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TTC: Easier Access Phase III

ViveleCanada said:
This year has been great in terms of the number of stations becoming accessible. I've lost count of how many have become accessible this year.
Click to expand...

Indeed! Just out of curiosity I looked at the Subway Map here http://ttc.ca/Subway/interactive_map/interactive_map.jsp which seems to be up-to-date (e.g. Runnymede) except for Wilson at the time of this post, and wow! Finally, the map of accessible stations is respectable. It used to be awful to look at it, and think of the experience passengers would have if they have accessibility needs...the map was pockmarked with the occasional accessible station here and there, it was the exception rather than the norm. Now, finally, most of the stations are accessible, and other than the SRT there are no more than any 2 stations in a row that are inaccessible (looks like Runnymede had previously been the last 3-station gap).

With the Islington MiWay bus terminal moving to Kipling, I think the only really "major" station that is still inaccessible without particularly good alternatives is Warden. All of the other ones remaining are generally fairly low-ridership, or in cases like King or College there is accessible streetcar service connecting them to their University Ave. siblings, if someone can't easily traverse the short distance from say Queen station to King.

With more and more stations becoming accessible and the entire streetcar and bus network finally being accessible, the conventional (non-wheel-trans) TTC network is probably accessible to the point that a good 95% or more of its customers can access it for 99% of the trips they would take if they were fully mobile (e.g. someone who lives near Sheppard West and works near Osgoode or along the 501 route is not affected by Donlands being inaccessible, unless one day they decide to visit a friend there). Around 2010 that number was probably more like 30% of customers could take 99% of their trips, or perhaps 50% of customers could take 70% of their trips. Great progress, at long last.
 
Megaton327 said:
With the Islington MiWay bus terminal moving to Kipling, I think the only really "major" station that is still inaccessible without particularly good alternatives is Warden.
Click to expand...

Just because Miway is moving does not mean every other bus is. They still have the TTC buses coming and going from there though I am unsure how much longer that will be a viable option.
 
salsa said:
Here's a pic that I took from the train.
Click to expand...
I can see from the hordes of people how that may be problematic ... :)

Seriously though, I showed the picture to a mother of small children, who you'd never catch on this forum. Their response was that it was brilliant - every small kid is going to want to get off at Wilson and run their hands up and down that.

Though they might want to pay attention to cleaning the break dust. You should have seen what was on my kids hands just coming down one of the stair cases, with little hands reaching spots that big hands never touch ...
 
ViveleCanada said:
Wilson is now accessible which is a nice way to close off the year. This year has been great in terms of the number of stations becoming accessible. I've lost count of how many have become accessible this year. Not really a fan of the art piece on the platform though. I feel it takes a bit too much space without giving any real utilitarian benefit to commuters (or perhaps I just have a terrible taste in art).

https://twitter.com/x/status/1340042391110234112
Click to expand...

Offhand, I think these were the stations to become accessible this year:

Royal York
Chester
Wellesley
Dupont
Runnymede
Wilson

Several more are due next year:

Bay * (Bay might actually finish this month)
Sherbourne
Lansdowne
Yorkdale
Keele
College
 
Keele Station looking nice!

IMG-3147.jpg
 
Richard White said:
Just because Miway is moving does not mean every other bus is. They still have the TTC buses coming and going from there though I am unsure how much longer that will be a viable option.
Click to expand...

True, though my point on that subject was regarding major transfer stations. Islington was a LOT busier with TTC+MiWay buses combined. Islington being inaccessible was a problem for many more people back when MiWay ran what seems to be a stunning 16 routes there per https://www.mississauga.ca/miway-transit/about-miway/kipling-bus-terminal/ Now it's small potatoes--looks like now there are only 4 TTC routes servicing the station, one of which is an express variant of the islington north. Even Keele for instance is busier and Warden is on another level entirely.

And yeah, I definitely don't see that behemoth of a bus terminal remaining a viable option for a measly 4 TTC routes vs the combined 20 TTC+MiWay routes it used to serve, with the need to retrofit it to be accessible. It seems clear that the rationale for building that new terminal at Kipling was to reduce the demand at Islington so that they can either leave the buses running with an on-street stop, or reroute at least some of them to Kipling or Royal York instead. That will massively reduce the elevator installation cost at Islington, and just looking at Google Maps, wow, that is quite a sizable area that is currently occupied by the bus terminal, so there's some money to be made selling that off.
 
Megaton327 said:
True, though my point on that subject was regarding major transfer stations. Islington was a LOT busier with TTC+MiWay buses combined. Islington being inaccessible was a problem for many more people back when MiWay ran what seems to be a stunning 16 routes there per https://www.mississauga.ca/miway-transit/about-miway/kipling-bus-terminal/ Now it's small potatoes--looks like now there are only 4 TTC routes servicing the station, one of which is an express variant of the islington north. Even Keele for instance is busier and Warden is on another level entirely.

