 Hello everyone and welcome to the stream today Let me just take a look here. I'm just getting myself set up and orientate a bit here. So just bear with me A very exciting day lots of news and the like to talk about. I'm quite excited I hope everyone's doing well. I'll be starting at about five past as usual So I'm just gonna wait a few minutes for people to come online and join the stream In the meantime, I'm going to share the link here to the next stream so you can set a reminder For that one And let me see here I'm gonna add it to the description of this video as well People coming online. Hey everyone. How's it going? So today should be an interesting day. I've got a couple Kind of interesting news items. I think that will be interesting to discuss I've also got some mail so I can open that up on stream and see what that is what that Has inside and yeah, it should be pretty should be pretty good Again just waiting until both I've passed before I start to You know properly Talking at least about anything transit related Just looking at the chat here Hey, everyone. I'm doing well today Very tired lots of lots of video work pretty nice day in Ontario today I hope it is nice. Whoever you guys are watching from Need to just do something good adjustment here to the stream Taking a look here Have you considered that you might want more screens? Well, I have I have I think I have one monitor And I think one monitor is enough for me at the moment Just trying to check and seem to be having a resolution issue here, so I'm just Making sure that's all good. Okay folks. I'm just trying to sort this technical issue out and then I'll get started Little annoying. How does everyone stream quality look just making sure that The resolution is set properly Decent good. Okay. It looks like it's all pretty good So I will go ahead despite the fact that YouTube is screaming at me to put on the brakes So let's get into it. So I've got a bit to talk about today I'm a bit of I guess maybe I can do some q&a. I've got some mail. I've got some news items So I'm gonna start on the mail today I'm quite curious to see I want to say this is a mark. It's it's an M name. I'm sorry the handwriting is a little messy It's from It's from Illinois so So it appears to be some Yes, CTA maps. So this is pretty cool I'll try to try to open this up. Oh, this is quite cool Yeah, this can this can probably go in my wall or something along those lines. It's a CTA map So the Chicago L and and the like Yeah, it's this is quite cool to see I want to spend some time in Chicago and film some videos there I haven't for the channel at this point So, you know when the whole health situation is Subsided it's definitely a place. I want to travel to Because we haven't traveled in so long and you know It's definitely something that we want to do When we can as soon as we can because that was something we did a lot earlier on in the channel like we went to Montreal We went to Ottawa and so We're definitely very excited to be able to travel again whenever that is possible. I should Open up the next I am here. I'm assuming this is also Illinois related. Ah, so is is Michael And yeah, there is quite a few Different maps and schedules here as well Which is very cool Including a venture card. So that's Quite awesome. Thank you so much Michael As well as a smart trip card From Washington DC So if anyone has a unique transit card or anything of that sort Please consider sending it to us so we can open it up on stream next time. I'm going to send The link we have to To our Google forum where if you have stuff you can submit it to us and mail it in So that is now in the chat and I believe it is also in the video description though I will have to check that so give me one second here Yeah, it's in the video description as well. So Since there seems to be a lot of chat going on if you're interested in talking more with with other people on the channel and the like please Consider joining the community discord server. There are links in all of the video descriptions essentially As well as following me on Twitter My Twitter handle is at RM underscore transit and I tweet a lot about transit and At cities and related topics and so it's always great to have more people on there Let's see So To get into the first news item I want to talk about today and then I might do some I'll do some question and answer stuff and the like And then we can we can just go into like open discussion of transit and stuff Someone shared on the discord server. So again, this is one of the reasons you should consider You know joining on discord this piece of news which is just a document that is about the kind of shortlisted train manufacturers for For the Edmonton Valley line West light rail project and what's really interesting here is that Bombardier is not one of them Which is a little upsetting because Bombardier did the Trains for the eastern portion of the line The flexities are being used the same trains that are being used on the Eglinton Crosstown in Toronto and the Waterloo Ion LRT Which is pretty there there are seven segments long instead of five segments long, but they look nice and They're not shortlisted for the for the main Light rail rolling stock package for the other portion of the line So the potential bidders are calf. So the the Spanish rolling stock manufacturer Hyundai Rotem, which is from Korea and Siemens which is obviously From Germany, but has a major manufacturing presence in North America in California. I Think it's really interesting to see this happen Some people have suggested or at least the discussion going on in the discord server was that maybe this is related to the fact that Well, Bombardier is now part of Ulstam and maybe Ulstam didn't want to bid I'm sure they did bid because it's mentioned that there are eight I think submissions that were that were provided and so I'm sure one of them would have been Ulstam and Maybe even Bombardier was one of them, but it's very interesting that neither of those companies got through because You know usually you want to have as as unified a fleet as you can and usually would be kind of a shoe in to win To win More train deliveries I kind of wonder if it's related to late delivery of vehicles because I don't recall Completely, but I think it might might have been the case that Edmonton got some of their trains late or there they may have had some issues like I know they haven't heavily tested them yet But I do feel like I recall something some issues potentially having come up I'm just gonna It's gonna do something here But yeah, I just thought that was so interesting the Valley line West is quite an interesting project I I comment a lot about the fact that currently the Edmonton LRT does not go to the West of the city and so the famous West Edmonton mall which is was previously the largest mall in North America was not connected By rail and so I think it's very interesting This project on the whole is quite cool and it's cool to see Edmonton will have light rail kind of Radiating in all directions in the coming years because of this project. And so yeah, it's just it's quite exciting I think that as I talked about my Edmonton LRT Demystified video for the Valley line. I Think Edmonton is starting to kind of catch up and maybe surpass Calgary in terms of LRT development. And so it's quite It's quite exciting and But it is interesting that that Bombardier is not one of the preferred bidders So I'm going to go into some Q&A because I think some people have sent some messages and So I'll respond to some of these So let's see Okay, I'm gonna start with this one. So if SkyTrain were to build another line where in Vancouver would I put it? I Think the most convincing corridors are Arbutus 41st Avenue Hastings Street, I