TTC: Streetcar Network

[Admiral Beez]

The 2 hour free transfer is great

I did it again, heading eastward on the 501 from Regent Park. My car is in a frozen snow bank, and I had to get to the Dentomaxillofacialradiologist (DMFR) in the Beach(es). Eastbound streetcars are just so much more civilized. No crazies, just regular seniors, parents and teenagers going about. And of course, everyone tapped on. It reminded me of taking the streetcar in the 1980s.

 

[Coolibop]

I took the 506 today and had an excellent operator. Sometimes you get the odd operator who is maybe senior enough and who hasn’t bought into the TTC operations BS and who also hasn’t been driven out of out of streetcar altogether.

We made great time from University Avenue to when I got off at Allan Gardens. Even having to make two turns along the way. The operator was assertive at making the turns too, not letting cars cut them off. We kept up with or passed cars along Bay St and Carlton St.

This is how I remember how things used to be. And I would give the absolute most glowing commendation to this operator.

Another excellent operator today, this time on the 510 to The Well. Passing traffic on Queen’s Quay and a bit on Spadina. Same attitude as the operator above with turns and switches.

We need to protect this operator at all costs.

He/She is a hero providing the quality service standard that this city yearns for, and walks us down memory lane of how ops used to drive streetcars back 15+ years ago.

Yesterday I took the streetcar from Royal York & Lake Shore to 30th St and Lake Shore.

It took me 15 mins (add another 15 mins of waiting for the streetcar for a total of 30 mins). Compare that to a car which probably would've taken 5 mins, and bustitued service which probably wouldve taken ~8-9 mins.

Then TTC sits there and wonders why they are losing riders.... well hmm I wonder why.

Great to hear the good service, however...

Of course I won’t [give feedback], because I have a feeling they would be reprimanded by their superiors for doing all the things that made the trip faster.

...I’d take a slightly different approach:

I’d suggest sending the compliment along with your concerns to the TTC and/or the relevant council or board members. You shouldn’t expect immediate change, but it’s still important that someone hears it.

Contact us

Please feel free to contact us by phone, online or in-person at our Customer Service Centre.

www.ttc.ca

Right now there’s a strong focus on improving the speed and reliability of our street-level rail lines. This is exactly the moment to reinforce what the public wants to see, and what worries people (for example, your point about fear of reprimand). The board needs to understand that many riders aren’t sharing positive experiences because of long‑standing perceptions about internal practices. That silence matters, and they need to hear it.

 

[Richard White]

I did it again, heading eastward on the 501 from Regent Park. My car is in a frozen snow bank, and I had to get to the Dentomaxillofacialradiologist (DMFR) in the Beach(es). Eastbound streetcars are just so much more civilized. No crazies, just regular seniors, parents and teenagers going about. And of course, everyone tapped on. It reminded me of taking the streetcar in the 1980s.

I find taking the Streetcar through the Beaches to be a relaxing experience. Even taking it up Kingston Road is different.

The view is amazing, the people are friendly and nobody trying to smoke a candy cane in the dead of winter while trying to Schlittenfahrt,

 

[nstuch]

posted today in the Reddit Toronto thread

Interesting live visualization for how slow streetcars actually are.​

https://ttcleaderboard.vercel.app

 

[Monarch Butterfly]

The automobile disciples and current city councillor Stephen Holyday & former city councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong, when they had taken turns being on the TTC Board of Commissioners ,have done their sabotage work well as expected. Will take years to reverse the damage, because the bureaucracy is still there.

 

[Jonny5]

posted today in the Reddit Toronto thread

Interesting live visualization for how slow streetcars actually are.​

https://ttcleaderboard.vercel.app

I logged in and Harbourfront was the slowest at 2.5 kp/h, then it refreshed and it was the fastest at 15 kp/h.

I think someone needs to learn about data-smoothing. The values for all routes change wildly every 30 seconds. This isn't useful information.

 

[nstuch]

it must be instantaneous speed instead of average. It's not clear what the methodology is though.

 

[Bojaxs]

I logged in and Harbourfront was the slowest at 2.5 kp/h, then it refreshed and it was the fastest at 15 kp/h.

I think someone needs to learn about data-smoothing. The values for all routes change wildly every 30 seconds. This isn't useful information.

I was going to say, that information is useless! They should update the average speed of each line at a set time every 24 hours.

 

[nfitz]

I was going to say, that information is useless! They should update the average speed of each line at a set time every 24 hours.

That has problems by making the discretization too high; I'm sure the streetcars can run like grease lightening at 3 AM. Hourly averages probably would suffice.

 

[not-kirill]

That has problems by making the discretization too high; I'm sure the streetcars can run like grease lightening at 3 AM. Hourly averages probably would suffice.

I had looked at doing this recently and figured it's good to benchmark on "time windows"

TTC Streetcar Speeds

streetcars.projects.bykirill.com

 

[daptive]

I’m sorry if this has already been discussed, I tried keyword search for this but didn’t find anything.

Noticed today that Adelaide and York had some Frankenstein transit signal installed (video below). It had the vertical bar for transit… but also red, orange, and green. If this is a test for transit signals, shouldn’t they have the horizontal bar instead of the red light? I also noticed the Eastbound signals say “Streetcar Signal” and has 5 lights, but didn’t stay and see what they all were.

I’m certain I’ve seen a version of this at Spadina and Queens Quay a while ago, though it’s gone now.

https://imgur.com/a/hLlyacj

 

[Monarch Butterfly]

I’m sorry if this has already been discussed, I tried keyword search for this but didn’t find anything.

Noticed today that Adelaide and York had some Frankenstein transit signal installed (video below). It had the vertical bar for transit… but also red, orange, and green. If this is a test for transit signals, shouldn’t they have the horizontal bar instead of the red light? I also noticed the Eastbound signals say “Streetcar Signal” and has 5 lights, but didn’t stay and see what they all were.

I’m certain I’ve seen a version of this at Spadina and Queens Quay a while ago, though it’s gone now.

https://imgur.com/a/hLlyacj

And signage clutter, where the rest of the world do without. Where's the French "Signal de transit", if we are a bilingual country? (In France, there is NO signage clutter, just the transit specific signals.)

 

[Northern Light]

I had looked at doing this recently and figured it's good to benchmark on "time windows"

TTC Streetcar Speeds

streetcars.projects.bykirill.com

Excellent work! Ty.

 

[Jonny5]

I’m certain I’ve seen a version of this at Spadina and Queens Quay a while ago, though it’s gone now.

Do you mean this one?

This is on the westbound travel side only. The reason for four aspects there is the white bar allows streetcars to proceed in any direction, then there's a green forward arrow phase where they cannot make turns, so essentially it allows only the 509 to go through. I believe this is pedestrian related for a complex intersection.

I think the same applies at York and Adelaide; there's a white bar phase where pedestrian signals are held to the red hand so the streetcar has priority over all other traffic, then there's a green phase where the streetcar can turn left, but it must yield to other traffic and pedestrians.