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Questioning Streetcar Efficiency

By Gary Campbell

2006-10-04_streetcars.jpg
Sure, there are tons of benefits attributed to streetcars/light rail — and most of us would choose anything over a bus — but this morning there was the sort of calamity unique to our city’s streetcar system.
On Queen Street near Church, one streetcar had broken down, leaving a whole line out of commission. The streetcar I was riding in ended up the sixth one stuck in a row behind the five cars pictured above. Traffic in the area was a mess.
There are a number of ways that the city’s streetcar efficiency could be improved:
Equip them with an inter-car radio system that would immediately provide alerts about stoppages farther along on the line, allowing them to quickly follow an alternate route.
Allow streetcars stuck behind a logjam to reverse back to the nearest alternate set of tracks and follow that route. Perhaps the cars can’t go in reverse?
It seems that streetcars travel in packs — you wait ages for one to arrive, and when it does, there are two riding directly behind it. This was undoubtedly a contributing factor in this pileup. Could more be done to space cars out along the line? Perhaps a GPS/computer widget that notes 30-second micro-corrections to their route timetable at each traffic light or stop.
Leave your other streetcar questions and answers in the comments.

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Comments

  • rek

    The pile-up effect definitely happens on Queen East westbound. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve left the studio and saw three streetcars pass my stop in the 2 minutes it takes to walk there. (Missing the three cars means waiting 15-20 minutes for the next one, so I rarely bother take that route home/downtown after work anymore.)
    Last Thursday I saw 6 streetcars stuck on Queen East at Broadview because the one in front broke down. I think a relatively easy solution would be the ability for streetcars to switch onto the opposite direction tracks (radio ahead and all that to make sure it’s going to be clear) to bypass stuck cars.

  • Snailspace

    The Viva system announcing the time to the next bus ‘might’ work with streetcars as well – at least then you’d know that the next Main St. bound streetcar is 40 minutes away, preceeded by 4 (FOUR!!!) Coxwell/Queen short turners. At rush hour. Arrrgh.

  • http://www.newmindspace.com kevin bracken

    streetcars actually can reverse, it is just incredibly dangerous.
    the only time i have seen it is at the queen/dufferin tracks. the ALRV didn’t “catch” the Dufferin tracks, so it had to reverse and try it again.
    it got it the second time.
    also, i’m sure we can expect that the newer streetcars won’t break down nearly as much.
    and if it was near church, it could have been towed up church…
    also, they do have an intercar communication system. that’s how they find your lost wallet.

  • Marc Lostracco

    A few weeks ago, there were eleven streetcars in a line at Yonge and Carlton. There were no cars between any of them, so it was like a bizarre streetcar wall that curved around.
    A huge part of these delays are cars parked with their flashers on in the right lane because they need to make a quick run to get some ciggies. I used to live above a Rogers Video, and the traffic jam caused by people running in to pick-up a video was ridiculous. The worst is when people do this on Yonge Street downtown. Last night, I saw three cars parked in half a block, all of which were stopped so they could go pick-up food. Needless to say, dinnertime traffic was snarled because of it as people tried to merge.
    The frustrating thing is when the buses and streetcars are running late and they have to do a short turn.

  • DavidH

    Streetcars and buses already have an onboard communications system known as TRUMP – it’s the black box in front near the farebox. Transit Control knows exactly where every vehicle is located.
    The problem isn’t a lack of communications, it’s a question of having appropriate places to turn. They can only turn where there are tracks, after all. Reversing can *only* be done under close supervision (someone walking behind the car, etc).

  • Gloria

    I was also going to mention that streetcars do have a mode of communication; it’s a little silly to assume none of the drivers are ever informed of what’s going on along their route. That would be rather dangerous.
    As much as I do love streetcars to bits … maybe we should switch to buses.

  • Boy Reporter

    This is why right of ways are a good thing. I’m not saying you could put right of ways on every single street but right of ways would prevent a lot of bunching and clustering that happens right now. It would also make certain routes more efficient.
    Case in point a streetcar with 80 people wouldn’t be held up by a Granny from the suburbs too timid to make a left hand turn.

  • Brad

    HA! Buses aren’t any better!
    Between the countless times, I’ve waited in the freezing cold only too be passed by 3 or 4 “NOT IN SERVICE” buses going down Kilping and then joining 50 people being pressed hurded in like cattle doing 90km on HWY 27 (route 191)it’s not worth it.
    The TTC is one of largest underfunded and unorganized systems in the world!!!!!!!!!!

