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TORONTO TRANSIT COMMISSION
REPORT NO.
MEETING DATE: JUNE 22, 2005
SUBJECT: FUTURE
STREETCAR FLEET REQUIREMENTS AND PLANS
RECOMMENDATIONS
It is recommended that
the Commission:
1.
Approve the rebuilding of 100 Canadian Light
Rail Vehicle (CLRV) streetcars, at an estimated total cost of $130 million, to
ensure that the TTC’s near-term streetcar service requirements are met, noting
that, under even the most-optimistic scenario, new streetcars could not be
acquired and put into service until 2011/2012;
2.
Approve proceeding immediately with the process
of procuring new streetcars for the TTC, including approval of the hiring of five
additional staff who would be dedicated to this project, so that the
introduction of new streetcars in Toronto can be done as quickly as possible;
3.
Approve a contingency plan of rebuilding the
remaining 96 CLRV streetcars, at an estimated cost of $134 million, which would
be implemented only if new streetcars cannot be procured in time to meet the
TTC’s streetcar requirements;
4.
Note that, in order to make TTC streetcar
service accessible to people with mobility difficulties, the most-practical
approach is to accelerate the procurement and introduction of new streetcars
which would be low-floor and fully-accessible;
5.
Note that current projections indicate that the
TTC’s streetcar fleet requirements will grow from the current 238 to a projected
350-to-480 by 2026 depending on the extent to which the Building a Transit City program is implemented with streetcars; and
6.
Forward this report to the City of Toronto, the
Ontario Ministry of Transportation, Transport Canada, and Infrastructure Canada.
FUNDING
Sufficient funds for the
rebuilding of CLRV streetcars are included in Project 4.15 Streetcar Overhaul,
under Life Extension of Canadian Light Rail Vehicles, as set out on pages 1037
to 1040, category State of Good Repair/Safety, in the TTC 2005-2009 Capital
Program as approved by the City of Toronto Council on February 23, 2005.
However, project financing approval is required from City Council to enable
contract commitments to proceed for the full rebuild of 100 cars.
No funds are included in
the approved TTC 2005-2009 Capital Program budget, for the purchase of new
streetcars or the related activities including the required additional
staffing. The cost of hiring additional staff to accelerate the design and
procurement process for new streetcars will result in unbudgeted capital costs
of approximately $150,000 in 2005, and an annual cost of approximately $400,000
commencing in 2006. Funding for these unbudgeted 2005 expenditures can be
accommodated within Project 4.15 - Life Extension of CLRV project. These
requirements, as well as the proposed procurement of new CLRV streetcars, will
be included in the TTC’s 2006 budgets which will be presented to the Commission
for approval in November, 2005.
BACKGROUND
Streetcars have been an
important and continuous part of Toronto’s public transit and urban scene for
more than a century. Horse-drawn streetcars began operation in Toronto in 1861
and were replaced by electrically-powered streetcars in the 1890s. Until the
opening of Toronto’s first three subway lines in the 1950s and 1960s,
streetcars carried the majority of transit customers in Toronto. While the
streetcar network was reduced in size between 1947 and 1976, largely as a
result of the replacement of streetcar routes by subway service, streetcars
today still provide the majority of surface transit service in the downtown
core. Four of the TTC’s five busiest surface routes are streetcar routes.
Approximately 260,000 customer-trips are made on streetcar routes each day.
As was common throughout
the transit industry in North America and Western Europe after the Second World
War, plans in Toronto called for the elimination of streetcars and their
replacement by new subways, buses, or electric trolley buses. These plans were
decisively reversed in 1972, largely as a result of citizen support for
continued streetcar service. As a result, older streetcars were rebuilt, new streetcars
were purchased, other infrastructure upgrades were made, and between 1990 and
2000, three significant additions were made to the streetcar route network.
Major investment in renewed track and overhead wiring continues today as part
of the TTC’s State of Good Repair budget.
