A few changes will be made to TTC service in November 2012.
Corrected Nov. 7, 2012 at 11:35 am: Route 504 King trippers which appeared to be a service increase are actually only a TTC correction to a previous error in their Service Summary.
502 Downtowner
Service will return to McCaul Loop operating on the same headways but with one fewer car during peak and weekday midday periods.
29 Dufferin
Service will return to Dufferin south of Queen when work by Toronto Water and TTC track replacement have finished.
504 King (Corrected)
Although this is not mentioned in the service change memo, the Service Summary shows three more CLRV trippers in the AM peak than on the October schedules. This extends the period of 2′ headway eastbound to downtown by 12 minutes (a total of 19 trippers rather than 16 on a 4′ headway).
Correction Nov 7: Scott Haskill at the TTC advises that these trippers existed in previous schedules, but were not included on the Service Summary. Therefore, there is no net addition to service.
45 Kipling
The late evening 11 minute headway will be extended to midnight to relieve crowding, and a new northbound trip from Kipling Station will be provided at about 2:20 am. These changes are on the weekday schedules only.
103 Mt. Pleasant North
All service now operating on a 15′ headway with 2 buses will be changed to run on a 20′ headway to “improve reliability”. The change includes adding six minutes of driving time and four minutes of layover to each trip.
Affected periods are weekdays all day to mid-evening, Saturday and Sunday daytime. Service at other times remains at 30′.
510 Spadina
Streetcar service returns between Spadina Station and King Street with a bus shuttle from King to Queen’s Quay.
Streetcar headways will be:
Period Weekday Saturday Sunday AM Peak 2'30" Midday 1'53" PM Peak 2'00" Early Morning 6'00" 15'00" Morning 2'30" 2'50" Afternoon 2'00" 2'10" Early Evening 2'15" 2'30" 6'00" Late Evening 6'00" 6'00" 6'00"
Bus shuttle headways will be 6’00” at all times except early Sunday morning when they will be 10’00”.
Streetcar service will return to Queen’s Quay & Spadina on December 23, 2012 using the same schedules as in May 2012. Service to Union Station will not resume until late spring 2013.
165 Weston Road North
Weekend service to Canada’s Wonderland ends.
Steve Munro 
I’m skeptical of the “improving reliability” by adding time to driving/layovers. The same thing happened to the 506 earlier this month. As has probally been said ad nauseum, perhaps if routes were actually managed with a moderate degree of effort then the increase in headways would not be an issue. In reality, it just means most people will have to wait longer due to roving packs of vehicles and short-turns. I’ve tried writing to Chair Stintz last year about the St.Clair car, maybe I’ll try Andy Byford this year about the Carlton car.
For the 103 Mt. Pleasant 15 minutes to 20 minutes strikes me as a rather dramatic increase in headway.
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Steve said
Presumably you mean service to the loop at Queen’s Quay and Spadina. As far as I understand from the WT website, the track work on QQ East of Spadina will be continuing until summer 2013.
Steve: That is correct. I will clarify the article.
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Jame wrote
I’m skeptical too, however as a regular 506 user in late PM rush-hour where they added the extra time (and early evening that was previously terrible, because the cars were so messed up, but they didn’t add extra time), my personal observation is that I’ve filed no complaints about long (frequently 20 to 25 minute) waits for eastbound streetcars since the schedule change, where previously I filed several a month. Sure, there’s some gaps, but it’s the more manageable 10-minute, sometime 15-minute variety eastbound, and much better service (as far as I can tell) leaving Main station heading westbound.
It would be interesting if someone (Steve?) had the stats on what the service was actually looking at, other than the one time in the PM rush I’m trying to get on a streetcar.
Steve: I have some data from Carlton and other streetcar lines that I have done preliminary work on, but other things keep getting in the way of my spending a big block of time looking at many routes in comparison.
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I was for many years a resident of Mount Pleasant North – served at that time by the Nortown bus which ran in a U through the station and back north on Avenue Road. The route was subsequently split into two, but I expect the same problems prevail. In my day, the bulk of the service was 20 minutes (pretty poor service!). However, the timing of the route was badly out of sync – with too much time allowed on the Mt. Pleasant portions and not enough through the traffic along Eglinton. This meant that on Mount Pleasant the bus was often early – definitely erratic and then there was a delay on Eglinton East. It is a sad situation when poor service is compounded by not following the schedule. It meant that one more or less had to go to the stop at random times and often wait for inordinately long periods.
