A few days ago, I set out to visit friends in darkest Long Branch (for an East Ender, Long Branch is near the edge of the planet). My destination, roughly, was Lake Shore and 32nd Street. I had a few choices of how to get there from home base at Broadview Station:
- Subway to Kipling, 44 Kipling South to Lake Shore, 501 Queen to 30th Street
- Subway to Islington, 110 Islington South (30th Street branch) to Lake Shore
- Subway to Dundas West, 504 King to Sunnyside, 501 Queen to 30th Street
Being a streetcar fan, and trusting on the speedy service available on the broad boulevards of Queensway and Lake Shore, I chose option 3.
I arrived at Queen and Roncesvalles at 6:19 pm. Fortunately, despite the day’s heat wave, the wind was turning and there was a cold breeze off Lake Ontario. A blessing in the circumstances. A few dozen people were already waiting for the Queen car and I took this as a hopeful sign that even if the service was delayed, I was at the back end of the gap and a car would appear soon.
Twenty minutes later, an ALRV hove into sight and the passengers who had bothered to wait boarded. Those of us in the know gave thanks that the gods of surface operations had not attempted to short turn this car that was bound for Long Branch. It took about 5 minutes to load even with all doors open.
We pulled away from the stop, but thanks to one of the TTC’s more ridiculous operating procedures — a full stop and proceed at every facing point switch, even the manual ones — getting underway took a while. There is one switch (manual) westbound at Roncesvalles, three automatic ones at the entrance to the carhouse, and another automatic one at Sunnyside Loop. The first chance to get up any speed comes once you clear the loop.
Now we had to deal with the so-called transit priority signals. In the old days, the Queen cars shared the green time with other traffic and every so often a left turning car would meet an unhappy fate. To “protect” from this, the solution was a transit only phase. Alas, like so much of our “priority” signalling, it actually slows down the streetcars by forcing them to wait for a dedicated cycle. There is no pre-emption, and there is only one streetcar phase per cycle.
This takes a bit of explanation. In the simplest example, we have a three phase cycle.
- East-West
- North-South
- TTC
However, when you add in provision for left turns, you can get at least four phases with a “left only” before the main east-west flow. The streetcar should be able to move during the pure east-west cycle, but for reasons best known to the gods of traffic signals, it doesn’t. The net effect is that streetcars get far less green time with so-called priority signals than they did under the old system, and the travel time from Sunnyside to Humber is noticeably increased.
Eventually, we arrived at Humber Loop. Kevin Reidy, one of the regular contributors of comments on this site, wrote to me recently noting that the upcoming reconstruction of Humber Loop is a waste of money given that current plans call for the relocation of this turnback to Park Lawn. I agree, and have to wonder why the TTC is not restructuring its routes (Queen, Prince Edward, Queensway) to operate as if Humber Loop does not exist. Who knows? They might even be able to fit a condo tower on the unused property.
Onward through the tunnel and out onto Lake Shore. By now, my impression of the potential “Waterfront West LRT” was getting a bit shaky. The loop site at Park Lawn is now a bus loop surrounded by much landscaping. Very attractive, but not far enough west to pick up all of the areas that are ripe for redevelopment.
We stopped at almost every stop to both drop off and pick up passengers. This is one point about service on the old Long Branch car that the TTC never seemed to understand — it provides local service among the communities on Lake Shore and does not exist just to get people downtown. The service here used to be much better when it was a separate route, and the TTC has refused to entertain proposals to restructure operations on the 501 to restore some type of independent service to this community.
Eventually, I arrived at the 30th Street stop. It had taken about 40 minutes to travel from Roncesvalles. The delays were entirely due to operational procedures, traffic lights and stop service. Never did we encounter any traffic congestion.
This is a textbook example of how the TTC and its friends in the Works Department have screwed up a good local service. Transit priority and service quality are meaningless.
If we are going to advocate increased use of the surface network either as busways or as LRT, then we have to get serious about providing real priority for transit and getting rid of operational constraints that needlessly delay service.
