The detailed list of changes arrived from the TTC quite late compared to normal practice, only a few days before they went into effect. Hence the delay in my regular detailed post here.
Many summer service reductions occur with the June 23 schedules. These are common, and the only question will be which of them will be fully reversed in the fall.
Construction
Ongoing construction projects continue to require diversions and bus replacements for streetcars. The timing and duration of these leaves a lot to be desired, but that is a topic for a separate article.
In previous articles, I covered the resumption of streetcar service on St. Clair and the suspension of service on Spadina. See:
Streetcar Network Configuration
The streetcar route layout is shown in the maps below for daytime and overnight service.
Jane Station Construction
Reconstruction of Jane Station Loop will shift the terminus of all services to Old Mill and Runnymede Stations. The work was planned to start with the new schedule period, but has been delayed, and so there will be interim arrangements. The route plan during this work is shown below:
The 35/935 Jane services will dead head to Old Mill Station and will not pick up or drop off passengers there. The 26 Dupont and 55 Warren Park will remain in service to Runnymede Station to provide an accessible connection.
The 71 Runnymede and 77 Swansea routes will be interlined and they will be interlined to free up platform space at Runnymede Station for other routes. The arrangements for Jane, Runnymede and Old Mill Stations are shown below.
The TTC’s construction page for Jane Station is on their “Updates” page and the information is not linked to the affected routes as a service advisory. This is a standard problem with the TTC’s website.
Bus Service to High Park
Although the TTC had planned to cancel the 203 High Park bus in 2024, it has been reinstated through efforts by the City. The route will operate with a Wheel-Trans bus from High Park Station providing accessibility to the park even though it is closed to regular vehicular traffic. The bus will run every 20 minutes on weekends from 8am to 7pm until Labour Day, Monday, September 2.
Budgeted and Scheduled Hours
The scheduled hours are below the budget level in June-July because the original plan was that demonstration service on 5 Eglinton-Crosstown would be operating by now.
Note that a large increase in service is planned in September 2024. Details have not yet been announced.
Vehicle Allocations
The streetcar and bus allocations are shown below. Note that the total fleet sizes are over 200 streetcars and 2,200 buses. There is plenty of headroom for additional service if only there were budget provision for operators to drive the vehicles.
Run As Directed Buses
The pool of run-as-directed (aka route 600) buses has grown in this schedule period due to the availability of more operators. Note that the largest numbers occur in the off-peak period, particularly evenings.
The TTC does not produce any report showing how these vehicles are actually used.
Canada Day Extras
Spare buses and streetcars will be scheduled on Canada Day to deal with the holiday demand to various events.
Summary of Changes by Route
Subway
- 2 Bloor-Danforth: Additional standby trains scheduled through the day
Streetcar
- 501A Queen (McCaul-Dufferin): Service reduction on weekend afternoons.
- 506 Carlton: Service reduction weekday and Saturday afternoons.
- 508 Lake Shore: Extended to Broadview Station. Service removed from Parliament and Dundas. AM peak schedule modified to provide a continuous 20 minute headway.
- 509 Harbourfront: Service increased to partly offset removal of 510 Spadina streetcars on Queens Quay
- 510/310 Spadina: Converted to bus for construction work
- 512/312 St. Clair: Streetcar service restored. Night streetcar service from Yonge to Keele.
Bus
Many bus routes have extra school trips that are suspended for the summer. These details are not included here.
- 12 Kingston Road: Seasonal reduction.
- 20 Cliffside: Seasonal reduction.
- 26 Dupont: Rerouted to Runnymede Station.
- 329 Dufferin Night: South end routing changed due to summer events at Exhibition Place.
- 34 Eglinton East: Seasonal reduction.
- 334 Eglinton East Night: Schedule adjusted to fit with first and last trips on daytime service.
- 35/935/335 Jane: Rerouted to Old Mill Station.
- 36 Finch West: Reliability adjustment on weekends. No change in service levels.
- 939 Finch Express: Seasonal reduction.
- 40 Junction: Interline with 49 Bloor West discontinued due to construction at Kipling Stn. Blending of 40A Kipling and 40B Jane services restored.
- 340 Junction: Night service between Dundas W Stn and Gunns Loop split off from 312 St. Clair.
- 41 Keele: Seasonal reduction.
- 944 Kipling South Express: Seasonal reduction: service suspended.
- 46 Martin Grove: New trip added SB from Steeles at 8:11 am to reduce crowding.
- 49 Bloor West: Interline with 40 Junction discontinued.
- 953 Steeles East Express: Seasonal reduction.
- 54 Lawrence East: Seasonal reduction: 54D Don Mills-Morningside service suspended.
- 55 Warren Park: Rerouted to Runnymede Station.
- 57 Midland: Seasonal reduction.
- 60/960 Steeles West: Seasonal reduction.
- 65 Parliament: Seasonal reduction. Weekend reliability adjustments.