Much of the development
of the older parts of Toronto was strongly influenced by the presence of
frequent, reliable transit service provided by streetcar routes. Residential
and commercial neighbourhoods that are today on well-used subway lines – Bloor
West, North Toronto, or The Danforth, for example – were developed because of
the streetcar service that was introduced to these areas in the first few
decades of the 20th century. Other vibrant neighbourhoods that
remain on busy, highly-travelled streetcar lines – Little Italy on College
Street, St Clair Avenue, The Beach – continue to be popular and successful
places to live and shop. For significant new neighbourhoods planned to be
developed in future years, such as the East Bayfront and the West Don Lands, it
is expected that only new streetcar routes can provide the necessary
high-quality, high-capacity, and reliable public transport that will be
necessary to support the growth of these new communities.
In addition to being an
important part of Toronto’s heritage, streetcars offer a number of important customer
service, community, and environmental benefits. They provide a notably smooth,
quiet, and comfortable ride. Experience
with the three new streetcar services introduced in the 1990s shows that
ridership increases when bus services are replaced by new streetcar
service. Municipal investment in
streetcars demonstrates the city’s long-term commitment to an area which, in
turn, instils confidence and brings about higher levels of private investment
and development. Streetcars are environmentally-friendly, producing approximately
93% fewer emissions than buses, on a per passenger-kilometre basis, even after
taking into account the off-site generation of electricity required for the streetcars.
Streetcars continue to play
a very important role in the TTC’s transit network. While only 11 of the TTC’s
149 surface routes are operated with streetcars, these routes carry 17% of all
passengers travelling on the TTC’s surface network, or about 43 million
passengers annually.
Toronto’s new Official Plan
highlights the need to focus new development on existing high-capacity transit
service including the streetcar routes. The Plan introduces new policies to
provide priority to streetcar service in order to make it more attractive and
competitive.
The purpose of this
report is to discuss the TTC’s current and future streetcar fleet requirements,
and the measures which must be taken in order to meet those requirements.
DISCUSSION
Current
and Future Streetcar Requirements
The TTC current operates
197 streetcars (158 CLRVs and 39 ALRVs) on its 11 streetcar routes. The number
of streetcars required for scheduled service for each route during peak periods
is shown in Table 1, attached.
There are a number of
factors, some of which are quite recent initiatives, which will cause the
number of streetcars required for service on the TTC system to increase in the
future. These are:
·
Additional ridership due to population and employment
growth: Toronto’s new Official Plan calls for an increase in population and
employment of up to 750,000 people over the next 20 years. The Plan also calls
for measures which will encourage more people to travel by transit, rather than
by automobile. This growth in population, and policies aimed at changing people’s
travel behaviour, are expected to increase travel demand on streetcars.
·
Ridership Growth Strategy (RGS): This plan, endorsed
by the Commission in March, 2003, calls for, among other things, improvements
to peak-period service on major arterial routes in Toronto. These improvements
will require more streetcars to be put into service.
·
Combating deteriorating traffic conditions: The
majority of the TTC’s streetcar routes currently operate in mixed-traffic,
sharing the roadway with private automobiles, trucks, and other users of the
road. The TTC’s experience has been that, as traffic volumes grow and traffic
operating speeds decline, more streetcars are required in service simply to
offset this slowing-down of transit operating speeds. This trend will require
an increase in the TTC’s streetcar fleet.
·
Development of Toronto’s Waterfront: One of Toronto’s
major planning initiatives is the opening-up and redevelopment of its
waterfront for a wide range of residential, employment, and recreational uses.
In approving land-use plans for the waterfront, City Council also approved a
“Transit First” policy which requires that high-capacity transit service be in
place before development proceeds in the waterfront. This major initiative and
policy position will likely require an increase in the TTC’s streetcar fleet.
