The summer schedules will be unusual for the TTC this year because of the Pan Am Games. There will be three periods running from:
- June 21 to July 10 (pre-games)
- July 11 to July 26 (Pan Am Games)
- July 27 to September 5 (Para-Pan Games and CNE)
To condense the information about schedule and service changes, I have adopted a different format from the usual tables to show (a) all of the time periods for affected routes and (b) the periods where there is actually a change from the “standard” summer service (the pre-games period). Where there is a change, it is highlighted in red.
For this type of event, the day-to-day requirements on each route are hard to predict, and so the TTC has scheduled a much larger than usual pool of standby or “run as directed” vehicles that will be available throughout the network.
Schedule changes implemented on June 21, 2015 have already been detailed in a separate post. Pre-games service levels are shown for reference in the table linked below only for routes that are affected by the Games schedule changes.
Updated June 21:
Pan Am routes will operate on the following days:
- 194 Aquatics Rocket: July 9-26 and August 8-14
- 193 Exhibition Rocket: July 11-26
- 60F Steeles Express (added service): July 11-25
- 95E York Mills Express (added service): July 11-25
- 406 Venue Shuttle Downtown: July 13-25 and August 8-15
- 408 Venue Shuttle East: August 8-14
Additional service beyond the scheduled level will operate for the Para-Pan Games on the several routes serving Para-Pan venues:
- 38 Highland Creek
- 195 Jane Rocket
- 60 Steeles West
- 198 UTSC Rocket
- 95 York Mills
- 196 York U Rocket
From Friday, July 10 to Sunday, July 26, late night repair work on the Yonge subway tunnel north of Eglinton will be suspended, and service will run until 2:00 am on all days.
Weekday service on 7 Bathurst Bus will revert to regular buses on the schedule used in July 2013. This will free up articulated buses for Pan Am routes.
Low floor streetcars will operate on 509 Harbourfront, 510 Spadina and 511 Bathurst during the games period. All service on Queens Quay will be provided by Harbourfront cars, and the Spadina route will terminate at Queens Quay Loop.
Buses will replace streetcars on 502 Downtowner from July 13 to 24 to free up vehicles for other routes. The 503 Kingston Road Tripper will continue to operate with streetcars. On Friday, July 10, Wellington Street will be closed after 4:00pm as part of the opening ceremonies. 503 Kingston Road Tripper cars will operate to Charlotte Loop.
Because the CNE grounds will be closed, all 29 Dufferin buses will loop at Dufferin Loop (CNE western entrance). Additional shuttle service will operate between Dufferin Station and Dufferin Loop. The 329 Dufferin Night Bus will also turn back from Dufferin Loop rather than operating to the Princes’ Gates. This change remains in effect until September 6 due to the CNE.
Route 116 Morningside will divert southbound via Ellesmere and Morningside, bypassing Military Trail, to avoid congestion at the Aquatics Centre during the games.
Route 198 UTSC Rocket will terminate at the Aquatics Centre rather than the usual UTSC loop during the games.
Route 106 York University will divert westbound in the campus via The Pond Road, York U Busway and York Boulevard to The Common because Ian MacDonald Boulevard is closed. This change began on June 15 and is scheduled to continue until September 6. Route 196 York U Rocket will operate with articulated buses and with additional service.
From July 11 to August 8, 172 Cherry will loop downtown to City Hall via York, Queen and Bay to King.
Route 94 Wellesley will divert via Bloor between Queen’s Park and Spadina as Hoskin Avenue is closed as a games venue. This diversion is scheduled until September 6.
Route 6 Bay will divert via Dundas, Yonge and Queen on the afternoon of Saturday, August 15 for the Para-Pan closing ceremonies at City Hall.
On Saturdays July 18 and 25, and on August 8, Parkside Drive will be closed for marathon and cycling races. The following routes are affected:
- 506 Carlton will divert to Dundas West Station
- 80 Queensway will divert via Bloor, Dundas, Roncesvalles and The Queensway
The base schedule for Sunday July 26 will be a Holiday schedule. Because this is the last day of the games, some Pan Am services will not operate: express services on Steeles West (60F) and York Mills (95E), the 194 Aquatics Rocket, and the 406 Downtown Venue Shuttle.
Route Changes Effective July 27:
- 17A Birchmount peak period service will be extended from 14th Avenue to Highway 7, and headways north of Steeles will widen. This is a York Region request.
- 127 Davenport will be extended south to loop via Spadina Crescent to accommodate construction at Spadina Station. Buses will connect with the subway at on-street stops. This project is expected to be completed by the end of November.
- 47 Lansdowne will be adjusted to allow for delays due to road construction on Caledonia between Rogers Road and Eglinton. A northbound diversion is planned, but the route has not been announced.
- Due to paving and reconstruction at Eglinton Station, routes serving this location will be diverted as the work progresses to serve the south entrance of the station on Yonge Street. Service relief buses will be scheduled at Eglinton Station. The exact details of dates and the diversion routes are TBA.
- Due to paving and reconstruction of the bus roadway at St. Clair Station, routes 74 Mt. Pleasant and 88 South Leaside will loop on street via Avoca, Pleasant Blvd., Yonge and St. Clair. 97 Yonge midday service will use the streetcar loop.
- From August 1 to September 5, water main work on Broadview north of Danforth will require that streetcars be replaced by buses. 504 King cars will loop via Parliament, Dundas and Broadview to Queen. 505 Dundas cars will loop via Parliament, Gerrard and Broadview to Dundas. The schedules will not be changed. A replacement bus will operate on Broadview looping at the south end via Queen, Parliament, Dundas and River. This service was operated in the summer of 2014 when the construction work was originally scheduled, but not actually carried out.