- 70 O’Connor: Seasonal reduction.
- 71 Runnymede: Interlined with 77 Swansea.
- 74 Mt. Pleasant: Seasonal reduction.
- 75 Sherbourne: Seasonal reduction.
- 76 Royal York South: Seasonal reduction.
- 77 Swansea: Interline with 71 Runnymede.
- 79 Scarlett Road: Seasonal reduction.
- 984 Sheppard West Express: Seasonal reduction: off-peak 984B service to Sheppard West Stn suspended.
- 89/989 Weston: Seasonal reductions and reliability adjustments.
- 985 York Mills Express: Seasonal reduction.
- 100 Flemingdon Park: Seasonal reduction
- 106 Sentinel: Seasonal reduction and reliability adjustments.
- 108 Driftwood: Seasonal reduction.
- 111 East Mall: Seasonal reduction.
- 113 Danforth: Seasonal reduction.
- 114 Queens Quay East: Seasonal reduction.
- 122 Graydon Hall: Seasonal reduction.
- 123 Sherway: Seasonal reduction.
- 125 Drewry: Seasonal reduction.
- 133 Neilson: Seasonal reduction.
- 168 Symington: Seasonal reduction.
- 200 Toronto Zoo: Weekday daytime service added.
- 201 Bluffer’s Park: Weekday service added.
- 203 High Park: Weekend service added.
- 900 Airport Express: Seasonal reduction.
- 905 Eglinton East Express: Seasonal reduction.
Details of Service Changes
The complete list of service changes is in the spreadsheet linked below showing previous and new service levels, running times and vehicle allocations for affected routes.
Steve Munro 
Hi Steve,
I was on the 512 today and the transition back to streetcars seems to be far from smooth. Headway management was a disaster (nothing for more than 20 minutes and then 3 streetcars all at once). People also seem annoyed that the loop at St Clair West is closed. There was lots of confusion, and the fact that streetcars still announce the station doesn’t help. Hopefully they can manage things better in the future.
Anyway, thank you as always for all the hard work you do covering all the changes!
Steve: You’re very welcome. I am not surprised one bit. Why it takes so long to rebuild the station, considering that they did it before not all that long ago, is a mystery.
Bunching on the 512 was common with streetcars unless a route supervisor sat on the line and dispatched cars.
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Interesting that there’s a service reduction on 900, after the news reporting an increase in air travel at Pearson this summer.
And 900 always has buses bunching up or missing. To me that’s a simple express route, yet it’s always struggling. Any idea why? I assume the buses have higher mileage, and/or maybe the schedules not realistic?
Steve: Yes, the buses assigned to the Airport Express do rack up more mileage. I will add this to the list of routes that I monitor to see what’s going on there.
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And the 203 High Park now being used by wheel trans buses has me thinking. Maybe TTC should look at bigger vehicles for the 400 series routes. Maybe 30ft buses for community routes and restructuring of community routes.
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I will say that our transit plus road closures and obstructions are so great that I think we’re gonna move into FIRST PLACE!!! World’s Worst Traffic is not a great title to have. But I bet we’ve got it! And we’re The New World. Roll eyes.
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Summary of Changes by Route – Streetcar
“506 Carlton: Service reduction weekday and Saturday afternoons.”
Is this a typo? Please tell me that it is a typo! Already nightmarish service is planned to get even worse?
Steve: No that’s not a typo. The resources in question are being “reallocated”. One of these days we will have enough resources to run everything properly.
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Thanks alot Rick Leary for those reckless reductions. Expect the TTC to be extremely crowded due to the one fare program and increasing number of locals and tourist to ride the TTC to get to summer activities.
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Keep your eye on the Jane bus diverting to Old Mill. With the installation of bike lanes, the configuration of the Bloor/South Kingsway intersection leads to long backups eastbound in the morning, with cars queued up over the Humber bridge. It doesn’t seem to make sense to deadhead buses to and from Old Mill station when this might add half an hour to the run, and not necessarily a pleasant one for the operators.
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Service reductions on the 89 is just going to make it so much harder for people using mobility devices to get on, more violent altercations as most operators on this route do NOT get out of their seat to do their job, some even bypass these customers. (daily lived experience)
Also on the 89, there are often multiple buses missing, I’ve been forced to wait OVER AN HOUR, to be able to board a bus, with 30+ minute gapes in service, & increased loading standards, with a lot of people on this route who use wheelchairs & strollers, it’s only going to get worse, added to the fact that some operators have a nasty name (welfare road) for this route & their attitude matches.
Sadly Wilson Division management has not dealt with this issue at all.
These issues have been reported countless times & nothing changes.
The situation at Runnymede is going to be absolutely CHAOS, especially with the bike lane & delivery driveway, located right where the bus stop will be on street.
I’m not even going to get into the likely situation at Jane, pure insanity..
