Saturday, December 19, 2009 brought the first passenger-carrying streetcars to St. Clair from Bathurst to Lansdowne on the new streetcar right-of-way. Regular service starts on Sunday, but the preview day featured PCCs 4500 and 4549 shuttling between St. Clair West Station and Earlscourt Loop from about 11 am to 4 pm.
4500 was the politicians’ car with TTC Vice Chair Joe Mihevc, Chair Adam Giambrone and MP Carolyn Bennett. Mihevc wryly noted that Bennett (a Liberal) was part of the government when funding came from Ottawa for this project. It’s been underway for some time. Mike Filey was along to provide historical commentary.
4549 was generally less loaded, but featured the Hillcrest Choir whose renditions of stop announcements were a distinct improvement over the standard TTC offering, and they even pronounced the streetnames correctly.
After riding several times in both directions, I can honestly say that the weaving track, although unusual, was not at all uncomfortable or any threat to standing passengers. The first few trips encountered work crews putting finishing touches on parts of the line, but with only two cars operating, it wasn’t hard for them to dodge out of the way.
Everyone was having a marvellous time, and the crowd was fascinating for its makeup — many parents taking their young children out to ride cars built in 1951 on a line that might not have had active streetcar service when they were born.
To my amazement, the heat worked quite well on both cars, something I did not find on any other transit vehicle (bus, streetcar or subway) I rode on the same day. The biggest problem with the PCCs is that the centre doors were not working on either car, and this made for lots of congestion as people had to push through crowds (at least on 4500) to reach the one working door at the front. The running joke on board was that if we paid 50 cents more on the fare, we could have cars with doors that worked. Memo to TTC: Fix the doors.
Earlier in the week, test runs were made with CLRVs to check out clearances, overhead alignment and track. Harold McMann sent a few photos of car 4165, the first test car on Monday, December 14. Many thanks to him for these.
The real test comes Monday morning with a rush hour load. A few problems were obvious even with the PCC runs, notably difficulties at Lansdowne. There does not appear to be a dedicated transit left turn, and cars must bull their way through traffic. This is probably because the westbound switch is not yet electrified, and the traffic lights don’t “know” that they have to give a transit call on. This should be fixed.
A more difficult problem is the exit from Earlscourt Loop which is close to Lansdowne eastbound, and will regularly be blocked by traffic waiting for a green signal. Streetcars must push out into traffic from the loop without any sort of signal to assist them. They may also find an occasional 47 Lansdowne bus laying over, and it will be interesting to see how often this form of “congestion” puts gaps in the service.
The operation of traffic signals generally follows the pattern we have seen elsewhere with a left/U turn phase for autos, followed by a through green for autos and transit. Some parts of the line now have detectors that will hold a transit green for an approaching streetcar, but I have not seen enough of the operation to know if this is installed or working at all locations.
Here are views of the test run with 4165 and of the PCC operation.
Westbound at Vaughan entering the newly energized section of the line.
Westbound at Northcliffe. Glazing of the transit shelter is in progress.
Westbound at Earlscourt. Somehow it’s appropriate that so much of the replacement bus service was operated with vintage GM Fishbowls. The bus is almost as old as the streetcar.
Sitting in Earlscourt Loop.
PCC service on the free preview day:
4500 westbound at Vaughan Road passing an inbound 90 Vaughan bus. This is the first westbound trip for the PCCs.
4500 eastbound at Via Italia.
4549 westbound at St. Clair Gardens.
4549 eastbound at Northcliffe.
4549 eastbound at Glenholme.
4500 westbound at Winona. Note the alternative use of the right-of-way, something that will not be quite as easy starting with regular service. Note also the clarity of this view where there are no centre poles compared with other parts of the route.
One thing consistently obvious along the route was the amount of traffic congestion in the remaining lanes beside an empty TTC right-of-way. Some of this comes from illegal parking, and a bit from congestion caused by buses stopped at the curb.
