ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[Canard]

There's a bit of a discussion on Urban Toronto about how small KW is to be getting an LRT, and how that compares to Calgary and Edmonton.
I ended up crunching some numbers:

Thanks for doing that - that's a great comparison!

I've long thought that it's pretty amazing we're getting such a "big", "real" system for such a small city/region/metro/whatever.

[ijmorlan]

What would also help is signage indicating the new route, i.e., at Francis put "turn for Victoria St.", as well at FDB

I’m pretty sure there is one for FDB. Next time I’m in that area I’ll check the location and wording.

It makes sense though — instead of just telling people what they cannot do, also tell them how to get where they are going.

Also, I don’t know how the information gets fed through, but I don’t think Google knows about all the turn restrictions yet. It still tells me to turn left from Caroline SB onto William EB and Caroline NB onto Erb WB.

[Canard]

A couple of notes from today:

Pretty heavy rework going on at the switch at the Northern end of the OMSF. They've actually removed a bunch of track ties and replaced them - the special, custom, super-wide ones that go under the entire switch assembly itself. This is pretty alarming, so close to testing! I hope this hasn't caused a delay.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Some pretty major last-minute rework to the turnout into the OMSF. What’s going on? Cc: <a href="https://twitter.com/tomjgalloway14?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@tomjgalloway14</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/wrLRT?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#wrLRT</a> <a href="https://t.co/TUr0Pt5wNw">pic.twitter.com/TUr0Pt5wNw</a></p>&mdash; Iain Hendry (@Canardiain) <a href="https://twitter.com/Canardiain/status/916749774837178368?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 7, 2017</a></blockquote>

I'm rarely out at dusk/night but it's been a beautiful evening:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">We ate Oktoberfest Apple Strudel at the Kitchener City Hall Station. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/wrLRT?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#wrLRT</a> <a href="https://t.co/rtVCEwJsBx">pic.twitter.com/rtVCEwJsBx</a></p>&mdash; Iain Hendry (@Canardiain) <a href="https://twitter.com/Canardiain/status/916796466617815040?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 7, 2017</a></blockquote>

[trainspotter139]

A couple of notes from today:

Pretty heavy rework going on at the switch at the Northern end of the OMSF.  They've actually removed a bunch of track ties and replaced them - the special, custom, super-wide ones that go under the entire switch assembly itself.  This is pretty alarming, so close to testing!  I hope this hasn't caused a delay.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Some pretty major last-minute rework to the turnout into the OMSF. What’s going on? Cc: <a href="https://twitter.com/tomjgalloway14?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@tomjgalloway14</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/wrLRT?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#wrLRT</a> <a href="https://t.co/TUr0Pt5wNw">pic.twitter.com/TUr0Pt5wNw</a></p>&mdash; Iain Hendry (@Canardiain) <a href="https://twitter.com/Canardiain/status/916749774837178368?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 7, 2017</a></blockquote>

I'm rarely out at dusk/night but it's been a beautiful evening:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">We ate Oktoberfest Apple Strudel at the Kitchener City Hall Station.  <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/wrLRT?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#wrLRT</a> <a href="https://t.co/rtVCEwJsBx">pic.twitter.com/rtVCEwJsBx</a></p>&mdash; Iain Hendry (@Canardiain) <a href="https://twitter.com/Canardiain/status/916796466617815040?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 7, 2017</a></blockquote>

They probably saw the issue Tuesday when they were moving things through here for the unloading.

[Canard]

Yes; Kevin and I were there, and I seem to recall there was a bang as they moved the LRV over this section. They stopped it and had a good look around before proceeding.

[Canard]

I felt like we needed a mascot:

   

[KevinL]

D'aww.

[Canard]

He's very (very) shy. Hasn't ever come out of his home.

[Canard]

I’m pretty sure there is one for FDB. Next time I’m in that area I’ll check the location and wording.

You’re right! It’s not very big, but it’s there:

   

...and within 2 seconds of me taking that photo:

   

   

[ijmorlan]

He's very (very) shy.  Hasn't ever come out of his home.

Cute! I hope Quebec City builds an LRT and buys from Bombardier. I’d like to be able to ride a Flexity in Que-becCity.

[Bob_McBob]

Where is that left lane supposed to go?

[Square]

I saw someone get stopped by the police on Friday, they were turning left on King onto Victoria St North

[ijmorlan]

Where is that left lane supposed to go?

If you’re referring to Erb at Caroline, it is for buses, and is marked as such in paint.

However, the traffic signal is wrong — it has an ordinary green signal. Instead, it should have a green right-arrow, and a transit priority left activated only when a bus activates it. Then somebody in a car trying to turn left would never see a signal that seemed to authorize their movement. It might also help with people going the wrong way up Bridgeport which I’ve also seen at that intersection.

[Canard]

It appears it does have the transit priority “bar” signal on top, but I’ve never seen it activated (but only because I’ve never happened to be there at the same time as a bus and stopped to watch).

The worst part about the setup is there is nowhere geometrically for the erroneously left-turning person to wait in the intersection. They screw up the flow for everyone oncoming as well.

[KevinL]

Maybe they need to put up one of those big electronic text signs at the side of the road there, have it flash 'NO LEFT TURNS / EXCEPT BUSES'. Leave it there for a week or two, hopefully get the message across.