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TTC: Other Items (catch all)

New art installation at Spadina Station:

CMKoDd1.jpg
 
No 510 streetcar service south of King St this Sunday due to curb work by TTC between 7 am and 7 pm. Buses will replace the streetcars.
 
johntauren said:
I think that's always been there.

I can't remember...been covered for construction for months now.
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I've used Spadina station for a decade, but the thing has been covered over for so long that I hardly remember what's there too haha.

I looked for some old images of the station and it appears that the installation is new:


subway-5106-10.jpg
 
they are refinishing the walls at Spadina, unfortunately most of it is rather bland beige tile not those more interesting and colourful pieces.
 
During our meetings at 20 Bay St on the Master Plan EA for the Waterfront/Portland and the various EA's, we looked at all types of technology that included hydrogen fuel cell power buses as it was being pushed by a few members of the team. It was shot down for a number of reasons. The only place you could refuel the buses would be the wind mill at CNE and it only could do a small number per day.

Vancouver has try this and given up after 4 years for most the reasons we shot the idea down on.
BC Transit's hydrogen bus fleet up for sale

BY BETHANY LINDSAY, VANCOUVER SUNDECEMBER 4, 2014

<http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Transit+hydrogen+fleet+sale/10441639/story.html>



  • [*=center]STORY
    [*=center]PHOTOS ( 1 )



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‘It is expensive to maintain and expensive to fuel,’ BC Transit says of the buses in its hydrogen fuel cell fleet in Whistler.

BC Transit is trying to sell off its much-hyped fleet of 20 hydrogen fuel cell buses.

The buses were brought in to Whistler as part of an $89-million demonstration program during the 2010 Winter Olympics. Whistler had fully integrated the buses into its transit system; the fuel-cell vehicles accounted for two-thirds of the resort municipality’s fleet.

A request for offers to purchase up to 20 of the buses was posted last month on the BC Bid website. No purchase price is specified.

Bidding for the buses ends on Dec. 19, but BC Transit has said it reserves the right to reject all bids and keep the buses.

The buses originally cost $2.1 million each, or about four times as much as a conventional diesel bus. Information obtained last year under a Freedom of Information Act request suggested that the vehicles also cost three times more in maintenance and fuel costs than the diesel buses they replaced.

The fuel-cell fleet is the largest in the world, and former premier Gordon Campbell promoted it as part of a “hydrogen highway” stretching from Whistler to California.

Burnaby’s Ballard Power Systems, which manufactured the fuel cells, boasted that they can be twice as energy-efficient as conventional buses and produce fewer greenhouse gases.

But the program was panned by the David Suzuki Foundation, which suggested trolley buses as a greener option. An anticipated B.C. fuelling station never materialized, and so hydrogen had to be trucked in from Quebec every 10 days, greatly increasing the emissions created by the program.

With files from Kelly Sinoski
blindsay@vancouversun.com
Follow me: @BethanyLindsay
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun
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It would be cool to see Trolley Buses return to Toronto, which Vancouver and San Francisco use, since they're much quieter than normal ones.
 
PRIMOVE for trams/streetcars/light rail:

[video=youtube_share;DE-i-5sgpBk]http://youtu.be/DE-i-5sgpBk[/video]

The bad news, it'll cost more. Would have been nice to see on Spadina & St. Clair. Could use it in the Sheppard tunnels should they want to replace the subway with LRT's using PRIMOVE.
 
TTC News Release

All-door boarding Jan. 1 on 504 King streetcar
December 8, 2014

Toronto Mayor John Tory and Toronto Transit Commission Chair Josh Colle today announced that proof-of-payment (POP) and all-door boarding on the 504 King streetcar will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2015 in an effort to improve service and reliability for the almost 60,000 daily riders of the King streetcar, the TTC's busiest surface route.

"We need to get Toronto moving, and all-door boarding on the King streetcar will make a significant impact on how quickly the King streetcar moves and makes using transit easier for the people of Toronto," said Toronto Mayor John Tory. "Our city is facing a congestion crisis, and this is a great first step in addressing the needs of TTC riders."

"We know the 504 is challenged for a variety of reasons outside of the TTC's control, so when there's a solution that's within our control to help improve service, it only makes sense that we do that," said TTC Chair Josh Colle.

Initially, POP will operate on the 504 King Monday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. only, similar to the POP hours currently on the 501 Queen. The TTC's 2015 budget submission includes the phasing of POP on all streetcar routes next year, with a total complement of 100 fare inspectors that will allow for POP all day, every day on all 11 streetcar routes by year-end. Today, only the 510 Spadina is POP all day, every day.

The TTC's 2015 operating and capital budgets will be presented at the Jan. 21 meeting of the Board.

Streetcars in Toronto see 250,000 daily trips. Almost 20 per cent of a streetcar's journey is spent servicing stops. The introduction of POP will see that cut to about 7 per cent, significantly improving service.

Customer service ambassadors fan out across King starting Jan. 1, adding to Spadina and Queen, assisting customers and reminding them of the need to have proof-of-payment - either a Metropass or paper transfer - when boarding rear doors of a streetcar. If paying by cash, token or ticket, customers must take a transfer as proof-of-payment. The fine for failing to have proof-of-payment when asked by a fare inspector is $235.
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ehlow said:
Glad to hear him talking about using bus lanes, express buses and all door boarding to speed up existing service cheap & fast.

However, I'd like to see bus lanes implemented right if we are doing them: they have to be enforced, remain bus-only at all times, and be very clearly marked. Also currently a driver must use the bus lane to turn right, these bus lanes should be implemented such that cars have no excuse to go into them.
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no reduction of stops? The 504 will still be crawling when having to stop every 150 meters.

What happened to the 2 hour fare policy?
 
TheTigerMaster said:
New art installation at Spadina Station:

CMKoDd1.jpg
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I'm sure that's new too.

Back when I was photographing every station in 2005-2006 for my Flickr set I took no photos of that wall specifically. That leads me to believe that the tiles there were pretty standard as I was pretty careful to photograph anything that was out-of-the-ordinary.

These new tiles go with tiles from the other side of the rotunda: (shots from Dec 18, 2005)

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POP on King: A good quick win, something that needed to happen. Even if it was happening ad hoc already, it's good to make it official. Hopefully the rest of the routes go POP soon too. Keep doing quick improvements and over time it adds up.

However, I do think POP will have to be combined with the low-floor new streetcars to significantly reduce dwell times. Even with POP, I find that people struggle to get up & down the stairs on streetcars, which really increases dwell time.

What could be an additional improvement though is if we start seeing fare machines along King stops so people can pay while waiting. Hopefully we see that.
 
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