Steve Munro 
Thanks for the post about Long Branch Steve. For those of east of the Don, it’s like another planet out in Mimico, New Toronto & Long Branch. And when reading your post, when you said you’d take the streetcar, I was thinking to myself – ‘he’ll probably get shafted time-wise by waiting forever for a streetcar’. I unfortunately was right and was disappointed in the TTC that that ended up being the case.
This leads me to wonder, is there any way that the TTC can let people know if their streetcar has short-turned (with a long delay) or if there’s a diversion. I was on the 506 car eastbound, and because of an accident at Logan we had a diversion down Broadview across Queen and up Coxwell. How many people waited forever near Gerrard & Pape, Jones or Greenwood when they could’ve taken the bus and detoured…?
Steve: One big problem is that there are enough delays and few enough mobile supervisors that having someone free to drive back and forth telling people about delays is impractical. Some people have proposed electronic info signs at every stop but this assumes that (a) we have the money to pay for them and (b) someone will actually put real live information on them, not just the meaningless published schedule saying “frequent service”.
Sometimes (correction…more often than not), it makes you wonder if the TTC and Works people even ride transit on their altered routes to see how their plans work in real life … rather than just running a modeller.
Steve: You assume that they have a modeller.
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Hi;
I moved to Long Branch in March. I work at Queen and Spadina so a one-seat streetcar trip is very much an advantage for me. (I will note that a lot of people do stay on the streetcar from west of Humber to Parkdale and beyond.)
The transit signals are only temporarily set as you observed: a very short green signal after the auto signal on Queensway has changed to red. This is because the Queensway construction has made the eastbound lanes of Queensway two-way. The vehicular traffic crosses over by St. Joe’s and at Windermere. At all intersections in the construction zone, westbound cars have “No Right Turn on Red” signs. The streetcars are not allowed through when the signal is green for vehicles because of the chance one might turn right, right in front of a streetcar. In the first few days of construction I believe the transit signal was set with the general vehicle signal, with several close calls on the one trip I took.
Hopefully streetcar service to Long Branch will become more reliable after the Queensway construction is done and transit signals go back to being with vehicular traffic (as on Spadina). Before the Queensway construction and Lake Shore track replacement, service was pretty reliable in the AM, but a little erratic in the evening.
Steve: Yes, I had figured out the way the signals were arranged was due to the construction situation, but what is still needed in this case is more chances for the streetcar to get a green cycle. This could be done by the following sequence:
E/W left turn only
E/W green
Streetcar (if present)
N/S green
Streetcar (if present – new phase)
This is the same problem we have at a lot of other intersections where the streetcar only gets a chance to move once in every 80 or 90 second cycle, and only at a predetermined point in that cycle. Since the streetcars when stopping (especially if in a gap and therefore busy) drop out of the same “natural” traffic cycle as the cars, there is a very high probability that they will miss the slot for their green and have to wait a long time for the next one.
Traffic signal phasing should be based on the following principles:
If a transit vehicle is approaching and the stop is farside, then the current traffic cycle is shortened as much as possible, and the transit vehicle gets the green as early as possible.
If the stop is nearside, then the transit green should appear twice per cycle to minimize the wait after the car is ready to leave.
Ideally, someday the TTC will figure out how an operator can signal that “I want to go now”. The cars have an antenna used for setting track switches, and it should also be used to broadcast a signal to run the traffic lights.
My post was intended to show how the cumulative effect of various changes is slowly strangling the transit system. We keep hearing about how the TTC needs rights-of-ways everywhere to run good service, but they can’t even do a decent job where there is no traffic congestion.
Thanks for the comments. If any readers live in the new housing on the south side of The Queensway, I would be intrigued to know how often the reasonable level of scheduled service to Humber (and your home) is disrupted by short turns of Humber cars at Sunnyside.
