132 replies to this topic

[VicHockeyFan]

http://langtoriagreenline.com/    (just a quick splash page now)

 

 

The service will start this Monday.

 

Full poster:   http://www.cityoflan...tion Poster.pdf

 

 

 

 

 

 

[LJ]

The monthly pass is certainly pretty reasonable, if I had to go into Victoria everyday I would use it.

[On the Level]

The monthly pass is certainly pretty reasonable, if I had to go into Victoria everyday I would use it.

An hour return seems a little long.  Not sure if they are scheduling in the slowdown once the overpass construction starts?

 

Once you factor in insurance for "to and from work", parking, gas; it might be cheaper. 

[G-Man]

It is cheaper just based on parking.

[Mike K.]

Typical downtown parking will run you about $150 per month. And rates are likely to skyrocket as more and more parking stalls get chewed up.

[nagel]

^ all part of my sinister master plan

[Jill]

But if you were driving your car and left the Langford Aquatic Centre at 6:30, what time could you expect to arrive downtown?

[dasmo]

Trip would be 25 minutes or less in a tram on the E&N.
overpass will only shave 10 minutes off that hour....

[VicHockeyFan]

I've said from the beginning, the price is not a barrier and the departure time is not a barrier.  Hundreds of people go into town on the #50 now, with 6:30am through 7:30am departure times.  It should be easy to find 50 that want to leave downtown Langford at 6:50am.  The very challenging part is to find the same 50 people that want to come home at exactly the same time.  

 

Will the odd person use this, and then the BC Transit bus home?   If they were M-F riders, that would cost an extra $55 or so per month.  A little less if they get some flex days off.

 

On the other hand, if they get just one large employer to pay the bill for this, maybe they get 20 riders right there.

[VicHockeyFan]

Trip would be 25 minutes or less in a tram on the E&N.
overpass will only shave 10 minutes off that hour....

 

Except you still have millions of dollars in repairs required to that track.  And you will NEVER have a tram or train going over 30kmh average on the track even in excellent conditions.  It would be much more cost-effective to helicopter people in for 3 years while the overpass is under construction.

[Mike K.]

But if you were driving your car and left the Langford Aquatic Centre at 6:30, what time could you expect to arrive downtown?

I think that early on it's actually not that bad, but closer to 7AM things can get quite congested.

[dasmo]

Except you still have millions of dollars in repairs required to that track. And you will NEVER have a tram or train going over 30kmh average on the track even in excellent conditions. It would be much more cost-effective to helicopter people in for 3 years while the overpass is under construction.

Sounds cheap. Imagine if the track wasn't there! Trams can go much faster than 30k. Right now there is only one way in while this other way sits dormant. We should have got this tram going instead of sewage. Way more needed. The crawl is getting exponentially worse. A luxurious bus still sitting in it for hours is silly...

Edited by dasmo, 12 October 2016 - 07:18 AM.

[Mike K.]

What this region really needs is a secondary route to the Westshore. We have horrible infrastructure between the urban core and the growing Westshore and the only way to solve the mess is to build a proper second route. Wilkinson should be the size of Veterans and yet it's an old wagon trail that serves as a primary, congested alternative to McKenzie.

When land was expropriated to build McKenzie officialdom should have already started planning the same for Wilkinson. It should have been built 15 years ago, but instead we just filled page after page of TC articles complaining about infrastructure.

[VicHockeyFan]

Sounds cheap. Imagine if the track wasn't there! Trams can go much faster than 30k. 

 

Oh ya, trams can go fast.  The old '50s Budd Cars can even do nearly 90mph.  But you are going to run your tram faster than 30km though all those level crossings?  No, you aren't.  Much too dangerous to do more than 30kmh.

 

Here is how fast some trains go, and this is maximum speed.

 

 

https://en.wikipedia..._stop_frequency

[dasmo]

What this region really needs is a secondary route to the Westshore. We have horrible infrastructure between the urban core and the growing Westshore and the only way to solve the mess is to build a proper second route. Wilkinson should be the size of Veterans and yet it's an old wagon trail that serves as a primary, congested alternative to McKenzie.

When land was expropriated to build McKenzie officialdom should have already started planning the same for Wilkinson. It should have been built 15 years ago, but instead we just filled page after page of TC articles complaining about infrastructure.

No expropriation needed. (Crazy expensive) it's called the E&N.

Edited by dasmo, 12 October 2016 - 07:52 AM.

[jonny]

Typical downtown parking will run you about $150 per month. And rates are likely to skyrocket as more and more parking stalls get chewed up.

 

Yes. Unless the city starts incentivizing private developers to supply public parking, I see another publicly financed City of Victoria boondoggle, this time in the form of a parking garage, in our future.

 

If I was Mayor, I would tell Chard that he could build a 30 storey building on that Yates Street property if he provides 500 public parking spaces, or a 25 storey building if he provides 250 public parking spaces, etc.

[dasmo]

Oh ya, trams can go fast. The old '50s Budd Cars can even do nearly 90mph. But you are going to run your tram faster than 30km though all those level crossings? No, you aren't. Much too dangerous to do more than 30kmh.

Here is how fast some trains go, and this is maximum speed.

screenshot-en.wikipedia.org 2016-10-12 08-24-19.png

https://en.wikipedia..._stop_frequency

Ok, so if it averages 30km/h it would take 26 minutes then....

[shoeflack]

Oh ya, trams can go fast.  The old '50s Budd Cars can even do nearly 90mph.  But you are going to run your tram faster than 30km though all those level crossings?  No, you aren't.  Much too dangerous to do more than 30kmh.

 

Here is how fast some trains go, and this is maximum speed.

 

https://en.wikipedia..._stop_frequency

 

It's actually average speed. From the source; "As the table and chart below indicate, modern light rail systems have average speeds in the range of 20 mph or faster. This is faster than local street bus speeds of 12-13 mph, and competitive with the average speeds of automobiles -- 23-25 mph in urban traffic conditions (a mix of freeways, arterials, and local streets)."

 

Here's one that's a bit more comprehensive.

 

 

Only 15 of the 47 light rail systems show an average speed below 20 mph (or roughly 30 km/h), while most fit in that 30 km/h to 50 km/h range. There are some good uninterrupted straightaways on the E&R where you could easily top out at 70 km/h, but lots of level crossings and station approaches where you'd be at or below 30 km/h.

 

All of this to say that, ya, 30-40 km/h average LRT speed would be the sweet spot here in the CRD.

[VicHockeyFan]

Ya, OK, I guess I did not mean maximum speed, but the speed they go at most often, between stations.  Where of course they go from that speed posted, down to zero.  Once our tram gets to Admirals, there are way too many level crossing for is to go faster than 30kmh.    

[jonny]

The trams in Toronto cover a lot of ground and they run in the middle of the street, stop every block, hit lots of red lights, etc.