sonnyjames

So, after a couple of months' research and house hunting we're moving to Roncesvalles Village at the start of March. We know (because we've taken it, during the day) that we can get the 504 streetcar from Roncesvalles Ave and ride it down King, to York (where I need to get off for work) but we've not done the journey in rush hour (8am-9am).

I'm not anticipating a seat or a stress-free, comfortable ride. But can anyone shed some light on just how busy it will be (as in, will we be able to actually get on the thing or have to wait for the next one) and how snarled up the traffic gets (and what sort of impact that might have on our journey time)?

When we were over recently and doing the journey during the day, it was about a 20 minute ride. I'm just wondering how many 'extra' minutes I'll need to allow in the morning...

ireland2canada

Here's a handy website. http://myttc.ca/ Type in your two locations and it will give you a selection of routes and how long they will take.

I don't know about the King car, my place was on the College St route. I liked taking the streetcar for the novelty of it, but I didn't use it for work. Often, I would walk to the next stop...and the next...and the next because I got bored waiting. The streetcars are not a fast way to get around, leave plenty of time.

Londonuck

In summer, bring peg.

dgagitw

I'd allow another 15 minutes. Also, the SMS based scheduling info is very useful - get an update for your stop before you leave the house to save yourself waiting around for 15 minutes.

Personally though, I'd cycle if I was doing that route. It will take about the same amount of time and be far more pleasant most of the year.

MarylandNed

I love the streetcars but they are definately slowed down by other road users. During rush hour, I always felt that streetcar journies took twice as long. That's the main reason that Mayor Rob Ford insisted that the new "crosstown" rapid transit link across Eglinton be changed from an above ground to an underground system (although increased cost and other challenges may have his opponents reversing that decision in the future).

lmartin999

And it was absolute rubbish in terms of the crosstown link. The plan was always to go underground where Eglinton was relatively narrow but overground in a dedicated lane (as with St Clair) where the road was much wider. Also, Ford's argument is never that street cars are slowed down by other road users, but that street cars slow down cars (the only legitimate road user in his view).

iaink

So are you saying hes right and that it would be win win underground as both the cars and the streetcars will be faster

Maybe hes not all bad

DigitalGhost

Toronto street cars are mostly dilapidated pieces of shit which should have been taken out of commission and destroyed years ago.

The fact that they still exist is testament to just how much of a farce the TTC truly is to be perfectly honest.

MarylandNed

Right but in reality streetcars and other vehicles do slow each other down. Streetcars add to regular road traffic and still have to respect traffic signals - and other vehicles have to stop to let streetcars load/unload. Similarly streetcars are slowed by congestion caused by other vehicles. Having dedicated overground lanes for streetcars is an improvement but you still have the fact that they have to respect traffic signals and you place more pedestrians (streetcar users) above ground as well.

Putting the crosstown link completely below ground is certainly more expensive but it is probably also the best solution. Passengers can be moved along faster. The one down side for passengers is the greater distance between stops as they are now limited to entering/exiting the system at underground stations - whereas overground stops can be placed almost anywhere on the street (although even that is something that irritates other road users no end).

Also, it's very difficult to gauge the true cost of large construction projects. Infrastructure improvements are usually good business because they also create jobs and that's especially important in the current economic climate.

MarylandNed

I agree that the investment in public transportation in Toronto has been totally inadequate. I've mentioned this before but Washington DC (which I live near) actually has more subway stations and more miles of track than Toronto which is a much bigger city.

DigitalGhost

What pissed me off was when I saw yesterday that the TTC have put adverts up on the new subway trains advising that they cannot improve services under their current budget because they receive 'the lowest government contributions of any major transit system in North America' (Boo-funking-hoo) and that they would love to replace the age-old street car fleet for example but can't because the pesky provincial and federal governments won't give them any more money.

Oink

Although it basically only serves the posh/white areas, expect Georgetown.

MarylandNed

Not true at all.

MarylandNed

What can the TTC do if they don't have the money to do it? Maybe there are some things they can do to save money and increase efficiency but that's not going to be enough to build new subway lines and stations. They are definitely underfunded.

DigitalGhost

They are also full of shit. What really annoys me is that the poster cites funding in Chicago and Montreal, like a child saying to his Mum 'awww but look what he got'. Quite frankly it's pathetic.