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miWay Transit

I've ridden the 2010 Orion VII model many times this week and these buses aren't too bad. The reading lights look cool especially when it's dark outside and there are black switches on the side if you sit at the lower level. At first, I thought there weren't any power outlets on the blue Orion until I looked carefully towards the floor window side...you have to sit in the right place to get one and there's only four outlets unless I missed something. The only problem I've noticed so far was that one of the buses inside had some tape on the ceiling in the middle to hold up something, I'm not sure why? :confused: Also, the first bus I took had the MiWay logo missing on the side. None of the 2010 Orion VII have Presto nor does it have AA's installed yet. Overall, I hope these buses stay in good shape for years to come and won't end up burning down like a few of the Orion 01XX.

In other news, the 06XX series are getting the AA system installed now. I saw a few buses with them, but most don't have it yet. I think MiWay is working on the Malton buses first because I've heard that a few of the 08XX artics also got the AA system recently and some of those sleep at the Malton garage at night.
 
I noticed the power outlets and lights riding the artics today. It is nice feature, but I bet few people have noticed so far. I noticed that there is no space for advertising, which is kind of weird, but I'm not complaining. The seats are even more comfortable than the ones in the 08 artics, which are quite comfortable already. I see people in the cars notice this bus; it does look very striking.

I noticed all the buses on the 110 being artics today, which is an improvement (but I bet there is still some closed doors).

For the Orion VII BRTs and hybrids the real test will be the seating arrangement at the back since the current Orion VII really suck with the seating. I still haven't ridden either one of them yet so I can't comment.
 
doady said:
I noticed the power outlets and lights riding the artics today. It is nice feature, but I bet few people have noticed so far. I noticed that there is no space for advertising, which is kind of weird, but I'm not complaining. The seats are even more comfortable than the ones in the 08 artics, which are quite comfortable already. I see people in the cars notice this bus; it does look very striking.

I noticed all the buses on the 110 being artics today, which is an improvement (but I bet there is still some closed doors).

For the Orion VII BRTs and hybrids the real test will be the seating arrangement at the back since the current Orion VII really suck with the seating. I still haven't ridden either one of them yet so I can't comment.
Click to expand...

An improved seating arrangement is at the rear of the new Orion VIIs. On the hybrids, it's three rows of 2+2 seating and the rear five. This gives ample leg room and the last pairs of 2+2 seats on either side are positioned such that one can rest their feet on the wheel well. On the diesel BRT-styled VIIs, there are three rows of 2+2 seats with a permimeter seat after the first two rows. This arrangement still gives good leg room especially at the rearmost seats.
 
Those new bus stop posts only appear at Express stops. Of course it is useful for labeling the where the express/limited stops are. But I think they should have those posts labeling routes at ALL stops, and separate stops between certain routes. They do this in Montreal where every stop has a sign saying which route stops there, and different overlapping routes sometimes have different stops.

MT has a lot of overlapping routes and separating some of the stops can speed up the buses. Because where routes overlap, drivers will slow down for people waiting at the stop, even if they are waiting for a different route. Because of this, they already separate the stops 38 north and 1/1C/101/201 west at Wolfedale, for example. There are other overlapping routes that need separate stops: 9 vs 38, 9 vs 44, 10 vs 19/101/202, etc.

Of course, routes like 89 would benefit clear stop labeling as well. It's better than simply slapping the "Express" sticker on the main bus stop sign, which is kind of confusing since the 89 no longer has word "Express" in its name.

Separating the stops would also mean the buses for different routes don't get into each other's way, but I guess that is not really an issue in Mississauga where service is so infrequent...
 
Does anyone know if there's any enforcement at all for the HOV lanes on Dundas from Dixie to Etobicoke? Or if the city still acknowledges it as HOV? It would make MT so much more efficient if there wasn't dozens and dozens of single occupant vehicles sitting there in the supposed HOV lanes.... especially at 5pm heading west.
 
Frankie1984 said:
Does anyone know if there's any enforcement at all for the HOV lanes on Dundas from Dixie to Etobicoke? Or if the city still acknowledges it as HOV? It would make MT so much more efficient if there wasn't dozens and dozens of single occupant vehicles sitting there in the supposed HOV lanes.... especially at 5pm heading west.
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In all my years watching MT, zero enforcement on Dundas both in Mississauga and Toronto. From various times of checking those HOV in Mississauga, 85%+ are single drivers.
 
