The February schedule period brings only minor changes to TTC service.
The 192 Airport Rocket will be rerouted northbound to use Highway 427 rather than Highway 27, and buses on this route now have luggage racks opposite the rear doors. For more information on the background to these changes, see TransitToronto’s article.
The schedule for 38 Highland Creek will be revised to minimize layovers at the loop at UTSC and resulting conflicts in bus traffic.
The schedule for 41 Keele will be revised to remove some of the additional running time provided for construction delays at Finch West Station.
The 123 Shorncliffe route’s crew break and relief point will be moved from Sherway Gardens to Kipling Station to reduce time lost by these changeovers.
The schedule for 90 Vaughan will be revised to shift some layover time from the north to the south end of the route to avoid having buses blocking traffic at the north loop.
The following routes have running time adjustments. These consist of changing layover times into driving time with no alteration in scheduled service:
- 49 Bloor West
- 54 Lawrence East
- 168 Symington
The following routes have time point adjustments that are meaningful only in the sense of measuring whether a bus is “on time” at intermediate locations along the routes.
- 25 Don Mills
- 26 Dupont
- 34 Eglinton East
- 100 Flemingdon Park
- 30 Lambton
- 56 Leaside
- 51 Leslie
- 67 Pharmacy
- 53 Steeles East
- 112 West Mall
- 95 York Mills
Service improvements are planned for many routes effective March 31, 2013. These will be covered in a separate article.
Steve Munro 
I noticed today that the westbound stop at York on Queen has been permanently removed. The eastbound stop is still there, but it is a lot further away from the University stop because University is so wide. Westbound also has an extra stop at Simcoe that eastbound doesn’t have.
It also makes up for the new westbound stop at Dufferin that was added after the underpass opened.
I guess years of suggesting the number of stops be reduced has finally brought some action.
Steve: The westbound stop at York was always a time waster guaranteed to let the signal turn red for an extra cycle before the car could get through to University. The Simcoe westbound stop is still superfluous, and I am not all that sure of eastbound York either.
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In the case of the York and Simcoe stops, I suspect that the TTC is compensating for the Toronto roads people who set the signal timings at University and Queen. In the case of all crossings of University from Queen north to College, the signs say “Pedestrians: two stage crossing, obey your signals”. It’s possible to completely cross University on one light, but you better get going the moment the signal changes, and walk very briskly.
More likely, it will take you several minutes to cross University, since the signal is green for University a lot longer than it’s green for the cross streets. Just because Simcoe WB is a short distance from the University WB stop does not mean that it’s as quick a walk between the two as it would seem.
Steve: Those stops have been there for as long as I can remember and their location has nothing to do with the two stage pedestrian crossing at University. Indeed, I suspect that they predate the existence of University south of Queen.
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From the 2013 edition of TO-Inview the TTC are going to be making curb cuts all along Queen, Dundas and Bathurst Streets. I assume this is for the new streetcars and may have made them look seriously at the stops. Ideally they would look at all routes to both remove and add stops to reflect today’s reality.
(The one that ‘amuses’ me is the westbound Sunday-only stop on College opposite the front door of MaRS. I assume this dates from the time when that was the main entrance to the Toronto General Hospital and Sunday was the main visiting day.)
Steve: There are times that I suspect some folks at the TTC don’t get out much. Just read some of the service diversion notices that have streetcars and buses running in rather strange and impossible/implausible places.
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There’s a left hand/right hand problem here. Just last summer, the sidewalks were re-constructed on a big portion of Queen Street East and I noted then that no curb cuts were put in at the car stops.
I remember thinking that it was a pointless waste because I knew the city would be sending out another crew within two years to add the curb cuts.
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A comment on the 123 – it also makes practical sense to move the crew break/relief point to Kipling Station. Kipling has washrooms, and a newsstand. Plus the bus is not blocking anything there. While the 123 pulls over to the bus bay at Sherway, it would block any bus arriving behind it, unlike at Kipling. It also gives the chance for the drivers to have a short chat if they wish before the relief driver departs with the bus.
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Glad they managed to resolve the lane change issue which (if I recall correctly) was the reason for the shift from using the 427 express lanes to staying on the collectors and using 27.
So, what changed? Might it have something to do with the construction on 427 which looks to be mostly finished?
And on that note…I thought that construction was also going to include a bus lane southbound from Eglinton to Dundas…but I haven’t seen any signs or paint suggesting this lane is coming. Anyone have any information on this?
Cheers, Moaz
Ps. No complaints about not having luggage racks on the bus for 12+ years. Just so long as it’s been done.
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Truly amazing. After many years they have finally equipped buses on express run to the airport with a luggage area.
How many years will riders have to put up the mess of over-sized strollers blocking aisles before someone figures out how to deal with the problem? I suggest making the first set of right side seats as normally in up position. Just as now the operator moves people from these seats to accommodate a wheelchair it could be done for strollers. Make the opposite side normal priority seating for seniors etc.
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Well, the routing now still is pretty silly. The bus goes up the 427, exits onto Airport Road, turn left at Jetliner Road (lower), goes around the internal roads, up to Jetliner Road (upper) before going through the terminals. Rather inefficient. It would have been smarter for them to go right to the upper stop, through the terminals, then back to Kipling station.
Is there a reason why the buses stop at Jetliner & Airport (lower)? There are stairs from the upper roadway to Airport Road itself.
Steve: I will leave this question for aficionados of the 192 Rocket.
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