September 2015 brings a long list of service changes that will begin the restoration and expansion of TTC service promised earlier this year. A few changes were slipped through in earlier schedules, but the bulk of the changes will come now. These include:
- The “Ten Minute Network”: Scheduling a network of major routes so that they will always operate at least every 10 minutes (except for overnight service). For most affected routes, this only means adding a bit of service around the edges (notably weekend evenings), but for a few, this is a major change.
- The “All Day Every Day” services: In the early Ford/Stintz days, service was hacked away on routes with less ridership, although the actual dollar savings were small. Much of what was cut has now been restored.
- Reduced off-peak crowding: Off peak crowding standards on routes with frequent service have been restored to Ridership Growth Strategy (a David Miller era initiative) levels triggering service improvements on many routes.
- Expanded and restructured Blue Night network: Some new routes, and the restructuring of others, will take place over the September and October schedule changes (see my previous article for details).
Concurrently, the basic service levels move back from “summer” to “winter” levels, and all of the remaining temporary changes for the Pan Am Games end.
Seasonal services also end including:
- Weekday service on 101 Downsview Park
- Weekend service into High Park by 30 Lambton
- Weekday evening service to Cherry Beach by 172 Cherry
- Extended hours to the Zoo on 86 Scarborough and 85 Sheppard East
The “temporary” extra service and running time added to 510 Spadina and 509 Harbourfront for the reconstruction of Queens Quay has been left in place.
Although the Front Street reconstruction has finished, the TTC has not yet decided whether or how to recombine 72 Pape with 172 Cherry.
Some routes, notably 506 Carlton and 505 Dundas, are getting new schedules with extra running time to match actual conditions on the route in the hope that this will reduce short turns and improve reliability.
The new crowding standards for off-peak surface routes are based on a seated load regardless of the scheduled headway. Previously, routes operating every 10 minutes or better used the seated load plus 25% as the standard. This made the busiest routes operate with near-peak period standards most of the time.
Note that these standards are based on the average load over the peak hour at the peak point. Individual vehicles will vary with more or fewer riders, but the intent is to design service at this level.
The table linked below details the changes for September. It does not include the list of summer service cuts that are to be reversed (see June 2015 changes for the list).
Updated August 11, 2015 at 11:30 am: A service cut on 75 Sherbourne that was part of the June changes was inadvertently carried over into the original version of this table. It has been deleted.
Updated August 23, 2015 at 9:30 pm: The number of vehicles for the 315 Evans night bus has been corrected from 1 to 2.
Steve Munro 
41 Keele, 16 McCowan, 54 Lawrence East to Rouge Hill, 60 Steeles West to Martin Grove, 129 McCowan North to Highway 7, and 68 Warden needs a ten minute network.
Steve: How many times do I have to tell you that service levels north of Steeles are set by York Region, not by the TTC?
Plus, 87 Cosburn doesn’t need a ten minute network because the route never gets busy.
Steve: The intention is to have one frequent route across the middle of East York. Cosburn has the greater concentration of high rises compared to O’Connor or Mortimer.
80 Queensway’s service restoration should be extended all the way to Keele station to serve the subway at all times.
Steve: I am amused that on one hand I have you advocating a full-time Queensway-to-subway link, but others who think a Long Branch-to-subway link isn’t a good idea.
As mentioned in my service planning, the TTC should make the service like that to make service more reliable.
When 102 Markham Road gets a ten minute network to McNicoll, then north of McNicoll should have a new seperate route named Markham Road North and operate from Scarborough Centre station.
Steve: Once again, service north of Steeles is up to York Region. As a branch of the 102 it is cheaper to run than as a separate route.
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The YRT doesn’t set frequency correctly.
Steve: That may be, but it’s not up to TTC to dictate service levels in YRT territory.
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Quick question, I know it isn’t mention in the pdf document but now that the 43B will be restored to STC on weekends (especially Sundays). Is it going to be interlined with 134 Progress like how it did a few years back before the Stinz/Ford era cuts?
Steve: There is no mention of an interline in the service planning memo. Also, the headways on the 43B and 134 are not the same, and so interlining wouldn’t work.
