The schedule changes for May 10 will bring the first wave of improvements from the recently adopted City of Toronto budget and increased transit subsidy.
- Many routes will gain service to begin implementation of the “Ten Minute Network” on core routes across the system. This stage mainly affects weekend service. Weekday changes to some of these routes will follow with the June schedules.
- 192 Airport Rocket
- 506 Carlton
- 25 Don Mills
- 36 Finch West (to Humberwood)
- 191 Highway 27 Rocket
- 504 King
- 44 Kipling South
- 47 Lansdowne (Queen to St. Clair)
- 129 McCowan North (to Steeles)
- 116 Morningside (to Finch)
- 63 Ossington (to St. Clair)
- 86 Scarborough (to Sheppard)
- 24 Victoria Park (to Steeles)
- The implementation of “All day, every day” service will begin.
- 108A Downsview to Jane via Grandravine on Sundays late evening.
- Expansion of express bus services will begin.
- 196 York U Rocket to Sheppard-Yonge Station on weekends daytime.
The Scarborough RT will now be officially known as “3 Scarborough”.
Branch name changes will continue the move to use of the “A” designation for the primary branch of routes:
- 6A Bay Dupont to Queens Quay & Sherbourne (formerly 6)
- 38A Highland Creek to Rouge Hill GO (formerly 38)
- 24A Victoria Park to Steeles (formerly 24)
- 165A Weston Road N to Steeles (formerly 165)
- 165C Weston Road N to Canada’s Wonderland (formerly 165A)
The 102D Markham Road contract service in York Region will be extended to Major Mackenzie Drive.
At the request of York Region Transit, the 102D (Warden Stn-Mount Joy GO Stn) service will be extended to Major Mackenzie Drive via Bur Oak Avenue and Mingay Avenue. Service will be removed on Castlemore Avenue, Anderson Avenue and Bur Oak Avenue, and from Mount Joy GO Station.
Retirement of the 7200-series Nova RTS buses at Arrow Road will continue through the spring. These vehicles have been used on 96 Wilson and 165 Weston Road North, but they will be confined to peak-hour runs if any remain in service for the May schedule period.
Reconstruction of the south ladder track at Russell Carhouse on Eastern Avenue will require significant operational changes. Some runs will be reassigned to Roncesvalles Carhouse, and the use of Exhibition Loop to store cars overnight will increase. Cars remaining at Russell Carhouse will be backed into the yard from the north entrance.
Various seasonal changes reflecting the decline in school-related travel and the increase in demand for recreational trips will be implemented. However, due to the timing of the Pan Am Games and the Indy car race, the seasonal expansion of 29 Dufferin service to the Princes’ Gates will not occur (weekday midday and evening, Saturday late evening, Sunday/Holiday evening).
The split operation of 72 Pape and 172 Cherry was planned to end with the May schedules. However, construction on Front Street at Union Station continues and a date for resumption of the unified route has not been settled. The TTC advises that, except for Pan Am Games, no other changes are planned until at least September.
With the completion of construction at College & Spadina and at Spadina Station, streetcars will return to 510 Spadina. Other changes this triggers include a reduction of service on 509 Harbourfront and resumption of buses for peak extras on 504 King. Two runs on 509 Harbourfront will be scheduled and crewed for LFLRV operation in anticipation of vehicle availability.
Details of individual route changes are in the spreadsheet linked below.
Steve Munro 
Steve – How will the return of Streetcars to Spadina, affect the balance of the systems bus supply for peak service. Also if they actually deliver the 30 additional Streetcars this year, will that be enough to keep the buses off King?
Steve: It’s a combination of two factors. First is the number of new cars on the property, and second is the condition of the old cars that remain in service. You have probably noticed that the 502/503 are not regularly operating with buses any more, for example. There will not be enough of the new cars to completely replace the CLRVs on King, but we should have reached the point of running all streetcar service by the end of the year if delivery rates can be believed.
