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Toronto St. Clair West Transit Improvements | ?m | ?s | TTC

I have to say I was very pleasantly surprised the other morning when I boarded an eastbound car at Winona at about 9:15a.m. and it took exactly 15 minutes to pull into St. Clair station - no exaggeration, I looked at my digital watch. Green lights all the way. Granted this was the last car in a line of three that were pulling into Winona just as I was approaching the platform and at that hour, rush hour had died down...but still!!! Very impressive.

The ride home of course was different... throngs of people waiting at St. Clair station platform around 6:40 p.m. on a cold Friday night...waiting and waiting... no announcements of course because that would be too customer service friendly. Finally after 10 minutes or so (who knows how long other people were waiting because the platform was packed when I got there). The streetcar arrived. ANd only after someone asked what happened did the driver volunteer that there was an accident. Gee..imagine that..on a ROW. And who knows how many more have happened that we haven't heard about it (recall the problems drivers had with Spadina). Oh well..hit and miss.
 
New Year's Eve around 4pm I was waiting at Earlscourt for a bus to continue westbound after dismounting the streetcar. It was cold and yucky. I waited over 25 minutes with a disgruntled crowd of fellow passengers when a bus finally came. Nothing but a grunt from the driver when asked about the delay. Heard about it on the radio when I finally made it home and it was apparently an accident at Bathurst and St. Clair that caused a delay with the streetcars. I'm still scratching my head over what the heck that would have to do with delaying buses that only go as far as Oakwood before turning back westbound? I saw a number of eastbound 512 buses heading to Oakwood during my lengthy wait so I can only imagine they disappeared into the St. Clair West "Bermuda Triangle."
My mark for the OPERATION of the ROW including the buses...a D Minus right now.:(
 
The TTC Bermuda Triangle effect... when you're waiting for a bus or streetcar close to the terminus of a route, and seeing vehicles go by in the other direction, but not coming back again.

Sometimes combined with the vehicles being MORE bunched after the layover-to-get-back-on-schedule than before.

Oh, I know it well.
 
collisions, wrecks, crashes and "accidents"

Necessary Evil said:
... there was an accident. Gee..imagine that..on a ROW. And who knows how many more have happened that we haven't heard about it (recall the problems drivers had with Spadina). Oh well..hit and miss.
Click to expand...

I got the (unconfirmed) impression that after the first section of St. Clair ROW opened there were relatively few crashes compared to the Spadina experience.

Anyone heard anything about collisions since the next phase has been opened, or along the York busway for that matter?
 
Ed Drass said:
Anyone heard anything about collisions ... along the York busway for that matter?
Click to expand...

There was one Monday morning at Allness that had six westbound buses sitting. Looked like a car collided with a bus where the car wasn't supposed to be (on the busway and not just the bus crossing Allness). Can't be sure about the circumstances.
 
Similarly, two civilian cars (one behind the other) on the York busway tonight - scared the life out of the driver me thinks. Seems to happen pretty regularly, but only in the late evening.
AmJ
 
Another bad grade for operations

Got this from a reader on Jan. 12:

"Some recent examples: On January 5th at 7:30 am at St. Clair and Lansdowne, I waited 25 minutes for an eastbound streetcar. On January 6th at 5:30 pm, I waited 25 minutes at the Yonge and St. Clair station for a westbound streetcar. On January 7th at 5:30 pm, I waited 20 minutes at Yonge and St. Clair station for a westbound streetcar, and on January 8th at 6:00 pm I waited 25 minutes for a westbound streetcar. Tonight I waited 25 minutes at Yonge and St. Clair for a westbound streetcar. Once the streetcar reaches the St. Clair West station things get even worse. There are incredibly long line ups for people all trying to go west. People are very angry and frustrated."
 
devil's advocate: those long waits were at the termini, where small delays (eg. traffic lights) are compounded

hopefully people continue to complain loudly, because there is an easy fix for these problems and everyone already knows what the fix is ;)
 
SlickFranky said:
devil's advocate: those long waits were at the termini, where small delays (eg. traffic lights) are compounded

hopefully people continue to complain loudly, because there is an easy fix for these problems and everyone already knows what the fix is ;)
Click to expand...

