St Clair Avenue West Streetcar Transit opens again

Thanks to blog readers JJ and RS for bringing this to the blogs attention

The Gunn's Ave loop during reconstruction

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It seems the old link was changed to the following and TTC will go live on June 30.

http://www3.ttc.ca/News/2010/June/0629_St_Clair_ROW.jsp

Full streetcar service begins on St. Clair Right-of-Way
June 29, 2010
The final section of the St. Clair streetcar right-of-way has been completed west of Lansdowne Avenue to Gunns Loop, just west of Keele Street. As a result, streetcars on the 512 St. Clair route will run along the entire seven-kilometre route from St Clair Station to Gunns, starting on Wednesday, June 30.
Customers and local businesses will benefit from the new, dedicated right-of-way for streetcars. The new streetcar service is more frequent, more reliable, and faster. Service now operates every three to four minutes in peak periods, and every five to nine minutes at all other times of the week. Scheduled travel times have been reduced by between 10 and 14 per cent in the peak periods, and by up to 25 per cent at off-peak times. Road and sidewalk reconstruction has enhanced the urban design of the street.
The design and construction techniques used to build the new streetcar right-of-way track infrastructure on St Clair Avenue West will contribute to a measurable improvement to the long-term performance of the track and concrete pavement, as well as providing a smoother and quieter ride for streetcar passengers.
The TTC would like to thank area residents, businesses and its customers for their patience and support during the various stages of the project.

http://www3.ttc.ca/Service_Advisories/Route_diversions/512_St_Clair_10630.jsp

512 St Clair – Full streetcar service resumes June 30, 2010
Full streetcar service between Gunns Loop and St Clair Station.
Effective June 30, 2010
Full streetcar service will resume over the entire route, from St Clair Station to Keele, with the completion of the St Clair Avenue West Transit Improvements Project.
Streetcars will operate every 2 to 6 minutes during the day, and every 6 to 9 minutes in the evenings.
Customers should board streetcars at the island platforms on St Clair Avenue.

Joe Mihevc just stated that the St. Clair streetcar will resume service all the way to Gunn's Loop tommorrow. Joe Mihevc posted that on Facebook.

From what I've read on Steve Munro, service has improved, but not spectacularly. Which is not what one might expect given the drastic changes to the street. But there is an improvement and the streetscape enhancements are great. Now both Dundas and St. Clair in the Junction have no overhead wires along the sides of the road.

However, what they did between Keele and Old Weston Road is neglectful. There are no plans to rebuild that underpass. There's only one lane in each direction for cars. What happens when a car breaks down or city crews need to do some maintenance like fixing a pothole or removing graffiti? It also seems unsafe for cyclists. It should be rebuilt.

Ok, I have been very happy since the streetcar has resumed service along the St. Clair West stretch all the way to the Gunns Loop. Since then, I have been disappointed by some of the serious design flaws that have been made to the streetcar stops. While I did not expect any complete shelter from bad weather at any of the stops, the so-called shelter could have at least been designed in such a way that the rain water does not drip from the back of the shelter into the area where people are standing!

In addition, the design of the walkways at Gunns Loop did not take into account where people naturally would walk and now we have dirt paths that make the stop look bad again. Worst of all, they did not anticipate that the streetcar may occasionally be replaced by bus service (in the event of accidents, disabled streetcars, street festivals, etc.) and the streetcar loop at Gunns was not build to accomodate busses. So, the area is an absolute mess now that busses have driven through the loop which had not been desinged to accomodate a bus. I can't beleive that the planning folks at the TTC did not anticipate this at all! It is clear that the planning folks never actually came out to see the sites they were making designs for in person.

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