TTC Subway Upgrades Signal the Future Of Transit in Toronto

The TTC is finally addressing the enormous challenges of an ageing subway signalling system. Today, the TTC released a really good video that clearly explains not only the current track signalling system, used to manage the flow of trains, but also an outlook on the latests technology that’s being installed  – which promises to finally bring the TTC’s subway system into the 21st century. Or at least finally leave technology from the 1950’s behind.

Key Points:

• The current ‘Fixed Block‘ system cannot allow for any more capacity and is limited to only one train per block, resulting in unused “headway” in front of trains, and large stretches of reserved track behind trains
• The new Automatic Train Control (ATC) using Communication Based Train Control (CBTC) to create a dynamic or ‘moving block’ that expands or shrinks depending on the trains speed and location (measured and re-calculated many times per second) for maximum safety and efficiency
• ATC will also result in faster service with fewer delays resulting from signalling system failures or issues

This leaves us to wonder a few things about the future of subway transit in Toronto

• If trains can travel faster and closer together, does that allow for more trains to be in service during rush-hour, or just that they can bunch-up tighter during delays, and the infamously regular “passenger assistance alarm” episodes.
• When is the ATC project expected to be completed, and at what cost?
• If more trains can operate, at what point would the costs outweigh the service benefits?
• What is the ideal ‘sweet-spot’ of increased ridership and service levels vs. the costs required to provision increased ridership

As we look forward to seeing tangible benefits of this ATC project, we’ll likely continue to wonder what the ideal ridership level is for a transit system that was clearly not built to handle the current rush-hour load.

Perhaps we can consider other solutions, alleviating measures, and even other forms of optimization such as:

• Reconfiguring train-sizes, speeds, and frequency
• Addressing the methods of dealing with “Passenger Assistance Alarms” since they are clearly greatest source of system delays
• Looking at social factors like workday schedules and time-shifting options to alleviate the rush-hour crush, and spread out passenger loads

Stand-By for further updates…

Catch TTC – It doesn’t get any simpler

There’s no longer any real need to resort to fancy smartphone apps or psychic devination, when it comes to catching the TTC here in Toronto, because beleaguered transit riders now have CatchTTC.com as an easy, one-stop location for their web browsers that will put the basic info at their fingertips. So what’s the catch?

There really isn’t one. This site is just a bare-bones scheduling service that let’s you pick favourite stops from all the TTC routes, and then just takes your current time to tell you when the next two arrivals will be. No dowloads, and no more searching through the maze of the TTC’s main website for route schedules.

Ad-Driven Transit Reforms?

If anything the TTC would be smart to spend a tiny fraction of its enormous budget (currently sucked up by management and personal) to just buy into this website now…While it’s still in it’s cheap infancy phase.
ie. Not showing much revenue from any ads that it will sure get clicks on as the layout and features improve themselves.

From there, this service could be easily improved upon by showing service disruptions and perhaps even optimized to offer tweetbacks of next arrivals to Twitter accounts that tweet a desire for info on their favourite #TTCstop…

In fact, if the TTC could figure out how to integrate that sort of service with forms of advertising that actually connected with riders during all of that blank-faced transit time, they could offer free Wi-Fi and have a real winner on their hands…and a much less disgrunteled ridership to boot!