On March 30, 2014, the TTC will make changes to many routes. In the detailed listing linked below, these are broken into four groups for miscellaneous service changes, new construction projects, route restructurings, and seasonal changes.
Construction Projects
The 29 Dufferin and 329 Dufferin Night routes will divert southbound via College, Lansdowne and Queen around water main work on Dufferin. The interlined operation with 316 Ossington will be discontinued until late 2014 when this diversion is scheduled to end.
Reconstruction of the Gardiner Expressway will split the 501 Queen, 301 Queen Night, and 508 Lake Shore routes at Humber Loop. The schedule will be the same one used in fall 2013 during construction on Lake Shore. This is planned to last only for one schedule period (to mid May).
The intersection of King & Sumach will be rebuilt to add special work leading to new tracks on Cherry Street. Streetcar service here is already diverting around the closed bridge east of River and so the construction has no effect on service.
Articulated Buses
7 Bathurst will be scheduled to use 18m articulated buses on weekdays with resulting headway widenings. The effect is greatest during peak periods when headways widen to match the higher capacity of the vehicles. The changes by time period are:
- AM Peak: 6’15” to 9’10”
- Midday: 8’00” to 9’30”
- PM Peak: 5’30” to 7’45”
- Early Evening: 9’00” to 10’00”
- Late Evening: 12’40” to 12’30”
This route is already notorious for erratic service which will likely become even worse with fewer buses. I plan to compare vehicle tracking data for this route for the “before” and “after” operations in a future article.
Other Changes
Several routes have new and/or adjusted last trip times to meet last subway trains including an allowance for the time it takes riders to get from the subway platform to the bus.
322 Coxwell and 324 Victoria Park Night Buses will operate directly through Bingham Loop. Eastbound 322 Coxwell buses will enter the loop at the west end via Bingham and exit directly onto Victoria Park as 324s. Southbound 324 Victoria Park buses will enter the loop on the streetcar platform from Victoria Park and exit via Bingham to Kingston Road as 322s.
Service on 36 Finch West will be reorganized by removal of the scheduled short turns at Kipling (36A) and Jane (36C), and increase of service on the renamed 36 Humberwood (formerly 36B).
The express service on 35 Jane will be split off as 195 Jane Rocket and it will operate independently of the schedule for the local service. Because the 195 will run during periods that the 35E does not today, the headways at local stops will widen considerably during many periods.
The 52 Lawrence West and 58 Malton routes will be combined as route 52, and the 58 Malton route number and name will be discontinued. More service will run east between Lawrence West and Lawrence Stations as a result. Service on the 52C Culford branch of Lawrence West will be provided at all times by 59 Maple Leaf. Service in the 52G branch to Martin Grove will continue to run via The Westway over the existing Lawrence 52 route.
The 79 Scarlett Road bus will now have split operation via St. Clair during midday service all days, and during the early evening on weekdays. This extends a practice already used during the peak period.
Steve Munro 