ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[ijmorlan]

But that's the problem -- people not stopping fully and then checking are creating accidents. Stoping and checking requires you to use your brain, slowing and simply checking doesn't work the same way.

People not checking are creating accidents. People are perfectly capable of stopping, and not checking. Obsessing over whether or not there was a moment in time when the velocity of their car relative to the ground was 0 is counterproductive.

[ijmorlan]

Specifically with Grand River Hospital, I thought it would be a lot of people doing this, but at least from what I've seen it doesn't seem to be. Possibly just a matter of where people's destinations tend to be.

Yes, I think at GRH the actual number of people doing that will be low. However, since no additional construction would be needed to allow a north-end access (just a different configuration of curbs), it should have been done, no matter how low the expected demand.

[creative]

I thought that this was the Ion thread, not the failing to stop at stop signs thread!

[ijmorlan]

That part I can abide less. There is a button-activated crosswalk, people should call for it and wait for it to be activated, not jay walk. But I can understand it, because they want to get to the north side and there is an arm keeping them on the track side, and away from the button.

I'm not sure why there need to be arms blocking the sidewalk- the Spur Line certainly doesn't have that elsewhere, and nor do other Ion crossings.

All the gate-controlled intersections have arms blocking the sidewalk. Can you think of a counter-example?

[MidTowner]

Sorry, what I meant was that there are plenty of crossings (more than "plenty") which are not gate-controlled.

Why must there be a gate blocking the sidewalk, particularly the small gate blocking only the sidewalk on the east side (I can't think of one of those used elsewhere on the line), and particularly when people are going to be on the track side of the gate disembarking the train? That makes no sense to me.

[MidTowner]

Yes, I think at GRH the actual number of people doing that will be low. However, since no additional construction would be needed to allow a north-end access (just a different configuration of curbs), it should have been done, no matter how low the expected demand.

Yep, you're right about this, it should have. And I suspect that not doing it had nothing to do with expected demand. I would bet that wasn't a consideration at all, given the number of stations where this was the practice.

[Pilsner]

Fix for EasyGo fare card glitch being tested

https://www.therecord.com/news-story/949...ng-tested/

[boatracer]

I'm really tired of the use of the word "glitch" for every technological problem that occurs. I can't tell if it is just lazy reporting or that they think most people won't understand/don't care what the root cause of the problem is. As more and more of our lives is a direct interaction with technology (software, hardware, services) the explanation that something doesn't work as expected because of a glitch is less than helpful.

[timio]

How about "new version of software being tested, containing the following bugfixes..."

But not all of us live in the development realm...

[plam]

So I met with region staff at Willis Way. They pointed out the design challenges there: putting in the crosswalk at the north end of the platform wouldn't work great because the cars will bunch up from Erb and Caroline. My recollection of that conversation is that their predicted car behaviour is that the cars would just block the crosswalk. The PXO at the south end of Willis Way is there for accessibility reasons, but they expect that most able-bodied people would jaywalk midblock on Caroline to get to/leave the station, which is the behaviour that I've observed.

I found that the Region of Waterloo engineers are actually quite realistic with respect to human behaviour on roads; their focus is on reducing the number of people actually getting hit by cars (vs just following the rules).

We also looked at the cars turning west onto Erb from Caroline despite the prohibition ("NO LEFT TURN, BUSES EXCEPTED"). Usually it seems to be cars that are following buses.

They are also continuing to work on signal timing and reducing unnecessary arms-down time.

Not having a split stop would have been better (i.e. two-way traffic on King St) but that was driven by elected officials. Cambridge isn't getting split stops in their design.

[timc]

How about "new version of software being tested, containing the following bugfixes..."

But not all of us live in the development realm...

"Bug fixes and performance improvements".

[boatracer]

How about "new version of software being tested, containing the following bugfixes..."

But not all of us live in the development realm...

"Bug fixes and performance improvements".

I'm not looking for the nitty gritty, but it seems like glitch is used as a cop out and everyone just kinda says, "yeah glitch...that sounds about right."  Oh well.

[danbrotherston]

So I met with region staff at Willis Way. They pointed out the design challenges there: putting in the crosswalk at the north end of the platform wouldn't work great because the cars will bunch up from Erb and Caroline. My recollection of that conversation is that their predicted car behaviour is that the cars would just block the crosswalk. The PXO at the south end of Willis Way is there for accessibility reasons, but they expect that most able-bodied people would jaywalk midblock on Caroline to get to/leave the station, which is the behaviour that I've observed.

