Updated September 21, 2014 at 11:20am: Details of subway operational changes have been added to the article, and the summary table showing all schedule changes is now included.
Original article from August 27, 2014:
The TTC has just issued its memo describing service changes effective on Thanksgiving weekend. A few changes caught my eye and are worth talking about before I publish the complete route-by-route details.
The Crisis in Bus Fleet Capacity
The shortage of buses on the TTC network is now severe enough that several routes will revert to their summer schedules to save vehicles:
Route AM Peak PM Peak
Before After Before After
6 Bay 3'15" 4'
20 Cliffside 11' 13'15" 11'40" 14'
42 Cummer 5' 5'38" 5'45" 7'
125 Drewry 6'30" 7'30"
122 Graydon Hall 10' 12' 13' 16'
37 Islington 4'30" 5'15" 5'20" 6'
110 Islington South 5' 6' 5' 6'
41 Keele 4'47" 6' 4'51" 6'06"
59 Maple Leaf 11' 12' 12' 14'
16 McCowan 8' 9' 7'30" 9'30"
57 Midland 6' 7'15" 7'30" 8'20"
70 O'Connor 7' 8'30" 7'30" 8'30"
79 Scarlett Road 4'15" 4'30"
112 West Mall 5' 5'38" 5'45" 7'
91 Woodbine 6'55" 7'22"
95 York Mills 2'31" 2'51" 3'11" 3'34"
Some planned service improvements remain on hold because there are no buses with which to operate them.
Subway Schedule Changes
Both the Yonge-University-Spadina and Bloor-Danforth subways will see changes in their scheduled running times to better match actual conditions, and the implementation of step-back crewing at terminals to aid with quick turnarounds during peak periods.
Updated: Trains that are going out of service at the end of peak periods can produce queues and lockouts at terminals during the transition from peak to off-peak headways. These trains will now run out of service in a different manner:
- 1 Yonge-University trains that leave service from Finch Station southbound to Davisville Yard (AM peak): These trains will now go out of service northbound at Lawrence, dead-head north to the pocket track at York Mills, and then dead-head south to Davisville.
- 1 Yonge-University trains that leave service southbound from Downsview Station to Wilson Yard (AM and PM peaks): These trains will now go out of service northbound at Wilson.
- 2 Bloor-Danforth trains that leave service westbound from Kennedy Station to Greenwood Yard AM peak): These trains will now go out of service eastbound at Donlands.
Step-back crewing will be implemented at terminals on the YUS and BD subways so that crews are ready to take trains out as soon as they arrive. Running times are increased on both routes to better reflect actual operating conditions.
[End of update.]
St. Clair Transit Signal Priority
The signal priority on St. Clair is not working in so many locations that the TTC must adjust schedules to provide more running time for the streetcars. Up to 8 minutes of additional round-trip time will be added to the schedules, and headways will be widened to accommodate this.
This is a perfect example of how capital spending — provision of a transit right-of-way — can be sabotaged by operational decisions, in this case by a separate agency — City Transportation Services — regarding the priority of keeping TSP working.
Spadina/Harbourfront Streetcar Service
Streetcars will return to 509 Harbourfront, and there will be some improvements to service relative to the pre-construction schedules to handle increased demand.
The 510 Spadina route will resume operation to Union Station, and its short-turn at King will be reinstated (during September, all service is scheduled to run to Queens Quay).
Whether the signal priority for Spadina and Harbourfront cars actually works when they return remains to be seen.
Steve Munro 
Hmm, very sutble. “with changes”, “adjusted to account for changes in ridership”. The running time change, seems to be a slight adjustment to the running time vs terminal time, but no total time change.
On one hand it’s nice to see a bit more granularity and analyses. On the other, it’s a well-used bus on the weekend, and hard to imagine how it wasn’t meeting the loading standards.
Looking at the total PM peak buses … some of the cuts there seem to go above and beyond the bus shortage issue.
It’s almost as if there is some across-the-board service cuts going on to save some $.
Steve: Most if not all of the cuts are intended to allow each garage to have a few more spare buses on hand. It is claimed that this will lower service interruptions causes either by unavailable buses, or by buses going out that really should have stayed in for repairs. Whether the TTC will ever produce stats to establish that this actually improves things remains to be seen. An obvious question is whether the reliability varies by type of bus and whether a different spare ratio is needed for each part of the fleet.
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Did you forget to mention with Arrow Road’s hoist problems and the retirement of the older Orion V buses, Steve, TTC would consider getting second hand or lease a couple of buses to cope with this shortage situation.
