How is transit in your city? Crowded? Slow? (high school, university)

[nickjbor]

I've been to every city that offers transit in the GTA but I'm curious to learn about transit outside of the GTA. Questions I have:

Is the Subway/LRT crowded?
Are the buses crowded? All day or just during rush?
Are the buses slow to come (EG, you have to wait forever for the next bus)

answers from what I know:

Toronto
The Yonge, University, Bloor, Danforth, and SRT lines are crowded during peak, while the Spadina and Sheppard lines are not. (Note, some of these are sections of the same line) Boor-Danforth gets crowded on weekends and is busier then expected off-peak, but not at night, while the Yonge line stays busyish all day, every day, but you'll almost always find a seat out of peak. Note that it's sometimes difficult to find a seat even going the opposite peak direction on the yonge line, while the bloor-danforth line tends to be far more empty going against peak traffic

The buses can be crowded, depends on the route. On some major routes the buses are indeed crowded, all day, every day, in both directions. This contrasts with other major routes where there is always extra space outside of rush.

The space between buses is wonderful in Toronto. Any route that runs less then 15 minutes is an exception, and most of the medium-size routes run between 15-10, and the major routes run at less then 10, even outside of peak. Things only fall off at the edges of the city, or near the end of service. Toronto also offers 24 hour bus service, with 30 minute headways, maximum, on these routes.

Greater Toronto:
York Region Transit -
a recently merged transit system (5 years ago) that is doing very well. YRTs "VIVA" Bus Rapid Transit offers comfort and beauty with their European buses. VIVA routes are very reliable, run often, and have bus stops that tell you how long the next bus will be coming in. Off VIVA YRT routes can be slow, and waiting 30 minutes for a bus is standard outside of peak and can be expected.

Mississauga Transit and Hamilton street Railway -
These systems are not as slow as other GTA systems, and you wont have to wait too long for a bus, depending on how major the route is. Mississauga is known for having the best equipment in Canada. All of it's buses are air-conditioned, and most are also accessible (the ones that are not are due to retire soon). Hamilton has a large fleet of CNG buses, and some very ‘sexy’ looking articulated buses that are hybrid. Crowding is mostly limited, but there is a constant problem with the largest Mississauga route, however this route is planned for conversion to LRT.

Brampton Transit –
While it has a Mississauga-like network, it has YRT like headways between buses.

Oakville Transit, Burlington Transit, and Barrie Transit –
These networks are based around the local commuter rail GO network. Their buses tend to meet at GO terminals, especially in Barrie. The routes almost have a uniform 30 minute headway, at all times of the day, and service is very limited on Sunday or holidays, if available at all.]

Durham Region Transit –
This area has the most potential, but also the most work to do. DRT was created only a year ago after five smaller agencies with Oakville/Burlington like networks merged. DRT routes tend to run on 30 minute or 1 hour headways, with a (too) large number running only during rush hours. Some of the newer routes (such as the 900 series cross-region routes) run with better (20 minute) headways, but the only routes with any real passenger load consistently are found in downtown Oshawa.

GO Transit -
The inter-regional carrier, GO offers commuter rail service, as well as inter-city buses. GO has been hurt by it's own success. The system cannot add more passengers without running more trains, but the owners of the track do not want to disrput existing feight service to allow this. GO's Lakeshore line runs during the daytime, every day, but the remainder of the rail lines only run during peak, and then only in the peak direction.

Ottawa
The LRT O-Train is a joke. It has great headways and capacity, but few people use it. Ottawa has one of the most successful BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) networks on the continent. Problem is, all these buses are packed, even outside of peak. These are no short buses either, we are talking 60 foot articulated buses that have to be squeezed into. Beyond that, in the downtown core, when the light changes, 3 or 4 buses will pull up to the stop, and people will get on and off, only to have the light change again, and 3 or 4 more buses pull up, and have the cycle repeat itself. Ottawa is seriously looking at ways to increase capacity, and this needs to be done before serious improvement of the transit network can take place. The issue has become a political hot-potato, with some people wanting to see the diesel O-Train extended, others wanting the O-Train replaced with electric trams and run it downtown, and others wanting an expansion of the BRT network. Current official plans favour the second option, but “official” plans have been overturned before in this debate.


I hope this helps someone, anyone. If anyone has information like this on transit systems outside of Ontario, I am all ears.

[lmop_210]

In Windsor, the bus system is actually better than what people normally think, though there is still a significant presence of a car culture.

The two core routes (1C and 2, similar to the subway in Toronto) have a 15 minute frequency during peak and off-peak periods, with extras running during the peak period. Still, because a significant part of Transit Windsor's ridership is high school students, around the time they get out or have to go in, buses are like sardine cans, even with extras. Outside these two routes, the major ones have 20-30 minute frequencies at all times, while minor routes have less of a frequency, reaching every 60 minutes during non-peak periods. The minor routes end service right after afternoon rush, while other routes continue until midnight, and the core routes going until maybe 1:30AM.

Saturdays see less service than normal, with the minor routes having 60 minute frequencies all day, and major routes again running every 20-30 minutes. Buses aren't usually crowded, except maybe on the mall route. Service ends at about 10:00PM, with some routes going until midnight.

The worst period is on Sundays, when even the two core routes have 40 minute frequencies, and the rest have 60 minute frequencies. One of my biggest pet peeves about the transit system is that devonshire Mall, the major mall for Windsor, is only served by 1 bus route running every 60 minutes on Sundays, which are undoubtedly its busiest days. My other biggest pet peeve is that service ends at 7:00PM, maybe 8:00PM on Sundays.

There seems to be more people using the bus, ever since gas prices skyrocketed. However, there is still a thriving car culture in Windsor.

In closing, while Windsor's transit system leaves a lot to be desired, a person could easily live using the bus only, as I have for the past few years.

[evanusc]

Coming from a major Asian city, I don't think Toronto's subways are even close to be called "crowed". In the city where I used to work, it is usually hard for the doors to close because it is so packed with passengers, and subway staff often has to push people inside so that the doors can close, and the trains can leave the station.
During peak hours, men in their 30s could find it impossible to squeeze into the train, and it happens almost everyday. Sometimes moving to the door in order to get off in time is a pain as well.