City Life

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‘I don’t like winning’: Toronto man outruns streetcars to show up sluggish transit network (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 4 days ago by Powderhorn@beehaw.org to c/citylife@beehaw.org

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When Toronto’s streetcars hit a rare open stretch of road, the metallic grind gives way to an airy electric hum, and for a fleeting moment, there is a feeling that one is hurtling along the knife’s edge of the future.

Seconds later, the illusion shatters: the car grinds to a halt, at a stop – or more often, in traffic. As the city slips past the stalled riders, some notice a runner zipping by.

Mac Bauer is fast, but the city’s trams, weighing more than 100,000lbs and travelling at a maximum speed of nearly 45mph, should be far faster than him.

And yet as of late December, in head-to-head races against streetcars, the 32-year-old remains undefeated in his quest to highlight how sluggish the trams, used by 230,000 people daily, truly are.

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[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 4 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I have been able to do this with busses for a 3 mile jaunt. Basically if I did not see the bus I would start hoofing to the next stop. look back. and repeat. If the bus finally was in visual field at less than a mile out I finished up just walking. Granted this was not just about the bus moving slow but also when the routes were just backed up for some reason. Still it happened fairly often. Actually I think this is what got me to just walk and not take the bus unless the weather was bad enough I wanted to stay at the shelter stop. I was walking more often than not for that commute and biking if not and by the end rarely took the bus.

[–] Powderhorn@beehaw.org 3 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Transit here is terrible. We have some buses that run "every 10 minutes" where you can wait a half-hour for three 803s piled up in a row.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 1 points 4 days ago

I mean I think my transit is good but yeah you could get those 3 bus pile ups. They do tell busses to go express which helps a lot. Basically if a bus is packed already it announces its going express after the next stop and folks get off and some folks going the distance its expressing or further get on and it gets out of the way of its follower busses. often its like the first goes express a few miles forward and the second is directed to express about a mile up and the third one then is picking up as normal so it debunches them.

[–] TehPers@beehaw.org 1 points 4 days ago

You're lucky if the busses even stopped for you where I used to live at. Half the time, they'd see you're the only one at the stop, then just nope off without stopping.

[–] Hirom@beehaw.org 2 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

I can easily outruns streetcars when commuting with a bicycle. Those streetcars have dedicated lanes/tracks, have right of way in intersections. So they can't get stuck in trafic unless bad drivers block an intersection. You'd think they would easily reach top speed.

But their path is terrible, causing them to slow to a crawl due to numerous tight turns and a couple bridges with a slope to climb.