Toronto transit projects

[danbrotherston]

The intersection design is kind of bad but I think they do need to install some of those retractable bollards that are popular in Europe... at least we'd end up with some good videos of people trashing their cars, and most of the wrecks can be cleared quickly since they aren't on the tracks down in the tunnel.

Retractable bollards do seem like a good idea. I would like to know why they don’t explore non-embedded track — the track is embedded all the way down the ramp and only transitions to non-embedded inside the tunnel. If it were non-embedded from somewhere short of the ramp, it would make it significantly harder to enter the tunnel with a regular vehicle. There could even be a trap on the ramp where the floor falls away and the rails are supported on steel beams for a distance of a few metres, so that the only possible way for a vehicle to enter the tunnel would be to balance on the rails themselves. Doesn’t really solve the problem but makes clearing stuck cars much much faster and possibly able to be done by a regular tow truck.

I would also want to know how people get misdirected. Do they turn into the wrong right-of-way at the previous intersection (York St.) or do they mount the curb from Queens Quay into the streetcar right-of-way? The latter could be eliminated with a line of regular, non-moving bollards.

Finally, somebody please tell me that the TTC has a lien on the vehicle against their costs. It would be insane if somebody could drive their vehicle in there, force the TTC to incur thousands of dollars in costs, and then just get their vehicle back with nothing but a few dents and a fine. They should have a non-dischargeable-in-bankruptcy debt owed to the TTC secured by their vehicle for the full amount of the TTC’s costs.

Thousands of dollars.  Ha!  I'm betting it costs TTC an order of magnitude more, maybe even more than that.  And if you look at the social cost due to delays, I wouldn't be shocked if it was pushing into seven figure territory.