Steve Munro 
I went out this morning to ride the PCCs on St. Clair. I came down Black Creek Drive Weston Rd., Rogers Rd. and Old Weston Road to St. Clair. The auto traffic on St. Clair from Old Weston to Dufferin was a total zoo. There is a store on the south side of St. Clair just west of the Newmarket Sub next to the Hydro right of way. Its parking lot was full so cars just stopped on St. Clair and waited until someone left.
I don’t think anyone told city works, Guild Electric and Metal Art Sign that there was going to be service today has they had about 6 trucks parked on the right of way doing work. They were installing the railing and seats for the east bound stop at Dufferin with a truck and trailer parked on the right of way. They kept moving it back from side to side as did Guild Electric. There were apparently some cars parked on the right of way before I got there but they were either towed or moved.
Everyone seemed glad to see the streetcars back though many who rode did not know that it was a special service and tried to pay a fare. I rode the first round trip on 4549, the second car, and it was in rough shape. The rear doors did not work, the passenger signal bell was broken and the controller and brakes grabbed. The operator said that they got the car out of Hillcrest where it was in getting repaired. I guess that the repairs didn’t get finished.
The supervisor said the Bathurst St. is supposed to be open both ways through the CP underpass tomorrow.
On its second trip 4501 apparently with Mike Filey on board could not pick up any passengers after Wychwood. It actually left a few there. The choir was to get on 4549 on its second trip so I decided to take a few pictures and come home.
The PCCs with crush load and no rear doors were loading unloading and travelling a lot faster than the buses and cars west of Dufferin. They are going to have to rethink the parking out there or be ruthless in enforcement.
When you look out the front or rear window the curving of the tracks is quite noticeable but did not affect the ride.
There also seems to be a lot more traffic signals west of Dufferin than east of Bathurst.
No one seemed upset by the fact that they could not transfer into the subway. The supervisor said that the people could ride through the station as long as they did not get off.
I came home by going up Yonge to Lawrence then out Lawrence and The Westway to Martin Grove. Every bus on 52 Lawrence West was a fishbowl except for 1 1500 hybrid. I can’t figure out if the TTC hates or loves the passengers. I guess 52 is a “legacy” bus route.
Totally unconnected to this did any one see the CTY coverage of the Olympic torch Thursday night and see the pretty CTV news announcer carry the torch down Midland under the “SLRT”, not the “SRT”. I guess that the re-branding has started already.
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Great pictures Steve.
Aahhh, just too bad there wasn’t an opportunity for a picture with both the PCC & GM “fishbowl” bus. It would have given a real retro look.
Steve: As per Robert Wightman’s comment, they all seemed to be on 52 Lawrence. Why any high-floor buses would be in service on a Saturday is a complete mystery.
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Now for the scary question: are there enough working CLRVs to get us through the winter now that St Clair is online?
Steve: We shall see. The TTC has yet to produce a credible, detailed plan for its streetcar fleet and how it will maintain service while we await the new fleet.
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I was on 4500 for most of the afternoon, mainly to hear Mike’s commentary. I was on the last run, and a few of us tried to talk the driver into letting us ride down Bathurst to Hillcrest after he’d gone out of service, but twas not to be. At least one youngster left the streetcar in tears, and kept asking if the streetcars would be back.
The PCC’s really attracted attention along St. Clair. A number of people stopped to watch, and most of them took photos on camera phones. No idea home many photos were taken today, but it was definitely in the thousands.
I hope the TTC borrows a street sweeper to tidy up the ROW before service begins, there was lots of gravel & dust all over, and one of the shelters (Arlington?) was splashed with mud. I know it’s winter, but you only get one shot to make a first impression.
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Great to see those pictures. At least people can stop suffering taking the 512 bus in mix traffic.
High floor buses slows down loading time. I don’t know why the TTC doesn’t only use accessible bus. Considering that St. Clair is always a busy road.
I notice that the 52 Lawrence West bus only operates with GM fishbowl buses during rush hours. Maybe because all the other Mount Dennis division routes are accessible routes.
With the 512 returning to streetcars, maybe some of the Orion buses can return to their home routes.
Steve: I have noticed the prevalence of strollers on the 512 buses, especially when low-floors were in service. It will be interesting to see how riders accustomed to this adapt to the high-floor CLRVs, especially those whose entrance area has not been reconfigured by removal of that centre pole.
