Toronto, Eh?

[Bucky alum]

Tranplanner-

I must say I really enjoyed my short weekend trip to Toronto. I was very impressed with the city and coming from NJ, I found many things refreshing (Cleanliness, room to move) However I was most impressed with the subway system. I have two questions however.

During the workweek, how full is the system? On Saturday they seemed very empty.

Additionally, how do the transfers work. I got one and used it to get on a streetcar but how long are they good for after the trip?

Additionally, I have noticed that you said you lived downtown. Are you in one of the new condo's they are builiding? What are they planning to do with the area between the SkyDome and the AirCanada centre.

 

[donk]

Transfers alll depend on what line you are on.

Most are only good or 1 hr after they are issued. Along the Queen Street POP line at many of the stops you can just hop on and off using the same one and no one knows.

The best deal in town is the daily metro pass, about $7 and you can get on and off the sytem as many times as you want.

My recollection of the systemis that during the day in the core, the subway is usually pretty full.

 

[Tranplanner]

Glad you enjoyed your visit to T.O. Next time you're in town, lemme know.

Subways can be quite full on the weekends - depending on the time of day. Heading downtown on the Yonge line on a Saturday afternoon can be almost as crowded as rush-hour. Speaking of workdays - the subway can be VERY crowded. It all depends on the direction you're travelling, and how far from downtown you are. Subway ridership varies (by line section) from about 50,000 to over 200,000 people a day. The system as a whole carries over a million people a day (about 410 million rides a year)

Transfers cannot be used for stopovers - so once you actually get off the system your transfer is void. Theoretically, there is no time limit. You could travel the entire system using the same transfer over and over again. However, if you have a time-stamped transfer from a subway station and try to use it more than an hour and a half after it's issued you'll probably get a hassle. A transfer issued on a bus or streetcar is a little different as they're not time-stamped. Sometimes, if the operator is working properly, the transfer will be "punched", which is supposed to indicate the general time you boarded, and the direction the vehicle was headed. But most operators these days don't bother with that.

As Donk mentioned, the best deal is the day-pass, which I think is about $8.50 now. It offers unlimited rides after 9:30a.m. on weekdays, or anytime on weekends.

I don't actually live downtown, I just work there. I live out in Scarborough (in a condo at the Town Centre). As for buildings between Skydome and the ACC - on the north side of Bremner there is a proposal for a hotel. On the south side, east of the roundhouse are some condos, which I think are starting construction. There is a office building proposed for the parking lot immediately to the west of the ACC. I've been working on this one as ultimately there is meant to be an LRT along Bremner, and we have to protect for an underground connection to Union Station.

 

[green22]

I thought that the Bremmer lrt idea was pretty much dead. I guess not. The money would have to come out of the ttc budget some how. Impossible right now. Ideally it would be best to have the new residences of cityplace get used to the lrt as they move in. Have you decided where the terminus will be, exhibition station? Just being curious.

 

[Tranplanner]

Its not dead - it will just be a long time coming. It will be dead if do not protect for it.

 

[freshcutgrass]

The land between ACC & Skydome will see several condo/hotel/office towers. Roundhouse Park is already there (actually the roof of a huge u/g parking lot/convention centre). Before Trizec got disinterested in Canadian buildings, they were supposed to add a large 300,000 sqft addition to the base of CN Tower...retail/entertainment...no idea what's happening with that now...I think Trizec is interested in selling it's lease on the Tower.

Since there are no "zone fares" on the TTC, any one-way trip anywhere on the system is just one price. If you need to use more than one vehicle to get to your destination, you use the transfer obtained where you first payed your fair to transfer. All tranfers are time-stamped, and the drivers can tell if you have made a long stop-over....sometimes they are looking...sometimes not...not worth testing the system though....my Uncle drives streetcar, and they have it down to a fine science...they know how long it takes from any location...he can tell excactly what goes into the fair-box simply by listening LOL!!! The way it's set up, you can't travel to somewhere, and return on the same transfer. There are several clever ways of cheating, and some people do...oh well.

Sometimes, subways can seem fairly empty, but that's because the trains are pretty big...six cars with a capacity of 1500 passengers. With each train usually every 2-3 minutes, a lot of people can be using it, but seems like there isn't.

 

[donk]

If I remember correctly, there is a premium / additional fare paid on TTC from the airport along lawrence(?). Never want to take that trip again, its worth the 12 bucks to get downtown, vs almost 2 1/2 hours on the bus.

 

[freshcutgrass]

You have to pay the extra fare, because you are actually outside of the city-proper (Pearson is actually in Mississauga). The TTC only has jurisdiction within the city-proper. A few TTC buses actually cross the border a bit into the edge cities, and you must pay that city's transit fare, even though you are not actually on one of it's buses.

 

[Tranplanner]

1100 people is the standard operating capacity of a Toronto subway train. You can get up to the 1300+ level, but generally that's when service starts breaking down (e.g. people interfering with the doors, extremely long dwell times, etc.).

The premium fare along Lawrence wasn't a premium fare to get you to the airport - it was because the bus actually serves a part of Mississauga, and therefore you need an extra fare. There is a new(ish) service - the 192 Airport Rocket, direct from Kipling station that gets you to the airport on one fare.

 

[freshcutgrass]

I was using Bombardier's stats for the T1 cars. They state 66 seated and 184 standees = 250/car X6 cars = 1500. I'm sure they didn't intend for the amount that "can" be uncomfortably crammed on there, so I assumed it can actually exceed that capacity at times.

 

[donk]

At the time I thought it was odd getting on a TTC bus in Mississauga.

 

[Tranplanner]

The TTC provides contract service on several routes serving outlying municipalities in York and Peel Regions.