ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit

[trainspotter139]

According to @rideIONrt on Twitter 3 trains are out today https://twitter.com/rideIONrt/status/103...4827002883

[Canard]

505, 507 and 509 are all out today, running from Conestoga to Cameron.

Edit: 509 just went to bed.

Edit 2: 505 is getting ready to head back to the OMSF from Cameron.

Edit 3: Testing for the day has concluded.

[avernar]

At lunchtime a car got a good honking for one of the trains for stopping too far forward on King next to Waterloo Public Square.  The car had to back up to let the train make the left turn off of King.

[UrbanCanoe]

I saw a car nearly get t-boned by an LRV this morning. Both were stopped at the intersection of King & William (northbound). When the light turned green the car turned right onto William Street, directly in front of the LRV which was proceeding through the intersection. Wow the LRV's horn is loud!!

[ijmorlan]

I saw a car nearly get t-boned by an LRV this morning. Both were stopped at the intersection of King & William (northbound). When the light turned green the car turned right onto William Street, directly in front of the LRV which was proceeding through the intersection. Wow the LRV's horn is loud!!

Was the “no right turn - train” sign lit?

[UrbanCanoe]

I saw a car nearly get t-boned by an LRV this morning. Both were stopped at the intersection of King & William (northbound). When the light turned green the car turned right onto William Street, directly in front of the LRV which was proceeding through the intersection. Wow the LRV's horn is loud!!

Was the “no right turn - train” sign lit?

I couldn't see the sign as I was walking down King in the opposite direction. I expect it was, the driver just didn't see it, or ignored it.

[jamincan]

Wouldn't he have noticed the giant train sitting right beside him? Where did he figure it was going?

[ijmorlan]

Wouldn't he have noticed the giant train sitting right beside him? Where did he figure it was going?

This comes up with LRTs everywhere — most “LRT crash” video compilations are full of this kind of stuff, more often with left than right turns. I don’t understand it. Presumably if it was a transport truck instead of an LRV it wouldn’t be an issue. Maybe they should redesign the vehicles to be big and boxy, shaped exactly like large trucks. More headroom too, for all those ski poles and contrabassoons!

[panamaniac]

Interesting. I thought the train/car collisions would come only after the system was up and running. Perhaps we won't have to wait that long....

[Canard]

1/1 - Friday, August 31, 2018

Three LRV's out today!

   

   

   

   

   

[bgb_ca]

Interesting.  I thought the train/car collisions would come only after the system was up and running.  Perhaps we won't have to wait that long....  

I'm actually am surprised it hasn't happened yet to be honest.

[KevinT]

I saw a car nearly get t-boned by an LRV this morning. Both were stopped at the intersection of King & William (northbound). When the light turned green the car turned right onto William Street, directly in front of the LRV which was proceeding through the intersection. Wow the LRV's horn is loud!!

I wonder if the car was making a right turn on red while the train had its vertical bar, and where the stop bar for the car is painted relative to where the train was stopped?  Ideally the train would start out from within the average driver's peripheral vision.

Still, the 'No Right, Train' signs would be lit if the train had triggered it's vertica bar.  That's driver inattention whether the train is in their peripheral vision or not...

[Markster]

Car drivers are not used to watching for a vehicle on their right when turning right. It's just not a situation they are used to. This driver was still in the wrong, but I understand why they made the mistake.

98.9% of the time, a car is turning right from the right-most lane, and the only thing to look for is pedestrians, who are relatively slow, so there's a small area to look to see them.
1% of the time, there's a bike lane, and cars will usually either encroach, blocking through bike traffic, or will ignore the bikes entirely and bully through, because cyclists know that they lose that fight.

Now, we have a brand new situation where LRVs can come through at speed, on the right, and have the power to win the collision. Inattentive drivers could get away with some bad habits before. Now they do so at their own risk.

[chutten]

1/1 - Friday, August 31, 2018
Three LRV's out today!

Were these shot with your long lens? The LRVs look almost bite-sized :)

[Canard]

Were these shot with your long lens? The LRVs look almost bite-sized

My medium-ish lens (~250 mm), but yes! I brought the big guy (600 mm) with me, too, but I’m reluctant to pull it out in public because I’m always scared what people will think... it’s also not very handy for grabbing in a hurry and framing a shot!

I got pretty good over the last few years of taking pictures of non-moving dirt and concrete. Moving LRV’s are a different animal and I’m still trying to figure out how to do it.