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It is certainly good news that the very poorly coordinated (actually totally uncoordinated) split of 72 and 172 is going to end at some point BUT I am alarmed that this is seen as being connected to the reopening of Front Street as this leads me to think it will return to its old routing. The current routing of the 172 part of the route brings the bus to both St Andrew and King stations and this has led to a major increase in ridership. In the past it turned back east from Wellington to Bay to Front where it managed to avoid all subway stations. As it was not (and presumably will not be) a very frequent bus nobody who could take it or the 504 would bother to wait for it at Bay and Front.
Many in the neighbourhood have asked the TTC to ensure it continues to serve, at least, King station. Do you know if it will do so?
Steve: I have no word on TTC thinking on the fate of these routes. The original split was due to congestion from downtown construction, and that’s why I cite it. In the detailed description of construction related route changes in the TTC service memo, there is the following:
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But who will pay for all this? The fare increase will actually result in loss of revenue for the TTC as more people drive (including me who just switched to driving as a result of the fare increase) and more people evade fares due to unfair increases in fare. An honest man I know who paid his fare all his life is now trying to pay as little as possible. Another man I know has saved thousands of dollars in unaffordable fares and has only been ticketed once (which he readily paid) and says that it is much cheaper to just pay the tickets in the extremely unlikely event that one is caught. Both are good honest men but poor. What are the odds of getting caught when skipping fares and is it not cheaper/better to simply pay the ticket in the unlikely event that one is caught?
Steve: Actually fare revenue and ridership continue to grow. Who will pay for “all of this”? The additional operating subsidy built into the City’s budget.
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Unifying the 172 and 72 route as I’ve mentioned in the past would once again bring havoc to the schedules.
I’m disappointed to see the new night services omitted from this update. Those would be the easiest to implement.
Steve: I think the changes are to be implemented in waves through the year. Weekday Ten Minute Network changes come in mid-June. Then there is a little pause for the Pan Am Games. More increases will come in the fall.
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“Ten Minute Network”
In what way is this different from FS? Also the name sounds like Montreal’s “Réseau 10 Minutes Max”.
Steve: La même chose. It differs from Frequent Service in that it applies to periods when routes today operate less often than every 10′ so that the core routes are never worse than this. FS means less than 10.
Branch redesignation. There has been sloppy implementation of this crossover on the 88. Outbound Wicksteed branch 88s have shown both 88A and B in the past few months. However the plain 88 seems to have disappeared.
Steve: Part of the problem is that the software for the signs has not been reloaded on all vehicles. This is one of many examples where the TTC has what might be a good idea, in theory, but fails in execution.
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Then why is TTC wasting money hiring fare enforcement officers. The last time I checked, they were charged with fraud for writing false tickets to homeless people to show that they were working when they were collecting the pay for hours not worked. Please check the link.
Why is the TTC wasting money on these fare enforcement officers when most people are good people and pay? And most of those who don’t pay are actually homeless and/or otherwise having difficulty making ends meet. I bet the amount in fines collected will be less than the wages, pensions, and other benefits to be paid to the hundreds of newly hired fare enforcement officers. Besides, people have NO legal obligation to identify themselves when these officers want to write them a ticket as people have the right to remain silent and the right to NOT talk to any law enforcement officer and this right is also enshrined in the charter. Simply carry no ID and refuse to answer their questions as is your constitutional right to do so.
Steve: If you were paying attention, you would know that (a) the issue you refer to was dealt with two years ago, (b) that the tickets they wrote had nothing to do with fare enforcement and (c) that the reason for hiring more fare inspectors is the shift to proof-of-payment.
As for the assumption that those who don’t pay are only the indigent, that’s a bogus claim. You are arguing that we should not enforce the need to pay fares because only the poor will scam the system.