think there's a really strong argument for Hastings Street But I'm not sure we really need another east-west corridor at the moment because we do have Millennium and Expo And so maybe maybe Arbutus actually does make Sense and maybe it can be light rail because that's kind of always been the plan with Arbutus because it is an old rail corridor and It could seemingly be used for light rail though I am of the belief that it should probably still be SkyTrain because as we know the Canada line is really heavily used and I think that building another North-South SkyTrain line is a long-term priority and well with elevated lines You can still build them in an existing rail right of way and it will be much easier So it's still a really good opportunity to Build North-South rail in Vancouver and I think that You know, we're not going to get this kind of opportunity that this rail corridor offers again and so Using it for a North-South high capacity line Even even if it's Arbutus and we don't think it's that high of a demand corridor I think just because as we've seen with the Canada line there is significant North-South demand It's valuable to create a high quality North-South SkyTrain corridor in Vancouver And so there's that there is a potential North-South SkyTrain link under the Breard Inlet or maybe over the Breard Inlet if a bridge is used I think that's another very interesting proposition. So that that's what I would say Stream quality is looking good good to hear from everyone Have you ever heard of the CTA red and purple line Modernization project. What do you think about it? Yeah, I've heard about it and it's definitely something we've discussed on the Discord server So I get consider joining It's good. I think that I Am a little disappointed that a project like it is necessary I think that it's a case where it would have been good to see more Continuous upgrades of the system and I think that's something that we need to consider for other systems for example, there will be a day when the Vancouver SkyTrain viaducts on like the expo line need to be replaced and I think it would be far better for us to do a continuous replacement program over like 20 years Let's say, I don't know in a couple decades from now when we need to start replacing those viaducts Maybe making them a bit more seismically resistant as well I think it would be far better to do them piecemeal over a long period of time than do what Chicago's doing because I feel like Chicago's approach is because So much waiting has been done and then the the corridors not in great shape I think it would be far better to be a bit more proactive and less disruptive and just replace You know these elevated real viaducts piece by piece rather than having to do it all as one giant project So that's that's my thinking on that How much water do you think you'll drink on the stream? So it's a good question. I couldn't tell you and Yeah, just if anyone's new I do try to go through questions and I'll answer a bunch and then I'll go to another news item And then I'll answer a bunch more. I opened up some news already if you have any I Opened up news. I opened up some mail already if you have any mail to send me or there's something you'd like me to open on stream next time Go to the link in the description and fill out the info Always happy to open like railmaps and the sort fare cards, etc from places all around the world Yeah, and the usual considers following us on Instagram and Twitter and supporting us on patreon. It's all much appreciated, but I'm going to continue along so Thoughts on the new Piccadilly line trains. Are they better than the azures? Well, that's a very hard question to answer because we've got like three renders. I think at the moment London is getting new Piccadilly line trains from Siemens Which are supposed to be air conditioned But there were some discussion eyes on Twitter, which was quite interesting That was long the lines of I think Siemens said that they're supposed to release far less heat Use far less energy and all all this stuff And it just it kind of seems to break the laws of thermo Dynamics because how can the trains have air conditioning and yet release less heat and Also, they have to use all the extra power of air conditioning and yet still again less power and less heat. It seems strange I think the Piccadilly line trains like in the renderings they look nice I like the large display screens that are kind of where the ads would traditionally be I think that's something that you're starting to see a trend towards I believe at least one of the R211 prototypes Had those and so it would be cool to see those more broadly But yeah, I mean it's it's they look good But the problem the problem is that the deep level tube trains are just so constrained by loading gauge that They just can't they can't look that good, right? Like I don't think they look very good I don't like the tube train look maybe that's sacrilege I do like the subsurface line trains the S series or I believe they're called no S stocks, sorry I like them a lot, but the deep level tube trains. I don't think I've ever really thought they looked great And this kind of continues the trend But yeah, no, they look like they'll be a serious improvement And I think air conditioning is kind of a basic amenity these days And so it's it's good to see that they seem to have figured out how to do it Why do you not like the Eglinton line if it has traffic? If it has traffic light priority, it will be like the cone stop on I don't really agree The issue is that Toronto is a city Region see see it's a region really not a city. I It's a region of like seven million people. I think that having only Having having this kind of light rail in for our second east-west line doesn't make sense I think we could have gone with the full subway or at least a shepherd level four-car subway Train line or or something like the REM if we're talking about a more modern train design That would be more flexible that you could go elevated easier with and such. I just think that makes more sense That's all I have to really say I'm making a video about this tomorrow about light rail in general and my thoughts on it Because I don't hate light rail like I have a lot of places where I think light rail makes sense I just don't think that place is Eglinton Avenue in Toronto So that that's kind of my thinking on that Number of features directly correlates with quality of train. Yeah, I think that's roughly how it works When do you think actual Construction and tunnel boring will officially begin on the Eglinton West and Scarborough subway extensions Well the official word and I think in the media releases and stuff from Metrolinx has been that that's that work is supposed to Go on sometime. I think this year. So quite soon Which is super exciting for sure. Ah, yes, Simon is looking forward to Seeing some stuff. So Simon from the UK sent me some awesome stuff some Let's say rail memorabilia and so I'll be opening that on the next stream again next stream is in two weeks So if you haven't already go bookmark it, it's in the description of the video and you should be able to Set a reminder for the next stream How old were you when you first use transit, I have no idea probably like four or five younger I I wasn't there when I was I was there, but I wasn't as you know Conscious when I was a young young child. I'm sure I rode transit as a baby At some point do calf to any good trams. Yeah, they do the Urbos models a bunch of the systems in In Australia have used calf trams. I think Canberra and Newcastle have used calf trams And they look pretty good. I think the purple lion in Maryland is going to be using calf trams I think KC streetcar uses a calf streetcar. So yeah, calf has quite a bit of tram