08-21-2015, 02:29 PM
(08-21-2015, 01:54 PM)chutten Wrote: IIRC, the numbers cited on rideion.ca show an evolution over the 200 iXpress, not a revolution... Here we go:
Quote:What will rapid transit travel times be?
Approximately 39 minutes from Conestoga Mall to Fairview Park Mall for light rail transit and approximately 33 minutes from Fairview Park mall to Ainslie Street terminal with adapted bus rapid transit.
Current construction-addled runtimes for 200 from Conestoga Mall to Fairview Park Mall are in the 54min range. I forget what the pre-construction times were.
So, it's 15 minutes better. (Contrast to driving which takes 14min (!) via the parkway.)
But not many travel the entire length of the system, so those stop-to-stop timings are more important than an overal speed improvement.
Agreed, it's an evolution and the entire trip length isn't so helpful anyway. BTW, if you look closely at the schedule snippet I posted, it shows mostly 46 minute times. The 39 minute time was before the addition of a couple of stops.
My observation was that the rush hour preconstruction times were approaching 1 hour for CM to FPM. The degradation of performance was mostly in the section I was talking about, the CM to Uptown area. Having to weave through Ring Road must cost a couple of minutes. Detouring out along University to King, and then crawling down King through Uptown also adds time especially when traffic is heavy. And when ridership is heavy, it feels like you can get a 1 minute or more dwell time at the UW and Laurier stops.
Because of this, I'm expecting most of the high-50's to mid-40's time savings on ION's route, particularly during rush hour, to come between CM and Uptown. There's not as much opportunity for time savings (that I can see) along the rest of the line.
Thoughts?