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Your suggestion for “I want to go now” is excellent and highly practical, for it is done hundreds, nay thousands, of times daily on systems in Europe, and activated by the simple method of having the car pull forward a meter or so from the stopping point to activate the signal (by whatever means each system uses), which then activates the streetcar phase, usually within a range of 5-15 seconds, depending on the city.
Of course the Europeans universally use the white bar system and not standard traffic signals. The white bar system appears at a few humble places locally and is entirely mis-used as the TTC is apparently unaware of the functions of this type of signal and how it it is supposed to work (horizontal bar for stop – if you proceed you will be fired), vertical for “go straight ahead”, and at 45 degree angles for turns right or left, depending on how the points are set (also a reminder to the operator that, if he/she is planning a straight-ahead run and he/she is facing a 45-degree bar, that will produce an “oopsie” and possibly a crash). When bars allow forward movement all other signals for motorists are red, and they are not faced with potentially confusing and conflicting signals as on Spadina.
Of course installation of such a system here ranks right up there with converting the overhead for pantographs. I await the day when those new low floor cars finally show up (if I live that long) and, wonder of wonders, current collection is by trolley pole. Can you say “laughing stock”?
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Hi Steve, I know this isn’t what you want to hear but your trip is one of the ones where Toronto has a good expressway and would have cut your travel time by two-thirds at least. While an avid use of transit I do still maintain a car and whenever I find the need to travel to the west end I find no better way than the Gardiner. As long as it isn’t rush hour I find myself amazed at travelling ‘above’ the city at 100 km/h and being at the Humber in 15 minutes or so.
That being said, we should have more frequent GO service (and TTC connections) so that one can go to Union and get a non-stop train to Mimico/Long Branch within 15 minutes. I also am an advocate of a Greenwood GO stop (in the east end) as I think this would be well used and help better serve the east end. And it would provide a direct route to Union!
Steve: There is only one tiny problem here: I don’t drive, although like many other transit captives I could afford to, or could even have taken a cab. We keep talking about having a “Transit City”, but for some people this means endless debates about funding subway construction and little else. Meanwhile, people who have to travel long distances in the suburbs get far worse service than those lucky enough to spend most of their time on the subway.
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I live in the new housing on the south side of The Queensway. I would say about 30% of the streetcars are short turned at Sunnyside during rush hour, the same rate as your study from the ’80s. I’m usually happy to get a Long Branch car because I know that even if it gets short turned, it will at least get to Humber.
I usually bike to work downtown because it is cheaper and healthier then the streetcar and we live close to the Martin Goodman Trail.
Your idea to have Queens Quay style transit lights during construction probably isn’t pratical because The Queensway track isn’t set up to detect the streetcars presence.
Steve: Isn’t it nice to know that our one real piece of private right-of-way doesn’t have detection loops for the streetcars even though this is the easiest of places to install them?
I’m looking forward to the Waterfront West LRT which should help with some of these problems and increase my property value. Hopefully your concerns will be addressed in the EA.
Tom B: Owning a car for occational trips is a very expensive proposition. They cut $20,000 from the price of our townhouse just because we didn’t need a parking lot, and that is one small part of the cost of owning a car.
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I don’t think moving the Prince Edward and The Queenway bus to Park Lawn loop would be a good idea.
First, it would distance slightly longer for those transfering to the Queen car to go downtown, having to go south, then back up north.
Second, on The Queensway near Humber loop there is a large grocery store and other stores that is a sigificant destination, while there isn’t much on Park Lawn except Christie’s Bakery.
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I tend to find streetcar service to be slower and unreliable, for several reasons. Even the routes that have their own right-of-way, like Spadina don’t seem to take advantage of it. Steve, your scenario reminds me of subway service. For some reason, sometimes a subway train stops at a station and the driver waits for another subway train in the opposite direction to arrive. Then the drivers switch subway trains. I’m not sure why they do that, but it feels like they are delaying the whole subway line. I remember waiting on an Eastbound train for as long as 10 minutes, waiting for the Westbound train to switch drivers. Isn’t this another example of TTC operations that delay service?