manufacturing in North America already They seem to be pretty good Why is ETS choosing a different train manufacturer? I'm not sure but it is an interesting question to ask You know, they would have to have a pretty serious Reason to want to do that. So there is of course, there's the chance right the first chance is that Bombardier didn't bid or Alstom didn't bid which seems unlikely given that eight companies bid and You know, okay, so calf Hyundai Siemens right what you've got kinky shario. So the company that manufactures the LA and Seattle cars Who else CRRC right? So that's five Statler six right who else could potentially have bid out of those eight companies, right? I'm struggling to think of other manufacturers Give me a second. Yeah, I think like you how do you get eight companies and not include them? I guess maybe to see I know CRC has kind of like multiple branches So maybe multiple branches of CRC RC bid separately, but yeah, I'm not sure Why is the TTC? Why are the TTC subway trains moving more slowly compared to Montreal and Wammata, I'm not sure what you're referring to. So maybe if you want to clarify your question and I can answer it Someone saying that there were some minor delays in in Edmonton and in that case, I guess that would kind of kind of make sense All 26 LRVs are there though. Yes They moved faster in the past but the policy was to reduce speed to cut maintenance costs I'm not sure if you're referring to the actual subway trains in service If we electrify freight railroads across America what engines would work? I don't think we really have an electric freight engine in North America, right? We don't so I think that the you know, probably some European models would be good candidates But I'm sure because of the fact that we do freight differently than Europe We would get custom models that are different than anything that is out there right now If you want to see some heavy electric freight locomotives I recommend looking at what China India Russia use some of them have some pretty heavy Electrified freight locomotives and so that's that's worth looking into. Yeah, Bombardier is now represented by Ulstam Yep, what do you think of the Edmonton bus network redesign? I think it's it's quite common sense There's a lot of those sort of bus network redesigns going on across North America And so I think that it's good Yeah, like moving to gridded networks and More frequent service on fewer corridors is probably a good policy generally So I am going to talk about a new item here So I'm gonna talk about another news item and then I'll come back to Q&A type stuff. Hmm. I Don't know. I think I ate something in my stomach. It's been a little upset all day today But the news item here is that Ottawa is Has announced a fund to electrify public transit buses, which I think is very interesting So currently in Canada we have electric bus trials in major urban areas going on in Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver Edmonton, I don't think Calgary has a trial of electric buses Which maybe is not so surprising given that it's Calgary but Of course several suburbs of Toronto as well when I refer to Toronto Vancouver has recently placed a fairly large order when I say fairly large It's double digits low double digits, but a double-digit order for Nova bus electric buses to start electrifying The 100 Marple route, which is pretty cool to see There's also Toronto, which is ordered currently has in service. I think around 60 electric buses, which is pretty cool On kind of a trial basis. So basically Toronto ordered from three manufacturers and just wanted to get a sense of kind of how they would fit in The fleet how they would operate in such which is pretty cool to see. I'm not gonna lie They ordered from a new flyer pro terra and BYD. BYD has been super late with their Delivery of their order, but I think it's fully delivered now Montreal has been experimenting with a few models Ottawa I think has either recently announced they're going to be testing or has already started testing electric buses Brampton transit and York Region transit and I think my way have all Kind of been in the loop with electric buses Edmonton has a bunch of pro terra buses in full service. I think 40 or so So it's pretty cool to see electric buses kind of really rolling out Interestingly, it feels like faster than electric cars. I mean, it's a small portion of our fleets, but it's still a substantial portion Like 50 out of the TTC's buses is not a small number And 40 of the ETS's buses is a pretty significant number, right? That's That's approaching, you know, five Probably what like five percent of their fleet. So I think that's that's quite exciting to see I think that electric buses are such a great technology because They reduce pollution air pollution and noise pollution They're more performant than standard buses, right better acceleration with electric motors They're they're more comfortable. There's a lot of vibration produced by diesel engines and traditional buses They're obviously going to last a lot longer than traditional diesel buses which last about 15 years usually um So there's so many benefits to electric buses that It makes sense to do a mass conversion to them and I think that well For cities that don't have trolley bus networks, which is every city in canada with a short of vancouver Electric buses are just a really good way to electrify the transit network Which is important because otherwise if the network is based entirely on buses. There's basically no chance Before battery electric buses were around that you were going to get to a zero emissions public transit system And now that battery electric buses are being tested and such And starting to actually roll out in service It means that there is a lot more capability to start decarbonizing the networks And I think that's just really exciting to see It feels modern to you know, not using fossil fuels electric infrastructure and such I think you can get as I mentioned you can get better vehicles It would be cool to see if vancouver does Kind of off wire and on wire trolley buses with batteries. I think that that would be Super awesome 10 seconds here A shout out to richard chen for the super chat. I'm just going to quickly Finish my uh my kind of blur kind of blurb on uh on Electric buses and then I'm going to answer richard's question Um super chats obviously much appreciated and I'll I'll make sure to answer Questions from them. So yeah, I'll answer this question right after I finish um my my blurb, but basically Um, I think that vancouver has a great opportunity with on and off wire trolley bus charging Because you can use those trolley wires to basically create a much more extensive network, right? Like right now the trolley wires kind of they go into bernaby. They they cover a lot of vancouver With those existing trolley wires, you know, you could assume that vancouver could cover its entire Uh network with battery electric buses that connect up to the trolley wires when they're on the main trunk routes Uh charge up and then go off wire to serve other areas of the city um So and and in the suburbs as well, right like maybe some Buses that go into richman that are on the trolley wires for much of their trip could be battery electric And they could charge on the wires and same with buses going into Um bernaby for example. So I think it's a really exciting opportunity I think that given the lower long-term maintenance costs I think that it's a really smart way of spending capital money, right? You're spending money that you have right now capital Uh to reduce your costs in the future and that's always a smart investment Um, and of course, I think the ultimate Kind of good thing about all this is that a lot of this manufacturing