I found that the Region of Waterloo engineers are actually quite realistic with respect to human behaviour on roads; their focus is on reducing the number of people actually getting hit by cars (vs just following the rules).

We also looked at the cars turning west onto Erb from Caroline despite the prohibition ("NO LEFT TURN, BUSES EXCEPTED"). Usually it seems to be cars that are following buses.

They are also continuing to work on signal timing and reducing unnecessary arms-down time.

Not having a split stop would have been better (i.e. two-way traffic on King St) but that was driven by elected officials. Cambridge isn't getting split stops in their design.

Cars may block the box, there are ways to fix that as well.

That being said, they're realistic in the fact that they acknowledge they are creating situations which encourage and even force pedestrians and cyclists to break the law. The media then demonizes cyclists and peds when they do as the engineers intend.

I don't believe this is a kindness. Just because they acknowledge the reality they're creating doesn't mean that they aren't creating it. And, just as with the cities and putting "road closed" signs on open roads, they're creating a culture where peds know and act, as though the rules don't apply.....specifically because they don't.

If engineers want to blame standards, well, that's a cop out...it's also not true, the standards allow for good designs...the city manages to achieve this.

As for cars usually following buses this is not the case.  I've seen hundreds of cars turn left there, I have never seen a bus turn, as a result I've never seen a car follow a GRT bus through a left.

[taylortbb]

So I met with region staff at Willis Way. They pointed out the design challenges there: putting in the crosswalk at the north end of the platform wouldn't work great because the cars will bunch up from Erb and Caroline. My recollection of that conversation is that their predicted car behaviour is that the cars would just block the crosswalk. The PXO at the south end of Willis Way is there for accessibility reasons, but they expect that most able-bodied people would jaywalk midblock on Caroline to get to/leave the station, which is the behaviour that I've observed.

I found that the Region of Waterloo engineers are actually quite realistic with respect to human behaviour on roads; their focus is on reducing the number of people actually getting hit by cars (vs just following the rules).

We also looked at the cars turning west onto Erb from Caroline despite the prohibition ("NO LEFT TURN, BUSES EXCEPTED"). Usually it seems to be cars that are following buses.

I don't see how cars bunching up from Erb and Caroline is a problem, the north end of Willis Way stations is 228m from Erb/Caroline. That's space for a lot of cars to be stopped. Unless the concern is about blocking Father David Bauer, but that still has room for 71m of stopped cars. They could also add signage at Father David Bauer about not blocking the intersection.

As for drivers ignoring the bus-only left turn, I feel like signals could do a lot for that. The signals facing drivers northbound on Caroline should just always be a red light, with a white bar for buses and green arrow for right turns. If a car attempts to make a left they'll just never get a green light, and eventually they'll learn that attempting to turn there is futile (as most won't be willing to blatantly run a red).

[MidTowner]

I don't see how cars bunching up from Erb and Caroline is a problem, the north end of Willis Way stations is 228m from Erb/Caroline. That's space for a lot of cars to be stopped. Unless the concern is about blocking Father David Bauer, but that still has room for 71m of stopped cars. They could also add signage at Father David Bauer about not blocking the intersection.

As for drivers ignoring the bus-only left turn, I feel like signals could do a lot for that. The signals facing drivers northbound on Caroline should just always be a red light, with a white bar for buses and green arrow for right turns. If a car attempts to make a left they'll just never get a green light, and eventually they'll learn that attempting to turn there is futile (as most won't be willing to blatantly run a red).

Do "Do Not Block Crosswalk" signs exist? They could just use one of those...

I've observed cars turning left onto westbound Erb from Caroline, and I'm not around there that often. While that doesn't really bother me, I'm surprised that the engineers' response was anything other than "Thanks for bringing that to our attention; we'll refer that to the police for enforcement," which is equally a cop-out but makes logical sense.

The engineers' solution (that able-bodied people will just cross mid-block and the crosswalk is at the south end for accessibility reasons) makes a lot of sense until someone is struck by a car. Then, there will be no investigation into the many different factors that produced the collision and proportionate assignment of culpability. To the police, it will simply be a case of "she was jaywalking, even though there is a crosswalk right over there."