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“the heat worked quite well on both cars, something I did not find on any other transit vehicle (bus, streetcar or subway) I rode on the same day. The biggest problem with the PCCs is that the centre doors were not working”
In all fairness these are probably related. While I don’t have the opportunity to ride streetcars very often but I do ride buses. Most of the TTC’s fleet is now Orion VII model buses, and my experience has been that the heating and AC on these buses are adequate. The heating does not boil those wearing a coat, and the AC is amazing so long as thin stick people don’t get “cold” and open all the windows on you.
Steve: A big problem on buses is that the rear doors take so long to close they let in a lot of cold air just for one passenger to alight.
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Finally it is up and running. Just some finishing touches to be done I imagine [but] the route is now running. My 3 year old loves the streetcars and I look forward to taking him on this route – for myself as well.
I wonder how the times are going to compare to the old times of getting from Gunns Loop to the Yonge Station?
Steve: See the link in the following comment.
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It’s a very good day to see streetcars running again. Living just between Vaughan and Bathurst, this will be an immense help. Any other St. Clair residents may have noted that the shelter at the Westbound Whychwood stop, actually was initially installed with the sign for Oakwood!
Any idea about how long lay-over will be in St. Clair West Station? I.e, will it be worth it to get on the streetcar at Bathurst, rather than walking?
Steve: The scheduled running times for the streetcars are fairly tight, shorter than what was allowed when the route was running streetcars in mixed traffic. I don’t expect that you will see long layovers anywhere.
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So long as the Lansdowne bus doesn’t pull too far into the loop, it is perfectly fine for streetcars to go around it.
Steve: But the buses are used to taking their layovers on the streetcar tracks facing north. That’s also where they let passengers off.
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I haven’t been on PCC since the 1990s, when they were still in regular service, so this was a treat for me (I know they run on 509 on Sunday, but I never have a need for 509 on Sundays). I never really paid attention before back when I was in high school, but this time, I noticed how it is superior to the current in-service models. Faster (and smoother) acceleration, quieter, much faster door movements, and even allows the doors to open before coming to a complete stop (this is an efficiency advantage, not a safety hazard, to those designing the new cars). I can only imagine the reputation of streetcar service today if all service in the network were still provided by PCCs.
I noticed a difference in the street/ROW design on either side of Oakwood. East of Oakwood, only at Arlington is there a significant squiggle. West of Oakwood, however, it becomes a dog’s breakfast. While streetcar functionality may not be a problem, there are problems west of Oakwood we’re stuck with for a couple of decades. Even something as simple as eliminating the centre poles would have made a notable improvement.
Steve: The PCC was designed to be a sprightly car for urban traffic conditions. The CLRV, on the other hand, was designed partly with a view to high speed suburban operation, and it had acceleration characteristics to match. Also, the CLRV has very heavy trucks for stability at speed, something that is totally wasted in an on-street environment. There is a tendancy to hagiography at the TTC regarding the original designers of these cars, and in one of the rare occasions I agree with former CGM Al Leach, they are the Edsels of streetcars. Only one other city ever bought any. Oddly enough, the original TTC/Hawker design from the 60s was for an updated PCC, but that design was bastardized, almost unrecognizably, into the CLRV.
The problem west of Oakwood was created by the last minute addition of a crossing, including left turns, as well as another stop. Neither was in the original plan, and they sort of made up the design as they went along. Yes, it needs fixing, but not until the next time the track is torn up for major reconstruction.
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Nice to see PCC’s on central city trackage again. One question: did they not have any old rollsigns available that would have been more geographically accurate? Say, St. Clair, Earlscourt, Oakwood, etc.? Putting Harbourfront, Union Station, and CNE signs just looks strange.
Steve: The PCC rollsigns are probably around somewhere, although the sign boxes didn’t work very well for years while they still had rolls in them. Probably lack of maintenance. The Harbourfront signs are fixed in the cars because that’s where they usually run.
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I was out today, and the particular Lansdowne bus was waiting facing westbound, out of the way of the streetcar- barely.
