07-06-2019, 12:27 PM
(This post was last modified: 07-06-2019, 12:27 PM by danbrotherston.)
(07-06-2019, 12:20 PM)jeffster Wrote: So apparently Ottawa is in good shape compared to us:
https://www.ottawamatters.com/local-news...on-1544944
TLR - Ottawa's system doesn't mix with traffic, Kitchener's (Waterloo) does.
While it would have been nice to have a separate system, these cities weren't designed to even make this happen, IMHO. Though much of the LRT doesn't mix traffic, such as parts of Waterloo from Uptown to Northfield and in Kitchener from Bordon to Fairview.
I'd argue this is a highly unfair comparison, and is no doubt an Ottawa oriented view to justify the expense of their tunneling.
First, our system hasn't been "problematic"...collisions, while headline grabbing aren't excessively common or harmful. Also, our LRVs don't "mingle" with traffic, and aren't delayed by traffic.
Segregating from traffic by levels (with tunnels) as opposed to time (with signals) is a choice about whether the land value justifies tunneling for greater transportation capacity. Given that in Ottawa's case (and in most cases) cars are the ones who gain the space, one must consider the real beneficiaries of tunneling.
In any case, the real issues we're facing right now are publicly, the payment system appears to be nearly completely broken, and in secret, ATP is still not operating, and thus speeds are reduced...ironically, this only affects non-road-running segments.