In today’s Toronto Star we learn that the TTC is rather miffed about a plan by Humber Bay condo owners to run a private bus to downtown.  It seems that the Queen car might not be The Better Way for these folks.

This is the second time recently the TTC’s legal folks have come into the public eye (the first was the anagram subway map fiasco).  For more info on that, go to spacing.ca’s website for selected articles on the subject at this link.  For the original map go to here.

Maybe it’s time for more service and fewer legal threats.

Since the original post, I’ve had some feedback from readers:

Pete writes:

Is there no one at Planning, or the Commission, who wonders why people would be willing to pay $199 per month for limited service “Condo-bus” rather than save a hundred bucks and pay $99 per month for TTC service?

Even the simple-minded might think that something is wrong with the current TTC service to that stretch.  Perhaps they should be looking at service improvements rather than legal issues.

Allderblob writes: 

The funny thing is, Ikea runs a free shuttle from Leslie station on the Sheppard line to their front door.  They also have a free shuttle from Union to their store in Etobicoke, supposedly.  And speaking of Union Station, during the flower show last year we saw signs at Union Station directing us to a bus to the flower show entrance–not an easy thing to reach on foot, it turned out.  The bus was free. 

Now are these services against TTC legal too?  The situation also reminds us of that “autostop” service that provided jitney service to Ottawa and Montreal from Toronto, as well as help in hooking up with some driver willing to provide a ride. Who killed that? Greyhound bus lines (aka General Motors).

The distinction between what IKEA and others are doing and the proposed service from the Humber Bay condos is that IKEA is running a private service for its customers, while the condo folks are running a route that’s open to anyone and charges fares.  Once you do that, you are treading into the TTC’s territory.

All the same, the real issue here is the poor service on the Queen car which leads people to run their own alternative service.  I proposed an alternative arrangement for service on Queen and Lake Shore some years back, but the TTC ignored it.  See this post for more information.