Category: Commissioning

Categories
Commissioning Rapidways Safety Stations Uncategorized

vivastations >> built for comfort and safety

vivastation safety and comfort

We’ve taken every possible step to make the vivastations on the new Davis Drive rapidway feel like a safe haven, especially considering the stations are located in the middle of a busy roadway.

While you wait for transit, you can take comfort in the fact that you are well protected from the elements and adjacent traffic, and able to get help easily if you need it.

safety starts with design

The new vivastations include a variety of safety features, and are designed with transparency and good lighting in mind – two key principles of CPTED [Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design]. Stations have a concrete barrier wall along the traffic side, and a steel and glass guardrail beyond the glass canopy. The glass is impact-resistant with an interior film that prevents shattering [similar to a windshield] and provides UV sun protection.

call buttons are crucial

In the case of an emergency, an Emergency Call Button is clearly marked inside the glass enclosure. Its speaker provides immediate two-way contact between the caller and YRT operators. Call audio is recorded and time-stamped, as is the video automatically captured by the closest of three security cameras when the button is pushed. When the button is pushed, blue strobe lights on the Variable Message Sign [VMS] and the button are triggered to indicate to passing emergency services that assistance is needed, and transit staff will dispatch emergency services if needed.

safety is personal too

As much as we’ve designed vivastations to be safe, safety is also in the hands of those driving and walking on Davis Drive. While many drivers are now accustomed to making U-turns, but for others, it’s new. Drivers and pedestrians should both stay alert, and keep an eye out for one another, especially in intersections – and especially in fall and winter when daylight is in short supply.

two-stage crossings have rest spots

Because intersections were widened, a two-stage crossing at crosswalks is recommended for pedestrians. There are waiting areas in the middle of the crosswalk, where pedestrians can press the “walk” button and wait for the next signal.

Safety features are one of those things that are only top of mind when they’re needed. We hope that you always keep them in mind. That way you can rest assured that your rapidway trip will be a safe haven.

Categories
Commissioning Construction Rapidways Stations

testing, testing, 1-2-3

Testing for the new rapidway along Davis Drive

Have you recently travelled along Davis Drive from Yonge Street to Roxborough? It’s looking great! We’re very close to making the new bus rapid transit services available to you. What lies ahead is testing.

The testing stage – known in the construction world as commissioning – is critically important to ensure that all parts of the rapidway are ready for active service.

Here’s what’s involved

commissioning

In the case of vivaNext, commissioning involves reviewing every part of the rapidway system, including structural components and the overall communications network, to ensure that they are working the way that we’ve designed them to.

Intelligent Transportation Systems [ITS]

ITS is an international transportation-engineering discipline that aims to make all kinds of travel more efficient. You may not be able to see it, but ITS technology is a critical component of the vivaNext rapid transit project.

In general, ITS ensures that traffic corridors are designed as one coordinated system, which includes the physical roadway’s design, lane markings and signs, traffic signal design and timing, and the brains that connect all these pieces. On the vivaNext rapid transit corridors, ITS plays another role too – integrating the rapid transit system into the overall traffic corridor system.

communications network

The communications network includes the fare collection equipment; the station information systems such as variable message signs [VMS], clocks and public address [PA] systems; the passenger security elements such as closed circuit TV systems and emergency call buttons; and the traffic signals at intersections. It also includes the sophisticated Transit Vehicle Detection system, which informs traffic signals when rapid transit vehicles are approaching intersections. Finally, the overall communications network includes the fibre optic network that links all of its components.

testing, testing, testing

Testing starts at the factory, where the fabricator verifies that the equipment works as intended. Each component is then tested again when it’s installed. After this, a series of additional tests are carried out to confirm that the entire system is integrated properly and working together.

The final step involves testing the reliability and function of the system, including simulating actual operation using buses, and staff who act as passengers. This gives the people who will be involved in the future operation, maintenance and service of the rapidway an opportunity to become familiar with it.

Even though you can see construction is coming along, there’s still testing, testing, and more testing to be done before the Davis Drive rapidway opens in December. All this testing is important though; it will ensure that rapid transit on Davis Drive is as safe and efficient as possible.

Categories
Commissioning

lights, sound… Viva!

lights, sound... Viva!

lights…

Safety has been top priority in designing the rapidway, vivastations, and the surrounding streetscape. Streetlights are one of the most important safety elements, and their design contributes significantly to the overall streetscape. While developing lighting designs, vivaNext works with York Region, the local Municipality and the Utility companies to coordinate, design and install the lights, ensuring they provide both safety and visual appeal.

There are strict national and local standards on how street lighting needs to be designed, including how much lighting is required for different conditions. For example, different criteria are used to determine the necessary lighting levels for roadways, intersections and sidewalks. These include variables such as pole height, spacing and “lux,” which is the amount of light that a fixture provides.

Once the lighting standards are established, lighting design helps achieve the desired streetscape “look.”  In the case of vivaNext, the streetscape design is modern, stylish and uncluttered, helping the corridors feel like urban destinations, distinctive from other roads.

To keep with the uncluttered look on Davis Drive, special hydro poles were installed that don’t require guy wires and can have streetlights installed. The luminaires [light heads/fixtures] on the streetlights have a light sensor to automatically turn on and off, and the bulbs only need to be replaced every 4 years.