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I never understood why the TTC didn’t keep enough PCCs to operate one heritage streetcar line with vintage equipment like San fran does, or why they didn’t keep at least one red G-train set for the subway.
Steve: Two reasons. Parts, plus the skills needed to repair the cars. Both aided by a profound lack of interest by the organization itself. If MUNI can do it, so could TTC, assuming they really wanted to and treated an historic fleet as something other than a budgetary nuisance.
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” If MUNI can do it, so could TTC, assuming they really wanted to and treated an historic fleet as something other than a budgetary nuisance.”
That’s been my complaint for years, though some unamed folks who are known as Steve Munro think my idea was fueled by too much chocolate (and NOTHING ELSE in them!!!)
I guess the TTC feels they don’t need to have any historic responsibilities because the HCRR does it for them. What a cop-out. OC Transpo has a number of working legacy vehicles, including a fishbowl (called silversides here) and an oldlook. And they are restoring a GM artic as well as an Orion Ikarus (ironically bought second-hand from the TTC).
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Given all the negative press this project has received I sure hope it works better than expected. This morning there was yet another problem with switches on the Yonge line, yet another opportunity for a co-worker of mine to wail over the incompentence of the TTC management, even to the point of thinking all the money going towards transit is winding up in bureaucrats’ pockets and not to the system. We’ve been transferred to downtown offices as of this September, so he’s only now having to “suffer” the TTC when before he could drive to work, and park for free. I can’t blame him for being frustrated and wonder where the money he spends on a metropass goes and why a fare increase when he sees such poor service an no apparent explanation for it.
As for Steve’s comment: “If MUNI can do it, so could TTC, assuming they really wanted to and treated an historic fleet as something other than a budgetary nuisance” – I suspect part of the reason MUNI has a heritage route was that they already have extensive experiece maintaining their cablecar system (they even rebuilt the entire system about 20 years ago). Also that line is separate from their LRT lines, which run underground along Market St, while the heritage line runs at street level along Market (I was living in SF when they contructed BART and later coverted streetcars to LRT – another topic all together, best placed elsewhere). My impression is that the TTC is more “utility” focused, not particularly concerned about preserving heritage or even with pleasing design of new facilities.
Phil
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Just walked by Bathurst & St. Clair – there were 4 (count them 4) eastbound streetcars all in a row waiting at Bathurst lights to enter into the subway turnaround.
Why the congestion so early? Does not bode well for reliability of service. Is there no supervisor working to alleviate this problems like on Spadina?
Any idea how many cars are running on the St. Clair ROW between Yonge & Lansdowne?
Also, it would be great if at St. Clair Avenue West and St. Clair Station they introduce the GPS automated time till next streetcar signs, screens, and technology like at Spadina and Union Station. Do you know if there are any plans to do this on this NEW route?
Steve: For the scheduled levels of service, please refer to the TTC’s Scheduled Service Summary. The online version is for January 2010, but the service on St. Clair is unchanged for that period.
There are at least two supervisors working on the line, one at St. Clair West, and one at Lansdowne. Part of the problem seems to be with operators getting used to the line and the traffic signals, partly that the weekend schedules have considerably higher scheduled speeds than the old streetcar shuttle from Yonge to St. Clair West. A good comparison is with the scheduled speeds on Spadina. I will comment at greater length in a separate post.
As for “next car” signs, the TTC claims these are coming to the system generally in 2010 once they get the new GPS-based tracking working properly. (Some may remember the short-lived online displays of streetcar routes that couldn’t keep track of their location.)
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Late Sunday night I told the 512 St. Clair streetcar driver “It’s amazing! A 28-year-old streetcar instead of a 28-year-old bus!” He kept eating his calzone and ignored me.
Stuck inside St. Clair West station (next-stop display: “St Clair Ave West Stn”), whaddya know: A broken-down 28-year-old Fishbowl.
I then took the subway to one of the tiny handful of locations where one may buy a Metropass without handing a huge wad of bills to a little man in a glass cell. The object in focus in the photo on the front of this $121 transit pass is a staircase.
Why are we transit fans again?
