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Service Standards, Plans and Ridership Growth

In September, the TTC will launch public consultation on proposed changes to their Service Standards. Consultation on the 2027 Annual Network Plan is now underway.

The Service Standards are in a long document with many sections, and I am sure most members of the TTC Board have only a passing awareness of what it contains and how the standards work in practice. Given the timing of meetings and the coming municipal election, a revised set of standards will not come to the Board until the new year.

Other studies underway are the Ridership Growth Strategy (RGS), a review of the metrics used to monitor and report on the system, and a review of streetcar operations. These overlap in many ways, but given the siloed nature of TTC management are likely to come to the Board independently. This would not allow a consolidated review of goals and options for transit’s future together with current plans and the standards against which service is measured. This particularly important for any Ridership Growth Strategy which could be hamstrung by fiscal plans and approved standards that do not support meaningful growth.

See:

The public survey for the 2027 Annual Network Plan is now live until September 13. It deals with the following topics:

  • Stop changes on express bus routes
  • Routing changes to bus routes in the following areas:
    • Morningside Heights
    • Black Creek
    • Dupont Corridor
    • Sherway Gardens
    • Islington South

Details of these proposals appear later in the article.

A future version of the plan will include proposals for dealing with major construction projects in 2027.

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TTC Service Changes Effective Sunday September 6, 2026 (Part I)

Two sets of route changes have been announced by the TTC to take effect on September 6, 2026.

This is a preliminary version of the September 6, 2026 changes. Full service change details will be published in a separate article when they are available.

St. Clair West Rail Bridge Reconstruction

The rail bridge over St. Clair Avenue West between Keele Street and Old Weston Road will be rebuilt to accommodate the new St. Clair West GO station.

During this work, 512/312 St. Clair streetcars will turn back from Earlscourt Loop at Lansdowne, and a 512B shuttle bus will operate from Gunn’s Loop (west of Keele) east to Lansdowne and south to Lansdowne Station.

Night service on 340 Junction will be extended east to Oakwood Loop.

Partial Reopening of Pape Station Loop

Ontario Line construction at Pape Station has progressed to the point that a partial re-opening of the bus loop is possible. The following routes are affected:

  • 100 Flemingdon Park will now terminate at Pape Station rather than at Broadview Station.
  • 8 Broadview and 62 Mortimer will resume use of Broadview Station as their western terminus and they will no longer run south to Gerrard & Broadview.
  • 72 Pape buses will loop through the station southbound, but will continue to load on the street outside the station northbound.

25/925 Don Mills and 87 Cosburn services will continue to operate to Broadview Station.

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How Slow Is My Streetcar: 512 St. Clair

This article compares travel times for the 512 St. Clair streetcar for June 2026 and June 2019. It is part of a series setting out the changes in operating speed of streetcar routes since the introduction of the new Flexity streetcars in the past decade.

Three sets of charts here show the operational behaviour of the route from different points of view:

  • Comparisons of travel speeds over segments of the line show broadly how, when and where travel speeds have changed.
  • A fine-grained speed profile of the line compares 2019 and 2026 data showing specific locations of changes, and in particular that speed differences lie across the route.
  • Charts of dwell times show locations and times where streetcars are held for passenger service and traffic signals. Congestion generally does not play a role because almost all of the route is on reserved lanes.

“Double stops” at traffic signals before farside loading islands remain a problem with streetcars not always getting a clear run through intersections. This is often discussed in transit and social media circles, but more work is needed to get true transit priority for streetcars on 512 St. Clair.

St. Clair also has very high terminal recovery times compared to travel time along the route. It is not clear that this time is needed, or if it is a relic of an era when TTC made service run “on time” by padding schedules so that it would never be late.

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How Slow Is My Streetcar: 511 Bathurst

This article continues a series reviewing the operating speeds of streetcar lines in detail looking at:

  • Evolution of travel times on 511 Bathurst from September 2019 to June 2026 by route segment.
  • Detailed profiles of operating speeds over the full route for the same months.
  • Locations where streetcars spend long dwell times including stops, traffic signals and road congestion.

The two intervals compared here are:

  • June 1-5, 2026: This was just before the upheavals of the World Cup period, but without any construction diversions that would distort the data. At this point, red lanes were installed on Bathurst from Bloor to Nassau (north side of Western Hospital), and from Dundas southward.
  • January 13-17, 2020: This was early in the operation of 511 Bathurst with the new Flexity streetcars, after the holiday period but before traffic conditions changed with the pandemic in March.

Locations of substantial delays lie mainly south and west of Queen and Bathurst, although the focus on priority has been further north. Some benefits of the red lanes are evident, but the south end of the route needs a detailed review to determine why supposed priority areas on Bathurst and on Fleet are locations for delay.

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How Slow Is My Streetcar: 509 Harbourfront

This article compares travel times for the 509 Harbourfront streetcar for June 2026 and September 2019. It is part of a series setting out the changes in operating speed of streetcar routes since the introduction of the new Flexity streetcars in the past decade.

