[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTkcdLF1GPs[/youtube]
Last month’s terriblewonderful Sunday blizzard threw the city into either a winter wonderland or chaotic mess, depending on your perspective. In our snow storm stories thread, some readers reported that one of the reasons the streetcar system was bogged down was due to motorists parking their cars and blocking the streetcar tracks. One commenter even said people on his streetcar got out and physically moved cars out of the way. In the video above Spacing writer Jessica Duffin Wolfe caught two minutes of a streetcar making its way down College. The driver has to get out and eye cars and snowdrifts “like a renaissance surveyor” says Wolfe. Streetcars are backed up in the opposite direction because of parked cars. Apart from perhaps wishing we had a nice snowfall again, this video may support a campaign to outfit TTC vehicles with rams that could take out offending and city-crippling parked cars in short order.
23 comments
To be fair, the motorists may be doing their best to get as close to the curb as they can and think that they are ok. Communication is the key, in that the motorists, police officers and streetcar drivers need to have a way of knowing when a car is clear and when it is not. I could be wrong, but I don’t think this is the case at the moment.
The best solution for this kind of mixed-running is to paint a bright red line down the street at the exact point of streetcar clearance. Of course, this line would sometimes get covered by snow in a storm like the above, but at least there would be a hope of training drivers to check that they are not “over the line” and to fine like hell if they are.
I think the cement/asphalt line is the limit. I’ve always known if I’m on the asphalt side (riding my bike, parking a car) we’re ok. You can usually find it with some snow too.
That said, I believe most streetcar lines are “Snow Routes” where it’s illegal to park regardless, during a snow storm.
And of course, don’t let rational solutions preempt consideration of rams just yet.
The city should simply ban parking on narrow streetcar routes during snow emergencies. I think that would deal with the problem quite well, as long as they enforced it with ticketing and towing offending vehicles.
Montreal has people trained like seals on this.
Scott is so right — in Montreal, if you’re parked where they’re going to be ploughing, they tow you around the block and it’s an instant $80 ticket (possibly more). When you hear that snowplough warning, boy do you run out to move your car.
*nostalgic sigh, even though I’ve been the recipient of one of those tickets…*
The city has to have streetcar right of ways everywhere they have streetcars. Does the regular configuration make any sense anymore?
It would have helped to get rights of way, if they hadn’t so screwed up the implementation of the St. Clair right of way (where I live). Now anyone who wants to delay ‘Transit City’ has that slow cluster-&*%$ to point to.
What is the fine for blocking a streetcar?
Is it the same for a bus? It should be times the capacity of the vehicle or vehicles. Each vehicle that is held up means the fine gets increased double, triple, etc.. Not a single fine, which would be just a permit to park.
Currently what a streetcar operator does, is contact transit control, control then contacts Toronto Police, then they get a tow truck to remove the offending car. You can appreciate how long it takes. Maybe the TTC needs a few tow trucks, these would have a police officer riding shotgun during snow emergencies, and would be in contact with transit control. When a streetcar is blocked the tow truck responds, the officer writes the ticket, and they tow your vehicle enough to get it off the tracks, or onto a side street, leaving you a nice ticket, the city would create a new bylaw that makes it illegal to block a streetcar and set the fine at something like $500…..
Some day, Toronto will stop paying lip service to keeping main roads clear. Oddly, we only hear about delays to streetcars even though the way we lose roadspace to badly parked cars affects many other streets as well.
One big problem is that the TTC does not have the right to enforce parking bylaws itself including ordering tows for offending motorists. This is long overdue.
Of course, that would eliminate one of their standard complaints about delays to service, and the TTC might prefer the comfort of griping without actually having to do anything.
Re: $500 fine suggestion. Imagine if the fine could somehow be calculated to match the lost time/production of each individual blocked/affected by the inconsiderate act.
Unrealistic (and perhaps a cruel and bankrupting punishment) to enforce such a thing, but perhaps a useful exercise to undertake towards urging the city to do something about enforcement, as Steve mentions above.
Steve, maybe I read it on your blog, but under the City of Toronto act, the city could empower special TTC towtrucks now — or something like that?
I believe that the “ownership society ethos” has taken over the reasoning of many people, nowadays.
They seem to figure that paying taxes means they own the street and everything else. They then figure that this gives them licence to dowhat they wish. It’s all about me, me, me. Civic duty and responsibility has gone out the window.
They’re so selfish, they don’t know what collective responsibility means.
It’s a pity to see so much boorishness pervade the city.
Jeez, before we start demonizing the bad parkers out there, perhaps we should speak to some of them. I’m a transit-taker myself, but I start to feel a bit queasy when valid transit discussions lead to the kind of dogmatic anti-driver venom I’m reading here.