And yeah, I definitely don't see that behemoth of a bus terminal remaining a viable option for a measly 4 TTC routes vs the combined 20 TTC+MiWay routes it used to serve, with the need to retrofit it to be accessible. It seems clear that the rationale for building that new terminal at Kipling was to reduce the demand at Islington so that they can either leave the buses running with an on-street stop, or reroute at least some of them to Kipling or Royal York instead. That will massively reduce the elevator installation cost at Islington, and just looking at Google Maps, wow, that is quite a sizable area that is currently occupied by the bus terminal, so there's some money to be made selling that off.
Click to expand...

Islington Station as a whole is becoming a safety hazard. Everytime I go through there a new section is blocked off because another part is falling apart.
 
Megaton327 said:
True, though my point on that subject was regarding major transfer stations. Islington was a LOT busier with TTC+MiWay buses combined. Islington being inaccessible was a problem for many more people back when MiWay ran what seems to be a stunning 16 routes there per https://www.mississauga.ca/miway-transit/about-miway/kipling-bus-terminal/ Now it's small potatoes--looks like now there are only 4 TTC routes servicing the station, one of which is an express variant of the islington north. Even Keele for instance is busier and Warden is on another level entirely.

And yeah, I definitely don't see that behemoth of a bus terminal remaining a viable option for a measly 4 TTC routes vs the combined 20 TTC+MiWay routes it used to serve, with the need to retrofit it to be accessible. It seems clear that the rationale for building that new terminal at Kipling was to reduce the demand at Islington so that they can either leave the buses running with an on-street stop, or reroute at least some of them to Kipling or Royal York instead. That will massively reduce the elevator installation cost at Islington, and just looking at Google Maps, wow, that is quite a sizable area that is currently occupied by the bus terminal, so there's some money to be made selling that off.
Click to expand...
The land is not being sold off, but used to built affordable housing by Toronto itself.

No matter the size of the station, they should all have 2 elevators in place of the current one that are being or have been installed. Ramps should be look as to where they can be built in place of elevators as it would reduce the cost to install them as well OM while allowing accessibility riders full access to stations at all time. This will remove the fear and concern what accessibility riders of having to do with no elevator for hours or months and how to get to/from that station if it down for months.

miWay has reduced the number of routes now at Islington and Kipling by restructure the system for the better in some cases than what was taking place in the past. miWay spend about 15 minutes traveling in Toronto each way and generating next to no return for that time, other than not forcing riders onto TTC underservice routes at X loop and this applies to other systems. Why a number of TTC routes have been recommended to be taken over by 905 systems and TTC having those routes already on the chopping block for over 20 years.
 
Megaton327 said:
Indeed! Just out of curiosity I looked at the Subway Map here http://ttc.ca/Subway/interactive_map/interactive_map.jsp which seems to be up-to-date (e.g. Runnymede) except for Wilson at the time of this post, and wow! Finally, the map of accessible stations is respectable. It used to be awful to look at it, and think of the experience passengers would have if they have accessibility needs...the map was pockmarked with the occasional accessible station here and there, it was the exception rather than the norm. Now, finally, most of the stations are accessible, and other than the SRT there are no more than any 2 stations in a row that are inaccessible (looks like Runnymede had previously been the last 3-station gap).

With the Islington MiWay bus terminal moving to Kipling, I think the only really "major" station that is still inaccessible without particularly good alternatives is Warden. All of the other ones remaining are generally fairly low-ridership, or in cases like King or College there is accessible streetcar service connecting them to their University Ave. siblings, if someone can't easily traverse the short distance from say Queen station to King.

With more and more stations becoming accessible and the entire streetcar and bus network finally being accessible, the conventional (non-wheel-trans) TTC network is probably accessible to the point that a good 95% or more of its customers can access it for 99% of the trips they would take if they were fully mobile (e.g. someone who lives near Sheppard West and works near Osgoode or along the 501 route is not affected by Donlands being inaccessible, unless one day they decide to visit a friend there). Around 2010 that number was probably more like 30% of customers could take 99% of their trips, or perhaps 50% of customers could take 70% of their trips. Great progress, at long last.
Click to expand...

Spadina is also (mostly) accessible - it's only the Line 1 appendage that isn't. That's only a problem whenever there's a turnback at Spadina from the northbound direction, as St. George offers an easier barrier-free transfer.

I would like to see a second set of elevators at St. George and a few other key transfer points to provide some redundancy in case an elevator is out of service for whatever reason. I believe only Bloor-Yonge has some redundancy built in.
 
ShonTron said:
Spadina is also (mostly) accessible - it's only the Line 1 appendage that isn't. That's only a problem whenever there's a turnback at Spadina from the northbound direction, as St. George offers an easier barrier-free transfer.

I would like to see a second set of elevators at St. George and a few other key transfer points to provide some redundancy in case an elevator is out of service for whatever reason. I believe only Bloor-Yonge has some redundancy built in.
Click to expand...

They removed the moving sidewalk at Spadina between Line 1 and Line 2, making even less accessible.
 
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