Steve: Now at least one can look at NextBus to see where the bus actually is, but there is no excuse for not being on time or something vaguely close to it.
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Mt. Pleasant North has low ridership and the current administration is very cut-happy so that’s why you’re seeing 20 min headways. Most people in that neighbourhood are well-to-do and drive nice cars. I know a girl who takes the Avenue North bus though (another low ridership route in a nice neighbourhood where mostly everyone drives). You still have to think about the minority who can’t afford to drive or can’t drive for one reason or another and need transportation. Motorists are heavily subsidized (as crazy as that sounds to car owners as we already pay a fortune for owning, using and maintaining our cars). But god forbid we give public transit users a bit of subsidy.
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From personal experience, especially when Northern Secondary school is open, 30 minutes is barely enough to cover the round trip on Mount Pleasant. Buses were regularly 5-10 minutes late and drivers had no time to break at the subway; they also tended to drive quite aggressively as a result to make the schedule.
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While the division shuffles stays unchanged, who’s going to run the Spadina Bus (King-Queens Quay)? To be honest, the streetcars on Spadina to Union could still be impacted by the Harbourfront shuttle. Speaking of it, I think Bir/Egl will be unchanged.
Steve: The Spadina cars will only go to Queen’s Quay and Spadina, not to Union. For the November Board while there is a King to Queen’s Quay shuttle bus, it will operate from Wilson.
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Also known as a “service cut”. What next, decrease service from 20 minutes to 30 minutes to “improve reliability”? Because if cutting service makes more people drive, then the traffic will get worse on Mount Pleasant in rush hour, then we will have to decrease service to “improve reliability” again.
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I am not sure about Mt. Pleasant North, but there are certainly routes where there is insufficient running time and service is rotten as a result. Case in point: 10 Van Horne after 10 PM on weekdays and after 7 PM on Saturdays. 20 minutes from Don Mills Station to Victoria Park and back. Good luck with that.
Another example is the 196 York University bus. My son goes to York University and uses the 196B on a regular basis. From what he tells me, gaps of 15 minutes or more are common throughout the day, even though there is a dedicated busway between Downsview and the University and traffic on Sheppard itself is usually not an issue outside of the peak periods. Same cause: insufficient running time. Even for 196A, there are frequent gaps and the schedule is complete fiction. You can’t run a route on a supposedly 2 minute headway if it takes at least twice as long to load a bus at York University, particularly in the afternoon peak, and there is little or no signal priority at intersections. Funny how they manage to screw up a route even if there is a ROW available.
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Look on the bright side, if the TTC needs to decrease service to beyond the 30 minute minimum service standard to “increase reliability” it would trigger the addition of an extra bus. (see 83 Jones)
Steve: Actually, they would eventually drive enough riding away for the route to be deemed uneconomic and dropped from the network. That measure is based on riders per hour, and if riders can’t be bothered to wait, the route’s productivity goes down.
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The 502 Downtowner streetcar is still at 20 minute headways, during the midday. Weekend midday service has 9 minute to 11 minute headway provided by the 22 Coxwell bus. I can understand that the streetcars are larger, so don’t have to be so frequent (less expense by using less operators), but 20 minutes is too long is one just misses a streetcar.
Steve: Yes, the disparity in weekday versus evening and weekend service on Kingston Road has always been a mystery. This is compounded by irregular headways on the 502 and short-turns at Woodbine Loop putting huge gaps in the service to Bingham.
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83 Jones runs every 16min during the midday, and every 18min during the afternoon peak. They should keep the frequency consistent right through the afternoon peak. Where it would really be beneficial. If they keep the schedule the same until next year, TTC should look at the possibility of extending one of the buses to Tommy Thompson Park. Lots of people during the summer months are walking from Commissioners Street. TTC use to provide service to Tommy Thompson Park during the summer season. I’m not sure why they stopped.
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I haven’t noticed very many Woodbine Loop short turns on the 502 but maybe it’s because I haven’t looked at it very closely. It seems that the preferred choice is a Church turn back at all times of the day. The TTC should really stretch that out and turn it into a Church, Richmond, York loop and maintain (at minimum) a useful service that connects with the subway.
The joke here is that the route used to use 1 bus on a 30-minute round trip but the TTC was forced to add a second bus because local conditions made it impossible to complete a round trip in 30 minutes which is the minimum service standard.
