In all fairness the operator may see/feel there is a reduction in 2 car operation but we also know through fact base reporting that frequency was increased as per operating contracts. Now if we have a finite number of lrv’s but we need to increase frequency that clearly points to the likely result of more 1 car trains, more frequently.
#mytwocents
Service has been 5 minutes peak frequencies for over 2 years now so that hasn't changed. Weekday peak requirement is 13 trains. Base service level would be 13 single trains. The City choose to fund a higher service level that saw a mix of double and single car trains, during peaks roughly alternating single / double. This required 19-20 LRV's (I don't remember off hand if it was 6 or 7 2 cars train at peak). 15% spare ratio allows for 4 spare cars, so this service level provided a bit of a cushion above the 15% spare ratio.
Over the last 6 months or so I've noticed TransEd tweaking deployments here and there. Midday, just as a result of the trains that stayed out midday and those that returned to GW after the AM peak, saw the doubles running consecutively, and singles running consecutively rather than interspersed. That did seem to change in the past few months. Then there was train 11 that for whatever reason went and sat on Track A at 102 St for 45ish minutes around 14:00, leaving only Track B open as frequency was ramping up to 5 minutes. Often inbound trains, in service or out of service, would have to wait at Churchill/ 99 St for the outbound to depart 102 St because Track B wasn't available. That doesn't seem to be happening this year now.
I did notice that there seemed to be more single car trains at peak... so I did some counts today.
Off peak, 4- doubles, 3- singles. They're generally alternating 1-2-1-2, although my notes seem to show a case where there were 2 doubles in a row. Something also happened this morning and there was a large gap in service and trains bunching.
PM peak however was the same 4 doubles and now 9 singles, generally running 2-1-1-2-1-1-2.
It would seem peak deployment is now 17 cars. I doubt it is a vehicle availability issue, although I also can't rule it out. Given the timing, January 2026, I'd hazard a guess the City decided to slightly reduce service levels. Frankly, it's probably the right thing to do. Yeah, some trains seem busy, but really it's no worse than the Capital Line in terms of crowding, and ETS will vary capacity from day to day to try to get the best fit. Last Friday midday trains were 3 cars, peak trains 4 cars. Today all midday and peak trains were 4 cars. Its just a lot of easier for ETS to flex their train capacity up or down, while there's a whole contractual process to do it with the VLSE.
Probably worth noting too, that if it is actually a vehicle availability issue, TransEd would probably be penalized for not meeting book out.