and a lot of these companies new flyer and nova bus are Canadian and so it's really cool to see that we're we're taking the lead and and doing a lot of electrification of buses and I think that um We we can lead in north america for bus electrification I know that that north american transit market is seen is not that incredible But it's big for buses and so it's cool if canada can lead it for this So i'm going to go into some more q&a But again shout out to richard jen for the super chat and i'm going to answer Uh his question So is the go regional express rail still on track to being electrified haven't been in the loop really on this front so go regional express rail is a Is kind of the the previous name for what's called go expansion now Though I prefer the regional express rail name because it's better It's it's at least exciting I don't know if it's the best name either because it's not really representative of the type of system that go r.e.r I call it go r.e.r It's not representative of what's going to happen with go, but yes electrification is still very much on track Um, it is being procured. So essentially What's called the on-core package? Which stands for on corridor. So that's trains um, let me think Trains, I think some station upgrades Operations electrification some other improvements of infrastructure perhaps signaling all of that is the on-core Pro like like package and that that stuff is a lot. So it's taking a long time I think the the kind of procurement process started like a couple like one or two years ago It's probably pretty close to being finished I think we could probably expect to hear this here was my was kind of I think what metro links may have said I think I don't recall but Uh, it's been out for a long time. And so I sure we will have like the expectation would be that we would hear pretty soon about that Um, there's some major bidders like, uh Like there's several teams of different companies, right? So rolling stock companies operators construction companies, etc Deutsche Bahn, MTR, S&CF, RATP all these really great international operators are Our bidding which is super exciting. Um, all the major rail manufacturers Well, each of those teams has a major rail manufacturer, which is quite cool Um, so it is very much on track and I think that It's just going to be delayed from when we expected we expected I think 2025 for significant completion It seems like it'll be more like 2030 Which is more realistic. It's a little disappointing because electrification should and can happen very quickly But it simply isn't and I think that part of the problem with that Is just because we're doing this kind of a little bit weird approach where we do everything at once Which may not be the best idea. Um, I think a lot of the time when electrification happens, right? Single line at a time is electrified and so it gives you the chance to kind of learn from that, you know, how you it's it would be kind of like um You know, you're do you have a kid and you're like, uh, hey, maybe we should teach our kid how to ride a bike Right and and you you think and you you take the training wheels off the bike And you're ready to put your kid on the bike without training wheels First time they've ever rode a bike and then you think ha No, maybe we should put them in the frenzy to the car because I think the bike is a little too easy That's that's kind of how it feels a bit. Um with trying to do everything at once Um, I think that doing like just lake shore east or just lake shore first might have made more sense But we've committed to this and so At the end of the day, we're going to get electrification I think it's just a matter of when and I think it should be In less than a decade, which is exciting. It's not that long a transit time So I'm going to answer some more questions Here, um F for Bombardier. Yep. That's how I feel I'm slightly confused as to whether the Ontario line and Eglinton crosstown would be fully operated by the TTC or Metrolinks And will it have the TTC logo and wayfinding fully integrated? Um, well, it will have uh, it will be operated by the TTC as far as I know Eglinton definitely will I think Ontario line will um, but Ontario line will be automated. So the extent to which the TTC operates it You know, it's less because it doesn't have drivers Um, will it have the TTC logo? Yes, Eglinton will and I'm sure Ontario line will But they will also have the Metrolinks logo and like the t symbol, which is the unified transit symbol for the gta Uh, which is cool to see. Uh, I don't think it will have I think like Metrolinks has their own wayfinding standard Um, I talked about I kind of talked about this with uh, Tobin Allison in a video I did previously um an interview video So I recommend going back and taking a look at that regarding like wayfinding and stuff and the Metrolinks projects But um, I don't think it's going to have the TTC wayfinding, but it will have the TTC Standards like it will refer to line one and line two and et cetera. Um, but yeah, I think that's how that's going to work Dry lips starting, um, Skytrain to Granville Island. I think that'd be really cool. Yeah, you know Really cool. Like it's a major destination that isn't super well connected to the transit network the rail transit network. That is um Actually, I probably should take off my headphones. My hair is a mess as you can probably see I I just realized I can't hear anything Why am I wearing headphones? Um But you Skytrain to Granville Island would be nice. Um, remember there was the streetcar the olympic line as it was called previously that served That kind of corridor between the olympic village and Granville island and so that could just come back and then that would be like a cheap way of connecting Up to Granville Island. I'm a little sad that it hasn't come back because it seems like kind of no-brainer Um, there's actually space to the east and west of that to extend the streetcar system And I think it'd be kind of cool like again that that's a place where having a streetcar actually makes sense Like it's a super dense area Destinations are close together, right? So it it makes sense um Someone mentioned thoughts on the Gordy Howe bridge in Windsor. I think that's the new bridge between Windsor and Detroit I haven't followed it super closely. I believe I believe that is right the new bridge Um, it's cool. I guess. Yeah, I haven't followed it super closely because it's not really a transit project um When do you think we will receive an update on the Ontario line? Well, there was an update not that long ago I think right with um Some updated kind of like specifications and stuff. I think there's pretty frequent updates that come out Regarding various elements of the line if you just kind of check the project website Just wanted to say construction of a new metro line and extension of another in porto starts this week or something Seven new stations five of them being underground making the annual ridership 20 larger. That's very exciting Um, always good to hear about more rail in portugal in europe What do you think about a sky train line crossing the second arrows? I think it's kind of out of the way. So I would prefer to not Go that far out of the way North shore seems prohibitively expensive if you build a crossing for its limited population And nimby, uh, I'm sure north, uh, north Vancouver has more than one nimby so I don't know why the nimby here is singular, uh, but uh It might be expensive Yeah, but I think that one important thing to consider with transit is that you do want to connect You know connect your whole region and sometimes that means building expensive lines where the business case might be weaker, but That being said as well north Vancouver is a really important part