Weekend service on the 43B is only provided in the early evening, and so Saturday is not affected as it already has this service.
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I have rode 87 Cosburn and it wasn’t busy.
Steve: The whole point is to have one frequent route. It is the frequency that will draw the riders.
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I note that the 85 (sic) Sherbourne bus is getting less service due to “seasonal change”. As this bus is heavily used by students at George Brown (both the St James and Waterfront campuses) I find this rather odd. If anything I would have expected to see MORE service during term.
Steve: That erroneous route number has been in my service change spreadsheet for a while. That cut was actually part of the June changes for the summer (and will be reversed in September). I accidently carried it over to the new spreadsheet. And yes, it is 75 Sherbourne.
I also note that the late evening service returns to the Bay bus (and others). I suppose the TTC will now send people out to scrape off the signs posted on many bus poles in 2011 saying “no late evening service”. (Ha!)
I also note that the TTC has still not decided how to deal with the 72/172. Most people in the St Lawrence area like the current routing via the King and St Andrew subways but hate the totally uncoordinated “link” at Carlaw. The completion of the Front Street work was not unexpected so I would have thought they would have worked this out by now and hope it is resolved soon. Personally I hope we see the full 72 route reinstated but that the downtown terminus remains King/St Andrew. The old terminus at Front and Bay was not useful as the bus does not run often enough to be reliable and it works a far better (and is far busier) now it passes the subway and one can chose a 504 or a 172.
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I don’t think a Long Branch-to-subway routing is useful for riders coming from Lake Shore anywhere west of Park Lawn. I am skeptical of any reliability benefits it may bring, and very few people from west of Park Lawn will access the subway on the streetcar via Roncesvalles.
That being said, a routing like that may be the cat’s pyjamas for riders on Roncesvalles and The Queensway. But that’s a different argument.
For 80 Queensway, it should definitely run to Keele via Parkside all day Saturday and Sunday, at least outside of winter. The stops on Parkside and Lake Shore are busy with people going to High Park or Sunnyside beach. Again, no one is going to ride to the subway from Sherway on the 80, but the Parkside routing has strong local demand east of the Humber on weekends.
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70 O’Connor should be rerouted into Broadview station and discontinue 8 Broadview. Service along Coxwell and St. Clair Avenue should be replaced by 16 McCowan.
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So starting next month, Saturday service on TTC route 85 will use the 18m artic buses? So to sum it all up, the only 2 routes using artics on Saturdays starting next month will be routes 29 and 85?
Steve: That appears to be the case.
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That’s probably the best suggestion I’ve heard on here. Although the 16 route will be a little bit of a long route, it connects two hospitals together (Scarborough & East General).
The only issue is the 70 route A that runs to Eglinton Square. This is a perfect example where drawing lines on a map doesn’t look into the neighbourhood characteristics and traffic flows that actually have more merit than route simplicity.
“The whole point is to have one frequent route. It is the frequency that will draw the riders.”
I don’t necessarily agree with that Steve. It may draw some riders of course, however, in my opinion, it’s will not be enough for some routes b/c many people are simply work communtors and convincing them to not use their car or a taxi( and uber for now) when going out during the evening / early night hours will be a tough sell considering the history of transit in Toronto.
Steve: If you lived around the area you would know that there is good off peak demand that is frustrated by the infrequent service on most of the routes passing through East York: Broadview, Cosburn and Mortimer. I know people who live between two of the routes, and they take whatever shows up first. Then there is the little matter that the headways are not quite the same, and one can have periods when two routes leave Broadview Station almost together followed by a big gap.
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I don’t know with 85 SHEPPARD EAST (from DM) running the Artics Saturdays, where would the 12m buses formerly used by that route wound up? In that case reallocated.
Steve: It’s weekend service, so they don’t have to be “reallocated” anywhere.
169 HUNTINGWOOD seems to get the whole thing back to the way it was before the cuts. I wonder if they could dump the 10 VAN HORNE entirely.
Without the 508 LAKE SHORE streetcars and service as a whole, how could the TTC find a solution? They’d rather service buses to cover up the loss of the 508 cars beneath the routing but 51 buses hogging on the 32 EGLINTON WEST could not get its fair share. Why take off some of the 32s during peak and give it to the 508?
