The following service changes take effect on February 13:
6 Bay: With the beginning of construction at Bay and Front for the Union Station Second Platform Project, various lane closures will increase traffic congestion. The Bay route will be adjusted by adding running time to the route, and by cutting back the short turn service now operating to Queen’s Quay and Yonge (6A) to the Dundas short turn (6B) during the PM peak. The AM peak short turn already operates only to Dundas.
One bus will be added to the route during the AM peak, midday and early evening service weekdays, and on weekend daytime periods.
Headways are unchanged except during the PM peak when the combined service north of Dundas drops from 5’15” to 4’30”, but from Dundas to Queen’s Quay it widens from 5’15” to 9’00”.
This change is expected to last for three years.
145 Downtown/Humber Bay Express: The running times for this route will be lengthened in the AM peak to reflect actual traffic conditions. The route will continue to operate five trips using three buses.
191 Highway 27 Rocket: One bus will be added to the PM peak service to reduce the headway from 6’30” to 6’15” and reduce the average load/bus from 49 to 47.
41 Keele and 107 Keele North: Road construction at York University requires a considerable addition to the running time, and a route diversion is already in place. From one to three buses will be added at various times on 41 Keele to maintain the pre-construction headways. On 107 Keele North, one or two buses will be added.
These changes are expected to last until early May.
52 Lawrence West: The running time on the first inbound trip from Martin Grove at 4:54am will be extended by 5 minutes to reflect actual requirements.
School Trip Adjustments:
44 Kipling South: Two school trips in the PM peak will be adjusted to operate at times better suited to actual dismissal times at the sites they serve.
112E West Mall Express to Eringate: A school trip now scheduled to leave Kipling Station at 7:52am will be moved back to 7:48am so that it falls midway between two local trips.
Toronto Zoo Seasonal Changes:
86 Scarborough and 85 Sheppard East: Effective March 11, the last trips from the Zoo will leave about an hour later than on the winter schedule, shortly after 7pm. Weekday service is provided by 86 Scarborough, and weekend service by 85 Sheppard East.
York Region Transit Service Reductions: The following changes will be made at York Region’s request.
102D Markham Road to Mount Joy GO Station: The trips leaving Anderson Avenue and Markham Road at 6:12am, 6:47am, and 11:50pm will no longer operate. They will be replaced with trips on branches within the City of Toronto.
129A McCowan Road North to Major Mackenzie: The 5:48am southbound trip will be replaced with a trip operating only to Steeles Avenue.
24D Victoria Park to Major Mackenzie: The northbound trip leaving Victoria Park Station at 9:56pm with a return trip southbound at 11:01pm will now operate only to Steeles Avenue.
Steve Munro 
The 6B route is rather useless, and while the destination sign says “to Dundas”, drivers often kick the passengers off at Elm and run empty to Edward to make the trolleybus legacy loop. Since the 6 is no longer tied to overhead wires, I don’t understand the need to use the old service patterns. This short-turn branch would be more useful if it looped at or south of Queen using a combination of Richmond, York, Queen or Queen, James, Albert or Adelaide, Victoria, Richmond.
The 6B seems to serve only provincial bureaucrats and perhaps University Avenue hospital workers, while a short extension south would properly serve the Bus Station, City Hall, the Old City Hall courts, the Eaton Centre and via a short walk, the Financial District. As this bus offers low floor loading, it is very useful for seniors, the disabled, and for short hops.
Steve: Never let it be said that the TTC rushed to embrace the flexibility of bus transit. After all, the 22 Coxwell duplicates the service pattern of the streetcar that was replaced in 1966.
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Couldn’t they simply turn the 6A around somewhere else? Say make the loop at Lake Shore/Harbour rather than at Front? They could keep the existing destination as Yonge & Queens Quay. I don’t know how much use the branch gets from all the condos springing up by the waterfront.
If the construction of the new platform has turfed the 6A, what will become of the 72 when construction is in full swing? Will it become a temporary casualty or will they move the stop somewhere out of the way? I dunno, but extending service onto York St. south of Front seems like a reasonable place to go. There currently aren’t any north-south transit connections between Spadina and Bay, given what’s already there and what’s planned, there should be.
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I’m curious to know why YRT asked the TTC to reduce service on 3 north-south routes in Markham.
Steve: Service/budget cuts in YRT. You will note that they are trimming off first/last trips. Maybe they are “reallocating” the budget elsewhere.
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Thanks for the info Steve. I don’t think YRT should be making service cuts considering that their buses run every 20 to 30 minutes during the day and cease operations by 10 pm at the latest on most routes. I even think some corridors in York Region such as Highway 7, Yonge, McCowan, Don Mills, Keele and Jane can use higher-order transit. I think VIVA is a good system but I’d like to see it expanded along other corridors and for some routes to be upgraded to higher-order transit. I understand that may be in the works for Yonge and Highway 7 but that’s decades away if ever and the congestion in York Region is fairly severe.
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