Updated June 13, 2013:
Contrary to the originally announced plans, the 31 Greenwood bus will not divert to Donlands Station during reconstruction of the bus loop at its home station. Instead, the buses will loop via Greenwood, Strathmore, Linsmore and Danforth stopping outside of the station.
Major service changes for June 23, 2013 include:
- Service removal or rerouting for several York Region contract operations by the TTC. These were proposed as part of YRT’s 2013 Service Plan. (Specific changes for Vaughan and for Markham.)
- Seasonal changes to many routes. The summer cutbacks are generally in line with 2012 although in a few cases routes or periods that had cuts last year are not affected in 2013.
- Construction changes including:
- Revised service on many routes in the Beach and in southwestern Scarborough caused by the reconstruction of Kingston Road. Streetcar service will turn back at Woodbine Loop, and bus service will be provided eastbound only from Queen to Victoria Park.
Rerouting of 31 Greenwood to Donlands Station for construction at Greenwood.
The service budget for September 2013 will be about 3.4% higher than the budget for the corresponding period in 2012, and 1% higher than for March 2013.
Steve Munro 
I see that the TTC are as usual announcing summer service to Cherry Beach – until the City and the Port Authority reopen the Cherry Street bridge this will be impossible.
Steve: According to the TPA notice, the bridge is closed until June this year. Planned resumption of 72B service in May was not implemented, and I have sent a note to the TTC asking what their plans are for June.
Updated: The TTC has confirmed that the schedules including the Cherry Beach trips are in place, and once the bridge opens, service will be extended south to Cherry Beach Loop.
LikeLike
Finally we see weekend service for the 108A. Do you know why its just now that the 108A will operate 7 days a week and why it hasn’t been implemented by now? Was it due to the low loads because the 108 sure is busy on Saturdays.
Steve: Commissioner Augimeri has been after full service on the 108A for some time, and the only option staff gave her was to split the existing service between the two branches with no additional service overall.
LikeLike
So in addition to the 83, 56, 25, and 81 sharing the 3 bus bays at Donlands, we will have the 31 sharing the station for a few weekdays at the end of the Pape construction period too? This will be good.
LikeLike
Steve I overheard 2 Birchmount operators at woodbine station talking about the loss of RTE 509 Harbourfront for the upcoming board due to an equipment shortage. Is this in fact the case, and what will the commission do the rectify this problem once summer comes and A/C is required on heat alert days?
Steve: All buses have A/C. The question is whether it works, and whether a non-AC bus will be pressed into service.
According to the June service memo, the TTC has 1,420 buses scheduled for the AM peak relative to an available fleet of 1,482. This is a very small spare factor of about 4%. Part of this is due to the large number of concurrent construction projects which consume 53 peak buses, but a goodly chunk is thanks to the ill-conceived idea of cutting one year’s worth of bus orders out of the capital budget two years ago (thank you Rob Ford and Karen Stintz). Riding didn’t stop growing just because Council didn’t want to spend money on the TTC.
A related issue is that fleet and garage plans had originally assumed that LRT lines would start to operate in the next few years and transfer demand away from the bus system. On that basis, plans for a new garage were put on hold and, at most, some temporary capacity would be provided with a parking lot somewhere. We will not have any new rail services until late 2016 (Spadina subway), and the LRT lines are even further off. (Thank you Dalton McGuinty.) New buses are now on order (the artics) and will start to relieve the crisis later this year provided that the TTC does not simply replace existing fleet with them.
In the specific case of Birchmount, their 509 service is moving to Malvern, but is replaced by buses added on routes affected by the Kingston Road reconstruction project.
LikeLike
With the YRT now creating a new Elgin Mills route and turning back the Y-90 at Elgin Mills & Leslie… wouldn’t it be feasible for the TTC to swallow that line once again and just run it as the 25D replacing the Y-90B (which in turn had replaced it) and a new 25C running up to the upcoming new terminus of the Y-90?
In essence it just requires placing the extra amount of buses onto the 25 as it would just be a route extension. They could do this when the new artics arrive which hopefully will have PRESTO machines preinstalled on them and use it as an experiment for the double-fare portion rather than having the split route and requiring a transfer now as is.
Steve: The route changes and cutbacks in TTC operations are at YRT’s request. I suspect that they are trying to cut back on the amount of service the TTC provides. Any operations north of Steeles are contracted by York Region, and the TTC has nothing to do with other than running the service.
LikeLike
On what “theicon81” said about route reassignments, several insiders were told that Mt. Dennis is losing Malton as Dufferin will be serviced by the new Nova Artics. The problem is the #9400-series Orions are still at Wilson, those buses will be displaced to other routes once Dufferin moves to Mt. Dennis.
