The TTC will implement several service changes on March 25, 2012. These are mostly in response to growing demand on the bus network, although this also includes slightly better service on the Bloor-Danforth subway at weekday midday and early evening.
Actual average loads for current service and the projected values following the changes are no longer included in the memoranda issued by TTC Service Planning. This means that we cannot see how close to the line ridership is, or to what degree it already exceeds service standards.
Correction: The average load information has been moved to a completely separate section of the service change memorandum, and I did not catch this.
Updated: The table of service changes linked here has been updated with the loading information.
Although many services will improve, the amount of service to be operated falls within the currently-approved budget. Looking further out, the budget includes the usual summer reduction in service levels, but there is provision for increases in the fall. By November, the TTC will be back at a service level slightly better than in January, just before the most recent round of cutbacks. That is on an overall basis with cuts in some services and loading standards going to pay for improvements elsewhere.
Steve Munro 
My apologies if this is slightly off-topic in that it is about a proposed service change. Councillor Jaye Robinson (ward 25) in a recent newsletter proposed a partial reversal of last year’s service cuts to the 162 route. Here is her proposal:
I felt routing the 51 Leslie route would be a better choice since its off-hour service is every 30 minutes (like 162) and the route now duplicates 54-service between Leslie & Lawrence and Eglinton Station. I suspect 54-riders would not be happy if service frequency were split between Lawrence and Eglinton stations.
Steve: I would hate to see the 54 torn apart to deal with a self-inflicted problem — the abandonment of part of the 162 service. As for routing the 51 through The Bridle Path area, the question then becomes where would the 51 go? Should it continue to operate to Eglinton Station or to some new destination. Wherever it goes, the route will be convoluted. Somehow I cannot help thinking that just putting back the 162 is a lot simpler. The problem at the TTC is that after all of those cuts, they never thought about the criteria for getting a service restored. Chair Stintz was too busy lecturing everyone (in her support Ford at all costs days) about making sacrifices.
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Steve, I was surprised (especially in this political and fiscal climate) to see several service changes on routes where the loading standard hasn’t been exceeded yet. Is there something else that is justifying the service increase, or is this a proactive service change?
Steve: The situations in question have routes very close to the standard and I suspect some of this is proactive to make improvements within the available budget. Worth watching will be the situation later in 2012 if growth outstrips the budget headroom to add service.
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Regarding 162:
Couldn’t the Lawrence East bus permanently route through a more simplified version of 162?
To clarify: keep the 162 as well as it’s existing (and hopefully to-be-restored service levels) and route the 54 Lawrence East from Lawrence Station via Lawrence to Bayview, North to Post, East on Post, South at Park Lane Circle and East on Lawrence?*
(The “maidbourhood” would still be served by the 162). I never understood why the Lawrence East bus terminated at Eglinton Station.
*Significantly less expensive than my “proposal” to re-grade Lawrence East (east of Bayview) to rise up and meet Bayview on it’s overpass … swanboat stuff.
Steve: The 54 goes to Eglinton Station because Lawrence Station didn’t exist until the subway was extended north of Eglinton, and the folks in the Bridal Path didn’t want buses trundling through their streets. They put up with the 162 (there are some complaints even about that) because it does not run very frequently.
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Though this is not directly connected to service changes, and I fear I know the answer, I often wonder whether the TTC ever looks at its routings in a systematic way. It is clearly not possible to (easily) change a streetcar route but there are “official” (planned) short-turn points – some may no longer be appropriate. For example, the 504 eastbound frequently short-turns at Parliament and returns to westbound service at Church – missing out on passengers on the increasingly populated King Street East area. Are they planning a better short-turn route to bring cars back into service further east? (OK, the new Cherry line may provide this but it’s at least 3 years away.)
Steve: A short turn further east such as the one already available via Dundas and Broadview (either way around the loop) does not save as much time as returning westbound to Church. There are plans for a loop at Queen and Broadview (on the parking lot just north of Queen). The big problem is that many short turns disservice important parts of routes as you described. My favourite is a Downtowner car short turning via Church and Victoria and thereby missing the only major stops downtown where it might pick up passengers. A close second is a Downtowner short turning at Woodbine Loop.
Buses are easier to reroute but here too many changes – such as those discussed above – seem to be made only in some budget ’emergency’ not as part of a proper systematic review of all routes in an area of the City based on changes in ridership and/or population.
Then there are the (in)famous “Sunday Stops”. I realise these were originally to serve churches and other places that received more traffic on Sundays but are they ever reviewed? There are two on College Street just east of University that were originally, I think, to serve the Toronto General Hospital and the increased visitor traffic on Sundays. The TGH is no longer served by these stops (they are in front of MaRS), are they still necessary, should they be regular stops?