of metro Vancouver, right? Like it has all the ski hills It has a lot of the nature and such and I think having rail out there makes a lot of sense And I think there's massive densification, uh in the lawn stale area and I think there would be even more if you connected Sky train up and so no, I think that like it's a good investment and I think that Um rail like underground rail is really good. It's quite resilient In case of disasters and stuff and and sea buses aren't So and plus sea buses probably have higher operating costs, frankly So I think there's a lot of benefit to having that rail line Plus an idea context to make an iconic bridge over the Duro river for another eight station circular line cool cool to hear Uh, that's again in porto um What do you make of all the negative press about the rem recently? I think that with all of this negative press we've seen with the rem I think it's just kind of the bounce back from getting something, right? Like I feel like we love to complain about stuff in canada broadly every city does this not just Montreal um, and I think it's part of why we can't have nice things, you know, like When we get something we complain about it endlessly and it's like Can we just not be happy for once? um Montreal built almost no transit like rail transit for decades We're building rail transit and now people want to find anything they can complain about possibly right like and um Like I get it. I get why people would not like Would even the sense that it's not Public which it isn't it is public or sorry. It's public the rem is public Um, but any sense that it's not people feel uncomfortable. I think because they've been told that transit needs to be As public as possible, and if it's not it's not good the at the end of the day, right like The point of transit is to move a lot of people efficiently with uh Low environmental impact and inexpensively so that people get the benefit of mobility if a system does that I don't think it really matters who owns the system or who runs the system, right a high quality integrated system Is just as good if it's operated by a private company as if it's operated by the government and it might even be better, right? Like that's totally possible. Um, I think the what we should use to judge transit projects is the outputs, right? Like is it creating good connectivity? Is it providing a high quality service? Is it decongesting the city? Um, if it's doing all those things then I don't think it's super important who runs it, etc It's a sec. It's an important consideration. I suppose if you You know if you had the choice But in Montreal is the choice there because for years and years nothing was getting built, right? So that's kind of my take on on it and uh, I think that people will complain about anything What do you think would be built faster Cambridge ION extension or the Hamilton LRT? Also, do you think LRT would be better if they planned and built them faster or is the slow approach better? I don't really have an opinion on slow versus fast. I think that's super dependent on on the location I think uh, the Cambridge ION extension could possibly happen first And that's because it's a lot easier to build an extension than a new line because you um, you know you you You have experience uh, like the region Has experience uh with the construction process You already have a lot of the infrastructure installed So you're just building the tracks and and some signaling and maybe some extra stabling room And so usually extensions are easier to build Um, so I would say Cambridge probably it's moving along pretty pretty well, right? And I don't actually even know how far along Hamilton is in terms of detailed design and stuff Because I think um Cambridge extension is quite far along. Um, someone might be able to confirm that in the chat um Man those new tube trains have absolutely tiny windows. Yeah, the deep level tubes just do have it I do agree that the renders from several years ago looked better. They looked very space age and the new ones just kind of look I don't know. They look like they've been value engineered a lot New red and orange line trains have lcd screens next to the doors showing connecting services Yeah, I've seen that and that is a good feature of them. I'm not a huge fan of those trains Um, but I do think that is one good feature of them So I have a comment here London is a really fast-growing city that goes under the radar for lrt I'm not sure what you're referring to necessarily and maybe you can specify What do you think of the ttc getting rid of presto when the contract expires? I think this is the type of situation where we need better leadership in ontario and in toronto um, I think that The whole situation with presto is mostly on the province, but Like seriously is the ttc really going to dump Presto and I think that you know if they did that would be hugely big mistake um, you know, I think actually having a worse system like Here's why it's a mistake. Um You could have a system that is seriously Pretty like pretty bad. Um, I'm not saying like presto is not perfect But it could be pretty bad and the ttc should probably still keep it because having the integration Probably benefits them, right? Um Say that you're from mississauga and you spend time in toronto Which a lot of people from mississauga do a lot of people from mississauga and and york and and durham Work in toronto now imagine you have a fare card and it's not the Like you ride in on the go train and now you don't have the ttc fare card Well, what's the chance like you ride the ttc then like I'm sure a lot of people still would but there would be a substantial number who'd be like Oh, I don't have the like if it was presto. I could just tap my presto card and get on but if it's not presto Maybe they're not going to ride and so I think that they're just kind of shooting themselves in the foot The answer to fixing the problem is just to work with presto to make the system better It's kind of a bad situation because obviously presto has a lot of problems, but You know Again, this is like trying to put out a fire by throwing gasoline on it. So That's that's my thought on that whole situation What do you think is the best case of trams and light rail being existed Integrated into the existing urban fabric of where it goes through that's a very good question I think that um, if we're talking about like integrating it into existing urban fabric, I think water loose ion is quite good for that um I think there's a number of systems in like like a number of the peresian tramway systems Are really well integrated into the urban fabric. So they're good examples Um, sydney's light rail looks really good white rail trams. Whatever you want to call it Um, the Jerusalem light rail looks quite good. Actually some people have been sharing that on on discord Um, a lot of light rail projects are pretty well integrated into the urban fabric Have you heard about colorado's rail commission working on passenger rail along the front range? Yes, I have Um, I was I feel like I'm going to sneeze so I had to pause there Yes, boston's green line type nine is calf. Yes Do you have any thoughts on fair integration between the ggc and go? What do you think would be the best way to go about it? I think jonathan english's report from the toronto regional board of trade is probably the best approach It's very Practical, right? Like it maintains current fares for a lot of people well giving Well kind of giving everyone fair integration and not costing that much money, which is kind of exactly what we need Why do you think american cities are obsessed with lrt? Honolulu metro seems like the only metro built in decades. Um, it is probably the only metro built in decades The obsession is one of