Eglinton is contingent with the artics, Morningside/Don Mills will remain there or any routes are yet to be reassigned.
Good thing YRT isn’t cutting McCowan North yet.
LikeLike
With the bridge(s) on Dufferin, just north of Exhibition Place going out of service for a while, that means the 29 Dufferin will only be turning at the Dufferin Gate loop. Maybe while the 29 Dufferin is “short-turned”, why not extend the 47 Lansdowne bus south on Jameson Avenue, west on Lake Shore Blvd. W. and British Columbia Drive, into Exhibition Place using the former road route of the 29D Dufferin in the meantime. After the bridge(s) are back, then return the 47 Lansdowne bus to its previous routing (maybe or maybe not).
Steve: I don’t want to think how long it would take a Lansdowne bus to get into the CNE by that route given the congestion on Jameson and on Lake Shore. Considering how infrequently and unreliably the Dufferin service into the CNE runs, I don’t think it will be missed. The extra running time those buses will have might actually make them avoid short turns now and then.
LikeLike
I said it before mainly in jest but why not rebuild the bridges on Dufferin with street car tracks. It is only 2000 ft according to Google from Dufferin to the main Exhibition loop. The ability to run street cars from Dufferin to Union if only in the rush hour would provide some benefit to the clogged conditions on King Street. I thought building the track on Queens Quay from Spadina to Bathurst was dumber than dirt but look at the ridership now. As Jonathan Swift would say, “A modest proposal.”
Steve: One version of the Waterfront West LRT does exactly that — connect the Dufferin trackage to Exhibition Loop and thence to Union Station.
LikeLike
Steve: The route changes and cutbacks in TTC operations are at YRT’s request. I suspect that they are trying to cut back on the amount of service the TTC provides. Any operations north of Steeles are contracted by York Region, and the TTC has nothing to do with other than running the service.
To your (and others’) knowledge, has the TTC ever in its history contracted service out to other operators or bus/rail companies?
Cheers, Moaz
Steve: York Township Railways was operated by the TTC — the Rogers, Oakwood and Weston lines. For a time, buses to Port Credit and Woodbridge were operated by the TTC although I’m not sure they got any payment for them. There was also, of course, the North Yonge bus to Richmond Hill and the radial that preceded it. I don’t think this route was subsidised. The TTC used to run a Keele night bus to the CN yards in Maple, but it was not advertised in the public schedule as it was for CN employees only. People along Keele who knew about it used the route back in the days before the night network expanded into the suburbs.
LikeLike
Certainly a good idea. If TTC is committed to maintaining streetcar tracks on the southern section of Dufferin between Queen and the Dufferin Gate, then why not improve the network connectivity and link them to the Exhibition line?
Such connection can be used for non-revenue movements, for a rush-hour branch into downtown, or as a bypass when another section of tracks is closed.
It will be easier and cheaper to build a bridge with tracks now, rather than trying to fit them in at a later date.
LikeLike
Robert and Michael have both talked but connecting Dufferin Street and Exhibition Loop through the CNE grounds. This is nice, but I see one ‘problem’ – streetcars would have to cross the walking path to and from the GO station, and GO’s ticket booth would have to be relocated.
I doubt that GO is just going to go along. Plus, the westbound and eastbound tracks are separated at that point (due to the curve used to turn the streetcars around), and will have to come back together. Again, this would occur right in front of the south platform, and I think the tunnel to the north platform might be in the way.
With the separation of the tracks and the walking path to the platforms right there, it will not be easy to stop people coming and going, plus this is the entrance for the CNE grounds during the CNE and the line ups would get in the way. The whole area would have to be redesign and I think it is not as simply as putting in the tracks.
Steve: This proposal has been around for some time within the TTC and is one of the suggested routes for the Waterfront West LRT. The GO crossing will be an issue, but the option should be considered while the new Dufferin bridge is under design. We won’t get another chance if the bridge is built without structural support for streetcars.
LikeLike
Someone at the TTC finally realized that stuffing in another half dozen buses per hour at Donlands wasn’t such a great idea. Maybe the culture really is changing!
LikeLike
For the three weeks that the CNE is on there would be a problem with pedestrian flow but crossing gates for pedestrians could probably handle it. If there is not a major change in routing to serve other parts of the Ex grounds such as a revamped Ontario Place then I would build a new set of through westbound tracks beside the Eastbound tracks. This would keep the loading platforms together and eliminate the curve through the station area.
While there is no current plan for this line it would be wise to put the tracks in while the bridge is being rebuilt instead of tearing it up and replacing it in 10 or so years.
LikeLike