Note to Huy: I appreciate your input but none of those you wrote are true in the meantime. I rode the 16 McCOWAN and it’s running fine like every 15 minutes on weekends. Back when 21 BRIMLEY and 128 BRIMLEY NORTH were separate routes before consolidation, customers had to go to STC from Markham/south of Steeles and take the subway but now Kennedy is the case for them. 16/129 consolidating in theory could work but keep it like this for now. If that were to happen, it could require 19 buses (7 16s and 12 129s).
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I’m assuming your table doesn’t cover seasonal service increases for the return to school?
Steve: That is correct. In almost all cases, the seasonal changes simply undo what was put in place in the June schedules (sometimes May), and I didn’t want to clutter up the table with this info so that readers could concentrate on the actual improvements relative to the Spring 2015 service.
It looks like the 87 Cosburn columns for Sundays are reversed.
Steve: Thanks for catching this. I have updated the spreadsheet. [It’s nice to know someone is reading closely!]
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Service along Caledonia north of St. Clair to Yorkdale should be replaced with a new separate route 128 Caledonia.
Service along the Westway should be replace by 138 The Westway and operate from Lawrence West station and service along Trethewey should be replace by 137 Trethewey and operate out of Eglinton west station.
Steve: Making these separate routes will not affect the service provided, and could even harm it because the new routes will no longer be linked to headways on the existing combined operation.
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Just curious about how many cases there have been of “permanent” service cuts in recent times i.e. cuts which are never restored. I’m thinking in particular of the 33 Forest Hill Dunvegan service which was cut in the 90s.
Steve: That sort of thing is quite rare, if only because most Councillors rush to the defense of their routes.
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They should bring back 58 Malton. They don’t even need to change schedule, its all in the destination sign. That way you know without looking at he rest of the Desto, 52 Westway, 58 Dixon, and 59 Maple Leaf. All these branches for one route is unnecessary. Nothing needs to change, just programme the desto.
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Steve,
I note that Sunday service is being restored (extremely modestly) to 26 Dupont! This is great for those who live in the area who need local travel that doesn’t involve the Bloor-Danforth subway!
Having said that, it appears that 127 Davenport is not listed as restored Sunday service?
Also (as it is noted at the bottom of the chart), the 127 is “extended” south of the station to Spadina Circle? Why?
Steve: As the chart says, construction at Spadina Station. After this is done, the route will go back to looping at the station, and the missing Sunday evening service will be added.
Lastly (and misplaced), on the subject of Spadina overnight service, wouldn’t it make sense to let everyone out at York/Rees and go into Union alighted? (Or terminate at Spadina/QQ)?
Steve: Terminating at Spadina/QQ would leave all of QQ east to Bay without night service which is not exactly the idea. If someone wants to walk up York to Union, I suppose they could, but it’s a long, cold walk when the weather is bad.
If I were to donate $300m couldn’t they put connecting track around Spadina House and use that loop as an overnight terminal [and to ensure that College/Spadina cars never reach/leave their proper destinations … #bwa-ha-ah]
Steve: The original plan for the loop at Spadina Station was to use the vacant lot north of that house, but it’s tight. There is no point in building a separate loop just for the night service, especially because of the merge tracks needed south of the portal to join with the main route.
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It was Huy. 18 CALEDONIA ran until 1994 just a year after trolley buses were eliminated and the route number 128 was assigned to BRIMLEY NORTH.
This concept could work. Once the LRT is in operation, it would be a yes.
Steve: The TTC has already proposed that the Trethewey bus be a separate route operating from Keele/Eglinton station after the LRT opens.
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So presumably Union, Spadina, and Queens Quay stations will be open 24/7? Walking to the next stop doesn’t seem tenable.
Hard to imagine all the doors at Spadina would be open 24/7 …
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Steve: The TTC has already proposed that the Trethewey bus be a separate route operating from Keele/Eglinton station after the LRT opens.
