TTC WELRT Transit Travel Time Study
As part of the $15M design project for Waterfront East LRT Design, a reduced scope options study was undertaken to evaluate two shortlisted surface route alternatives. TraffMobility played a key role by leading the transit travel time assessment component as well as providing technical support to the traffic operations analysis for this study.
CLIENT
Toronto Transit Commission (TTC)
MARKETS
Transit Planning
SERVICES
Transit Travel Time Modelling
Transit Operations Reviews
Service Planning/Scheduling
Traffic Operations Analysis
Stakeholder Consultation
Transit Travel Time Model
A data-driven approach was adopted to estimate the average transit travel times for the two surface streetcar routes and compares against the Baseline underground route option. A static transit travel model was built in Excel to calculate the average travel times which took into account of intersection delays, dwell times, and operating speeds.
The inputs and assumptions used in the transit travel time analysis included streetcar operating characteristics, intersection clearance time calculations, segment travel time assumptions, and transit delay estimation.
Inbound and outbound trip travel times were calculated and compared against the underground option for AM and PM peak-hours. Other analysis outputs included time-space diagrams and speed profiles.
Incorporation of Transit Signal Priority Strategy
A first principles approach was applied to estimate the transit delays to support the travel time calculations. Such approach considered the transit opportunities per signal cycle (built-in transit phase and Transit Signal Priority-inserted transit phase), timing splits from Synchro models, re-allocation of green time/red truncation, and the assumed arrival patterns of transit vehicles.
Transit User Experience Assessment
Spatial analytics techniques were used to assess transit user experience from walkability and ease of transfer perspectives. Walk times were calculated to evaluate transit accessibility based on the proposed stop locations and pedestrian desired lines.