it's a combination of Town planners selling it is kind of what europe does and it looks cool and looks nice It's it's it's an overuse of a technology It's an misunderstanding of what the technology is suited to Because lrt is suited to certain applications and again, there will be a video out tomorrow 9 a.m Set a reminder. I'll be releasing it. It'll be on light rail But uh, there's certain places it makes sense many in the u.s. I think it doesn't make sense, but it's still used and So that's my thought What do you think of the cta's seven thousand series railcars not a fan? I think they look really old and dated Um, i'm quite disappointed with them if it wasn't clear Because I just think they look so old right like it's the classic north american problem And and in this case i'm gonna have to say it's the classic american problem Canada has been doing really well with getting modern trains that look new right like the new toronto subway trains are Are least new looking trains and they're also our oldest new trains But the new montreal trains the new vancouver trains the new calgary trains Even the new, um, ottawa trains they all look really modern and the u.s. Has this problem with ordering really dated looking rolling stock for rail lines and uh same for the cta seven thousand series like where is the full articulation and Why why does the design look almost the exact same as the older models like it doesn't need to So that's my thoughts. It's a little harsh. I know but Tough love right Okay, lots of messages Okay, so i'm probably gonna have to kind of be a little selective here So i'm gonna because there's a lot of messages Thoughts on trackless trams. I think they're if you're talking about I'm not sure if you're referring to like the silly chinese like dotted line following tram bus thing if you're talking about that very silly if you're talking about just trolleys No, they make sense electric bus or trolley bus I think that again, I think uh Join the discord because we had jonathan english on the other day and he said something really smart which uh was that He thought that those should eventually become one technology and I couldn't agree more. It's a great idea to have like trolley buses and electric buses become one technology right so A trolley bus trolley bus just means an electric bus which is charging on wires Interesting especially considering copenhagen did their electric bus trial several years ago like around six seven years ago and already have fleets and orders Yeah, like But I feel like a lot of places in europe that were testing the technology early probably also took a lot more risk with it And I think in north america, we're just more risk averse right which makes sense because we're just we're not as heavily Into transit right which is the same you can see like toronto is more invested in transit than A lot of cities in north america and toronto is doing a more aggressive electric bus trial So it makes sense if you're spending a lot of money on electric on buses Then it makes sense to take a big risk to save money If you're not then why would you take a big risk that could cost you a bunch of money? For saving money that you know, there's not that much money for you to save What cities in north america use dual mode electric buses with catenary and battery systems? The only one i'm aware of right now is datan ohio In like an in-service type of system, but other trolley buses do usually have batteries so they can operate off wire for short periods of time Yeah, I should also mention there is there are a few places in north america where entire towns use Electric buses. It's just not widespread Thoughts on transit in miami I had some videos a long time ago on transit in miami. I think miami is like a weird case like There's a lot of potential I think that you know working on transit oriented development and continuing to provide high quality service will mean miami has one of the Best rail networks in the southern u.s. Right? Bright line is a pretty cool system And if it you know continues and connects up to disneyland and atampa that would be really awesome I think Metro rail is quite nice I will say metro movers a little weird But the new metro rail trains look good the connection to the airport is quite good, which is unique That's not that common in north america. And so on the whole. Yeah, miami is pretty good for transit. That's pretty impressive Yeah, boston silver line is dual mode buses. That's a good point And I should have should have remembered that Thoughts on dc's plans to remove some regional bus parking and union station and reprioritize train right of way stated Go reduce number of buses idling and valuable real estate. No, that sounds like good. No, that sounds really good Is it's something that toronto has done as well with the new union station bus terminal right has moved a lot of the idling Away from the actual terminal put it somewhere further away and then have the terminal be just where passenger boarding goes on Do you think the shepherd line should expand eastward to shepherd west? Um, so that would be westward if you're talking about westward, then yes, it should extend west to shepherd west Um decades ago, there was a bus system in congo that uses electric buses with flywheel energy storage It did not turn out well interesting. Um, why don't you talk about cycle lanes as transit systems? There are cities which implement bike sharing systems close to metro and train stations and many cycle lanes as a complement Um Um, I don't You're right. I probably should but I think there are other channels that cover it more than me Um, not just bikes is a good channel that covers that though. I do get a little Irritated with the negativity that sometimes comes out of there, but he he does good work on on bike stuff Um, despite being called not just bikes Um, I guess for me, I'm not a cyclist and when I say I'm not a cycle I just mean I don't commute by bike, right? I know that he's made videos talking about how Calling people cyclists in the Netherlands is kind of sacrilege, right? And I'm not someone who bikes, right? So I don't I don't I ride transit a lot, but I don't bike So I it'd be a bit odd for me to talk about it a ton if and also I don't there's not Toronto's not a great bike city like Vancouver is a pretty good bike city, but It's hard to talk about it when there's not any good infrastructure I think that like for example in our berkwitlim station focus video, which if you haven't watched I recommend you go watch it um, we talked about Bike park aides that they had their album Vancouver is pretty cool Good for that like there's bike park aides a lot of stations. Um, Toronto's starting to do that, but uh You know, it it's it's hard to talk about it when it doesn't exist in Toronto It sucks for bikes. What can I say? It would surprise me if they're okay. This is Just looking. Yeah, it's good to hear about RER. I agree. I'm very happy. It's happening After the 30 plus billion Doug Ford wants to invest in the gta Subway expansions, where should the next 30 billion be used to expand? So I think Uh, extend the Eglinton line. Yeah, just wearing headphones to look cool indeed Extending the Eglinton line to mississauga city center makes a lot of sense. I think doing the mississauga mississauga I can cannot speak the mississauga city center Loop that they were planning originally for light rail makes sense. So that should be done Um, extend that line up to brampton Because it just makes sense to connect the go line there Um, we've spent what probably like five billion Eglinton east with some smart grade separations For another three ish billion Upgrade parts of the streetcar network to like light rail standards for three billion. We're at what like 11 billion