New service changes for December 6th:

http://www.mississauga.ca/portal/miway/servicechanges

Yay, some actual improvements this time: 19 Hurontario weekday midday frequency increased from 7 minutes to 6 minutes, and 66 McLaughlin rush hour frequency increased from 20 minutes to 15 minutes. Better than nothing, I guess... It is surprising MT hasn't combined 28 and 66 yet. They have pretty much the same frequency...

It is funny that earlier this year Geoff Marinoff publicly downplayed MT's overcrowding issues and said there is little "pent-up demand" for transit in Mississauga, and then MT ends up increasing frequencies for 4 different routes in 2010. What a moron. Hopefully this idiot isn't Director of MT for much longer.

Btw, wasn't 104 Derry Express supposed to debut in December 2010, or was it January 2011?
 
doady said:
New service changes for December 6th:

http://www.mississauga.ca/portal/miway/servicechanges

Yay, some actual improvements this time: 19 Hurontario weekday midday frequency increased from 7 minutes to 6 minutes, and 66 McLaughlin rush hour frequency increased from 20 minutes to 15 minutes. Better than nothing, I guess... It is surprising MT hasn't combined 28 and 66 yet. They have pretty much the same frequency...

It is funny that earlier this year Geoff Marinoff publicly downplayed MT's overcrowding issues and said there is little "pent-up demand" for transit in Mississauga, and then MT ends up increasing frequencies for 4 different routes in 2010. What a moron. Hopefully this idiot isn't Director of MT for much longer.

Btw, wasn't 104 Derry Express supposed to debut in December 2010, or was it January 2011?
Click to expand...

28 and 66 should never be combine as their service two different type of ridership in the first place and one reason you will find EZ on 28.

I gave Geoff Marinoff a lot of slack at the beginning do to the fact he was new and it would take some time to make changes, but it is clearly he and his ex TTC staff suffer from that TTC lack of vision and understanding what is needed to make a transit work in Mississauga. At the same time Council has to take some flack as not providing funding for the system in the first place, let along the Government.

None of them ride the system in the first place even though Geoff rides the 3 and 6 one day a week a peak time and therefore they have no real experience of what is going on for the system as a whole.

I see no support for real ridership numbers for the 104 at this time.

The service levels for 19 is a joke as you can find close doors before noon along with bunching. It needs more peak service in the PM to the point of offering 3 minute headway. Both the 19A and 19B need revamping with 19A going north of the 401 and 19B short turning at Queensway.
 
You would think they'd try to grow ridership for the Hurontario LRT by increasing service for the 19 (and 102 and 202).
 
^ 19 is getting service increase...

drum118 said:
28 and 66 should never be combine as their service two different type of ridership in the first place and one reason you will find EZ on 28.
Click to expand...

If you combine the routes, they would have the same type of ridership.

Btw, check out the New Year's Eve late night frequencies.

1 Dundas - 33 minutes
3 Bloor - 80 minutes
5 Dixie - 45 minutes
9 Streetsville - 75 minutes
11 Westwood - 34 minutes
13 Glen Erin - 50 minutes
19 Hurontario - 30 minutes
23 Lakeshore - 75 minutes
26 Burnhamthorpe - 50 minutes
34 Credit Valley - 40 minutes
36 Colonial - no service
61 Mavis - no service
110 University - no service

As bad as last year and 1/3 of the service compared to 2007 and 2008. You'd probably have better chance of getting home if you just drink and drive. Pathetic. And people in Mississauga recently voted against change. Sad.
 
Not sure if this has been mentioned, but has anyone noticed how the new Miway (Hybrid?) buses, the orange ones on Route 19, roll backwards slightly before jerking into motion? Luckily I was able to catch two people from falling due to this in the span of one week. Just an observation.
 
Funny how they are using 2009 numbers to justify a fare increase for 2011, especially with projected 3.5% ridership growth for 2010. The proposed fare increase isn't crazy or anything, it's a very modest increase that brings MT in line other GTA systems, but still... let's move on from 2009, please.

Also, the document's wrong about the price of the U-Pass. The U-Pass will actually be $130 next year, and there could be an $85 summer U-Pass as well, assuming the recent referendum at UTM passed...
 
At least two more bus routes have AA announcements now, 22 Finch & 61 Mavis. I was on the 22 Finch earlier and it seemed like the system missed out on calling a couple of stops, but other than that, it was easy to see and understand the announcements (The new lady's voice is superior to the old computer one). I guess they're still working on it.

Also, I spotted a 97XX bus today that had the AA system installed!
 
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