Armored tanks to push blocking cars and trucks aside? :)
 
SlickFranky said:
hopefully people continue to complain loudly, because there is an easy fix for these problems and everyone already knows what the fix is ;)
Click to expand...

Sure. Same as the subway system. a) Switch to a headway based system rather than schedule based including slowing down cars ahead to ensure the gap shrinks, and b) have a small number of gap cars on standby to fill the gap. Each subway line seems to have 2 trains for that purpose.

Actually, the streetcar system already has standby buses for diversions and the like. Once the GPS tracking is functional we might see them used for filling gaps in service.
 
rbt said:
Sure. Same as the subway system. a) Switch to a headway based system rather than schedule based including slowing down cars ahead to ensure the gap shrinks, and b) have a small number of gap cars on standby to fill the gap. Each subway line seems to have 2 trains for that purpose.

Actually, the streetcar system already has standby buses for diversions and the like. Once the GPS tracking is functional we might see them used for filling gaps in service.
Click to expand...

They should build storage tracks at the St. Clair station for standby streetcars as well. Large enough to fit the new LFLRV of course.
 
St. Clair streetcar anguish avoidable, study says
No clear boss on project, constant changes cited as factors adding to chaos
Louise Brown Staff Reporter
Published On Fri Jan 15 2010
Thestar.com

With no clear boss, constantly changing plans and too many small contractors crowding the job site, Toronto's controversial St. Clair streetcar line cost more time, money and local anguish than necessary, says an independent review requested by the TTC.

"It was like a never-ending story; there was a lot of public criticism because people didn't know when the pain would end and the gain would begin," said consultant Richard Soberman, co-author of the report titled Getting It Right; Lessons From the St. Clair Streetcar.

The project to install dedicated tracks along St. Clair Ave. W. threw a 6.8-kilometre stretch into turmoil for nearly five years, obstructing traffic, reducing business for merchants, narrowing sidewalks, ripping up mature trees and disturbing what local Councillor Cesar Palacio calls the strip's "European patio culture." The price tag soared from $65 million to $106 million and the final 300 metres won't be completed until spring.

The report, which will be presented to the TTC on Wednesday, notes it was never clear whether the transit company or the city was in charge of the project, with both making design changes almost as "an afterthought" after the work had started, escalating both the cost and period of time the street was in upheaval.

"We told them all that – there was no clear manager; it was like renovating a house without a general contractor," said Connie Lamanna, owner of the Ontario Fashion shop on St. Clair W. and chair of the Corso Italia Business Improvement Area, which opposed the project.

Soberman and co-author Les Kelman also took a swipe at Ontario's environment ministry, for allowing opponents of the project to launch a judicial review. They said it was the wrong decision and delayed the project for nearly a year.

"If the ministry is launching all these new transit initiatives, at some point you have to bring closure to the debate," Soberman said in an interview Thursday.

He noted many of the problems will be avoided with the more centralized approach of Toronto's new "Transit City" blueprint.

City Councillor Joe Mihevc praised TTC staff for ordering the review, to avoid making the same mistakes on light rail lines planned for Sheppard Ave., Finch Ave. and Eglinton Ave.

"We want to learn from this pioneering project," he said. "Yes, it wasn't done as gracefully as it might have, but this report will help us make the short-term pain even shorter in future, and less painful."
 
It's great to see that they are studying their mistakes! The general trend in most organizations is to try and ignore these things ... but by studying how things went wrong, there's great opportunity to make these things go smoother in the future.

Though I wonder ... how did the Spadina LRT installation go? It's the other recent comparable project? I wasn't in Toronto then - I was here for much of the drama when they were proposing it, with all the concern about the loss of the angled parking spots on Spadina ... but I don't know how the situation was during the construction itself.
 
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