I don’t find that surprising at all because the lights at Lake Shore can take several minutes to cycle and a bus could literally end up spending 20% of its trip idling at a red light at that intersection.
Steve: I believe that is called “transit priority” in some circles.
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This would be nice to see service reappear down here. Many years ago I lived near Greenwood Park and remember the 31A going down the Greenood route to Queen Street, West to Leslie Street and south to what was called then Harbour Headland. This bus would then run north to from the headland to Queen and Leslie Streets west to Berkshire and Eastern Avenues back to the Harbour Headland. On the last trip, the bus would become the 31A to Greenwood bus to the subway. From a personal experience, I rarely ever saw no more then 5 people on it (not including the driver).
Now that times have changed, and much improvements have occurred in Leslieville, maybe the TTC will have a change of heart and reinstate service to the Leslie Street Spit.
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From first hand experience, streetcar service on Kingston Road is fairly good and predictable during the morning rush hour, although a few more cars to cut down the waiting time would certainly be welcome. The afternoon rush-hour on the other hand is usually a mess. I’ve been riding the wonderfully improved afternoon rush hour service (boosted by 2 cars last month) and nothing seems to have changed, except perhaps more frequent instances of 502/503 pairs running together, followed by 10-15-20 minute gaps. Regarding short-turns, yes, the 502’s frequently short turn at Victoria in the afternoon, which is why regular riders know to board at Church eastbound, not at Yonge.
There was a time in the late ’80s when we actually had service every 4-5 minutes during rush hour and every 10-12 minutes during the day. Bunching and short-turns didn’t matter much during those days, but now they make for really rotten service. Which is likely going to become even worse, if the current fleet plan for 502/503 is any indication.
On another note, browsing through the November service summary, I see that service on the King route will be boosted by 3 additional streetcars in the morning. This change is not mentioned in Steve’s article above. Is this true or merely a typo in the service summary? If it is true, how does it jive with the TTC’s standard excuse “we can’t add more service because of a lack of equipment”? Yes, I know one can’t compare demand on King West with that on Kingston Road, but perhaps we, in the east end, should be just as vocal as the folks on King West, demanding better service.
Steve: This change was not mentioned in the service change memo that comes out before the Service Summary and on which I based my article. The extra cars are CLRV trippers, and with the south end of Spadina and Harbourfront shut down, there are spare cars that will take us through to the summer cutbacks, another Spadina shutdown for trackwork, and trackwork on Kingston Road. Then, in theory, the new cars start showing up in service.
As for 502/503 service, the situation there is, as you say, a product of the much wider headways on these routes compared to days when both of them ran “frequent service”. In the AM peak, each route has a 12′ headway and they are scheduled 6′ apart from Bingham Loop (this was not always the case). In the afternoon, each route runs independently, and reliable headways eastbound from downtown, let alone a good blend on Queen east of the Don, would be a miracle. For some time, I have believed that the TTC should run all of these cars on one route or the other with a hope there would be proper headway management outbound, but I am not holding my breath. There is also the matter of the 20′ midday service (on paper) compared with much more frequent service when the 22A Coxwell bus operates. I am sure there is some wonderful excuse for this (probably a lack of passengers having driven them all away).
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Gord Adams said
Though I agree that times have changed and the Spit is probably more popular, I am not sure how the TTC could easily extend the 83 Jones bus further south on Leslie than its current turn off on Commissioners. There is no turning place at the foot of Leslie (at the Tommy Thompson Par- Spit – entrance) and if people can walk out on the Spit they can maybe walk the additional short distance from Commissioners.
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How can the TTC run a regular service and it NOT show in the service summary?
Steve: The trippers in question are King cars that become Spadina cars. With the return of streetcar service to Spadina in the November period, they’re back but had previously only shown up on the 510 summary. Now they are included on 504 as well.
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Gord Adams says:
This is why this service (31A) only lasted for ONE summer, the summer of 1980. After that they ran one bus from Queen and Jones or Queen and Leslie down into the park calling it first Aquatic Bus and then sometime in the late 80’s changed the name to Tommy Thompson Bus, running hourly on weekends only. I think this service died years ago(90’s?) also. The bus never stopped running by the Park gate, it continued for kms along the spit going quite far along.
Nobody, or very very few people rode these buses so what’s different now? Answer=Nothing!