Not all drivers are bastards, and driving in this city–especially in these kinds of conditions–is no picnic. I highly doubt any of the drivers in question parked their cars knowing they would be blocking streetcars. I think ignorance is the more likely culprit, not inconsideration, in which case bankrupting fines would be a particularly unfair and heavy handed way of dealing with the problem. A media campaign each year at the beginning of winter–and again when heavy snows are predicted (get weather forecasters/traffic reporters to help)–accompanied by diligent “snow route” parking fines should be enough to alleviate a good chunk of the ignorance, I would think. Only when people understand the “snow rules” as well as they know the “handicapped parking rules,” will the harsh penalties discussed above be justified. The way it stands now, this is a practical problem, not a moral one, so it’s unfair to disparage people’s morality/character because of the way they park during a snowstorm.
Melissa> I agree, I really don’t think it’s arrogance or deliberate: really who would want to block a streetcar and get towed? People don’t realize, they make mistakes AND snow falls everywhere–I have had people tell me that they could not park on side streets and used the main drag as a last resort. There is a practical solution out that that does not reflect on people’s character.
Steve how big of a problem is this?
Maybe it was David’s comment, but I don’t think this is an anti-car moral crusade. This blog, spacing, etc, is critical of car culture sure, but I don’t think we’ve demonized it. In fact, a big factor in what makes the magazine possible is “the car:” bringing stuff to our launches, driving 15 boxes of subscriptions to the post office, etc.
I’m an occasional car driver so I’m part of it, though when i park on a streetcar street, I’m hyper-aware of giving the streetcar enough room. The track-area is like a demilitarized zone to me. No go. I can’t even bring myself to turn left in front of a streetcar even when it’s legal (that may be my own weird problem though).
But “as a driver” blocking the streetcar is a pretty big deal, intentional or not. Perhaps what is needed is a Montreal style public education campaign.
Shawn,
I’m not demonizing motorists. I’m just angry that so many people fail to understand civic responsibility.
It makes me wonder how anyone could not know that a major snow storm was arriving and act early on to help clear the way for others.
I quite agree with you that a Montreal-style educational campaign should be brought in.
Why doesn’t anyone from elsewhere share their winter motoring experiences? Surely Calgarians and
Reginans and Haligonians should have something to add to this discussion.
Ottawa has highly visible cardboard signs that they put out when they’re planning snow removal. They’re much bigger than a standard “no parking snow route” sign but their main advantage is that they’re unambiguous.
Similar temporary signs that mean “no parking, starting now” could be put up before a major snowstorm along streetcar routes. Putting out the signs would cost money, but it could still be a net cost savings if they kept cars off the tracks.
Buffalo I think kinda prohibits cars from the core, or the carterials, during major snow events. And the road design can push parkers way out from the curb in those indented parking bays that the city doesn’t plow out. As for red lines, do the motorists respect the white lines of bike lanes? (not that cyclists always stop..)
But yes, maybe the TTC should have some tow trucks though like most ideas, it may take a decade or two to percolate through.
I think the point is that, there needs to be some sort of solution (and there are many other cities with better examples to follow), most importantly combined with a heavy educational campaign to change the apparent culture of ignorance regarding the issue.
I’m just jealous that your city even has streetcars, though.
Perhaps the solution is to replace streetcars with electric buses, a much more sensible and less traffic-clogging transportation solution?
Uh, we already did the whole streetcar-to-electric bus thing (Mt. Pleasant and others). It was fine, for a while, but too easy to drop and convert to regular buses whenever the next budget crunch hits. That’s a slippery slope that I think we all know not to descent.
Hamish, I think people disrespect the bike lane lines because while they know they are blocking the bikes, they know the bikes can ultimately still go around them. They view their actions as an inconvenience, not a blockage. Everyone knows a streetcar is glued to its rails, and the threat of causing a real problem (with tows or fines) should be sufficient. It’s not a costly solution to paint some lines. We should at least give it a shot, along with an education campaign.
This is just my opinion, but on streets designated for street car access, perhaps a contract with the City/TTC with a towing company would be in the the City’s best interests to maintain proper flow.
That, or the City needs to stop erecting a condominium on every blessed vacant lot, and start erecting proper neighbourhood parking buildings; ban parking on the streets in those areas completely.
Not only would these structure ensure that snow plows and street cars would be able to access these routes properly, car owners would not have to worry about the elements.
These cars are parked illegally, whether or not it is snowing. In most jurisdictions – and I’m pretty sure both Quebec and Ontario – you need to park with your wheels within a certain distance (like, 6 inches) of the curb. There is no exemption for snow banks – you need to be close to the curb itself, not to the snow bank.
Look at the first car in the video – it’s clearly at least three feet away from the curb. (Plus, for that car, there’s no good reason he couldn’t be closer – there’s no snow bank blocking him).
I wonder what the penalty is to a TTC driver that hits a car? If I was a driver I wouldn’t bother slowing down….
Well, this kind of track-laying is obsolete. Keeping trams in this situation is quite senseless. Usually car traffic is either re-routed (creating nice pedestrian areas), or the tram is otherwise physically separated from car traffic, with e.g. rubber triangular band.
What could help here is turning this street into one-way-str and moving the tram tracks towards the sidewalk. That would also allow getting directly into the street for one direction.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan of this kind of a transport, but Toronto needs both money and baldness in decision making. Keeping the system as-is will kill it relatively soon.