Steve: For the benefit of those who have not yet seen the January 2010 Metropass, the illustration has a staircase in the foreground and a speeding train in the background.
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Orion VIIs do not load faster than older buses. The theory is that the wider front and especially rear doors permit two people abreast to enter or leave, but that just is not the case. There is marginally too little room for two people to stand side by side in the door opening, so after trying it once, nobody ever tries it again. It’s single file all the way. (Stand in any bus bay, any one, and observe.)
Meanwhile, on any bus, even a wheelchair-accessible Orion V, with two channels of back doors with separate openings, two streams of people can head right out as fast as they can hop down the stairs. As soon as one such stream ends, that side of the portal can be and is used for entry. Or you get two streams of people entering an empty bus.
It is marginally possible to leave an Orion VII by the front door while somebody else is getting in, and people do this all the time because they have no choice in the matter. The layout stinks and there just is no way to swim all the way to the back door in time.
Some other time let’s discuss the stroller problem. There’s exactly one good place for them on an Orion VII and it isn’t anywhere near the front.
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I rode the 512 bus both ways on Saturday. It was hellish! The line west of Lansdowne looks to be well along and it shouldn’t take until summer to complete but I have heard that the hold up is the overhead for Gunn’s Loop. If that’s the case they should put up temporary standard [overhead] and end the transfer. St. Clair riders need a break.
I rode a CLRV both ways on Sunday. What a contrast! The driver complained a lot about the passengers but the ride was smooth as glass. I hope the new cars ride as well.
Two problems. There were people with strollers and carriages and elderly folk with walkers. They are used to the low floor buses. The problem will right itself when the new cars come, of course.
Steve: The TTC needs to get more of the cars that have been rebuilt without the centre pole in the entrance stairwell out on St. Clair. It’s not a full solution, but it does make getting strollers etc. on and off cars a lot easier. Another problem left over from bus operation is that people with such devices park at the front of the vehicle blocking access.
Problem 2? Edging up to intersectionis as the traffic light turns orange then waiting for the whole cycle. When is the priority signalling coming? Soon? I hope! I hope???
Steve: Some parts of the line seem to have a detector set back from the intersection to signal an approaching car and trigger a hold on the green phase. However, the timing of this seems to assume that the car is moving at a decent speed, not crawling along. Fast operators make the light, slow ones miss it.
This afternoon I will try out the evening rush.
But at the very least it was pleasant which is a lot more than you could say about the 512 bus.
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Steve said … “Two reasons. Parts, plus the skills needed to repair the cars. Both aided by a profound lack of interest by the organization itself. If MUNI can do it, so could TTC, assuming they really wanted to and treated an historic fleet as something other than a budgetary nuisance.”
Maybe Streetcars for Toronto should have been named “PCCs for Toronto”. Yes, they were disintegrating (and just before the CLRVs were ordered I remember a City-TV newscast where Peter Gross got under a PCC and pulled off a huge chunk of rusted metal with his bare hand) but I’m sure a line’s worth of cars could have been saved and operated as a tourist attraction. That’s why I never understood Streetcars for Toronto — save the streetcars, but not the PCCs.
Steve: Streetcars for Toronto focussed on saving the system, but the issue of saving PCCs came up in the context of the Harbourfront/Spadina route. The TTC rebuilt 19 PCCs for expansion of the system, but then with service cutbacks wound up retiring the cars.
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I was recently in Philadelphia and they have a whole route that is running restored PCC cars. It is quite nice.
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About the Market Street Line, my understanding was that the line was inspired by Toronto’s original plan to run the 604 line with PCCs, wasn’t it? And Muni has been purchasing cars from around the world and painting them in the livery of cities who have used them in the past – when I was there last year, the one in Toronto colors was in the shop awaiting electrical work.
To be fair, though, while Muni runs the cars, the project was spearheaded by the community and fund raising, and donations continue to pay for the maintenance and upkeep. Maybe the folks at the Halton County museum could be persuaded to get involved, and yes, pick a line like Harborfront once again, for the tourist exposure, and to keep them out of mixed traffic as much as possible.