now Um extend ontario line to shepherd for Six billion. So we're at 17 billion um Shepherd west to shepherd extension to shepherd west For let's say four five five billion probably Right, so that puts us at 22 billion Um, I don't know if I want to extend the shepherd line to scarborough town center if I'm honest I don't know how high of a priority that is Um, that would be I guess that's one I would consider well not to scarborough town center But to shepherd mcowen where the line two extension will go. I guess that would be next Um, yeah, that that would be how I'd wait extend the network next I think maybe maybe Leave a few billion and use it to spend on bus lanes and stuff Surrey sky trainer lrt. I used to be a big lrt fan boy, but uh I came around Surrey sky train definitely I'm just curious. Do you think there are existing or hypothetical projects where you feel lrt makes the most sense? Yes, I'll be making a video about it this tomorrow. They're not not necessarily about specific projects But that's something I can definitely talk about too in the future The first electrified go trains will use existing stock pulled by electric locomotives But can the bombardier by levels be built to be self-propelled? Um, no, like they're not they're not currently designed to be and I don't think they should be And that's not necessarily the case. There could be electric multiple units before the electric locomotives happen So, yeah Do you think any new subway lines will be proposed for toronto in the near future? Will toronto ever get to 500 stations like new york? I don't think any new subway lines are going to be proposed I don't think there's really a huge need Will we get to 500 stations someday? It depends like if you count light rail stations and regional rail stations. Yeah, probably um Metrolinx t logo was stolen from brostin. No, it wasn't um, again, go watch my video with toben allison where we talk about this Um, there was like an original render where they used the t logo, but it's just a t The t t's are used in lots of cities. It's not boston does not own the letter t um I think biden's infrastructure plan will invest in california high speed rail or is it dead? I would hope they invest like I don't know. I I talked about this in a previous stream I don't know if I feel good about spending a ton of money on california high speed rail because You could sink so much money into that project and waste a lot And not actually finish it and if it's not going to be finished I think that project has to be finished. You have to go from la to san francisco for it to be worth it And if you can't for like 80 billion, which it seems like might be the problem Then it might actually not be worth the money because you could spend 80 billion doing a lot with transit um What do you think of the stage ontario line opening to union station first while tunnels are being bored To union station first. I'm not sure I'm not sure what that's referring to if you're talking about like running it down the rail corridor to union I don't think it's really feasible, right because you would have to still do a lot of Pretty significant construction to to get it to go to union You know, you might be able to make the case for that if you If you already had electrified the rail network and and like but I don't think it's really possible, right? Like ontario line is automated and you'd have to build a big station at union and you would have to spend a lot of money on sickling and and And electrification, etc. And it's just so much money to spend for Only a couple years benefit, right because it seems like the downtown portion will be constructed first, right? Like that's the bid that went out the tender that went out first. And so I think that It's kind of a nice idea, but I don't think it would be all that practical Could automated light metro work in certain parts of new york city? Why not would be my answer? Of course it could yeah, it could work anywhere. Um, the by levels are almost 50 years old Uh, don't you think it might be time? Yeah time for a new design. Yeah, I I agree bullseye Like danforth line to queen first. I'm not sure that's referring to Several lines are ideal for automation and modernization. Yeah, definitely I don't like the necessarily like the name toronto suburban trains because a lot of this service on gore It doesn't need to be suburban thoughts on link light rail vehicles are weird, especially the doors Also, half of the stations are basically parking lots. I do like the pace of growth and how it's kind of spon-like Link light rail is cool. I don't think the vehicles are weird They're Siemens s 70s, which are a very common light rail vehicle In north america. Well, they're not Siemens s 70s. They will be s 70s They're kinky chariot vehicles right now that look like s 70s. There's essentially s 70s It's so it's a case again kind of like eglinton where Why would you spend so much money on grade separation? It is one of the most expensive light rail projects in the world linked light rail You spend you spend so much money But you only get you know x percent of the benefit because you don't go to full grade separation Which just seems silly like you could add a few more grade separations and get way more benefit Which is what is weird to me Contactless payment is not possible with the current presto readers, correct Which is why they're trialing it on up express first because it has different readers What features would you like to see for the new subway trains for line two? Glass doors kind of like other modern train designs, like you know full height windows I think charging ports are nice. I think it is a bit of a gimmick If that's the only good feature your train has but I think having a few charging ports is okay I think mo I think substantially more longitudinal seating I think better handholds the current design online one really isn't very good. I would say Um Potential for full automation would be a good thing to build in I would say space for site like bikes Um potentially more doors Maybe better seat materials that aren't fabric. I don't like the fabric seats Should pierce an airport build the missing terminal? I'm not sure what you're referring to by that Can you talk to us through your current desk chair? Talk us through your current desk chair or the one in the background Which you recommend this is my current desk chair from Ikea. It's utter garbage. It's truly terrible Um I wouldn't recommend it. It has this this kind of slider so I can lean back right and often it will come undone And so I'll just be like kind of sitting and then whoa You fall right terrible. Um, so it's terrible. I wouldn't recommend it at all It's it's truly just the cheapest chair possible. It's it destroys my back every day. Um Could I say anything worse about it? Ikea does make some okay products and I have a lot of Ikea stuff and you know everyone buys a Ikea stuff, but Especially for someone like me who sits so much. I really should invest in like a Herman Miller chair Um, I have one previously. Um, not at the moment. Um, this chair over here Is an autonomous chair, which is so fancy, right? So nice and fancy. It was quite expensive Uh, and I wouldn't recommend it either because it's some alibaba like drop shipping company We I found out after we had bought this chair, of course I mean it's not like actually the worst chair in the world like it's semi comfortable and stuff Um, but it's not actually that high quality and yeah, literally this It's just a chair from alibaba that they put a logo on and then they sell it and I'm not super happy with That I think it's it's kind of sketchy. So those are my thoughts Okay, got a lot of messages. Let me scroll up here and then I will Knowing how the disputes will go. It'll