Steve: This is the sort of thing I meant when talking about specific problems of individual groups of buses — it’s not good enough to just say “we need more spares”, but to explain the specifics of problems and whether we need to plan around them. In effect, it’s a question of demographics. If there is one or two groups of buses that are less reliable for some reason, then we need to deal with them (or be stuck with their effect on overall reliability until they are replaced).
Is the proposed move to a shorter life-cycle (18 to 12 years) for buses actually necessary as a permanent change, or is the underlying problem that we have a bunch of lemons relative to that 18-year goal? Has the city’s insistence on staying with 18 years (because of the effect on capital spending) put us in a situation where we have, overall, a less reliable fleet with the effects that has on spare ratios and service levels? Does overall fleet reliability improve by getting rid of the last of the old junk, and what will this do for service availability?
These are the sorts of questions that should be addressed by a fleet plan, indeed by a business plan for bus operations.
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I wasn’t the only person who waited quite a while Wednesday afternoon for a 96E bus at Wilson station. There were at least three runs, and possibly four, that simply didn’t exist. Well, and other Wilson branches were a mess as well.
I wonder if buses are pulled off 96E to make up for shortages somewhere else? Like 508 streetcars going missing, this is a really bad idea. Both 96E and 508 are infrequent, so pulling a run or two means basically no service. At which point riders stop expecting them to show up, ridership declines, and so on.
As Finch East shows, the opposite is also true: run lots of buses, you get lots of riders. We know which way the TTC should go, but which way will the TTC actually go?
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It should be mandatory to make small subway shutdowns every weekend. September 30 subway chaos on Line 2 is unacceptable.
Steve: Very well to say, but there are instances that simply cannot be anticipated. September 30 was one of them. The larger question is whether the TTC managed the shuttle service, crowd control and general information flow as well as possible. Some reports suggest that at least early in the process, information was not always accurate.
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Are you really saying that you want the subway shut down EVERY weekend or ONLY on weekends. The TTC tries to do the latter when it needs extended time for major construction projects such as crossover replacement, Union Station south platform, signal system upgrades etc. When the line is unsafe to use because of flooding or a cave in would you want the TTC to continue to run the subway regardless of safety? Please think your arguments out.
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I just noticed from looking at this TTC report that the running time for St. Clair is now longer than it was in 2005 before construction on the ROW started.
I wonder if TTC will be updating this table again. They did update it after some minor service changes previously from a version in 2012.
Steve: The TTC’s inability to run service on a route like St. Clair, and their standard fix of just adding running time, well, let’s say that it’s more than a little frustrating. They are about to unleash an army of supervisors onto the route, but whether this will actually have any effect remains to be seen. Meanwhile, we can watch the service in real time on NextBus and other similar apps.
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I am saying every weekend. No I am not saying that if line is unsafe, TTC should continue to operate. I am saying more weekend shutdowns to repair lines can minimize hazards.
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The TTC does a lot of weekend and late evening shutdown to perform maintenance but the issue at Dundas West was caused by Metrolinx. According to a friend who works for the TTC, Metrolinx was driving an I beam into the ground. It stopped moving so they though it must have hit a rock so they hit it harder instead of checking what the obstruction was. This pierced the tunnel lining.
The TTC told Metrolinx to cease work. Metrolinx tried to fix the problem by pouring concrete on top of the tunnel lining but there was excess moisture and it did not make a tight seal but allowed channels to form that allowed water to flow directly into the tunnel carrying silt in with it.
In order to effect repair the TTC had to remove some of the tunnel liners but these had asbestos on them which had to be removed by hazardous material qualified teams. All of this took time. Also signal and other cabling had to be removed and then replaced.
There are a lot of activities that go on in Toronto on the weekends and excessive shutdowns would hurt them and the economy.
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As noted earlier, this a fine reinforcement of “call before you dig”
Was someone from the TTC on site and monitoring the digging, given that it was so close to the TTC’s subway tunnel?
Will Metrolinx’ contractor or Metrolinx be accountable for the repair costs and the fallout from the delays?
Cheers, Moaz
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Knowing the TTC’s legal department, Both Metrolinx and their contractors will be sued for any and all costs associated with the disaster.
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Steve, I just noticed this week on the 512 route that there are TTC personnel all along the route, from Yonge to Keele. Do you know why?
Steve: It was claimed that the route suffered from poor transit priority signals and needed more running time. I find this a tad hard to believe looking at September’s tracking data (an article is coming soon). There are new, even more padded schedules in place now, plus lots of supervision in an attempt to better regulate service.
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