There is a lot of demand for more co-operation between TTC and GO. Would it make sense to extend this new Trethewey route to Weston Road and then loop it at the new Weston GO/UPE station? Likewise loop 79 Scarlett Road there as well.
Steve: Don’t forget that the GO stations may not be in the same place eventually. There will be a new station at Eglinton to connect with the Mount Dennis terminal of the Crosstown line. See details in the amended EPR, specifically figure 3.1 on page 5.
The real issue will be just what “GO/RER” is going to look like, what service frequency and what if any co-fare will be available with the TTC. This could lead to much more extensive changes in the focus of the TTC’s network than simply at the existing Weston Station.
With no co-fare either on GO or on UPX, the rail corridor is a very expensive way for people to get downtown. I suspect that the cost would weigh heavily on someone even if the Trethewey or Scarlett Road buses took them right to Weston Station. Extending the Eglinton Trethewey branch does not require setting it up as its own route. These are two separate proposals.
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Oh, and 105 Dufferin North to Steeles also needs a 10 minute network because the route suffers severe overcrowding when it’s 30 minutes.
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Are all the Seasonal service reduction going to be reverted?
Steve: That’s what I said in the article, and what the TTC said in their service memo. The only exceptions are where some other change was implemented in the meantime such as a service improvement that was put in at the same time as the seasonal changes.
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You could, however boot people off at Sussex Avenue. It’s a pretty short walk to Bloor, and the 300 boards on street anyway. That is if you’re bent on keeping Spadina station closed overinght.
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Well, that might work Spadina – barely. But what do you do at Union – boot them off at Harbourfront?
TTC is going to have to learn how to keep some stations open 24/7.
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The more daunting (long-term) task, I believe, is to get penny-pinching Councillors (and those “taxpayers” from both the City and the suburbs who march to the beat of that same drum) to realize that you have to *spend* money to have a “world class” city and that there is a fixed amount of time where you can get by fixing things, as my grandfather used to say, with baling wire and binder twine (i.e. as a only as a stopgap measure).
TTC has a hard enough time paying for day-to-day costs: Steve has outlined too many times to count on this very site how those lovely capital costs that are not just bells and whistles keep getting pushed farther and farther down while all the photo-op, easy-to-see things (often with little long-term impact) are given front page headlines as stuff that is “being done.” This, all in the name of “budget control.” It’s sort of like not repairing the hole in your roof so you can host weekly dinner parties for your neighbours and just installing a plastic sheet and covering the damaged floor boards with a nice carpet while they’re visiting….
This Council needs to be pushed by the TTC Board members and angry transit riders to get off its collective backside and calculate the money, earmark the money and then put the money where it is needed and to do this every year, year after year, with measurable and visible changes that actually affect in a positive way the day-to-day transit trips of their “customers” (not taxpayers) and put the transit system in a truly positive light – because it *will* be.
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Would it not make sense to cage off an area of the station for transfers – and leave a very limited area only open?
Steve: They already have this situation at Union when the subway is closed on Sunday morning, but the streetcar is already coming into the loop.
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Spadina is also set up for this. There are security gates that block off access to the subway platforms and only allow access from the main station entrance to the streetcar platform. They are closed after the last trains of the night have passed through as streetcars are still coming into the station. They are also closed for Sunday morning when streetcars are serving the station well before the subway starts. There is a sign above the stairs from the main entrance stating to pay the fare on the streetcar between 5am and 9am. This is what will make 24hr service possible without much difficulty. There is only the small cost of having the stations staffed with a collector for the time between current closing and opening. And I think that is a small price to pay for service continuity. Having seen the scramble some people have to make on St Clair to catch the bus after streetcars are done but they are still waiting on the platforms, scary. Better to have one service at all times than switching back and forth from streetcars to buses. I know on St Clair it was done to extend the route beyond the limits of trackage, but for Spadina it would not make sense to change from streetcars to buses for the overnight period. Spadina and Union can handle being open for the extra hours so it is a non-issue to me to help expand the night service in a high density, high demand area.
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23 Dawes cannot have a ten minute network because the route is short and not busy.
Steve: I really am getting tired of comments that are left by people who don’t even bother to read the details. 23 Dawes is not on the list for 10 minute service all day. Mind you, it already runs every 10 minutes or better until 10pm.