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Steve:
I think this is simply math Steve and nothing to do with passengers. Actual service on Coxwell demands 10min service or so for roughly a 22min round trip time. The subway to Bingham route needs roughly 42min round trip time so for the buses to run to VP evenings and weekends you will need 4 buses to keep the same hdwy on Coxwell and everybody gets to enjoy the same 10-12 minute service.
It’s simply an evening/wknd bonus for people on Kingston Rd that the bus comes too frequently. I think the TTC just look at KR service as one giant turnaround loop for the Coxwell buses and once again do not really care about the folks on KR.
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Time-wise, most of us on Kingston Road prefer a shorter bus trip up north to the subway as opposed to a long, albeit direct streetcar ride downtown. The problem is that it is sometimes difficult to even squeeze in on the westbound train at Main or Woodbine in the morning and assuming you do, the trip is definitely more uncomfortable and crowded than on the 502/503 streetcars.
The Coxwell bus is actually very useful on evenings and weekends to access the subway, especially since in terms of headway the Woodbine South and Main buses are about the same (or worse), and are useful only if you live close enough to or can walk over to the intersecting street. On Saturday or Sunday afternoons, it is not uncommon for Coxwell buses to run with a light standing load on Kingston Road. I’m sure there is latent demand that would ride if service were more frequent.
There was even a plan back in 2009 or 2010 to include Kingston Road (and hence, the Coxwell bus) in the so-called Transit City Bus Plan, which would have seen service 10 minutes or better at all times on selected routes through the city, regardless of demand. I am assuming the plan got a quiet funeral, after the administration changed in 2010.
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I wonder if the poor transit service on Kingston Road results in the fact that during our house search a few years ago that was the only neighbourhood in the former city of Toronto where we could afford a single famity home.
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Darwin O’Connor says:
I am glad to learn that there are unexpected benefits to the TTC lousy service on Kingston Rd.
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Why is that AM/PM peak headway is greater than midday headway for the 510 streetcar?
Is it due to increased loading time?
Steve: Partly that, but also the peak loading standard considers a car “full” when it has more people on it. The design capacity of the off-peak service can actually be lower than the peak service when this is factored in. Spadina is an unusual route to have such strong midday demand.
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Recently, on November 18th, some streetcar service has returned on Spadina Avenue, between Spadina subway station and the King Street loop at Spadina Avenue and King Street West. However, shuttle buses continue to serve the stretch of Spadina Avenue between King Street and the Queens Quay & Spadina loop, which is a few blocks west of Harbourfront Centre. People planning to visit Harbourfront Centre will need to make two transfers – on shuttle buses serving Spadina Avenue between King Street and Queens Quay, and those (shuttle buses) on the 509 Harbourfront route, running along Queens Quay West.
When service on the 510 Spadina streetcar between Spadina station and Union station via Queens Quay West fully resumes in late spring of 2013, it will be just in time for the busy tourist season. Also, streetcars will return to the 509 Harbourfront route at about the same time. Visitors to Toronto from out of town and from abroad hopefully shouldn’t be inconvenienced (with extra transfers from streetcar to shuttle buses and vice-versa) if and when they plan to visit Harbourfront Centre and/or the Toronto Islands. They should be able to go straight down there on one (510 Spadina) streetcar and back on another.
Steve: Yes and no. Plans for 2013 include the reconstruction of Queen’s Quay Loop and of the intersection at King and Spadina. There will be a period where shuttle buses will return, although I am not sure of the timing or route configurations. Much depends on the sequence of events. Obviously, while work is underway at King, the 509 car can operate east-west on Queen’s Quay, but there can be no 510 Spadina streetcar service south of Queen. The 510 will probably be shut down for two schedule periods (late June to Labour Day weekend), and primary access to Queen’s Quay will be via the 509 Harbourfront car during high season.
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Getting down to Harbourfront Centre (and also the Island Ferry Docks) in the summer of 2013:
Given the ‘precarious’ nature of streetcar service on Spadina Avenue in the present and near future (June through September 0f 2013), I shall travel the same way next summer as I did this past one – that is riding streetcars on the “511 Bathurst” route (which the tracks are in good shape) down to Queens Quay West and then connecting to the “509 Harbourfront” streetcar, getting off at Lower Simcoe Street. In the mean time, I continue to make use of the shuttle buses currently running on the “509 Harbourfront” route.
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