? Are we having conversation? And if so, which ones are we talking to you?
TTC: through you chair, yes. Just recently with the UITP light rail committee in Toronto, we had a opportunity to connect with a lot of our peers and exchange contact information. And so that includes folks in Vienna, in Prague, in London, like all the places out that way that are part of UITP.
Myers: And will you be going to those cities to actually see how this works, see like, actually see how this is actually rolling out and works, and taking those learnings back? It's one thing to like, talk about things over the phone. There's nothing to go actually see how it works and get those questions asked.
TTC: Sure, yeah, I'm looking at the bosses. [chuckles]. Sure we would love to
Myers: But in all seriousness, I think it's important that we actually have a better understanding about how this actually works in practice, and sure that same bumps when they rolled this out, which perhaps we could avoid as we move forward, as there's now a lot of pressure and eyes on the TTC, the City of Toronto, Metrolinx, in terms of how we actually get these things moving forward. I'm also a bit surprised from the response from Commissioner Osborne in terms of like, there's no noticeable improvement in the in the end to end run times we've just spent half billion dollars.