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I suspect strongly that this would be a requirement for using the service, and a condition of boarding. Hence failing to cooperate might well constitute reasonable suspicion of fraud. If a case was lost on this I suspect a law would be along shortly to make riding transit with a POP system no different than driving in terms of the requirement to provide identification.
This is a classic case of why be a jerk and make running the system unreasonably difficult. I suspect that the courts would see this as well, and make the case that this is a reasonable requirement on the part of the operator. The fact that you are boarding a transit vehicle, with this as the system, would likely mean that you have implicitly agreed to the terms and conditions. Failing to honor them in this fashion would be odd, and likely actionable (any legal opinions?).
There is a reasonable public need in the case of POP, as the time lost now in boarding in many areas is far too large to force all riders to board through a single set of doors so the operator can check fare.
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Steve, any idea of how long until 4406 actually sees street service? There was also concerns expressed about the availability of cars beyond this (like it has not been an issue until now). Is there any update on when we will start seeing something that amounts to a flow, as opposed to an occasional tease?
Steve: By example, 4405 arrived in mid-February and was in service in early March. The burn-in testing takes about three weeks. I hope to get an update on fleet deliveries from the TTC soon.
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Re: Exercise Your Rights
There’s also the not so small fact that fare evasion officers act as a deterrent. Money is recouped in fares paid that would have otherwise been avoided if the real threat of paying a fine wasn’t a possibility. You can’t measure their worth merely by the fines they issue. In fact, the fewer citations they issue, the more effective they likely are.
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Steve: I thought that articulated buses were supposed to be carefully allocated to the routes where they could do the most good. I also thought that due to the narrow portion between Queen and Dundas, articulated buses were deemed not appropriate for Ossington. However, for the last two days there has been one on this route. Why does the TTC have so much trouble allocating the right vehicles to the right routes? (I remember that after the Purple Accessible stickers were put on the Ossington bus stops there were many days when a GM Diesel was assigned.)
Steve: Ossington is intended to become an artic route, but they are running behind in the rollout. It will be interesting seeing those buses snake their way through various parts, especially at the south end of the line.
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You seem to have an old reference from the few years the TTC Enforcement weren’t Special Constables. Specifically, if you do not have a fare, the TTC Enforcement Unit has the powers to arrest without warrant any person believed to be trespassing. You have no legal obligation to identify yourself, but equally the Officer has no legal obligation not to arrest you, give you a criminal record, and make you pay for the costs of prosecution.
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The one they provided to the Globe last month seemed pretty comprehensive regarding the post-4406 deliveries.
Steve: That article seemed very optimistic. I want to check on the status before getting too excited.
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According to the Express Bus Route Network – Study Plan, even should the board accept the “Study Plan”, there are two other plans to happen before we see much in improvement for Express Buses.
a. Phase 1 – Service Plan in October 2015
b. Phase 2 – Communications Plan in early 2016.
In the meantime, likely there could be some express buses implemented before 2016.
Steve: The Sheppard extension of the York U Express is off-peak only when there are spare vehicles. Any new peak services must wait for the fleet to grow, or for vehicles to be reallocated.
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FINAL VERSION – POST THIS ONE ONLY
Zach H., “There’s also the not so small fact that fare evasion officers act as a deterrent.”
