Today is the day, the bus mall is opening up!  I've heard so much positive vibe about this I'm honestly somewhat surprised.  Everytime I've gotten on a bus in the last 2-3 weeks I've heard mentions of the bus mall opening.  As the date has gotten closer even more exuberance has bubbled up.

A couple chatted about the time they'd save when they come downtown to shop, since the bus mall is better aligned to all the stores they tend to frequent.  Another couple discussed how nice it will be to eat at sidewalk seating without the buses coming by directly on 3rd & 4th.  Another person was talking about how much further from their work they'd have to get off, but they didn't mind and would be happy to walk the extra block.  They followed up that statement with, "but it'll be nice that the bus will actually get through downtown faster so it'll actually be faster even though I have to walk further".

Also the jaywalkers have been getting ticketed and other "Darwin Effect" prevention officers, as I call them, have been out in force trying to get people to realize and know the bus mall will have traffic en force starting this work week.

Overall the negative vide that everything is going to wreck into everything and pedestrians and cyclists will be crushed by LRVs has died a silent death.  Now that people have seen the LRVs running back and forth for a few weeks now, and they've started seeing buses back on the bus mall, the worries have drastically subsided.  I'm in that camp myself, as there is still vast potential for wrecks and death, it is a lot less than I had imagined.  The final judgement will be when operations start this week and the work week resumes after memorial holiday.

I'm pretty stoked, how about you? 

Ok, so TriMet gets these new buses.  TriMet also gets the WES trains.  During the last 3 months I’ve seen and TriMet has received the following.  They’re shorted train vehicles and the buses are breaking down left and right.  I’ve seen no less than 2 busses on a tractor trailer being hauled off for maintenance.  I’ve also seem no less than 5 of the new buses stopped and being worked on.  I’ve only seen 2 of the old buses broken down lately.  In addition to the busted buses the WES Trains have had weeks of downtime and had to call in bridge buses.  WEEKS!  Not days, but weeks of total downtime so far.

I just wanted to blog this observation real quick and then I’ll be back to something interesting again.  Seriously though, has anyone else noticed this?

The light rail trains, the new ones, do however seem to be holding their own.  I haven’t seen them being towed about yet.  Time will tell, but I sure hope TriMet gets their vehicles fixed up and running well.  At this rate it seems we’ll be out a commuter train and down a few dozen new buses.

Per TriMet "Due to mechanical problems, expect about 15 minute delays for WES service. Some trips are being served by buses."

I was hoping the system well, but it looks like things are still not looking up.  This is, I believe, the 3rd interuption in service, and about the 8th to 10th day of service delays for WES.  At this rate, I'm not sure how the system will be validated to run when the contract for service is up.  TriMet has seriously got to get something figured out to get ridership bumped up AND to get the vehicles running properly.  In addition, they're still short the equipment they need to make the WES as efficient as running buses.

Hmpf.  Still the best ride in town, when you can get a working train.  😦

Mood:  Sad. 

I went to school for civil engineering and economics and now work for the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario in the planning and design department (aka Highway Engineering). My job is a mix of design, management, and public correspondence/communication.

One year. I was previously employed by a design-build foundation company.

I live in Toronto, Ontario – up here in the Great White North, Canada.

How I get to work varies every day and somewhat by season.

 

My spring, summer and fall commutes are mainly done by road bike. On the days it rains I will sometimes drive but I'm fortunate enough to be able to be dropped off at the subway by boyfriend. This commute entails a short subway ride followed by two buses.

 

In the winter I switch between driving and subway/bus. I know terrible that I drive but below will explain why.

If I drive to work it is usually because I have left early in the morning, between 6:45 and 7 and it takes me less than 15mins to get to work. If I drive during rush-hour this time is doubled and instead of taking the highway I take city streets.

 

If I bike it is about a 35minute commute – depending on how tired my legs are. The last stretch is a 2mile/3km uphill!

 

I've also run home from work before. I think it took me about an hour and 5 minutes to run home, and I also think I'll be doing that more this summer.

 

If I take transit, and only if my boyfriend drops me off does it take between 35 and 45 minutes. A 5 min subway ride followed by two buses. Jane Street is what depicts my commute times, sometimes its fast and free flowing and sometimes it's a parking lot. The second bus I take is the Wilson bus and sometimes you can wait 10minutes for it to arrive. It usually travels in packs of 2 or 3 buses instead of being spaced out.

If my boyfriend doesn't drop me off it adds an another 15 minutes to my trip.

When I take transit I almost always read. Sometimes I take a few minutes and catch up on email. I also usually have my ipod on.

my bike – every day all year!

I wish I worked in the downtown core and had the option to take the subway and street car to work more often.

In the winter it would affect the number of days that I drove and I would probably take transit more often. It is far to dangerous to bike in Toronto in the winter!

http://www.railwayage.com//content/view/847/121

Seems WES isn't the only problem child.  Austin can't seem to get their line finished for anything.  It's late, and getting later.  I doubt however, that they have anywhere near the issues with the vehicles once they get them running.  The tracks & systems however, raise suspicion since they're delayed so much…  hmmm.