Re: Flight81 The 400 Community Bus, series routes serve many places where a 30ft bus could never fit, nursing homes, hospitals, group homes, some with extremely narrow or tight driveways, many of the older, larger Wheeltrans Vehicles even had issues.
These buses also must be interchangeable with the standard Wheeltrans vehicle fleet, as they are used for regular Wheeltrans service when Community Buses are not running.
Steve, Thank You for all the work you do, it’s very deeply appreciated.
Steve: You’re very welcome!
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A few years ago the 900 was one of the routes that received summer service increases which makes sense because summer is the peak travel season. TTC management and their copywriters strike again.
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This morning, my lady & I arrived at Gunn’s Loop at 7:50 am. A number of people were waiting for the 512 St. Clair streetcar. We waited and waited, wondering, because it was that usually in the past there would be one car after another. One woman gave up and went away in disgust. I do not know how long these people had been waiting before we got there. Finally, a streetcar arrived, and I tapped my Presto at 8:06 am. However, the operator stepped out of the car and came back about 4-5 minutes later, and we were on our way. I was surprised at the large number of people waiting at Keele. An even larger crowd was at Old Weston. By the time we reached Lansdowne, the car was beyond capacity and people could not get on. This situation repeated at every stop until Bathurst. I noted the next westbound car just west of Caledonia, maybe 8-10 minutes behind our car. At Bathurst, the car emptied out quite a bit, and it was amazing watching a hundred or more people marching to the St. Clair West subway entrance along the south side of St. Clair. Thankfully, the weather was good. But, at Tweedsmuir, another large crowd embarked, and so on to Yonge station. At Yonge, there were two uniformed TTC “inspector-types” standing outside the station. I did not observe any communication between them and our streetcar operator.
Well, what can I say? OBVIOUSLY NOT ENOUGH VEHICLES TO MEET THE DEMAND.
I had an idea at Tweedsmuir – the TTC should bring back the 512 bus. It would run alongside the streetcar between Lansdowne Loop and St. Clair West station, shuttling subway patrons. The streetcar and the bus would supplement each other, increase service levels, and could cover for each other if there was a jam of some sort.
Steve: In its infinite wisdom, the TTC cut service on 512 St. Clair when it was still a streetcar. This happened in May 2023 when the line as cut back to Lansdowne for work on the railway bridge at Caledonia. This was described at the time as aligning service with demand. Clearly it’s time for another look. TTC has been skimping on streetcar service, and it’s hard to know whether the lag in ridership recovery is due to demand, or due to irregular/infrequent service.
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A couple of months ago you made a post with the surface route stats from 2023 which claimed the 505 has higher ridership today than it did pre-pandemic. That didn’t save 505 riders from the TTC’s service cuts. It has been cut to the bare minimum to still qualify for the 10-minute network just like 511, 506, 501, and all the other streetcar lines.
What good is ridership recovery if they are going to cut regardless? It’s a complete joke here with management trying to sell us their fairy tale about “reallocations” when anybody with eyes can see it’s an outright cut!
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I just came across this in my google suggested and it is so helpful!!! Thank u so much for what you do.
Steve: You’re welcome.
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Steve..
Correct me if I’m wrong but didn’t some of the streetcar fleet need repair in Quebec? Something to do with welds.
Could this be the reason for the streetcar issues?
Steve: That work was finished years ago.
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Since the replacement buses on Spadina came into effect this past weekend, it has been clear that they really aren’t working out. The Toronto Star made a video comparing the streetcar service to the bus service during afternoon rush hour. The streetcar took 27 minutes to get from Spadina Station to Queens Quay, while the bus took 106 minutes! It’s honestly ridiculous that the TTC has decided to shut down the entire route until December with the mindset of “oh we can just send out tons of buses and everything will be fine”. The buses seem to just be sitting in traffic empty from King to Queens Quay as most riders seem to give up and walk. You would think they would at least be able to prioritize the southern section or do the work at the northern end after the southern end is complete (considering no work is being done between College and King). The fact that it is going to take them 6 months seems a bit excessive.
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Still waiting for the “increased overnight streetcar” service, as mentioned in the 2024 Service Plan. Well, the overnight 512 ST. CLAIR is there. Will give them until December, 2024, unless the TTC is using the Julian calendar.
Steve: You have not looked at the schedules recently. The following routes have 20 minute service:
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The article provides a comprehensive overview of the TTC service changes effective June 23, 2024, highlighting the numerous summer service reductions and their potential reversals in the fall. It details ongoing construction impacts, such as diversions and bus replacements, and specific changes like the rerouting due to Jane Station construction. The reinstatement of the 203 High Park bus demonstrates responsiveness to community needs. Additionally, the article addresses adjustments in bus and streetcar allocations, the role of run-as-directed buses, and special arrangements for Canada Day. The detailed summary by route is particularly useful for commuters.
Thank you for this detailed and informative update on TTC service changes.
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