Steve: The Sunday stops on Roncesvalles disappeared with the street redesign. I suspect as we get more stops with curb bumpouts for accessibility, the Sunday-only stop will fade into memory.
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Councillor Jaye Robinson (ward 25) proposes:
This would be the dumbest idea since the Sheppard Subway, well at least the second dumbest. People who want to get to Lawrence East of Leslie, most of the riders who get on at the subway, would not know whether to get on at Eglinton or at Lawrence stations unless they were schedule freaks. This would make the service less convenient for the majority of riders. There are also more riders who get on or off along Eglinton from Lawrence than who would get on or off in the Bridle Path. I am sorry if it inconveniences your ability to get a maid; maybe you should provide taxis for them.
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I’ve never seen a 504 short-turn eastbound at Parliament and re-enter at Church. With no tracks to turn left at Queen on Dundas, and no turn south on Carlton, it would require a very complex manoeuvre to do that.
Steve: North on Parliament to Dundas, west to Church, south to King. Not complex at all.
Typically cars short-turning east at Parliament then turn east on Dundas and south on Broadview, then serving the entire King East. Most often one of these cars seems to follow fairly closely behind a car heading to Broadview station. There are days however they seem to be all to eager to short-turn too many cars at Parliament or Dundas (the confusing 504 Broadview cars which do the reverse west on Dundas and south on Parliament), leaving Broadview north of Dundas under-served.
Once (if) Cherry loop opens, I’d think many of these cars would be turning there instead.
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Steve: North on Parliament to Dundas, west to Church, south to King. Not complex at all.
There’s no curve from northbound Parliament to westbound Dundas … unless they modified it recently. As far as I know, the route would have to be northbound Parliament to westbound College, to southbound Bay to eastbound Dundas to southbound Church … or eastbound Dundas to southbound Broadview to westbound Queen to southbound Church.
I don’t think any eastbound King streetcars are exiting at Parliament to re-enter westbound at Church. And I’ve ridden and watched many short-turning at Parliament. They always seem to head up to Dundas, turn east, and re-enter at Broadview and Dundas signed as a 504 Dundas West via King. Except the 508, which I see heading all the way up Parliament, and turning west on Carlton.
Steve: Ooops, I am thinking of the wrong intersection.
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If only this was what normally happened …. unfortunately the Parliament-Dundas-Church route is used more often, or at least too, often.
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I would like to know why TransCab service is not being considered for the 162????
Most of the route is duplicated by other services as is, except for the portion through the Bridal Path. And while some rich people do use transit, I doubt most of the requests for service are from the Bridal Path, but rather areas in Don Mills already served by alternate bus service.
TransCab would be a great service for this area.
Steve: For the simple reason that we have already decided that we cannot afford to operate a bus service and subsidize riders for a few dollars more than the average per ride.
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There is no Parliament-Dundas-Church route. You can’t turn left from Parliament northbournd to Dundas westbound. Eastbound King cars short-turning east of Church are usually either a 504 Parliament going up Parliament, east on Dundas and back at Broadview, or 504 Broadview going up Broadview, west on Dundas, and south on Parliament.
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It’s “The Bridle Path” not “Bridal Path”.
Think equestrian class, not wedding parties.
The “The” also seems to be part of the name, according to Google maps.
Steve: Ah yes. The perils of fast editing. Fixed, with thanks.
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I know this is a major sidetrack but I didn’t know where to ask this.
The TTC references a 116B Morningside branch in it’s schedule updates but it’s not on the map… is it a special one-off run like the ones that routes commonly have during times that schools get off in the afternoon or is it an actual branch that they like to keep hidden?
Steve: This appears to be an error. According to the Scheduled Service Summary, the 116B exists only in the AM peak with 2 buses on a 15 minute headway.
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Hmmm the reason it seems “missed” is because the TTC has it internally coded as 116B but on the schedules it shows up as 116 (see Eglinton & Kingston Rd – west side). I guess this is a bus that basically runs from there to Kennedy Stn, deheads back to its original starting point as “not in service” and then repeat from 7:30am to 9am. I would assume that since there are times that you see two 116’s (according to the schedule) running 1 minute apart (one every 15 – hence the 116B, and one every 6 – hence the 116) going westbound on all “timed” stops but when you look at the Kennedy Station schedule for eastbound buses, they disappear. If I remember correctly, isn’t there some high school called R.H. King Academy out there?
Also, the 25s that originate at Fenlon Loop at 3:10pm and 3:12pm respectively, do those get signed as 25s when starting at the loop or are they signed as “not in service” until they reach Don Mills? Their purpose is to relieve the high school in the area but they run along the 122’s route path until Don Mills.
Steve: The detailed memo re service changes is silent on the signage of the trips serving G.S. Henry Academy.
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