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ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit
We're going to need a LRT system failure counter website to count the number of times this POS falls apart the same way we have one to count the times it gets into accidents. I'm surprised a light breeze doesn't somehow break it.
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I saw 2 LRVs stopped in the park: one still next to the platform at Seagram (albeit further down the track than where it normally stops, and another near the bridge. Both were positioned such that crossings stayed activated. Does it never occur to them to put the LRV in “parked” mode and release the crossings? What is wrong with these people?

Then I got down to Erb and Caroline. Behind me the crossing activated but I got all the way down to William St. without seeing the LRV behind me. How long did it stay activated? No idea!

And anyway, since when does a risible amount of ice like we had today have any impact on an LRT system?
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The Cameron Heights student who was hit by the LRT seems to be recovering well. WRPS has no update on the investigation.

https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/fairly-emot...-1.6334763
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So it is not just Waterloo Region drivers who crash into LRT vehicles.

Edmonton:  https://globalnews.ca/news/9633976/edmon...l-18-2023/
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Only 7 crashes? Pfft.
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(04-19-2023, 02:14 PM)ac3r Wrote: Only 7 crashes? Pfft.

They haven't gone into service yet. This is still the testing phase.
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We just don't hear about all the other LRT crashes on lines in Calgary, Toronto, and Edmonton that have been around for decades and so are no longer newsworthy unless huge and bloody.
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(04-22-2023, 02:29 PM)Bytor Wrote: We just don't hear about all the other LRT crashes on lines in Calgary, Toronto, and Edmonton that have been around for decades and so are no longer newsworthy unless huge and bloody.

Indeed...ION LRT crashes aren't even reported all that reliably anymore. The fact is at any given moment a half dozen drivers are in the process of crashing into something...99.9999% of that doesn't get reported at all.

Probably we should care more...but not because it's the LRT specifically...but because our general road safety record is abysmal.
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So it looks like Montreal's REM is supposed to open "before summer".

Quote:The trains were not being tested during the recent ice storm, but Andlauer said that episode did not cause any issues on the REM’s infrastructure. The network has a system that removes ice from overhead wires, he added.

“We are very comfortable after two winters of testing these trains,” Andlauer said.

From a Montreal Gazette story about it. https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-n...-train-faq

We'll see next winter I guess!
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Wait, you can pre-order systems to de-ice wires? You don't need to wait for the first ice storm before you do something?
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The trains are sooooo packed.

I see some picket lines at Fairway Station.

I don't think transit workers should get to do this. I'm all for unions and such but to shut down an entire transit system... It should be thought of as an essential service the way hospitals are. Hospitals can strike but they are still obligated to keep the hospitals running. Transit is just as important because how are highly essential workers supposed to deal to deal with this?
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When Japanese bus drivers strike, they continue operating the system but they don't collect fares. I'd love to see that become the standard over here.
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(05-03-2023, 04:45 PM)KevinL Wrote: When Japanese bus drivers strike, they continue operating the system but they don't collect fares. I'd love to see that become the standard over here.

This has been talked about in a few places.

This is illegal here. It is illegal SPECIFICALLY BECAUSE it helps the union.

I also think unions shouldn't worry as much about the "legality" of strikes...strikes were never legal in the first place...making them legal has helped us, but it should never hinder.
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There has been a near-complete service outage on ION for the entire day so far.

[Image: BW0ZFAp.png]
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And barely any extra buses. I hopped on the 7 this morning and despite everyone constantly yelling to the driver that they can't move back and further, the idiot kept stopping to pick up more people. Eventually some woman fell over because she had nothing to hold onto.

I know they dispatch the 301R but they never think to add extra 7 or 8 mainline buses.
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