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TTC: Flexity Streetcars Testing & Delivery (Bombardier)

Was on one of the new cars today and noticed the "SpaDEEna" mispronunciation has been corrected. It sounds a little garbled now but the automated announcement definitely says "Queens Quay and SpaDYna".
 
Darn. I prefer the correct original "Spadeena" pronunciation.

An interesting etymological adventure Spadina certainly is, but everyone (99.9% of Torontonians at least) says Spadina with the long "i", so I'm glad that one was fixed. Drove me nuts to hear "510 Spad-eye-na; to Queens Quay and Spadeena" - the inconsistency was odd.
 
I can't wait until service to Union is restored so that I don't have to hear "Queens Quay & Spadina" anymore.
Some service has always been scheduled to turn at Queens Quay. And this resumes in October when service to Union is restored.
 
Some service has always been scheduled to turn at Queens Quay. And this resumes in October when service to Union is restored.

They definitely need to reconsider how they sign the "Queen's Quay and Spadina" termination - the "510 Spadina / and Spadina" has to be the worst way to display the second line on the new cars.

For the 510 you would think "510 Spadina / To Queen's Quay" would be sufficient - not sure why they bothered adding the Spadina part in the first place - were there short turns from Union which terminate at this spot on the 510?
 
Given the number of pedants we have around here, I'm surprised nobody's pointed out that even "Queens Quay and Spadina" isn't strictly accurate --- the intersection is "Queens Quay and Lower Spadina" ;)
 
They definitely need to reconsider how they sign the "Queen's Quay and Spadina" termination - the "510 Spadina / and Spadina" has to be the worst way to display the second line on the new cars.

For the 510 you would think "510 Spadina / To Queen's Quay" would be sufficient - not sure why they bothered adding the Spadina part in the first place - were there short turns from Union which terminate at this spot on the 510?

I'm guessing it's because (to get to Union), it travels along Queen's Quay for a portion (even though the only loop is at Spadina).
Queen's Quay & Spadina tells you exactly where it ends, where as just Queen's Quay is somewhat ambiguous.
 
Andrew Coyne retweeted
National Post ‏@nationalpost 57m

Toronto is tearing up sidewalks it built in 2011 to accommodate streetcars it ordered in 2009 http://bit.ly/1qqkjA3 pic.twitter.com/hculnZSoQs
Embedded image permalink
 
Considering that the NP is anti-streetcar, I can't help but wonder if that article would even exist had those same sidewalks been torn up for a different reason.
 
Considering that the NP is anti-streetcar, I can't help but wonder if that article would even exist had those same sidewalks been torn up for a different reason.

This isn't "anti-streetcar". This is anti-government stupidity. This stuff angers me to no end. This stuff contributes to why we have a POS transit system in this city. How many Flexities could $58M buy?
 
Considering that the NP is anti-streetcar, I can't help but wonder if that article would even exist had those same sidewalks been torn up for a different reason.

You don't see how it's completely irrational to pour and then break sidewalks within a few years?
 
You don't see how it's completely irrational to pour and then break sidewalks within a few years?

It is irrational - and it isn't that big of a deal considering we need to do it all the time in order to accommodate private sector development.

And note - Rob Ford has been in power since 2010. This happened in 2011. What's the excuse?

AoD
 
This isn't "anti-streetcar". This is anti-government stupidity. This stuff angers me to no end. This stuff contributes to why we have a POS transit system in this city. How many Flexities could $58M buy?
$58 million is the budget to modify ALL of the stops in the city. Only a small fraction had recent work on them.

On Queen and Broadview they did this as part of existing sidewalk work. When you stood and looked at what they were doing, most of the work wasn't even at streetcar stops. There's a huge amount of this type of working going on all the time - particularly after winter we just had.

The late changes to the streetcar ramps was pushed hard by the Advisory Committee on Accessible Transit. The bottom line is that they didn't know what heights they needed the platforms to be at until after the work on Dundas and Roncesvalles was done.

Sure, in an ideal world, everyone waits until the other person does their work first ... but what always ends up happening is massive delays, such as you saw on St. Clair ... and more recently on Queens Quay. It's actually cheaper if you let everyone do their thing, and then sometimes you have to dig things up a second or third time. However you aren't sitting there paying for people to sit around not doing anything waiting.

Yes, we could spend more money and just do it once. But why waste money?

You don't see how it's completely irrational to pour and then break sidewalks within a few years?
No I don't. Only a small percentage of the concrete is being broken. Do you see how completely irrational it is to expect us to pay more money to do things slower and more synchronized just once?
 

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