 

sound…

Have you ever found yourself straining to hear a quiet, garbled message from a public address system? It’s frustrating, especially when that message is important to your commute. At our vivastations, we want to be sure you won’t face this frustration, so our engineers have worked hard to design the public address [PA] system. Having audio at stations is also part of keeping Viva accessible for all users.

We conducted a sound analysis study, to determine how the shape of our vivastations would affect the way sound moves around inside the stations, and way it would reflect off the concrete wall, floor and glass. As it turned out, 12 speakers outside the passenger enclosure and another three speakers inside does the trick.

The next challenge was to work on the volume of the speakers.  The problem with PA systems in noisy places is that ambient noise can overwhelm the volume of the PA system, making it impossible to hear what’s being said.  Our solution is to use a speaker volume system that automatically adjusts when its sensors detect an increase or decrease in ambient noise.

There are two sensors on each new Viva platform. These allow PA announcements to be audible whether there’s a bus idling in the station and trucks are moving past, or it’s nighttime and quiet. This type of speaker volume system ensures that messages can always be heard, but won’t be intrusive.

 

action!

Once the rapidway opens on Davis Drive, you’ll be able to travel faster, and see and hear clearly when the next Viva vehicle is coming. What could be better than that?

 

Categories
Commissioning

bringing a rapid transit plan to life

bringing a rapid transit plan to life

Crews are finishing up paving on Davis Drive, which means we’re getting closer to opening the rapidway. As much as we’re looking forward to celebrating this milestone, it’s important to know that this is only one [very exciting] step in a plan for a connected transit system.

Over the past few years there’s been a lot of media coverage of transit needs across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area [GTHA]. We’re proud that York Region is actively working to meet those needs by bringing rapid transit to our region. In 2002, the Region produced the York Region Transportation Master Plan and the follow-up Rapid Transit Plan, committing the Region to a blueprint of multiple transportation initiatives to be built over the next 30 years.

With the Rapid Transit Plan approved, we got to work. In 2005 the Viva team launched “QuickStart,” the first phase of Viva service, offering enhanced features that made transit more comfortable and convenient, and put the customer first. With this service upgrade, Viva changed the way people in York Region thought of transit. The public appreciated the enhanced features and frequencies, and it wasn’t long before ridership began increasing steadily.

But while “QuickStart” was a major success and an important first step in encouraging people to try transit, designing the vivaNext rapid transit system was the Region’s long-term vision. Ontario municipalities are mandated to plan sustainable, more intensive land-use as part of the provincial government policy, and rapid transit is a key component in achieving that goal.  Anticipating this, the York Region Transportation Master Plan directed that future growth in York Region would be concentrated in new downtown urban centres in Markham, Newmarket, Richmond Hill and Vaughan. By building more intensively in these areas there would be less pressure for growth in other neighbourhoods.

The urban centres would be connected by transportation “corridors,” making it easier for people to get around the region, and providing transportation options with regular transit service. The vivaNext rapidways are currently being built along these corridors, creating connections across York Region and into the rest of the GTHA.

Much of the new development around vivastations is compact and mixed-use, providing housing, employment, retail, dining, services and recreation – all within walking distance of transit. Developments include welcoming public spaces, attractive landscaping and other amenities that contribute to the centres becoming dynamic destinations.

Our vision for the future is well on its way to becoming reality: a rapidway has been built on Highway 7 East; Davis Drive is opening soon; the first section of rapidway in Vaughan will open on Highway 7 West in 2016; the Toronto-York Spadina Subway Extension is under construction; utility work is underway for the Yonge Street rapidway north of Highway 7, and design work continues for the planned Yonge Subway Extension.

So when the rapidway on Davis Drive opens for service this winter, we can celebrate the progress of transit infrastructure in York Region, not to mention the end of major construction!

 

Categories
Commissioning

signs of progress: staff and operator training has begun

signs of progress: staff and operator training has begun

We’re really counting down the days to the opening of the vivaNext rapidway service on Davis Drive from Yonge Street to Roxborough, and we bet you are too! You’ll know we’re in the final stages of construction once you see Viva buses out on the new rapidway.

Starting today, we will be doing systems testing on the new Davis Drive rapidway, in the Town of Newmarket, followed by driver training in November.

Training will be provided not only for Viva bus operators, but also for everyone who will need to be familiar with the rapidways, the stations and the equipment. Viva vehicles will be out on Davis Drive, taking customer service staff and other YRT/Viva staff along the rapidways to test and familiarize them with the new setup. Regular YRT transit service will continue to pick up passengers at curbside stops until testing and training is completed, and paving is fully finished. Signs directing passengers will be posted at the curbside stops.

Operator training will run from 7am to as late as 9pm on some nights, seven days per week.  During this time you can expect to see Viva buses driving up and down the rapidway, stopping at the vivastations. The training will focus on entering and exiting the rapidway, with an emphasis on safely merging back into mixed traffic past Yonge Street and Roxborough.

Operator training will also focus on the new transit signals at intersections, which will display a single green arrow for Viva buses. This signal will be clearly marked as transit only, but Viva operators will be trained to be cautious and on the lookout to make sure members of the driving public are following the signals correctly and not turning into the rapidway lanes.

The trainees are all experienced Viva operators, so they know the route and the vehicle. They’re really excited to get going!