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TTC: Cherry Street reconstruction and streetcar trackage (City of Toronto/TTC, U/C)

This is getting off topic. I'm not a mod, but can I make a request that you please keep personal arguments to messages or off-topic threads and leave this thread, per its title, for:

TTC: Cherry Street reconstruction and streetcar trackage
 
I don't think who you are is as important as what your role is in all these projects you mention that you seem to be involved in. Could you clarify that?
I have been involved with help of Waterfront Toronto in helping to write the terms of reference for EA's, input for EA's and designs for both Transit and Urban projects before going to the public, as while writing reports. Steve Munro has been part of the team as well, but not as much as I have been.

I don't have all the answers to everything and never will, just my view for what it worth, right or wrong. I have refused in the past to respond to various question pertaining to me and time to move on and deal with the big picture, than me.
 
This is getting off topic. I'm not a mod, but can I make a request that you please keep personal arguments to messages or off-topic threads and leave this thread, per its title, for:

TTC: Cherry Street reconstruction and streetcar trackage
You are right, but the question is what was my role in this project. I was the main pusher to have this design from day one and it was one of 7 plans that was first vision for this street development by the team. Not the first time nor the last time topic will go out the widow or be hijacked.

Only TTC and Traffic opposed this plan.
 
I have been involved with help of Waterfront Toronto in helping to write the terms of reference for EA's, input for EA's and designs for both Transit and Urban projects before going to the public, as while writing reports. Steve Munro has been part of the team as well, but not as much as I have been.

Thank you for this information and thank you for your work.
Sorry for derailing this thread. Just wanted some little bit of clarification and insight.
 
The Queensway however uses open tracks. Cars that enter those right-of-ways very soon find out they do not belong.
Believe it or not, there have been a couple of incidents with dummies who have driven onto the ROW on Queensway. About 6 months ago, I saw a car that ended up getting stuck on the ROW just past the Parkside Drive stop.

I really dont think that there's one stretch of ROW in the city that the TTC wouldnt consider implementing speed restrictions on; and to be honest I think once the Flexities have fully arrived, streetcar speeds will be even slower than today.
 
Its great that the TTC is realizing that the LRV on one side/Cars on the other makes so much more sense that putting it down the middle lane.

If only Metrolinx had gotten the memo for the LRT's

What makes you think the TTC supported a side-of-road ROW? This was a Waterfront Toronto initiative. If you can dig up some older planning documents (too lazy to do that right now), you'll probably find that the TTC supported a median ROW because it would have fewer traffic signals.

I'm still amazed that the TTC decided that the solution to drivers breaking the law and turning illegally across the path of streetcars was to slow down streetcar service permanently. I found that from Fleet and Bathurst I could often get to Bathurst Station via the 511 in mixed traffic faster than Union Station via the 509 on a dedicated ROW+being a shorter trip.

What other solution is there?

Regardless of whose fault it is, the effect of cars turning left illegally is that TTC service gets disrupted frequently. The TTC evidently decided that they would introduce a few minutes of delay all the time in order to reduce the frequency of hour-long service cancellations which also damage our new streetcars.

What are the chances that the TTC will rescind their slow order? I'm currently under the impression that this will be forever in place as with many other slow orders and stop and go orders left on the streetcar network. Is the TTC trying to sabotage their streetcar network? Cause it does seem like it; get your stuff together and fix the damn switches already.

The slow order will be removed when drivers stop turning left on a red light at such a high rate. The cause of the high disobedience was that the left turn signals were poorly located: they're over the streetcar ROW rather than over the roadway. Once the City re-locates the left turn signals to an appropriate alignment (keep an eye out for changes soon), then the rate of illegal turning should hopefully drop to the level of the other ROWs, most of which have no speed restriction.

I don't know what's so special about the Queensway that it warrants a 10km/h intersection speed limit, while Spadina, Fleet and St. Clair don't.
 
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The forum wants to know in what capacity did you serve to study and design QQ? You offer your opinions as if you have expertise in these matters, and it looks like you do and so your opinions are valued, but you don't say who you worked for or what your role was. So it gets a little confusing for some of us.

I wonder what Drum's role is too, but I know better than to ask. Several of us have jobs which provide us with insider information about transit projects, but our employers all have policies regarding what we can disclose. And different managers/supervisors/PR departments have different strategies for accommodating recreational forum use. Some may suggest you disclose your association but clarify that your postings are not in your work role, while others (as in my case) prefer that you avoid association with the company altogether.

On the other hand, there are people in this forum that communicate the opposite: that what they say is gospel. Perhaps it is, perhaps it is not. But it is encumbent on those people to explain, in some way, what their role has been and what experience they have that gives them a more authoritative voice here.

I'm not asking for names -- I'm asking for a job title or a company or heck, even X number of years working in Y industry.

It's like going to a college or university class. Would you want to learn from someone with experience, and tells you what that experience is and what they do for a living and for how long they have been doing that, or do you want to learn from someone that expects compliance and doesn't give any reasoning as to why they should be respected? Is that too much to ask?

p.s. Evidence that the "forum wants to know" can be found if you look at messages by others just prior to this message.

Sometimes when I'm arguing or explaining something it would be a lot more convincing if I could say "I'm a __ working for __, and therefore I'm an expert in the subject". But then again, if I am indeed an expert, I should be able to explain or argue the subject with facts, reason and background without resorting to "I'm right because I'm an expert".
 
"I'm right because I'm an expert".

When I get this from a contractor my first reaction is to hire a second person to go over their work with a small bonus if they can tear it apart (with examples and references). If they can't demonstrate they're an expert by providing material to back up their thoughts, then I need another 'expert' to agree the first person is an expert before accepting the opinion as correct. Me paying them isn't enough to make them an expert; all too often professional != expert.

TL/DR; I greatly appreciate the relevant facts and background data that you and many others provide.
 
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I don't think who you are is as important as what your role is in all these projects you mention that you seem to be involved in. Could you clarify that?

What? This is a forum where people discuss items that matter to them. This forum doesn't require resumes and identity checks to participate. Anyone that has been on the forum long enough gets to know who is legit and who isn't. When a person posts photos from within an active construction site while site workers are around it shows a level of access to information that is greater than the average Joe. When someone creates flamebait it shows a level immaturity and an unlikelihood that they will contribute anything to the forum worth reading.

Would you want to learn from someone with experience, and tells you what that experience is and what they do for a living and for how long they have been doing that, or do you want to learn from someone that expects compliance and doesn't give any reasoning as to why they should be respected? Is that too much to ask?

Who on the forum expects compliance on anything? Why would respect depend on providing credentials? Respect is earned through what you do, not who you work for our what your resume says. Many different people post in here and you learn to ignore those who clearly don't know what they are talking about, and listen to those who have provided well thought dialogue and analysis, provided great content, find new data earlier, and who clearly are insiders or communicate regularly with people who are.
 
View attachment 74308

I took a drive up Cherry St a few day ago, and noticed all these signs circled in the image are installed upside down.

They aren't upside down, they're the wrong signs. Flipping them over wouldn't change the direction the lines point, the signs need to be entirely replaced.
 
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