the blue-sky has fallen 💔

How California transit operators and institutions understand transit

TTC trumpets quicker LRT travel times after new lines stumbled off the start More aggressive forms of transit signal priority are credited with time savings on the Eglinton Crosstown and Finch West LRTs

www.torontotoday.ca/local/transp...

i just think it's really embarassing that even the atrociously generous 46-min schedule (13 km/h average speed) could not be met consistently by the TTC for over 4 months. it was even slower. truly the most disappointing transit line constructed in this city's history.

so the real accomplishment here is that the TTC has finally managed to get travel times down consistently to match their already-unambitious 46 m schedule that was set in december.

43 minutes, however, still isn't competitive with the former bus and not the original 33-34 min promised.

Toronto Today headline of article by Aidan Chamandy TTC trumpets quicker LRT travel times after new lines stumbled off the start More aggressive forms of transit signal priority are credited with time savings on the Eglinton Crosstown and Finch West LRTs photo of Eglinton LRT

TTC is reporting 20 min faster travel times on the finch west LRT, but the devil is in the details.

they are measuring round trip (so to finch west to humber and back again) instead of end-to-end, so savings are actually ~10 m.

also, it's from 53 m to 43 m, only 3 m faster than the schedule

not saying we shouldn't emulate the european systems, but noteworthy how toronto lags behind melbourne (also home to a slow ass tram network) despite similarly dense stop spacing.

it really goes to show how rotten TTC street rail operating practices are, even ignoring stop spacing.

this could be a pivotal shift in how toronto progressive electeds envision rapid transit expansion in the suburbs into something with tangible benefits beyond "it's a train", and hopefully more nuanced discussion beyond deep-bore subway vs fancy streetcar

there is some optimism about the whole rebranding of the eglinton east LRT into "scarborough east rapid transit" line.

it leaves open possibilities about modal choice and design (so, hopefully not a clone of line 6), and the mayor has made explicit mention to pitch in money for grade separations

line 5, at least where it's grade separated, is now often faster than line 2 - which it should be by design, given that the stop spacing on line 5 is sparser than line 2 (outside scarborough). still, it struggles with long boarding queues at interchanges, with the inefficient LRT layout and all.

it's nice to see line 5 zipping by traffic with the new 80 kph speed limit on tunnels and viaducts. it's an excellent look for transit.

mount dennis to yonge is around 15-16 min now; cedarvale to yonge around 6-7 min.

a comparable trip on line 2 (runnymede to yonge) is about 18-19 min.

Carney spends over $2 billion to cut fuel taxes right after cutting $5 billion in funding dedicated towards supporting, maintaining, & upgrading transit in Toronto and across Canada that millions rely on.

Remember, public transit is the real solution to high fuel prices - not temporary tax cuts!

Church Street plan could make The Village pedestrian-friendly this summer | CBC News A new proposal at city hall could see part of Toronto’s Gay Village closed to cars this summer. Supporters say the plan would boost local businesses and create more space for people to gather.

Thank you @tyrcheese.bsky.social for covering the Church Street Pedestrianization plan as well!

Always happy to talk about creating safer and vibrant streets!

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

i went to the mexican grocer and bought corn tortillas and the vietnamese grocer and bought napa cabbage and green onions and frozen fish and went to the halal grocer and bought spices and pita and yogurt and i enjoyed every fucking minute of it and am proud of my community. fix your heart or d!e

painful evening to be watching blue jays baseball because what is this cartoon-ass sequence of events 😭

i hate baseball

blue bird beisbol is so back

I'm late to the game but this is a great argument from @fernkhahn.com to treat the YongeUniversitySpadinaFinchVaughanYellow1 Line as two separate lines. Love it!

game recognize game when you see ur own route schedule

one has to come from a very high point of privilege and insulation to feel so unaffected by the war waged by the country they live in, its killings of majority racialized americans within their borders by ICE, its support of modern day genocide to say it's "all a distraction".

really bothered me when a bunch of democrat-ish people proclaimed it all a "distraction from the files" when my home country was being bombed 3 months ago & i was thinking who i knew in my family lived in caracas

don't let evil get away with more evil by downplaying war crimes. have some humanity.

crowd control that will result in more crowding? weird security theatre? 9/11-brain? nyc transit planning incompetence? it's one or some combination of the above

in toronto, service is being increased on several buses, streetcars and subways, connecting GO trains will run every >15min, airport trains will extend hours later into the night. union station will be open.

nyc on the other hand is shutting down its busiest station and making it harder to travel.

see this is where the nuance comes in, newmarket is relatively tiny and its local transit sucks, sorry to the newmarket/barrie subway truthers

yea, hence the whole "we build these expansions in the most wrong/expensive way", though i fear there have grown out of that a general opposition to suburban subway expansion. i mean, even the york U extension was contentious - not even up to Vaughan, but just to york U

by "the people of venezuela" he means the magazolanos living in miami, btw

🗣️ PITCHERS ARE ATHLETES TOO!

that's the plan from the city, platforms demolished to allow for low-floor bus loading zones and the standard bus shelters

Small, crude drawing in pen of Fern sitting at a desk. Text: "Fern K Hahn 2026"

people often have trouble imagining what life is like for ace people, so here's a comic about how i like to spend my time.

the truth is, we're just like you — and more importantly, we're everywhere.

happy international asexuality day!

of course we should prioritize capacity in the core of our network, but I'll roll my eyes at people who suggest subway expansions to places like scarborough centre *aren't* going to fill up, & travel/land use behaviours won't change.

the issue is we build these extensions in the most expensive way