Steve Munro 
I may be jumping the gun here, but regarding the 535, is this service to run from St. Clair West Stn south via Bathurst to (Exhibition? or other…)
Steve: The 535 route number is for spares used to fill gaps on 512 St. Clair. It has nothing to do with Bathurst Street.
Also, what construction is taking place at Spadina Station?
Steve: Pavement repairs to the bus loop, I believe. There is no convenient around-the-block on street loop, and so the route is temporarily extended south to Spadina Crescent.
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The TTC seem to have set up two new branches of the 172
172D City Hall to Carlaw
172C City Hall to Carlaw via Cherry Beach
Currently the “regular” 172 has only 2 branches:
172A CHERRY STREET To CARLAW
172B CHERRY STREET To CARLAW via CHERRY BEACH
Any idea of how the new branches will get to/from City Hall? (Up York to Queen?)
Steve: I actually shortened the name in my table. The full text which you can see in the Scheduled Service Summary is:
I asked Brad Ross (who says that the Service Memo for the Games period is coming out shortly), and he advises that the route will be:
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Here are my updated TTC service recommendations to help make transit better in Toronto:
129C McCowan North (Scarborough Centre Station to Bur Oak) in addition to 129A McCowan North should be implemented to improve service north of Steeles.
Once 102B Markham Road to McNicoll gets a 10 minute network, north of McNicoll should be replaced by a new split route named “136 Markham Road North” and would operate from Scarborough Centre Station to Major Mackenzie.
37B Islington, 41 Keele, 54 Lawrence East to Starspray, 60 Steeles West to Martin Grove, 68 Warden, 123 Shorncliffe, and 196 York University Rocket should also have 10 minute network implemented as well.
17A Birchmount should also be extended to 16th Avenue eventually.
Steve: The 17A is being extended to Highway 7 in late July. This, as with other changes you propose north of Steeles Avenue, is a York Region decision, not the TTC’s.
Cut 56 Leaside back to Eglinton and Brentcliffe at all times.
Restore full service on 5 Avenue Road, 9 Bellamy, 42 Cummer to Middlefield, 56 Leaside, 74 Mount Pleasant, 135 Gerrard, and 167 Pharmacy North.
Steve: Are you aware that the TTC approved restoration of these services at its May board meeting?
Extend 130 Middlefield to Raymerville and operate via Middlefield, Highglen, and McCowan to better serve Middlefield Collegiate Institute.
Operate all 80 Queensway buses to Keele station.
Operate all 11 Bayview buses to Steeles.
Operate 95 York Mills buses both way via Scarborough Centre station to better serve other TTC routes as well as Line 3 Scarborough.
Operate 199 Finch Rocket service to all day service.
Implement all day express service on Dufferin street from Wilson Station to Exhibition and Don Mills road from Steeles Avenue to Pape Station.
Steve: There is a study of express bus routes already underway.
Extend 16 McCowan southwest to Coxwell station replacing the 70C O Connor branch.
Provide service along Dorcot and Birmorton as route 128 Birmorton and operate out from Lawrence East station to Birmorton & Orton Park.
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Just an update here for you folks: some of the new streetcars are running on Bathurst even though no new ones have been delivered presumably because of Pan Am Games. I think that it would be wiser to shift all of the new streetcars (since there are only so few) to Bathurst whenever there is a Pan Am or Parapan Am event at Exhibition and also during the The Ex. Steve, any update on when any further new streetcars will arrive?
Steve: This comment has been moved from another thread.
No updates yet. 510 and 509 are now accessible routes albeit with only a few cars, and shifting all of the new fleet to Bathurst would break that expectation.
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Hello there, I have made some transit suggestions photos, click here.
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Are you planning a trip to either Harbourfront Centre or the Toronto ISlands while the Pan Am Games are on? If planning any trips to the waterfront during the Pan Am Games, I’d advise you to use a combination of the “511 Bathurst” and “509 Harbourfront” streetcar routes, as starting on July 11, service has been increased on both these routes. However, on the “510 Spadina” route, service on the main branch to “Union Station” (that’s Union subway station) won’t run between July 11-26 (meaning transferring to the “509 Harbourfront” route at Queens Quay and Spadina to finish your trip).
This is reminiscent of the summer of 2012, when the 510 Spadina route was shortened to Queens Quay-Spadina and streetcars were replaced with a curbside bus service for much of that year, because of track work; that same year streetcars stuck around longer on the “509 Harbourfront” route until mid-summer.
Even with the need to transfer, taking the “511 Bathurst” and “509 Harbourfront” routes will get you to the waterfront quickly. If weather is permitting, I may take a(nother) trip to Centre Island, this time using the above routes.
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Will this service advisory/change (shortening of “510 Spadina” route to Queens Quay/Spadina loop and running only the “509 Harbourfront” streetcars on Queens Quay West) be necessary and thus repeated when the Parapan Am Ganmes get underway (August 7/8 to 15/16)?
Steve: The changes for the various summer schedule periods are detailed in a separate article and table which shows the difference between pre-Pan AM, Pan Am, and Parapan+CNE periods.
The Spadina car reverts to its pre-Pan Am schedule with service to Union on Sunday, July 27.
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Since the Pan Am Games began, there are fewer artics (articulated buses) on the “7 Bathurst” route, as they are deployed to routes serving the Pan Am sports events. One of those using the artics is the 195 Jane Rocket Express running from Jane station on the Bloor-Danforth subway line up to York University, for Pan Am track & field and tennis. Another route using the artics is the 196 York University Rocket from Sheppard-Yonge station.
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It seems like we need a major event like the Pan Am games to keep all of the Flexity cars on the road. It’s the last day and they’re already back to regular service levels. As of this moment there are 3 on the 510 and the other 4 are sitting in the yard sleeping.
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