Toronto’s new LRT lines have large, clean, accessible stations. So why are they so slow?

In this episode of DemograFix, Cara Stern talks to Jason Slaughter, creator of the YouTube channel Not Just Bikes, about how Toronto’s new Finch West and Eglinton Crosstown LRTs compare with light rail in Copenhagen, Amsterdam and even Kitchener-Waterloo.

They discuss who’s to blame for the slow trains, why LRTs crawl through intersections, and what real transit signal priority looks like compared with Toronto’s half version. We also look at why Kitchener-Waterloo’s ION runs the same trains so much better, why Toronto squanders a streetcar network other cities would kill for, why Canadians don’t complain more about mediocre transit, and Ontario’s bike lane law.

Plus: does Jason worry that people will think he just hates North America?

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[–] [S] 5 points 14 hours ago

Damn YouTube removed the "clips" feature, or else I would have clipped out just this section, because it's so good. It has potential to be persuasive even for those that are as car-brained as the typical American, Australian, Canadian, etc.

The Netherlands actually has unbelievably smart traffic lights. You know that thing that you have sometimes that, whether you're driving or biking or walking or whatever and you're at a red light and it looks like nobody's going by and you're just sitting there?

You're like, why is this red?

I will tell you that that almost never happens anywhere in the entire of the Netherlands. It's shocking how that never happens. And it's not very high-tech. It's fairly straightforward tech that's been around for decades. Not some fancy AI or something like that. It just works.

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