They are not much of a deterrent when they have no room to move about on jampacked vehicles (one of the plus sides of overcrowding). And if you see a wannabe cop at your stop, then simply get on or off at the next stop and I state this not as a way to avoid paying fares but to avoid being treated like a criminal even when you have done nothing wrong. The charter makes stops without reasonable grounds illegal and so a fare enforcement officer cannot legally stop you without reasonable cause to believe that you have not paid your fare. The charter also makes searches without reasonable grounds illegal and so a fare enforcement officer cannot legally go through your belongings looking for an ID unless the officer has reasonable grounds to believe that you have committed a crime and also warrantless searches in non-emergency situations are also illegal in our democracy (not paying fare is not an emergency because ask the TTC to try calling 911 for fare evasion and see what they are told by 911 operators). And if the TTC still chooses to violate your rights, you can choose to not carry any ID. You have the right to remain silent and so you don’t have to answer their questions. And even without the right to remain silent, you don’t have to talk because you can say that your throat hurts (forcing you to talk in this situation would be considered torture and a human rights violation). This is not about fare evasion but about people’s rights being violated. And you can always use Canadian and Ontario governments’ guarantees of your right to receive service in French and if you don’t know French, then simply tell the officer in English that you do not understand English and would like to receive your services in French (the ticket too is required to be bilingual and so the officer writing it must be able to speak in French and English as requested). Or you can also have temporary hearing issues (perhaps a medical condition yet to be discovered by science). I am not saying that you will have temporary hearing issues at just the right time but it’s possible and there is no way to prove that you did not.
Steve:
From TTC Bylaw No. 1:
Lots of rights, but this does not mean that you can ride for free.
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When I was in France and Italy last year in several of the cities a swarm of fare inspectors would descend on a car at each door. No one could get off without showing their fare and they inspected EVERY person on the car before letting new passengers on whom they also inspected. The car then departed and the inspectors waited for the next car. It really didn’t take that long and some of the cars were crowded.
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I’ll be excited to see if the “10 Minute Network” shows up as a separate route map. This way TTC patrons will be able to see the different types of networks TTC has and the service offered rather than just focusing on mode or streetcar vs bus.
The 10 minute network, the rapid transit network, the express/Rocket network…different services meeting the different needs of different customers.
Of course line management and service reliability are a vital component of making each network effective.
Cheers, Moaz
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Your comment has been deleted. Don’t bother leaving any more.
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Actually, articulated buses handle narrow streets surprisingly well, witness all the narrow streets in Ottawa they operate on. One street, McEwen Dr. has a loop at the bottom end designed for buses. The 40 footers often have a hard time making the 180 turn without backing up a bit. Not the artics, and probably because the main section is shorter than 40 feet allowing for a tighter turn.
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With streetcar service to be suspended on 510 Spadina from March 29 to early May, I assume the LRVs will be assigned to 509 Harbourfront, correct? Will the five vehicles that will be available by then be sufficient to completely replace the CLRVs on the route and render the line 100% accessible?
Steve: Please look at my writeup of the March 29 schedule changes. Service will be increased on the 509 to compensate for the missing 510s to Union, and it will be a mix of CLRVS and Flexities. 4406 should join the route quite soon.
The CLRVs from Spadina will mainly be reassigned to King to replace the bus trippers that will be used on Spadina. The entire grand shuffle goes back to the current arrangement, more or less, in May.
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I was coming out of the Toronto Western Hospital at 2 am Monday March 16th, and was pleasantly surprised to see 4405 heading south on Bathurst St. at a leisurely pace. The signs said Not In Service, and there was a worker in reflective jacket as the sole passenger. I’m pretty sure it was 4405, not 4406. I was assuming that it was racking up mileage in order to complete its break-in period. But apparently not, it had already been put in service just prior to this.
My question (observation) is, if 4405 arrived in February, and only one more car 4406 since then, isn’t Bombardier increasingly falling behind in production?
It seems to me that since horses can breed faster than Bombardier can build streetcars, perhaps we consider a fleet of horse-drawn streetcars plying the downtown core? (I’m half-serious).
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A while ago TTC had said that expected 4405 to be in service by end of February and 4406 for end of March, so they seem to have (barely) achieved that. 4407 is apparently running on the test track in Thunder Bay, so hopefully it will be in service by end of April. And then they are supposed to start showing up every 2 weeks … that will be the test if 4408 arrives about 2 weeks after 4407.
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Nfitz said:”And then they are supposed to start showing up every 2 weeks … that will be the test if 4408 arrives about 2 weeks after 4407.”
