Riding the new rocket

[attach]5184[/attach]Curious commuters had a chance to climb aboard the TTC’s new streetcars, check out the new seats and features, and even sit at the driver’s controls in the new, fully separated cabin.

“In the new streetcars the entire system of collecting fares will be through proof of payment,” said TTC spokesman Brad Ross. “You won’t interact with the operator anymore.”

Ross said fares can be purchased at ticket vending machines located at key intersections or at the fare box located within the streetcar itself. Transit enforcement officers will check for proof-of-payment and will ticket those who have not paid.

“If you want to risk getting a $195 ticket for refusing to pay a $3 fare then that’s a risk that people may choose to take,” Ross said. “We don’t think so. We think most people will pay their fare.”

The streetcars also include an entire section of fold up seats for strollers and mobility devices.

“The second module of the streetcar is sort of dedicated to accessibility-type features,” Ross said.

Three of the modules on each five-module streetcar will contain two sets of four face-to-face seats. The seats are positioned that way to accommodate the wheel wells into the low-floor design of the new streetcar fleet, said Ross.

“You have that now on a subway and on the backend of a streetcar,” he said. “The proximity is a little closer in this case but I think people will adjust very easily.”

The mock-up, on display at the TTC’s Hillcrest yard, only inlcuded the front half of what the next generation streetcars will look like, but at 15 metres it equalled the length of the streetcars currently carrying the city’s commuters. At 30 metres-long, the new streetcars are designed to seat 70 passengers with standing room for another 181.

Ross said three prototypes of the transit vehicles will hit the streets by the end of next summer with the rest to begin service by the start of 2014. All 204 of the new Bombardier vehicles should be in use by 2018.

In the mean time, the TTC will be updating its infrastructure. According to Miroslav Rakita, an engineer who helps maintain the current fleet, the new streetcars utilize a different contact with the overhead wires. The new contacts require replacement every three to six months compared the current ones, which must be replaced every few days.

“We’re changing all of the overhead wires that provide power to the streetcars,” Ross said. “The whole network over the next seven to eight years will be retrofitted and changed out as the new vehicles come online.”