Many service changes take effect on June 20, 2010. Most of these are seasonal route changes and, in some cases, improvements. Many routes lose peak service, particularly in the AM peak, during the summer because school traffic falls off.
The 512 St. Clair route is scheduled to return to Gunn’s Loop on June 20, but the actual implementation date has not yet been finalized. Cars will operate to Lansdowne with geneous layovers pending the opening of the line.
The TTC has published a comparison of running times and headways for the route before and after the implementation of the right-of-way on St. Clair. Particularly striking is the improvement in running times on Saturdays when St. Clair was the most congested before the reconstruction. Advocates for transit priority often forget that there are many more hours, and much more traffic, outside of the peak period on some routes.
An operational change effective on June 20 is that AM peak cars running out of service will now operate east to Yonge, then return westbound and go out of service at St. Clair West Station. This will avoid having cars bound for Roncesvalles Carhouse drop inbound passengers eastbound at Vaughan Road rather than taking them to the subway.
2005-2010 St. Clair Schedule Comparison
For details on individual route branches, please refer to the TTC’s Scheduled Service Summary.
Steve Munro 
I can’t understand why the TTC would pull trains off of the Yonge line during the summer. I catch it northbound at Queen during the afternoon rush and every day people are left on the platform at College, often at Dundas, and sometimes even at Queen itself!
I understand the winter schedule pushes the maximum the line can handle with the current signalling system. All the more reason to maintain that schedule in the summer so that people can reliably board the first train that comes, and maybe even enjoy a tiny bit of personal space, at least for a few months.
LikeLike
A lot of the traffic at Dundas is young people – Ryerson students. As most of these students aren’t heading to their classes during the summer, demand drops. That’s just one example, but a significant one.
LikeLike
You missed the best change!
If you compare the final page of the current service summary (Page 72) to the final page of the next service summary (Page 70), you’ll see that the 204 new Flexity streetcars are now 30 metres long rather than 28 metres long.
Presumably it was just an old typo. 🙂
LikeLike
Been by Gunn’s Loop today, Friday. Looks almost done. So unless there are days of heavy rain coming, or a runaway army tank, it could be in use by the 20th. Shelters may be incomplete, but still usable.
LikeLike
I noticed that the TTC is removing a bus from Bathurst… whether or not contruction is over, service is still spotty as hell, and I think we need that bus. It used to be that 3 or 4 buses would travel in packs. The TTC managed to get this down to 2-ish, but this is still unacceptable.
LikeLike
W. K. Lis said:
I have been stopping by Gunn’s Loop every few days to view the progress on that site. The latest visit was yesterday afternoon, and I discovered that the overhead power wire had been strung.
The track is fully laid, with one small exception. There is a short section (2-3 meters) on the eastbound track just after the exit curve where no concrete has been poured. The track is there, with a couple of the metal ties hanging in mid-air from the rails. I have been informed that there is a manhole right under the track at that point and that they need to sink another access shaft to one side before finishing that section of track.
Most of the walkways are laid, including the streetcar stop, the lighting is installed and several trees have been planted. The shelter has not been erected yet (nor is the Gunns Road stop [eastbound just east of Gunns road] complete, although it appears the platform has now been laid.)
However, there is a second ‘glitch’. The bus loop had appeared to be complete, but they have now removed much of the curb on the west (passenger loading) side of it. Apparently the TTC was unhappy with the current layout and is reshaping this side of the bus loop. There is also a street light right on the edge of St Clair at the west side of the bus loop exit. This may be moved back to the other side of the sidewalk, although I am not sure about this.
Finally, I was informed that there is some talk about modifying the north-west corner of the Gunns Road – St Clair intersection because semis are finding making the right turn onto St Clair very difficult.
The intersection needs a final layer of asphalt to bring it up level with the tracks and the manhole covers, but this is should not affect the streetcar service.
It looks to me as though the 20th is not an impossible date (if TTC doesn’t change its mind again) but it would not surprise me if it is a week or two later.
Steve: The issue of tight turns came up, of course, at Old Weston and St. Clair where the Keele bus is more or less permanently banished. The road design problems we must lay at the City’s feet, but the TTC approved them. How this happened when some problems were obvious to rank amateurs (but presumably not to the practised eye of the professionals) I don’t know.
LikeLike
And don’t forget about the likely permanent ‘detour’ of the 47B/C via Davenport and Caledonia Park thanks to the geniuses who approved filling in the specially cut-back corner at St. Clair with trees. This change still hasn’t made it onto the route cards. I’m not sure whether to laugh or cry at the irony of waiting for a bus where a shelter once stood at the southeast corner. (What was that shelter for anyway?)
LikeLike
I had figured that the one-lane-only under the bridge would do away with that portion of the Keele bus anyway.
And don’t forget the Caledonia intersection either.
LikeLike