probably be cheaper to connect the pen tunnels rather than build an entirely new bridge Not sure what you're referring to Is mississauga getting any metro? No, how much longer are you going to be streaming today? uh, maybe like Not uh 10 more minutes roughly, I guess I personally disagree. I like updating old styles better than the tgc's t1 I also like non-articulation better than articulated versions. Well, I mean that's I think that's silly, right? Like not updating the style because you like a retro design I think it's bad because most people like modern designs. That's why Most products move towards more modern designs, right? A lot of modern design is about making products better and more accessible and so I think it's kind of a little inconsiderate to not Support like modernizing designs because you have like an affinity for an old design, right? Like I like some old designs too, but I don't think that everyone should have to suffer through old designs because I like them Um, and also like articulation, right? Like that's something that trains should have because it increases capacity and safety and other things And so, um, I don't think we should just not have it because some people don't like it, right? I think it's important Lots of discussions of rail tech. How about urban gondolas? Have you looked at those? Yes, I have um Simon Fraser University not wearing my sweater, but where I was about to attend university is Looking like they're going to install one in Vancouver, which is very cool. It's a 3s gondola if you've heard of that I met that London, Ontario metro area is over 500,000 people And it seems like the right size to start building bigger transit projects. I think light rail would be good I don't know the brt is probably fine and given the fact that London seemed like it was struggling to even get the brt through. I think that light rail might be pushing it I know your fan of light metros with elevated above road and cut and cover right-of-way is what you're preferred routing for new Suburban and regional lines. I think above medians is typically a good approach I think that if you have a truly small urban area, then light rail can be looked into and I think if you If you have a rail right-of-way, then you can really start looking at good light rail options But I'll be talking about this more in my video tomorrow Well, I think the thing with modernity and advancement in aesthetics, right is that it often represents Modernity in function, right? I don't think you can really disconnect them Right like part of the reason that a lot of the us trains look so dated is because of the the crash regulations and stuff, right? Um, and I think that once you remove those crash regulations, you would just go to a different design because they're better in other ways, so yeah Yeah, I could take up cycling and I have as you know, a young person cycled a lot But in toronto, it's just too dangerous, right? Like Drivers here are actually crazy and super dangerous and I I wouldn't want to cycle here It's the truth Um, the sky train I think needs to have a line to gas town That would be the Hastings line Opinions on Brampton's LRT tunnel right now the short list of options is either a tunnel in mix or mix traffic or underground It's a hard decision a mix traffic or underground. I think I almost think mix traffic might be a better option, right? Um, such a short tunnel. I guess if Brampton's paying for it then Give them the tunnel, right? Like I guess it is a slightly nicer connection in the for the long term Boston's t-logo was stolen from Stockholm Where's he reading the questions from the chat? Yep the chat Just by looking at the map of california high-speed rail the indirect route sure looks like a compromise at best Yeah, and uh, sncf offered to build the whole line for Significantly lower price by taking a more direct route And they got turned down and I just find that hilarious, right like Clearly that is a better option Because if you built, uh, if you built a good, uh, high-speed rail option There's no reason you couldn't build another line in the future It shouldn't cost a ton to build through these fields in the middle of of the Of uh, the central valley in california Yeah, I am slow at answering questions. I'll I'll skip a few That are maybe less interesting or something along those lines. I'm not that far behind Should the raptors keep or trade Lahori? I haven't I honestly. I'm not that into sports I know that's probably heresy to say Um, Kyle Lowry was there for when they won the championship. So maybe we should keep him Someone keeps asking about a missing terminal Pearson. I'm not sure what they're referring to A TTC live subway map would be cool. Yeah um, I think melbourne does have the benefit of having a good, uh, kind of a Regional rail network, but it's at the expense of an urban rail network, which is why it's interesting But I think uh melbourne and Toronto are not all that different in total transit ridership Which shows the benefit of having a metro, right? You get a lot of ridership density Should win a peg get a high floor grade separated lrt. Yeah, probably the other prairie cities did and I think it's probably appropriate I remember when this channel was only 400 subscribers. Well, I do as well Yeah, no one else should be subject to a confederation line. I couldn't agree more that is That is chef's kiss. It's perfect, right? What's your opinion on the 319 bus being replaced with a brt? Um, I we don't have any brt really in vancouver. So I don't have any strong opinions. I doubt it would happen Um, what do you think of the ottawa airport connection plans? Well, there's not plans, right? It's being built the airport rail link is being built right now Um, do you think the platform edge doors like in london could ever come to line one or potentially other lines in Toronto? Definitely Uh, they were considered they've considered it more than once. It's a good idea Is it a good idea to reactivate and expand the vancouver heritage streetcar? Um, not as a heritage streetcar. Otherwise, it's only going to be for tourists, right? Are you going to do an urban gondola video? I might Um, we'll see what happens with that. Um, I think this is probably the end of the stream I've gone through all the questions for today. Um, the next stream will be linked in the description for Oh, there's a few more coming in. I'll probably answer these but, uh There's a link to next week's or not next week's the next stream Which is in two weeks. We do stream every two weeks and in between we do videos There will be a link in in the description for that There will also be a link in the description for the google form where you can send us Transit maps, which I could consider putting on my wall. Maybe we'll have a vote or something Uh, as well as fare cards and other unique stuff In addition, I should plug my social media. Go follow me on twitter at rmtransit Um, on instagram also should be at rmtransit that you can verify on my youtube channel Um, consider supporting us on patreon. Um, it's must appreciated and you get early access to videos, which I think is pretty fun Uh, and join our discord to to have conversations, etc with us. Um, let me answer a few more questions and then I'm going to end the stream for today Do you prefer a zone system or single fare for transit? I prefer pure distance based, I think. I think it's the best system Could you do the expo line Hastings line extension cut and cover or would it need a tunnel? Well, cut and cover is a tunnel, right? So, uh, I think you probably would need a tunnel Um, I think that's it for today, uh, because no more questions, uh, thanks everyone for coming, uh, and uh, yeah, it's been, uh, it's been great Uh, I'll see everyone in two weeks. Thank you. Bye