5 ways to (cheaply) improve transit in Toronto right now...

I know, I'm no city planner - and even if I were to offer what everyone agreed were a genius plan - it would never get done. Toronto is in a perpetual state of planning and debating. A decision gets made, and then one idiot councilor (usually the mayor), decides to rehash the debate, and it gets struck down.

Even with great people like Andy Byford, or Karen Stintz leading the way for the TTC - things only go so far. We need Metrolinx and the province to forceful take over - a transit coup so to speak. Consider this my way of showing how simple solutions could help with the sanity of commuters, right NOW:

1. Add more express bus routes

Mississauga's local (orange) and express (blue) buses. I don't expect
new paint jobs in Toronto, just similar ideologies. 

If you live in York Region, or Peel Region - you know that express bus routes are the closest thing to rapid transit that you can get. As much as I complain about Mississauga (mainly just the frequency of certain buses), the express buses work. Mississauga has cut their fleet into two categories - 'local' and 'express' - and the express buses run along routes that have local buses, but they only stop at major transit stops. The fact that the TTC doesn't have more of these is crazy. There are 5 downtown express routes - but they cost more money (on top of a metropass)!

There are routes that stop at EVERY single stop, yet half the bus just wants to get from the beginning to the end of the route. Add a few of these buses each way during rush hours, and it could keep hundreds of people off of the local routes, to allow people travelling short distances to actually have room to sit or stand. I could sit here and list where these should be - but that's a whole post in itself. So, Mr. Byford - why don't you have more express routes?

2. Remove unnecessary streetcar stops

This picture is more so just here to remind us to enjoy the
hot weather, as unbearable as it might be sometimes

Along the same points - whenever I ride the streetcar - I say I get a short turn at least 30% of the time. I don't include the Spadina route in this, because that route is both tightly controlled (with an operator at either end) and has dedicated lanes, so there are no delays. All other routes however - I find it ridiculous how close some of the stops for routes on the King, Queen and Dundas streetcar routes are - especially in the core (on the 504 for example: Sackville, Trinity, Parliament and Ontario streets are maybe 100 metres apart). If you were to eliminate some of the smaller street stops - it would mean less stopping for to pick up single people, and less chance of the streetcar behind catching up. It would encourage people to walk a little further (which we all have to do outside of the core anyway), to catch the same streetcar. A small price to pay for more efficient routes.

3. Improve bus layouts by (simply) removing seats

Probably the most costly of my ideas - but still not out of this world. I'm not saying we should order new buses - just remove some of the seats. With all of the complaints recently about strollers and buggies on the bus - why not make the buses a little more practical? Recently a study in NYC was done on transit/subway trends on where people prefer to sit and stand (you can see the article here), and although I found it interesting, there were no surprises One of the big things was that people prefer to stand than sit in between people, which results in a lot of unused seats. Considering most people stand during rush hour anyway, why not eliminate MOST seats in the front of the bus, leaving only 3-4 closer to the back doors, for people in need of seats (elderly, handicap, etc.).

This would free up space for more commuters, as well as less awkwardness for strollers and buggies fitting onto the bus, who right now, block any people who want to pass. The whole point here is to build the bus around people standing, instead of building it to sit, but having people stand anyway (the new subways do a great job of this).

Here is the current bus layout:

The current layout (certain models vary, but they're mostly
the same). Notice the seats on the raised back portion,
and the seats in the front.

and my proposed layout:

My proposed layout - the back, raised area goes unchanged,
providing seating for 21 people. The front however, is
gutted of all seats, aside from 4 'priority' seats perpendicular
to the back doors.

I can't think of anyone that this doesn't work for - strollers, buggies, wheelchairs, scooters have room, able bodies have standing room - and seats when it's not busy, and people who NEED seats have them. Sure, we're losing 10-12 seats - but isn't it worth it for the greater good?

4. Stop the subway vs. LRT debate

The numbers speak volumes...I'm sorry Rob, but subways are literally
gravy trains...

Do I need to explain this one? It's not helping us - we're having a debate about something that's not even completed yet. We don't know how well LRT's work for us - they are barely into the construction. For the cost savings, you'd think Rob Ford, and other subway die-hards would be willing to at least SEE how well it works for us. If they are in dedicated lanes, and have an average speed only slightly under subways (27 KM/hr vs. 32 KM/hr respectively), I don't understand the problem.

Don't get me wrong - I think subways are great, they're quick, out of sight, and out of the way - but LRT's are what we're building - give up the fight and help move things along. Being the person to say "I told you say" gets the city as a whole, nowhere. All that matters is that we get SOMETHING that will move people, nobody cares what it is at this point, bring in a modified ski lift for all we care....

5. Streetcars ONLY on Queen st. / Cars ONLY on King St. and Dundas St. during rush hour

The Queen car...look at all those cars...

I know - there are a lot of people talking about this already (sort of), and I like the ideas they have, in having no cars on King street in the rush hours. However, I think it should be changed a bit from their current plan, and in turn, drivers should also have some sort of benefit to this plan. So...there are three streetcar lines within about a KM of each other in the downtown core - the 504 King car, the 501 Queen car, and the 506 Dundas car. My proposal would be to (during rush hours) divert all three cars via Queen street through the downtown core between Bathurst and Parliament, with Queen being car-free during the rush hours (also freeing up a safe ride for cyclists). In turn, Dundas and King streets would become streetcar-free during these hours, freeing up the roads for cars and drivers who constantly complain.

I know it inconveniences some people, but with a 500m walk to King or Dundas from Queen at any given point, it's not far of a diversion, for a traffic free commute.

The other option is to create dedicated lanes for these routes - but those don't come for free - so I think we can count those out while Ford is in office...

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So....what do you think? Do you think Andy Byford should take any of my ideas seriously?