Future comments from you will be deleted.
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Regarding the 315 Evans-Brown’s Line.
I’m pretty sure this route needs 2 buses to operate with a 30 minute headway, not 1 as indicated in your note. Unless they plan for the bus to run at 80-100km/h plowing through all the red lights and not stopping in between, it is impossible to run from Royal York Stn to Long Branch loop via Sherway in 15 minutes.
The day route 15 Evans needs 40 minute round trip from Royal York to Sherway and Google map shows it takes 22 min. to drive along this route without stopping.
Steve: Thanks for catching this. It is a two-bus service.
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Steve – has there seriously been no delivery on the streetcar front since July 23rd – Are we really still on a one a month pace?
At this point does this not seriously complicate service planning for the TTC?
Steve: The deliveries are not supposed to ramp up until September, although I will believe this when the cars actually arrive. BTW that wiki is out of date because 4409 has been in service since last week.
As for Service Planning, I think they are operating on the basis that they will plan for what’s available. They have just as big a problem with a backlog of demand on the bus network thanks to purchase cutbacks by Ford/Stintz, and this is compounded by the number of buses required for streetcar relieve and the many, many construction projects underway all over the city.
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The idea, that we would have reduced bus purchases, while we are stopping things like the Finch West and Sheppard East LRT and the Scarborough RT replacement seems absurd. We know we have substantial issues with regards to capacity, and congestion near the subway making routes slower (hence allowing fewer return trips). I wonder how much the bluster around the streetcar order spooked Bombardier to begin with. Regardless, I cannot help but think 30-60 additional new Streetcars on the rails now would free 50-120 buses, when they are most needed.
Of course a completed Finch West and Sheppard East LRTs – would have freed a goodly number at peak as well, and make for the potential of notably better operations between them – likely over 50 buses.
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I see 3 of the new streetcars on Spadina and 3 on Harbourfront. Where are they rest?
Steve: Why are you asking me? They come and go. Some days there are six or seven in service between the two routes.
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This is really intolerant that Steve banned Huy Pham just because Huy Pham posted a few short comments only some of which are stupid but what about Malcolm N who posts bookloads of stuff and way too frequently and not all of which is very smart (though like Huy Pham, Malcolm N does occusionally make brilliant comments)? Correct me if I am wrong but could race have something to do with this?
Steve: Race has nothing to do with it. I am tired of comments that take pot shots at various routes where it is clear the writer does not know what the current schedule looks like. By the way, you omitted the part of my reply where I mentioned that the line already runs at 10 minutes or better a lot of the time.
Playing the race card is an extremely low way to argue your point. As for Malcolm, there are times he does go on at length, but at least he tries to be informed. By the way, you have assumed something about his race based on the name he posts under.
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The service summary is up. The extra (round trip) run time for 506 is shocking. 22 minutes mid-day, 25 minutes afternoon peak. 22-24,minutes Saturday morning to early evening. 27 minutes on Sunday afternoons. (including a bit of additional terminal time).
How it ever got so bad is incomprehensible. They haven’t been constrained for vehicles on any of these periods. (for AM peak they only added 8 minutes, and did so by reducing the frequency by 15 seconds).
I feel years of years of complaints about short-turns may have come to the end. Shame that they always blamed traffic, congestion, and accidents, but never their own clearly impossible schedule.
The additional time does tend to match my own observations. I’ve long maintained that Sunday afternoon service was worse than any other time of the weak, in terms of short-turns, and missing service at the end of the line.
Hopefully they’ve got this better than King, where it’s not unusual to see streetcars running 10 minutes early, in early evening, approaching Broadview. I fear though there’s a lack of granularity in the scheduling still.
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I am disappointed that among the service changes, a reduction in subway services is not included. The subway system is running mostly empty after 11PM on weekdays (except Fridays, Saturdays, and whenever the next day is a holiday). The headway during these lighly used hours must be increased at least three fold. Also lightly used stations like Castle Frank, Chester, Old Mill, Rosedale, Summerhill should not operate during non-rush hours if operated at all. The Sheppard subway should be closed during non-rush hours.