Steve: In theory, what’s going on with the train swaps is that Transit Control is “short turning” operators to get them back on time rather than short-turning the trains. This works fine provided that it’s a quick change-over, but a 10-minute wait is counterproductive.
Now that you’ve been through this experience Steve, would you choose another method of getting to Long Branch?
Steve: If I were travelling during the rush hour, I would take the Islington South bus from Islington Station because it goes directly to my destination. Otherwise, I would take a cab from Kipling. The advantage that Islington South has is that it is a short route and although the headway is wider than that advertised on Queen, it has a good chance of being on time.
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To a Malvernite, Long Branch is just off the end of the planet. The name itself says it all. But combining the 501/507 into a super-route was a service disaster waiting to happen.
The Humber Loop became an anachronism with the end of the two-zone fare structure, and with the Long Branch route having the functions of both a local route and a feeder to downtown routes (namely the 501), the question would be how to split the route, to prevent short turns so passengers on both ends (Lakeshore and Beach) don’t get shafted by short-turns. Possibly running the route in two overlapping sections, say Long Branch-Parliament and Humber-Neville? And diverting the Long Branch route via King Street… why does this sound familiar?
As far as this journey goes, I’d have gone to the nearest/easiest to get to GO station (probably Rouge Hill or Eglinton) and taken the train to Long Branch station.
Agreed with earlier comments re meaningless schedules that just say “* – Frequent Service”. I spent years not knowing that “Frequent Service” meant less than 10min, rather than “you don’t know when they come so they don’t come at all”.
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Hi, Steve,
I live near Dundas and Maybelle. When I need to get to Long Branch, I could take the 50 Burnhamthrope to Islington station and transfer to the the 110 Islington South to the Queen Streetcar, as I am a streetcar fan, I will do this IF I am not in a hurry due to the fact that usually it will take an hour or more,depending on how long I have to wait for the streetcar, I usually will take the 30 Lambton to Kipling Station then take the 123 Shorncliffe right into Longbranch GO Station, this route takes about 40 minutes.
Steve: The Queen service on Lake Shore is unreliable compared with the many bus routes out of stations on the west end of the Bloor subway. This is a sad state given that Lake Shore is supposed to be one of the “Avenues” in the city’s Official Plan and we should be encouraging transit use there with good service. Ever since the TTC amalgamated the Long Branch and Queen routes, things have been a mess, but the TTC does nothing about it.
My actual destination was on Islington South, and I could have reached it much faster had I taken that route.
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What I am noticing more and more is a lack of regard for passengers, and their need to get somewhere on transit from drivers, who are getting apathetic. This snowballs into passengers having no respect for drivers and one another.
Due to an accident in the summertime I have been made painfully aware of the TTC’s very inaccesible system. People with disabilities, and those with walkers, and baby strollers have a harder time on transit that others, especially on streetcars and getting up and down from subway platforms. Most stations have escalators once you’re in the station, and some even have elevators, but few have elevators or escalators from street level.
This week I was on a streetcar 501, that was held up because a lady on the car in front was moving her stroller off the streetcar, and her baby slid out of the seat and hit his head on the ground.
It’s hard enough to manouver a small bag on wheels, let alone a baby carriage. Please consider helping people with strollers, and those struggling with packages they seem to be having difficulty with.
I’ve had people try to step over me as I’m heaving my bag, and then get mad at me if the bag touches them. People need to be more considerate of one another!
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Tom B, I am glad you made that comment about driving and saving so much time. I think one thing many of us on here forget about, is travel time. The Long Branch Streetcar may be nice to ride for fun. But when it comes to travel, it is slow.
Slow transit is the main reason car drivers do not use the TTC. In fact TTC’s own studies have travel time listed as the largest reason car drivers won’t switch to transit.
I do not think the Long Branch Streetcar attracts many “choice riders”. Because who would ride a streetcar for one hour to get downtown, when you can drive it in 10min?