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A visit to St. Clair on Monday afternoon at 4pm on December 21 — the first business day of streetcar operations as far west as Lansdowne — had a large gap in streetcar service. At one point there were 3 trams and a bus in Earlscourt Loop with another streetcar and bus held on the street until space became available. Is this a definition of “reliable service” and an end to “bunching”?
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I was out on St. Clair on Sunday. The streetcars were all bunched up. I waited for a streetcar eastbound at Dufferin while 4 passed by heading westbound. Finally a car came at the same time the fifth streetcar heading westbound arrived.
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Wasn’t impressed by service on Monday. Cars bunching, long waits — just like the old days.
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I don’t know if I should be saying this but my pride has gotten the better of me, so I am ready for any and all critiscm.
I will be tooting my own horn here and giving thanks and respect to my co-workers and others so here goes:
I was the City’s Project Design Lead for the preparation of the St Clair project and coordinated the various disciplines that were Consulted out by the City. City Design and CADD staff, Construction Inspectors, Project Engineers, Clerical staff, Consultants worked long and hard to prepare and deliver the seven Contracts, including coordinating with utility companies, councillors, various BIA’s, public, etc.
Obviously this is a very politically charged and sensitive project but I want to thank all my co-workers for helping me and the Engineers to deliver a high quality product in the face of some harsh criticsm in the press and at Public Consultation sessions. We did our best to provide a quality product in a timely manner.
Having lived in Toronto for all my life I belive that the transformation that we saw on Spadina in the past decade will happen on St Clair also and it has already with some new developments at Bathurst, Avenue Road and eventually a new shopping facility (I think Costco) on the north side between Keele and Gunns. This project is about City building and transformation. There are many studies that show that these fixed rail line and LRT lines encourage more development and one only has to look at the successes in Portland and how that City has been transformed.
The media seems to be fixated on the fact that we are spending 100M to save 5 minutes on a streetcar trip but 5 minutes multiplied each time to hundred of people who ride the line everyday will add up eventually to hours, days and years. I look forward to working on the Transit City Projects to see what else we can accomplish in
Ok I had my say so now you can start shooting.
Steve: I will not fire back with a shopping list of the problems as these have been dealt with extensively in other posts and comments here. However, for all that this is a generally good product, there were far too many cases of poor co-ordination during construction, and design decisions that were presented to the community as faits accomplis rather than for true consultation. There remain implementation problems with the so-called priority signalling for transit vehicles.
The issues for the Transit City projects are to avoid the problems of St. Clair including design changes and multiple concurrent utility upgrades, to provide real opportunity for community input and ongoing problem resolution during construction, and to ensure that traffic signals actually favour rather than hinder transit operations. I am guardedly optimistic that consultation during the design and construction phases, not to mention construction co-ordination, will be much better for the TC routes. We shall see.
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JB says:
December 21, 2009 at 8:02 pm
“I was recently in Philadelphia and they have a whole route that is running restored PCC cars. It is quite nice.”
If I have read the sources correctly these cars have had their DC motors replaced with AC ones and their controllers with solid state. This makes for a much more reliable and smoother operating vehicle. These were basically brand new cars after they were through with them.
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Saturday was the first chance I had for a really good look at St. Clair’s overall design.
The various light standards with the spikes sticking out seem pretty weird to me. And there are two diameters of light standards, with the fat ones (presumably to hold overhead) visually overpowering in a way the Spadina Ave. ones don’t seem to be.
The design of the light standards, traffic signal gantries, and overhead supports might work somewhere, but they seem out-of-place on most of St. Clair. (The one place they just may work is in the one-storey streetscape west of the rail overpass–but how long will that remain one-storey?)
My mordant thought was that, when a Tamurlane comes to Toronto, the spiked light standards would be a perfect place to display the inevitable collection of severed heads. Then I realized that the centre-pole overhead supports could serve as custom-designed twin gibbets, stretching in a long row over the horizon. In the absence of outbreaks of Mongolian nomad hordes, I can just see a “Nightmare on St. Clair Avenue” slash-and-gore movie franchise….
Perhaps this wasn’t what the designers intended. (Some designers do have strange fetishes, though.)