  • http://www.newmindspace.com kevin bracken

    i don’t believe we should ever eliminate the streetcar. some reasons are logistical and others are sentimental, but humans are emotional creatures and toronto has a soul!
    that said, i think the 29 dufferin bus could use articulated buses.

  • http://brokenengine.blogspot.com brokenengine

    I’m convinced it’s the power of the TTC union.
    “Hey, I have break at the end of this run. Lets eat lunch together”
    “But what about the schedule?”
    “Screw the schedule, what are they gonna do, fire us? Not likely!”
    “HAHAHAHAHAHA!”
    And, scene.
    Seriously, it’s the only explanation I can figure. I live at Ossington station, and I’ve seen the bus drivers chatting, wait for a third to come up, have a smoke, and then all three pile into their buses and pull out. It’s the most irritating and inefficient thing…

  • rek

    Streetcar ROW doesn’t solve the problem of stalled cars holding the rest of the line hostage, but it would make the passing-tracks idea a bit safer by removing motorists from the equation.

  • miro

    To me, electric busses seem like the best of both worlds: fewer carbon emmissions and the freedom to drive around things. Some models have a battery which allows them to go off the overhead wire and drive a short distance to a new route. We used to have them until 1993, but the TTC decided that they were too expensive. I wonder if this is still the case or if the environmental benifit outweighs the cost.

  • andrew

    the ttc does have plans for right of way on queen and king. whether they will ever be able to implement ‘em is another thing. ttc does know about these problems, they work to solve ‘em, it’s just traffic that defeats them.

  • Velochicdunord

    The streetcars need cowcatchers on the front. And a bylaw that says that any vehicle blocking traffic _will_ and _can_ be pushed aside. Paint big yellow lines that say if your car or truck’s bits are stopped in here, you’ve knowing set yourself up for damage.

  • Michael Vanner

    I think we’ve covered what the real problems are:
    - Streetcars shouldn’t run with other traffic, like the TTC staff has insisted for years;
    - The TTC is underfunded, which isn’t surprising since ulike the US the federal government gives no money to public transit;
    - Transit planning and execution in Toronto is years behind where it should be, where’s the Queen St. and Eglinton subways, or the downtown relief line from Pape?
    - Sure buses could pass each other, but they have lower capacity (thus requiring more) and slower acceleration than streetcars and are just an environmental disaster;
    - Notification systems like VIVA uses are great in theory and make perfect sense when you’re standing at the side of Highway 7 or Yonge St. in a snowbank in the freezing cold waiting for a bus to show up.
    The reality is that the TTC knows how to run a public transit service, but isn’t allowed to because politicans think they can do a better job, right Mr. Moscoe?

  • Marc Lostracco

    Part of the problem in winter is the snowbanks, since they’re rarely plowed right over to the curb. Cars then can’t drive in that lane or are parked too far over and it mucks-up the timing of the system. I’ve been in a streetcar many times in the winter when it can’t move because someone’s parked their car too far out to run in and grab a coffee (as mentioned in my previous post).
    At least the Eglinton outdoor bus bays are closed now. There was nothing more infuriating during winter than the driver parking the bus and then leaving it for 10 minutes (to get back on schedule) without pulling it forward so we all could get out of the blizzardy windtunnel.

