Finch West Line 6 LRT

[nfitz]

I remember when we didn't have members here who take pride in seldom if ever using transit.

 

[jordanmkasla2009]

This is the fundamental scam of LRT. Slower acceleration, slower decelaration, slower top speeds, slower turns, slower doors opening and closing.
Spent a an excrutiating 25 minutes waiting for the 511 at Exhibition Loop the other day, watching 509s inch past one another over switches and come to full stops at unused stop posts (why I dont know) while heading down the platform to their actual pick up location. Found myself at Kipling Station later the same day, watching buses swoop in and out of bays at speeds literally unfound on the streetcar network. Quite hilarious that the 'bad' busses are capable of operating at speeds and bay density that is simply impossible on the billion dollar streetcars.


P.S. Thought it was worth noting my 44 Kipling South bus showed up on time (as it does 95% of the time) despite not having any dedicated right of way that the 511 enjoys

The slower acceleration is not at all the case with an actual LRT (or even the existing streetcars). The streetcar network itself is slower at that only during the day and only because operators are more cautious and vigilant due to the increased risk of incursions by car drivers and pedestrians and so they don't use the full capabilities that the streetcars can do. But as someone who has frequented the night streetcar services and the ION LRT in Waterloo I can tell you for certain that the streetcars and light rail vehicles on Lines 5 and 6 can actually accelerate much quicker than a bus can. Same goes with the slower top speeds during the day they tend to not go at the posted speed limit but at night they actually go a bit over the posted limit. The streetcars only go slower over the special track work (the switches and turnouts) due to a long standing policy of the TTC that exists solely because of past incidents involving unreliable switches and the limitations of the Necessary Action (NA) controllers that control them. Line 5 and 6 don't have those issues as the switches are controlled by a standard interlocking control system and so operators are going to be able to travel line speed across all switches that are in the "normal" direction.

 

[ARG1]

I remember when we didn't have members here who take pride in seldom if ever using transit.

Are these members in the room with us right now?

 

[jmi22]

The 511 does not enjoy a dedicated ROW for most of its route. The issue with slow downtown streetcar service is the TTc operator rules issued by the TTC. The streetcars could go faster if drivers were allowed to. Also, the TTc hampers operations by building way too many stops on streetcar lines. This causes slow service as these vehicles need to stop and accelerate too often. They should be used as higher capacity but for some reason the TTC doesn’t know how to operate them downtown in that way. Somehow other cities with trams have figured this out but not the TTC.

Never said the whole route had dedicated ROW, but the great irony is that the east west trackage was actually the slowest on my ride despite no vehicles to delay it. Took 12 minutes to travel the 1.25km from the ex to Bathurst street.
But I agree this is almost entirely a self imposed uselessness.