·
Building a Transit City (BTC): In support of Toronto’s
new Official Plan, City Planning, City Transportation, and the TTC have been
working together to develop a new transportation strategy for the City of
Toronto which would introduce high-quality, high-capacity transit services, in
dedicated rights-of-way, on a network of major arterial roads and utility
corridors, in order to significantly enhance transit service across the entire
city (see Exhibit 1, attached). Work is ongoing regarding the choice of
streetcars or buses for the various corridors which constitute this network,
but it is certain that implementation of the BTC network will require an
increase in the TTC’s streetcar fleet.
All of these factors,
combined, will require a significant increase in the size of the TTC’s
streetcar fleet. Tables 2 and 3, attached, show that, depending on the
assumptions made regarding which BTC corridors are implemented with streetcars
as opposed to buses, the number of streetcars which the TTC would need for
peak-period service would increase from 238 in 2006 to between 350 and 480 by
2026. Exhibit 2, attached, illustrates
the projected growth in streetcar fleet requirements. Even assuming that the
TTC’s existing streetcar fleet is kept in operation, the demand for streetcars could
begin to exceed the number of streetcars available for service by the year 2010.
Status of the Current Streetcar Fleet
The majority of the TTC’s
current streetcar fleet are CLRV streetcars. This group of streetcars will
begin to reach the end of their 30-year service life in 2007. Even before the
CLRVs will have reached their 30-year life expectancy, they will have
experienced several significant mechanical and electrical problems which reduce
their reliability and availability for service. If these streetcars are to be
kept in operation beyond their 30-year service life, many of their components
will have be completely rebuilt or replaced. If this work is not initiated by
2007, then these streetcars will begin to fail at an increasing rate, resulting
in fewer and fewer streetcars being available for scheduled service, and those
which are available being less reliable and more prone to breakdown. Exhibit 3,
attached, shows the projected reduction in streetcar availability unless action
is taken to extend the service lives of this group of streetcars.
Means of Meeting the Increasing Demand for Streetcars
As described earlier in
this report, and illustrated in Exhibit 2, attached, it is expected that the
demand for streetcars will increase significantly over the next 20 years. There
are two means by which this increasing demand can be met.
1.
Buy new streetcars for Toronto:
There are a number of manufacturers of streetcars in the market today. New
streetcars would offer several advantages including:
·
new and more-reliable technologies and propulsion
systems
·
fully-accessible low-floor design
·
greater energy efficiency
·
passenger amenities such as air conditioning
·
potential of greater capacity per vehicle
Toronto’s streetcar
system has several attributes which are relatively unique in streetcar
operations. These include:
·
an atypical rail gauge
·
steeper grades than would be found in most other
cities (e.g. Bathurst Street, Kingston Road, upper Gerrard Street, Harbourfront
and St.Clair West portals)
·
tight turning radii
·
single-ended operation which requires turn-around
loops at the ends of routes.
This means that, when
the TTC buys new streetcars, it will have to specify performance
characteristics which are less-commonly found in the industry. It will likely not
be possible for the TTC to buy an “off-the-shelf” product.
The steps required to
buy and put new streetcars into service in Toronto are many, including: product
research, development of specifications, industry review of tenders, TTC
evaluation of tenders, award of tenders, design, engineering, and production of
prototype, testing and evaluation of a prototype, refinement of design, and
start-up of production. Therefore, while the TTC will have to, and should
invest in new streetcars to expand its streetcar fleet, this process is very
complicated and will realistically require upwards of seven years from the
start of the process to the entry of new streetcars into service. On this basis, the earliest date by which new
streetcars could be in operation in Toronto would be in 2011/2012.
Referring to Exhibit 4,
even if the TTC immediately begins the process of procuring new streetcars for
Toronto, new streetcars could probably not be delivered in time to meet the
projected increasing demand for streetcars in the system.
2.
