ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[Canard]

Work continues at the Operations, Maintenance and Storage Facility.

   

   

[KevinL]

Here's a look at a recently-constructed Ion-style LRT (it even has Bombardier Flexity vehicles) - on Australia's Gold Coast:

[panamaniac]

I wonder if ION will have "Tram Only" markings along its route? ;

[BuildingScout]

I wonder if ION will have "Tram Only" markings along its route?  ;

I must confess that I turned once into a tram-only lane. The particular tram line I have in mind is quite a mess meandering through small windy streets in an old town. It would be a hell of a lot less likely to happen in something like the straight well marked lane in the video.

[panamaniac]

Sometimes I feel that the politics of LRT seem to have given "trams" an undeserved negative connotation.  Would it actually be incorrect to refer to ION as a "tramway"?

[BuildingScout]

Trams have traditionally shared the right of way with cars, hence the distinction with LRT.

[panamaniac]

Trams have traditionally shared the right of way with cars, hence the distinction with LRT.

And yet we see the "Tram only" lane markings in the Aussie video.  But I suppose the shared/dedicated right of way rationale is as good as any. 

[BuildingScout]

Trams have traditionally shared the right of way with cars, hence the distinction with LRT.

And yet we see the "Tram only" lane markings in the Aussie video.  But I suppose the shared/dedicated right of way rationale is as good as any. 

I'm pro-LRT and against trams. I lived in cities with and without LRTs and trams, and have seen first hand how well LRTs work and how share right-of-way trams are essentially slow, expensive inflexible buses that are easy to block.

Toronto could make a major impact on traffic at a minimal cost if they were to close King St to anything but local traffic and let the trams run freely there. Presently a tram from Liberty Village to the Distillery district takes about 40 minutes. On a dedicated tram lane it would be around 15min. The majority of the core and its main attractions would be within walking distance of this lane: Union St, AC centre, CN tower, Hockey hall of fame, Bay St, Distillery district, Eaton Centre, Nathan Phillips Square, to name a few.

[Canard]

Here's a look at a recently-constructed Ion-style LRT (it even has Bombardier Flexity vehicles) - on Australia's Gold Coast:

Lots of similarities between G:Link and ion, not surprisingly, as their Consortium GoldLinq was made up of some of the same key players as GrandLinq. I expect that much of the infrastructure details will look similar to Gold Coast, so look there for examples (catenary, curbing, etc.).

[Pheidippides]

I hope our vehicles don't have ads on them like those.

[Canard]

Me too; I hate nothing more than ads and wraps on transit vehicles. It cheapens the look of the system and makes things look inconsistent and messy. I'd rather pay a few bucks more in taxes each year to offset whatever revenue they actually generate.

[BuildingScout]

Any one has an idea how much money are we talking about here? Are ads a few percent of overal revenue or is it more significant than that?

Also if the choices are to cut a route or put ads, which one do you prefer?

[Pheidippides]

Any one has an idea how much money are we talking about here? Are ads a few percent of overal revenue or is it more significant than that?

Also if the choices are to cut a route or put ads, which one do you prefer?

According to this Metro article from 2013, $400,000. Not clear if that is all ads on the system or just wraps:
"Grand River Transit contacts out all bus advertising to a Brantford-based company called Street Scene Media. In return, Grand River Transit gets a guaranteed source of revenue. This year, it will receive more than $400,000. But all the advertising must go through that third party."

[mpd618]

Any one has an idea how much money are we talking about here? Are ads a few percent of overal revenue or is it more significant than that?

Also if the choices are to cut a route or put ads, which one do you prefer?

It's a few percent of overall revenue. In 2013, GRT brought in less than $800K of ads, versus nearly $30M of fares (see the 2014 budget book.) It is appalling that the experience of the people paying those $30M is treated as inconsequential when it comes to getting a few bucks from bus wraps. But beyond that, it doesn't make business sense - a large and growing portion of fare-paying ridership is there by choice. That's the whole point of the Region's plans for reurbanization, rapid transit, etc. - getting more people to take transit. And getting a small amount of revenue from making the transit experience much worse is counterproductive, both to the ridership growth goals as well as to the fare revenue.

[JCnb]

Tower crane components were being delivered to the operations maintenance and storage facility site this morning.