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To Guilty by association, and other readers, I have a co-worker who is overjoyed with the St Clair ROW and the streetcars, after having gone through the long construction process. She finds it fast, regular service so far.
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I was always in support of the general aim of this project and I certainly applaud all the folks who struggled through coordinating it. I get the sense that the allowable depth of public involvement into the design and engineering was not exactly something driven by them. You were given certain direction to design and complete the work and you have done that for the most part despite a number of significant challenges.
Unfortunately there are a number of things wrong with the final design, especially things that morphed away from the original intent. A large portion of these are visual elements that offend the eye of the general public no matter how proud some designer may be of them personally. The fact that we ended up with vastly MORE utility poles than before even if you don’t count the ones on the ROW itself is a great tragedy. The fact that the individual design of these poles and hardware complete with battleship grey paint is ugly and out of place is unforgiveable, as is the engineering behind the overheating streetlights that forced the proliferation on the sidewalks. Had this taken on the look of a heritage-focused design like the original ROW I think it would have gained praise and much wider acceptance. The ‘industrial’ look we got was about as welcomed as the futuristic “Crystal” that does nothing to compliment the look of the ROM downtown.
I understand that public consultation on this project was very difficult, what with SOS and a number of business owners seemingly looking more for a fight rather than solutions, their behaviour often akin to the Conservative backlash in the US by members of the public militantly opposed to the Healthcare Reform Bill. Yes they had many valid concerns, but too frequently they were narrow-minded and selfish. Perhaps the ability and spirit to engage intellectual members of the public in the deeper design and engineering details was lost in trying to deal with the ‘loudmouths’. Unfortunately engineers don’t always ‘know best’ and there are many people out there trained or not that had plenty of valid points to raise. For example, if engineers knew everything then the 47B/C Lansdowne Bus wouldn’t be on an indefinite northbound diversion right now because a pre-existing special curb cut for a right-hand turn was filled in as part of the new design.
The lesson here is don’t force-feed us a design and then ask us if we’d like another tree planted somewhere, or waste time and money on a survey to “name the new subway trains”. It is insulting and leads to plenty of expensive problems and fixes. Many of us out there are intelligent enough to contribute to the discussion at an engineering level and we have a pretty good sense of what the public would appreciate ‘architectually’. We would hope that you don’t feel insulted when we raise valid points. Unfortunately there is a general atmosphere of dismissal at community meetings when such suggestions are offered. That is still the norm with the Transit City projects so far from what I hear. I for one have not bothered to attend any of these meetings because I don’t feel my suggestions will be entertained. I would like to be able to work with you rather than against you, and at an early-enough stage to make an effective difference.
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Yesterday, late afteroon and evening I took several rides on the new line. My first general observation is that the crews don’t seem impressed but I was. On some of the runs we seemed to have good luck with the traffic liights and I felt what it would be like with the priority signalling – smooth and very fast.
There was bunching but I wondered how much of this was because of the dispatching. There was a supervisor at St. Clair West station who kept sending cars back in the direction from which they came, mainly towards Lansdowne. I saw no evidence of problems enroute so I can’t see any other reason for the bunching.
The riders seem to like having the streetcars back but the transfer at Earlscourt is bad. I am told that some of the parts for the overhead are being held up by strikes at the suppliers. Some of the 512 buses seemed to be looping at Oakwood.
Completing the line to Gunn’s Loop and initiating transit priority signalling will make a big difference and the dispatching can be looked into. Certainly the new cars, when they go into service will load and unload a lot faster.
But it was day one of weekday service. Bugs were inevitable. I think it’s going to work out just fine.
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I was on the last eastbound run on #4500. It was a disappointment that they would not allow anyone to take the car between St. Calir W. and Hillcrest – however it was understandable. The cars were only offering rides on St. Clair until 4 p.m. Also #4549, as I found out afterwards, was stopped in St. Clair W. station with brake issues. However, they were able to get it back to Hillcrest under its own power – with #4500 leading and a service truck behind.
It was a nice idea to do this, and I hope they do this again when the entire line is complete.
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