ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[Markster]

It feels like, where possible, they tried to build to full railway specs. It was only in places where it was clearly not possible, that they built as a street-running LRT. And sure enough, on the Hydro Corridor, there was the opportunity to build to full spec.

[danbrotherston]

It feels like, where possible, they tried to build to full railway specs.  It was only in places where it was clearly not possible, that they built as a street-running LRT.  And sure enough, on the Hydro Corridor, there was the opportunity to build to full spec.

I assumed that there were simply difference in how the trains were being managed, e.g., train control vs. visual rules, which controlled whether there were gates or not.

As for roundabouts and this, if you look at things objectively, roundabouts are well on the receding edge of the learning curve.  Compared with 10 years ago, most people know how to and can use them safely and efficiently.  There's only a few holdouts.  Of course, there are plenty of holdouts refusing to understand how to change lanes or turn right safely.  At some point it's no longer a "new technology" problem, but a "bad drivers" problem.

Of course, I'm oversimplifying a little.  There are still some places in KW (and frankly, newcomers to the region) who are still at the beginning of the curve, but simply compared with what I saw 10 years ago when I got here, I do have some faith in most drivers.

[ijmorlan]

I guess I put too much faith in humanity.

I agree that those signs really are quite clear. I can imagine it taking a moment for somebody to get it, simply because it’s new, but if somebody, after consideration, can’t figure out what the sign is saying, they shouldn’t be driving. I think there are a lot of things like this — if somebody can’t understand a ranked ballot, after consideration, they really have no business voting either. Or back to driving, if a roundabout is really such a mental challenge for them, after a certain amount of familiarization, they also shouldn’t be driving.

On the other hand, don’t forget that we don’t actually know how they made the news item. If they highlighted the maximally-confused people they found, then we’re not getting a true picture of the populace, and even those people could have been having a bad day and were really thinking about the turkey in the oven rather than some stranger shoving a picture of signs in front of them.

[panamaniac]

...
I guess I put too much faith in humanity.

I don't know about humanity, but I fear you are putting too much faith in K-W drivers!

[KevinL]

It seems to me like the system is in four sections - Conestoga to Northfield (street running); Waterloo spur (full railway); uptown to Ottawa/Mill (street running) and Ottawa/Mill to Fairway (full railway). Street running treats LRVs as vehicles and there are no signal bars; full railway treats them as trains, with the usual accoutrements.

[Elmira Guy]

Waterloo Region gets ready for second LRV to roll into town

http://www.570news.com/2017/04/25/waterl...roll-town/

[jeffster]

Drove by this earlier this morning, thought I'd share. Sorry for the graininess of it all, taken around 5 in the morning.

Anyone notice that the "a" in Market seems a little slanted?


   

[tomh009]

They're all sloppy.

I do believe the position of the "a" is correct as the "a" in the font has a slightly slanted upright.

Does anyone know the name of the font so that we can confirm this?

[Markster]

Clearview

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clearview_(typeface)

[timc]

Looks like things are afoot at the Waterloo Park station platform.

[KevinL]

Looks to be the right width for the typical yellow 'warning strip'.

[JJTL]

At the Fredrick stop they have installed a bunch of vertical posts to the concrete divider that was poured at the back of the platform. They are spaced every few feet, is there a fence or wall going up here? They look quite nice in design, not your typical hardware store chain link fences posts or anything. Sorry no pics, was driving at the time.

Queen stop has the logos and station name up, along with the lighting elements for the wall.

[KevinL]

Definitely a fence-like barrier will go in at Frederick, the concrete base keeps cars off the platform but you also need to keep people from ending up on the road.

[Canard]

Fairway was getting them when I biked by on Monday too.

[timc]

Fairway was getting them when I biked by on Monday too.

Getting which? The fence posts or the warning strip?