Untill the TTC addresses these problems, I fear streetcar routes like Long Branch are going to become last resorts for the poor and carless, and not the kind of TTC service we pride this city on that carries all walks of life.
Steve: There are three problems on Long Branch. First, the wide headways. Second, the unpredictable service. Third, the long trip across Queen Street.
The first two must be addressed by improved and properly-regulated service. There is no excuse for 501s taking long layovers at Long Branch Loop and leaving whenever they feel like it. This situation could also be addressed by the TTC finally acknowledging that the combination of routes 501 and 507 produced an unmanageable monster. With a route so long, operators need long breaks, and the schedule has a lot of padding.
Finally, the Long Branch service won’t have a fast run into downtown until the Waterfront West line is built, and built as something other than a Toonerville Trolley wandering from street to street, stopping at so-called transit priority signal after so-called transit priority signal, and finally pulling into the basement of Union Station in an overcrowded loop.
TTC needs to address the transit signal problems RIGHT NOW on all routes that have them. Spadina’s signals as well as the Queensway signals, are plain stupid, and all they do is slow down the service while cars zoom by.
Steve: I am getting fed up with the inaction by the TTC and the City roads department on the problems of transit signals. A report on this subject was requested (twice) at least a year ago and nothing has surfaced as yet. Indeed, the best we have seen is a ludicrous report from staff regarding Spadina that claimed it didn’t matter when the green time came as long as the TTC got some of it.
I will refrain from excessively colourful language, but suggest that anyone with that attutude should seek alternative employment selling pencils at Queen and Yonge. They could explain to would-be purchasers that the pencils will work fine even if they are only sharp at 3:00 am.
TTC also needs to look into providing alternative services from certain areas. For example out in the west, the bus that operates alown Park Lawn to Humber Loop, should run express to downtown from Humber Loop. That would decrease travel times alot for streetcar riders from the west, who could transfer at Humber.
Steve: Demands for alternative services (as with the comparable requests in The Beach) reflect a frustration with the fact that current services are not properly operated and managed.
If TTC does not start addressing these issues and coming up with unique ideas, then this poor service will continue. And more people will just keep driving.
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While congestion was irrelevant in your trip, are there plans for a private ROW on Lakeshore Boulevard west of Humber loop? I remember reading briefly about it somewhere, and I would think the width of the road is adequate, and similar to that of St Clair Avenue West.
Steve: This is part of the proposed Waterfront West LRT project, something that won’t see the light of day for well over a decade, if ever. There is a problem in the eastern section of the route with land availability for a completely segregated right-of-way such as on St. Clair or Spadina, and the local community was quite annoyed with the TTC’s cavalier attitude, originally, to the effects of road widening. The issue still lurks by virtue of the possibility the TTC might push through a Transit Project Assessment that “approves” a configuration even though it might not be built for a long time. Fifteen years from now, people would be told there is an “approved plan” to do something they never agreed to.
What keeps the WWLRT scheme from proceeding through further planning today is the desire by some at City Hall, notably the Mayor, that the line stay on Lake Shore west of the CNE and connect with The Queensway at Colborne Lodge Road rather than coming up to the level of King/Queen/Roncesvalles for the link to the existing 501 trackage. A full route TPA can’t proceed until this routing issue, which is also entangled in the Western Waterfront Master Plan, is resolved, and that protects, for now, the folks in southern Etobicoke from having an unacceptable design forced on them, if only on paper.
Also, the TTC seemed to have listened to your complaints about the useless Transit Signals on the Queensway (or did they find out the problem some other way)?
Steve: I am not sure that the signals have really been “fixed”, but will wander out to The Queensway to view their current operation.
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Queensway signalling system is now similar to that of Spadina and St Clair, where Left-turning cars have their own isolated phase.
Steve: The issue is not just the phasing, but the degree to which excessive time is consumed for left turns or north-south movements causing streetcars to be held at what are now intersections with farside stops.
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