I would have to say that this is both good news, and a little bit disappointing, as this would mean that we would only receive an additional 17, and would mean we were still well behind at the end of the year. I would hope that we can see this pared down to every 10 of better before year end. However getting far enough along that there is more capacity being added than retired is better than it has been.
Do you think somebody could talk city council into adding a couple of hundred buses in order to at least see the possibility of service improvements elsewhere. I hate to say it, but there is nothing to get you hot and bothered for a subway, like standing outside, waiting on a bus that takes 20 or more minutes to get there, especially when it is supposed to run every 10 minutes. I cannot help but wonder if working harder to fix the basic bus service, might just take a little heat out of the drive for subway everywhere, and have people believe that BRT might be a solution to more problems (BRT will not be seen to really help if there are no buses to run basic service). It is amazing to watch a process where getting a subway extension approved is easier than getting a couple of hundred buses added to the fleet to provide reliable basic service, especially when the argument against adding buses is cost. Especially when you cannot get a subway required for capacity reasons.
And of course to add insult to injury if you have waited 20 minutes for a bus that should have been on a 10 minute headway, to have it arrive already overloaded.
I have to say watching from the outside, the process in Toronto really does seem broken.
Steve: The problem with just ordering more buses is that we have no place to put them, and no capital borrowing headroom for new spending. It’s a real mess, another example of how shortsighted planning and constraints on action have limited the TTC’s options. Byford didn’t start advocating for more service until it was politically acceptable, and was singing from the “efficiency, efficiency, we can get by with efficiency” songbook while the Ford crew were still in control.
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Of course the funny thing is that there is borrowing headroom for a subway, but not for a garage and yard. If we assume that we are adding a goodly number of these buses in areas like Scarborough, well, could we not spend garage money faster? Is there not an industrial site somewhere that could be converted, yes not perfect, but for instance there is 55,000 square feet in a building at Finch and Markham with 22 foot inside height or 117,000 square feet McNichol east of Markham road with 32 foot clear (with another 36k is available in that building), could we not lease this for a couple of years in the short term? Room for a few buses, and a spot to put in a time clock, lockers, lunch room etc. This is not designed for purpose space, but would it not provide some short and medium term flexibility? Is it not time to try and be creative?
Steve: Council used up all of its borrowing headroom for the Scarborough Subway, acceleration of the Gardiner Expressway project and the creative accounting to offset cuts in provincial subsidies for social programs.
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Yes, or course, the city is committed to spending billions, but does not yet know what it is building, and has yet to sign the deal (or has it finally gotten around to that portion?). To me this is the real issue, the city is ready to commit large sums without understanding what it is proposing, but not prepared to really approach the issues at hand that can be readily identified. Is it not time to actually solve the issues causing the irritation- lack of real service, not mollify it with a multi-billion dollar capital expenditure? Is this not naked politics over practical solutions?
Steve: Of course it is naked politics, with a strong dose of John Tory’s simplistic view of city financing.
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@Steve – well Steve it would be nice if they would at least dress the politics with a better and more believable pretense of serving the riders, residents and taxpayers, with considered decisions and leadership, and not be so blatant in their pandering.
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(Side note: I wrote this before reading Steve muting the issue, but I’ll post it anyway in case he’s still reading here.)
@Exercise your rights:
You’ve been watching too much American television. The first clause of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms states:
TTC By-law No. 1 is such a law, deemed reasonable within a free and democratic society.
Furthermore, Canadians neither have Fourth Amendment rights (unreasonable searches and seizures), Fifth Amendment rights (self-incrimination) or Miranda rights (the right to remain silent).
Under the Charter, regarding arrest and detention, we have the rights:
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The 191 express does not meet the ten minute service. In the morning at Kipling there is one that starts about 6:10am and then there is nothing until 6:30-6:35am. That is a 20-25 minute gap and leave no room for people heading towards the Humber college area for work at 7am. Hope is improves soon and keeps to that ten minute gap properly.
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