This article continues a series reviewing the operating speeds of streetcar lines in detail looking at:

  • Evolution of travel times on 509 Harbourfront from September 2019 to June 2026 by route segment.
  • Detailed profiles of operating speeds over the full route for the same months.
  • Dwell time profiles showing locations where streetcars are held by traffic signals, stop service and congestion.

Like many other routes, service on 509 Harbourfront is slower in 2026 than it was in 2020 in parts of the route, although the degree of change varies by route segment, direction and time of day. The lack of meaningful transit priority is evident at intersections, including those with traffic signals but no associated transit stop.

Reductions in travel speed occurred across the operating day and were not confined to periods when passenger and road traffic volumes would typically be heavier. The common excuse of “increased congestion” cannot be used to explain away the changes.

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How Slow Is My Streetcar: 505 Dundas

This article continues a series reviewing the operating speeds of streetcar lines in detail. Although other routes were compared between 2019/20 and 2026, the analysis for Dundas uses 2023 as the “before” data. For an extended period, 505 Dundas operated with buses due to a shortage of streetcars, and there are no data with Flexity cars on Dundas to use as a 2019/20 comparison.

April 2023 saw Flexity operation over the normal 505 Dundas route with no diversions or extensions. This month also predates transit priority changes made in 2024 and 2025.

  • Evolution of travel times from April 2023 to June 2026 by route segment.
  • Detailed profiles of operating speeds over the full route for the same months.
  • A review of dwell times in June 2026 showing where streetcars are most likely to spend excessive time in the AM and PM peak periods.
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How Slow Is My Streetcar: 504 King

This article continues a series reviewing the operating speeds of streetcar lines in detail looking at:

  • Evolution of travel times on 504 King from January 2020 to June 2026 by route segment.
  • Detailed profiles of operating speeds over the full route for the same months.
  • Dwell time profiles showing locations where streetcars are held by traffic signals, stop service and congestion.

The analysis covers the main route from Broadview Station to Dundas West Station, but does not include the two stubs south of King to Distillery Loop and Dufferin Loop.

Like many other routes, service on 504 King is slower in 2026 than it was in 2020 in parts of the route, although the degree of change varies by route segment, direction and time of day. The lack of meaningful transit priority is evident at intersections, including those with traffic signals but no associated transit stop.

Reductions in travel speed occurred across the operating day and were not confined to periods when passenger and road traffic volumes would typically be heavier. The common excuse of “increased congestion” cannot be used to explain away the changes.

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How Slow Is My Streetcar: 501/507 Queen/Long Branch

This article continues a series reviewing the operating speeds of streetcar lines in detail looking at:

  • Evolution of travel times on 501 Queen and 507 Long Branch from January 2020 to June 2026 by route segment.
  • Detailed profiles of operating speeds over the full route for the same months.
  • Locations of long dwell times showing poor/missing transit signal priority, congested areas and times, and delays that are not associated with stop service.

The two intervals compared here are:

  • June 1-5, 2026: This was just before the upheavals of the World Cup period, but without any construction diversions that would distort the data (other than the Ontario Line diversion in the core). Service to Long Branch was provided by 507 streetcars until about 10pm, and thereafter by an extended 501 Queen. Data from both routes are presented here
  • January 13-17, 2020: During this period, service to Long Branch was provided all day by an extended route 501 Queen.
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How Slow Is My Streetcar: Overview

Back on July 20, I began a series to review the operating speeds of TTC streetcar routes.

I hoped to get through the system fairly quickly with a separate detailed article for each route. After a few of these it was obvious that there was too much detail and not enough overall analysis. Readers quickly let me know that something else was needed.

Hence a pause during which little has happened on this site beyond editing of comments. Behind the scenes I have pulled together the route-level articles, for which this intro provides an overview and general comments. Readers interested in specific routes can refer to the articles below:

505 Dundas is a special case because it was not operating with Flexitys prior to the retirement of the CLRV fleet, but ran with buses thanks to a shortage of working streetcars. In place of a 2026 vs 2020 comparison, the Dundas article looks at 2026 vs 2023 before transit priority changes were implemented in 2024 and 2025.

Through all of the route analyses there are several consistent observations:

  • Travel speeds in many locations and time periods are slower in 2026 than they were in 2019/20 with the same vehicles (new Flexity streetcars) operating on the system.
  • Slower operation occurs not just at intersections but along routes. Any program to speed up streetcars has to include the “in between” areas.
  • Transit signal priority is absent or ineffective at many locations including streets where there is no transit stop, but streetcars can be held anyway.
  • Farside stops often entail extra delay with streetcars held nearside before they can cross to and serve the stop.

This article includes a section on the methodology behind the charts, a brief review of proposals to improve streetcar operations published by Fast-Track.to, and comments on TTC special track maintenance (junctions) and technology.

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