Spadina Bus vs. Streetcar: With streetcar route now closed, we tested both (so you don’t have to)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 มิ.ย. 2024
- With the TTC upgrading the Spadina streetcar right-of-way from now until December, the transit agency is resorting to the next best thing to keep people moving along the route. Which means transit riders on one of downtown's busiest routes will have to take one of the replacement buses now added to one of the city's most congested roads. To find out what that means to commuters, the Star’s Mahdis Habibinia took the 3.5-kilometre journey from Bloor Street to the waterfront during the afternoon rush - twice. First by the streetcar while it was still running; then by the replacement bus.
27 minutes to go 3.5 km?! Only in Toronto would they find a way to construct a tramway and have it operate at an average speed comparable to a power walk!
The tramway isn't operating at the average speed of a powerwalk. It's closed down for maintenance and busses are operating at a speed comparable to a power walk.
Public transit is great except when it is busses that operate on the same infrastructure with motor vehicle traffic.
@@sessionfiddler she said with the streetcar ROW it took 27 minutes to go 3.5km. That's a little over 7 km/h. Average walking speed is about 5 km/h.
The bus took 106 minutes, or for the sake of simplicity about 1 hour and 46 minutes. Let's say 1.75 hours. That is an average speed of TWO kilometers per hour!
Way too many stops on the streetcar lines, slow orders at every junction (there are a lot along Spadina!), and little to non-existent signal/traffic priority for them.
It’s unbelievable that nothing gets done to rectify these issues. Hopefully the next TTC CEO will be better.
Upgrading overhead wires, fixing track and preparing for work to expand the streetcar platform at Spadina station? There must be a way to do all this work and maintain service.
If in 2013, Tokyo could convert Daikanyama St. station from above ground to underground in 3.5 hours with 1200 workers in a one time event, why can't we do something like that here? Likely a lot of planning and probably one giant cost but how does that compare to all of our proposed budgets and timelines getting blown away with months or years delay and increases plus the inconvenience to users and the businesses around it?
Today, there was an article about the 510 Spadina route in the Toronto Star, the first one since June 23, when streetcars were taken off that route and replaced with a curbside shuttle-bus operation.
This past Friday, a journalist from the Toronto Star took the 510 Spadina streetcar from Spadina subway station and rode it to Queens Quay and Spadina loop. The trip took him (or her) just under 30 minutes. However on Monday, he took the same trip on one of the shuttle buses on the 510 Spadina route and it took him 106 minutes (1 hour and 46 minutes). The many shuttle buses on this route contend with private vehicles and also commercial vehicles such as (transport) trucks, making for traffic that either grinds to a standstill or crawls when it gets going again.
I've switched to taking two streetcars, the combination of the 511 Bathurst and the 509 Harbourfront routes, which converge at Bathurst and Fleet Streets.
"Route Seventy Seven Bee,
On the T T T T C"!
World class city
Close a lane to cars and add a bus lane…
Can the TTC run the buses in the middle?
@@gordonou7065no sadly, the area is set for construction
Just close down the entire street to cars at this point.
These buses may as well not be there if walking is going to be faster.
@@Chop23this is preferable yes
in scarborough they have bus lanes
Why are they already upgrading the Spadina street cars? Isn't that the newest streetcar line in the city? That central street car corridor is only about 10 years old.
That section of track opened in 1990 as part of the 604 Harbourfront LRT.
The Spadina portion north of King opened in 1997.
The ride would be more enjoyable if you were listening to the song Spadina Bus
❤❤❤
If you are able to, you're better off walking from Front/Spadina to Spadina station.
2.5kms by streetcar in 27 minutes? lol. Must be a lot of sitting sitting. You can walk that in like 15 to 20 minutes and save your $
The whole idea of using "trains" that require a track overhaul every 10 years is ludicrous. We could use articulated EV buses with no need for all new infrastructure like power cables and tracks. We're a dumb city run by incompetents.
Laughable. What a joke streetcars are. Replace them with electric articulated buses in separated lanes. Get all the efficiency without the silly trackwork that takes months.
RTFA/WTFV Busses on the same roadway as motor vehicles that are mostly single occupant is the immediate problem. The bigger problem is how a busy city can shut down a major light rail line for half a year for maintenance instead of doing things piecemeal and keeping it running at the same time. Is it too expensive to do it the other way?
Speaking of articulated buses, Vancouver's transit system operates articulated trolley buses on many of its routes. These buses have a pair of trolley poles, which draw electricity from overhead electrical wires.
…and spend three times as much on drivers wages because no bus comes even close to the number of passengers those streetcars hold. Sounds like a great plan.
@@elizabethhollowaye7494 I know! But they don't have the Byzantine in-road tracks.
@@lastchretien yep, everyone will be cheering our undying commitment to streetcars while they sit in motionless traffic on a bus while they spend half a year and a zillion dollars replacing our silly street railroad.
Taxpayers on the hook for this garbage jounalism
the toronto star isnt publicly funded…. embarrassing…
@@yongdetao7005 yes, you are. The Star receives 600 M a year from the feds. Do your homework
@@ColdHardToronto nothing in torstar's 2019 annual report would suggest they received revenue from the canadian government www.annualreports.com/HostedData/AnnualReports/PDF/TSX_TSB_2019.pdf