  • crash

    so in review steetcars suck.
    I rest my case

  • TorontoResident

    I’ve been waiting ages to bitch about the TTC, but I’ll try and be constructive here.
    I have a family member who works in the TTC, and from the stories I’ve heard from him, the union is insanely strong. For example:
    My favorite story is that of an employee who mistakenly derailed a subway car without the brakes on, during off hours. The train subsequently rolled, out of control, down the line past three or four subway stations (the tracks on the spadina line are downhill apparantly), thankfully not killing workers that were cleaning the tracks at the time. It finally came to a stop at king street. From what I heard the employee was not fired.
    There’s a lot worse, but hopefully that gives you a sense of the types of things that happen that the public never hears of, as well as how much pull the union has.
    As for Moscoe, that rationalization that the extra money that is being spent on the Bombardier ‘bid’ compared to that of lower bidder is acceptable because its going to keep the jobs in Ontario, is in my opion insane.
    Perhaps it is good to keep the jobs in Ontario, but his job isn’t to redistribute the wealth in Ontario as he sees fit, its to keep Toronto running on budget. He’s a *Toronto* Councellor. Didn’t we elect MPP’s to handle those concerns? Doesn’t Toronto already send a lot of its taxes out of the city to pay for smaller towns? Isn’t there already a process for considering this and redistributing the money? Its all BS as far as I can see. I’d like to see him go, but I don’t live in ward 15. Eglinton-Lawrence, what am I missing?!
    At any rate, seeing how much the traffic on the subways has risen during rush hour downtown in the last decade, it seems like we’re headed for disaster in the coming decade. It doesn’t seem like you can speed up the trains, and it doesn’t seem like you can make the trains longer because then the stations would have to be elongated (which I doubt is feasable), so the capacity seems capped underground. And there doesn’t seem to be a hope in hell that there will be a dedicated streetcar lane on King or Queen, I think that’s just dreaming, so the capacity seems pretty much capped above ground as well. So where will the increase in ridership in the downtown go in the coming years? Electric busses up Yonge and Spadina? I don’t think that would cut it knowing the traffic on those streets already.
    Hopefully I’m blowing it out of proportion, but it seems to me like there arn’t currently any viable plans to alleviate downtown traffic.
    Besides demolishing the Gardiner…. Oh wait.

  • Hey

    It’s beyond time to go back to the way that the NYC and London subway systems (and the Toronto commuter rail lines, like the Beltline) were built: private companies. Make the TTC cover all of its costs from fares and make it a private, for profit company.
    There is substantial demand for subway service, especially along Eglinton and Queen. A private company could raise money and prices at will, unlike the horrid TTC, and could deal with the Bolshies at the Union. As a further source of funding and incentive for development, the company should be given title to the air rights over the buildings along new subway lines it builds.
    A new subway line allows for increased density and vastly increases the value of the property along the line. Give that value to the company building and operating the subways and you have a strong, reality based way of funding expansion and operation.
    The streetcar is an abomination and doesn’t do what it claims to. Get rid of the cars, rip up the tracks and rights of ways, and replace them with buses that are more flexible and cause fewer problems.
    Cars blocking major roads (Spadina, King, Yonge…) need to be towed within minutes. Stop the traffic cops going on crazy blitzes in residential neighbourhoods and start ticketing and towing the real hazards to traffic.

  • aidan

    Hey, the Spadina streetcar right of way does work. Why has nobody mentioned this. It carries a lot of people through a busy area efficiently and without (at location) emissions. Imagine a bus trying to crawl through that (much more traffic than when it last did)!
    There are several things we can do to make automobile traffic, streetcar traffic and bicycle traffic move better on one street. Step one: make all the downtown streets one-way like in Montreal, so that you can easily turn left or right, since there is no oncoming traffic. No more of those too small signs telling you when you can/can’t turn left at inconsistent times; no more long waits for or behind left-hand turns. Step two: take away all street parking on arterial streets, which could then accomodate a streetcar right of way, and a bicycle lane separated by a physical barrier, because white-painted lines don’t stop a******s who can’t drive.
    I don’t want to hear about the lost parking. I really don’t care. If ‘the market’ will bear it, then people will pay for off-street parking at that price. If it is too expensive, stay in the suburbs, or get rid of your car and save $8000/year (average cost to a Canadian). Where is the idea from that people have the right to obstruct arterial traffic flow for their parking convenience, thereby slowing public transit, and endangering my life as a cyclist with the ‘door prize’?

  • aidan

    Oh yeah, as for the broken down cars, aren’t the present ones near the end of their working life?

  • http://www.bowjamesbow.ca/ James Bow

    It’s beyond time to go back to the way that the NYC and London subway systems (and the Toronto commuter rail lines, like the Beltline) were built: private companies. Make the TTC cover all of its costs from fares and make it a private, for profit company.
    There is substantial demand for subway service, especially along Eglinton and Queen. A private company could raise money and prices at will, unlike the horrid TTC, and could deal with the Bolshies at the Union.

