Next New Streetcar to Join the Fleet
Bryan Martyniuk lives in Thunder Bay and sent along pictures of 4446 from today. 4446 will be the next new streetcar to join the TTC’s fleet. It’s a little too far for me to get up to Thunder Bay to see the new streetcars or GO Transit coaches roll off the line so it’s great to have Bryan be there.
4446, a Flexity Freedom, and GO 4020, a bilevel coach. The GO coach is in primer paint and will head to North Bay for the final paint job. Photo credit Bryan Martyniuk.
Photo credit Bryan Martyniuk.
Pantographs Up On Harbourfront
Check out this post by Steve Munro on the TTC testing out the pantograph on their new streetcars. What’s the big deal Chris?
1) It’s looks cool;
2) It’ll improve reliability – the pole tends to pop off at intersections and during turns; and
3) What about the historic look of the pole? No problem – visit Halton County Radial Railway. It’s a museum. They have ice cream. It’s fun.
On Tuesday, September 12, 2017, the TTC began operation of its new Flexity streetcars with pantograph power collection on the 509 Harbourfront route. This is a short, comparatively isolated route running entirely with Flexitys where problems, if any, can be ironed out on a small piece of the network. Any off route moves including carhouse trips are done with trolley poles, and the normal changeover point between modes is at Exhibition Loop.
Here is a small set of photos of the route.
New Portion of the Martin Goodman Trail Open #biketo
I was cycling at Strachan and Lake Shore Boulevard West and noticed that the new portions of the Martin Goodman Trail have opened.
West of Strachan
East of Strachan
This new portion of the Trail is a great addition and provides a smoother and safer path than the old route as shown below.
The old route pictured above was sometimes used by cars and had a very abrupt right-angle turn a little off in the distance.
This new portion of the Martin Goodman Trail will also provide an easier way to get to the new park at Ontario Place.
Update: Here’s a map of the western side of the new trail:
On the east, it’s pretty good but I think a small extension would help avoid the conflict with Remembrance Dr.:
Find A Café #shoplocal #mixeduse #smallbiz
While my fiancee was at a bridal store for a wedding party she’s in I was able to do something I really enjoy in Toronto: walk along a street and find a cafe I’ve never been to.
That’s the exciting party of a vibrant, mixed use street. You never know where you’ll end up.
Bookshelf at Enigma on Bloor Street West.
Cozy!
The Bloor-Dundas hub has a lot of potential in my mind because of the excellent transit service:
- Two streetcar routes and several bus routes;
- GO Transit train service and a 7 minute UP Express ride from Union Station;
- West Toronto Rail Path; and
- It’s almost connected with the new Bloor Street bike lanes.
Location of Enigma.
The other fun part of finding a new, local, small cafe is that you know you’re supporting hard-working small business leaders, just like my friends at T By Daniel in Brampton and on Main Street. It’s also accessible by good transit service and worth checking out.
Map of the Day: #Eclipse Edition
I was lucky enough to see the eclipse today (pictures here and here) from my office through our cardboard box viewer which was put together by a colleague in a couple of minutes.
Here’s an interesting map for eclipse day 2017 and where the eclipse will be for Southern Ontario in 2024.
Traffic patterns matching the eclipse route HT https://twitter.com/dicktoblerone/status/899714921000312833
Route of the eclipse in 2024 HT https://twitter.com/AnthonyFarnell/status/899740151353548800
Goodbye Pinch Point! Martin Goodman Trail Improvement Coming #biketo #walkto
I was thrilled to see a tweet by Councillor Joe Cressy that a pinch point for people walking and cycling along the Martin Goodman waterfront trail will now be eliminated. Right now the sidewalk and the bicycle trail merges for a short distance just east of Bathurst St. There is a “cyclist dismount” sign where cyclists are asked to walk their bikes along the trail/sidewalk before resuming.
This has been a challenging and unsafe situation since it opened and it’s great to see that it will now be fixed.
Blue = Martin Goodman Trail, pink = sidewalk, orange = expanded deck to create more space.