Extend the Life of the Current CLRV
Streetcars: Given the lead time required to procure new
streetcars, it will not be possible to meet the near-term and medium-term
demand for streetcars unless steps are taken today to ensure that the current
fleet of streetcars can continue to operate safely and reliability beyond 2007,
which marks the end of the 30-year life expectancy of the oldest of these
vehicles. In order to ensure that there are sufficient streetcars to maintain
current service and to meet the projected growth in requirements until new
streetcars can be put into service, the TTC must start to rebuild its current
fleet of streetcars through a formal Life Extension Program (LEP). Considerable
work has been done to determine the scope of rebuilding which such a program
would entail. The Life Extension Program would be expected to allow the current
fleet of streetcars to continue to operate for an additional 10-15 years by
overhauling, rebuilding, or replacing a number of significant components of
these streetcars including mechanical components, vehicle structure, electrical
systems, motive systems and trucks, seating, and heating/air
conditioning/ventilation systems.
In order to make this
program as efficient as possible through economies of scale, it would be
necessary to establish a minimum “critical mass” for rebuilding. That minimum
number is 100 streetcars. As shown in Exhibit 5, the rebuilding of CLRV streetcars
will minimise the possible future shortages of streetcars in advance of new
streetcars being acquired between 2012 and 2021.
The implementation of a
Life Extension Program for the CLRV streetcar fleet is, itself, a complicated
undertaking which requires lead time for re-design of the streetcars’ major
systems, for the awarding of contracts, and for pre-production set-up (see
Exhibit 6, attached). Therefore, in order to ensure that the TTC has a reliable
operational streetcar fleet to meet its requirements until new streetcars can
be put into service, the Commission should approve the implementation of the
proposed Life Extension Program for 100 CLRV streetcars. Additionally, because
of the unknowns involved in the future streetcar fleet requirements and the
speed with which new streetcars can be put into service, the Commission should
also approve a contingency plan of rebuilding the remaining 96 CLRV streetcars.
This contingency plan would be put into effect only if the procurement of new
streetcars cannot be achieved fast enough to meet projected fleet requirements.
Making Streetcar Service Accessible
One of the major
outstanding issues regarding streetcar service in Toronto is their lack of
accessibility for people with mobility difficulties. While the TTC is
retrofitting subway stations with elevators and other accessibility features in
order to make these stations navigable by people with mobility or other sensory
disabilities, and while the TTC is replacing its bus fleet with new
fully-accessible, low-floor buses, the TTC’s streetcar fleet remains not
accessible.
TTC staff have done
extensive research into the means of making the current streetcar fleet accessible.
These measures have included construction of high-level platforms comparable to
what is found at GO train platforms, changing the grade of streetcar tracks at
streetcar loading platforms to equalize the streetcar floor level with the
platform, the use of low-floor accessible trailers attached to streetcars, and
the retrofitting of the current streetcars with lifts. Each of these
investigated options would require considerable explanation which is not the
focus of this report but, in summary, after exhaustive research on the means of
making the current fleet accessible, staff have concluded that this is not a
practical objective and that this should not be pursued further. This
conclusion has been reviewed and concurred by an independent consultant, Booz
Allen Hamilton.
The TTC’s efforts
regarding the provision of accessible streetcar service should now focus on
accelerating the process of procuring fully-accessible low-floor streetcars
which would benefit all customers. Staff believe that this approach is the most
pragmatic and realistic one which the TTC can take in order to achieve full
accessibility of the streetcar network.
JUSTIFICATION
The TTC’s fleet requirements are projected to increase
significantly over the next 20 years, as a result of several city-building and
service initiatives. In order to meet this growing requirement for streetcars,
the Commission should approve both the rebuilding of the current CLRV streetcar
fleet in order to ensure continued safe and reliable operation of these
streetcars for an additional 10-15 years, and the immediate commencement of the
process of procuring new fully-accessible low-floor streetcars for Toronto.
These two initiatives, together, will ensure that Toronto’s near-term and
long-term streetcar fleet requirements are met and that the objective of
providing fully-accessible service on the TTC’s streetcar network will be advanced.
-------------
June 22, 2005
11-55-80
Attachment: Tables 1, 2, and 3
Exhibits 1, 2,
3, 4, 5, and 6
