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ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit
(05-26-2016, 09:07 AM)Spokes Wrote: A question though, with the Bombardier delay, is there a chance we get SOME of the vehicles and start rolling them out a bit at a time, or is that pointless?

The response from Tom Galloway on that:

Quote:Q: Is there a backup plan in the event Bombardier misses the December 2016 deadline?

A: "No. There really is no Plan B for a couple of reasons," Galloway said.

The region says there is no other manufacturer with extra low-floor vehicles sitting around. If the region opted to contract someone new, that would only increase the delay and the region would likely still have to pay Bombardier for work completed so far.

The region could investigate starting service with fewer than the 14 vehicles currently planned. To provide 15-minute service, frequency requires 12 trains plus two spares. With fewer trains, the region could probably launch 30-minute service initially, with the downside being that may not attract the ridership officials want to see.

Which is a little disconcerting, because I thought that we were hoping to get 10 minute peak frequency with the 14 LRVs.
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Peak Frequency is supposed to be 10 min?
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Peak frequency was supposed to be every 7-8 minutes I thought with 10 minute frequency through the midday. Hopefully Galloway or The Record made an error with that.
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(05-26-2016, 12:46 PM)Waterlooer Wrote: Peak frequency was supposed to be every 7-8 minutes I thought with 10 minute frequency through the midday. Hopefully Galloway or The Record made an error with that.

How often will I be able to catch ION?
Exact schedules will be established before ION service begins, but generally speaking ION LRT trains will run every eight minutes during rush hours and every 10 to 15 minutes during the rest of the day.

http://rapidtransit.regionofwaterloo.ca/...stions.asp

I assume Galloway is talking about the baseline frequency, not peak.
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(05-25-2016, 01:00 PM)tomh009 Wrote:
(05-25-2016, 11:40 AM)GtwoK Wrote: Will they be doing the big corner section of Charles / Ontario in the black concrete? The section that was previously occupied by the turn segment from Charles onto Ontario.

It doesn't look like they're planning to do that ...

Good spot for a parkette, pending redevelopment of the block.
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(05-26-2016, 10:45 AM)timc Wrote:
(05-26-2016, 10:19 AM)tomh009 Wrote: BRT on the LRT route!  But I think they'll be needing the LRT tracks for testing and training so that's probably not a practical option.

Not to mention that the riding the spur line would be *awfully* bumpy in a bus.

That depends entirely on the skill of the driver at steering.
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(05-25-2016, 11:40 AM)panamaniac Wrote:
(05-25-2016, 11:17 AM)MidTowner Wrote: That looks really nice to me. I'll be curious to see how it wears and ages.

I assume this strip will turn grey as it dries?

Correct - it is a different colour for visually impaired.

For more background, see similar post I did here - http://www.waterlooregionconnected.com/s...2#pid21362
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Well, that didn't take long.

Car Crashes into Kansas City's Streetcar

Kansas City's system opened less than 3 weeks ago.
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I feel sure that K-W will be able to beat that!
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I hope so, but I'm not optimistic, given history. It's one of the inevitabilities with the technology, since it interfaces at road level with all other modes of transport, instead of traveling above or below grade. Houston has had a particularly bad time with this.

I still say a safety campaign should be started sooner, rather than later, to get the word out about safety and behavior around tracks.
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People drive into everything else at ground level and LRTs are pretty protected compared to pedestrians or cyclists.
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A car can derail an LRT train, but it's not likely. You're right that cars collide with things all the time, and in the case of LRT a motorist colliding into a train is unlikely to kill anyone. Edit: except maybe himself.
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I noticed that the crew at Erb & Caroline was still hard at work at 9:45 tonight when I was walking home from the Princess.
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(05-26-2016, 09:28 PM)Canard Wrote: I hope so, but I'm not optimistic, given history.  It's one of the inevitabilities with the technology, since it interfaces at road level with all other modes of transport, instead of traveling above or below grade.  Houston has had a particularly bad time with this.

I still say a safety campaign should be started sooner, rather than later, to get the word out about safety and behavior around tracks.


You misunderstood me - I doubt we will have to wait three full weeks from the time ION starts running regularly to the first reports of contact with vehicles.  I fully expect ION to become K-W's "scratch and dent" trains.
To be clear, I don't expect any of it to be due to the trains - we will be able to thank local drivers!
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(...and cyclists, and pedestrians)
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