    Can’t happen. The TTC has the best farebox recovery in North America. In other words, it is the closest to being a profitable operation, by percentage. And yet it is “losing” almost $200 million per year in operating costs. And this doesn’t include the capital budgets, which are wholly subsidized by the government to the tune of around $500 million.
    This is why there isn’t a single privately-run municipal transit agency in the country, or in most of the United States. There are privately run transit agencies, but they run municipal transit systems on contract, for a subsidy.
    This is not a surprise to anybody who knows the history of North American public transit. In the 1940s, most municipal transit agencies were privately run for-profit companies. Many ran streetcar systems. By the 1970s, most of these companies had been taken over by the municipalities. This is because, in the intervening 30 years, the private agencies went bankrupt. Municipalities had no choice but to take over moribund systems or else do without public transit altogether.
    The Toronto Transit Commission has been a city-run company since 1921, and so the city started pouring money into the agency earlier. It didn’t crash and burn as other agencies did in the fifties and the sixties, and this is a major reason why the system is as good as it is today.
    This isn’t the matter of a state monopoly or a lack of competition. Public transit was killed by competition: by the private automobile, which kicked public transit’s ass up and down the continent. In this respect, the capitalist free market has spoken: serving individuals who choose not to drive, or who are unable to drive, isn’t of value. There is no profit in it.
    Cities have maintained public transit agencies in order to provide a social service that the market cannot profit from, but which society does: to ensure mobility for those who can’t drive, and to augment our road network so that we can continue to grow without levelling whole neighbourhoods to build ever increasing networks of expressways. For instance, GO Transit has never made an operating profit. But the amount of money it has saved on reduced costs (less maintenance needed; less demand to expand the road network) to the parallel provincial highways has more than made up for the subsidy that taxpayers have paid.
    Citing the Belt Line example is a bit of a laugh. That private venture failed in less than two years. It’s possible, though, that if the city had taken an interest and ran it at subsidy, this thing would still be operating.

  • rek

    What happened to the alternating extended sidewalk plans, or is that the ROW model now (compared to the Spadina model)? I’ve always loved the idea of curbside street cars.

  • crash

    yeah the spadina streetcar “works” provided you don’t need to take it south of King.

  • Gloria

    A curbside streetcar would certainly cut down on the number of asshats who think getting to their destination a couple of minutes faster is worth plowing down commuters, children, and the elderly.
    I once saw a senior almost run over — TWICE! By the SAME CAR! When people on the sidewalk started yelling angrily at it for almost killing someone, the driver grinned and started backing up … almost right over the same lady who was still trying to get on the streetcar safely.
    Lots of driver do stop, but the danger isn’t worth the minority who don’t care or don’t know (e.g. tourists).

  • N. Clawson

    Actually – ridership per service hour on TTC buses is close to that of streetcars. That riders prefer streetcars is largely mythical. Most people I know in teh St. Clair W area would prefer that the streetcars be removed and replaced by buses.

  • http://cork2toronto.eircom.net Mark Dowling

    If the streetcars were replaced with modern quiet double ended (to eliminate loops) airconditioned trams like in Dublin, Ireland maybe there would be more take-up.
    The Irish trams (by Citadis) are 30m & 40m in length and demand is so high the 30m trams are being upgraded via a “drop-in” section to 40m.

  • Chris Dart

    James,
    I was just wondering. What about a system like London (England) has where the transit system is a purchaser of services rather than I provider?
    So, the TTC would create the route then tender bids from private companies to service them, like every city in the western world, other than Toronto, does with their garbage.
    What would be the pros/cons there? Because I think it’s an intriguing idea if nothing else.

  • Nelson

    I know this is a bit on a bit of a tangent (since it’s a general TTC rant), but how about using Toronto’s many hydro corridors as Rights of Way for bus lanes and/or rail lines? It would reduce the huge cost of digging under existing infrastructure (e.g. Sheppard line) and still reach out to the corners of our vast city. OPG (or whoever owns the land) could lease the land to the TTC for a $1 and allow them to expand their network at a much lower cost to all levels of government. Not ALL train service must be underground… look at Chicago’s elevated train.
    If Madrid can build 110 km of subway/rail service over a 10 year period, why is it that we can build only 6 km over the same period? (Rhetorical)

  • http://www.bowjamesbow.ca/ James Bow

    Chris Dart,
    What you are suggesting with regard to the TTC is contracting out, rather than full privatization. Precident already exists in and around Ontario. You’ll note that the Durham Region transit strike took out services everywhere in Durham Region except in Whitby, which was run under a different contract. Likewise, York Region Transit contracts out services, such that a strike in Markham might not take out service in Vaughan.
    The important thing to note, however, is that these contracted services are still run at a subsidy. This isn’t the same as running the TTC as a private business; government is still stepping in and saying that a particular service must be provided under particular conditions.
    Could contracting out allow Toronto to provide the same level of services for less? I don’t know. The experience across North America offers no clear picture of which model is superior. But I see no harm in having this debate.