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Jim,
While the demand is minimal there is demand. Even at 12:15 in the morning I see people getting off at Castle Frank and Chester. There are also people waiting there. With no bus service out of Chester … what do you propose these people do? Should they walk to Pape or Broadview? I can tell you right now … those stations are not a couple of doors down nor is the walk from Castle Frank to Sherbourne or Broadview (which is at least 20 minutes for someone like myself who is fit and able bodied). During the day these stations are all used frequently by the locals who have no other options. By all means … go to St. Clair station and tell people that they have to walk to Bloor because the station should be closed. The hoards of people that use the stations during they day are more than enough to form a lynch mob.
I personally have taken the Sheppard subway mid day and rest assured it is not running empty as you are insinuating. The trains have people on them and plenty of them. I agree some of the stations (Bessarion, possibly Leslie) are dead but that is only because they are in an awkward spot or in the middle of a parking lot so to speak. The demand for the most part is between Don Mills and Yonge on the Sheppard line.
The local bus service between Yonge-Sheppard Station and Don Mills is every half hour at best and not the sort of service you want to wait for at 12 AM … especially outside stations like Bessarion which are in the middle of nowhere.
I urge you to take the Sheppard line and visit the stations you mentioned off peak. You would be surprised.
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As a near daily Sheppard Line user in 2012-13 I can half-confirm your statement. Mid-day, evenings and most of the weekend the ridership is brisk. Enough to merit a subway? Likely not, but it’s there and makes a huge difference to the transit accessibility of the area around stations (for travel to Yonge street and downtown at least). The headway of the “85A Sheppard-Yonge to Don Mills” is not “a half hour at best” but instead better than every 30 minutes between 5am and 2am (mostly 15-20 minutes). I only rode this leg of the 85 once during my time there so cannot comment on its ridership, but since the Line 4 stations are far apart with reasonable activity between them, I would not be surprised if this bus was decently used.
The problem that caused me to move away from Don Mills and Sheppard was travel at night. If I could make it to Sheppard-Yonge before 2am I would ride home on a 4-car subway that came every 4 minutes; usually with another 2-3 people, but sometimes alone. If I didn’t make the last train I would then be facing a wait that was often 30+ minutes for the 385. The contrast between the two was pretty stark: whereas the well-used and frequent subways on Yonge and Bloor-Danforth fade to well-used frequent bus service, on Sheppard the change is from ridiculous over-supply to standing at a corner looking for people to share a taxi.
This being the case, I would have been very happy to see Line 4 close at midnight to be replaced by frequent buses; maybe with Don Mills bus platform kept open to facilitate transfers and provide a nicer waiting area. There is no traffic on Sheppard at that time anyways and this would provide BETTER service to all those people who travel to points on Sheppard that are not near Line 4 stations. If there was still more frequent service between 2-3am there would be better service for everyone in that window.
Bear in mind this suggestion is coming from someone who would have had the most to lose during travel in the midnight-2am window (with frequent trains and a fast, warm ride in a car of my own to my apartment at the end of the line); I would suspect that it would be a far greater boost to people living halfway between Bayview and Bessarion or east of Don Mills who had to wait for a bus at the end of their subway ride anyways.
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Steve
On the subject of Blue Night, with the 343 KENNEDY launched, residents living on Kennedy Rd. between Eglinton and Danforth/St. Clair would wonder why they have no night service there? Residents would be furious to see no night service along the stretch unless the TTC extends the 343 south of Eglinton in the future.
St. Clair Ave, Markham Rd. and Guildwood Pkwy. (Even Warden, south of Sheppard for decades) are a few areas not served by any Blue Night Service just yet. However, my suggestion is to have the 370 O’CONNOR-MARKHAM RD bus running from a stretch using the 8-70C-102B routings between Broadview Ave., O’Connor Dr., St. Clair Ave. E., Kingston Rd, and Markham Rd. looping using the 53B’s loop between Passmore, Select and Steeles.
324 could be rerouted to Victoria Park Ave. looping to Steeles. Bringing back the Warden night bus as the 368 WARDEN could benefit the residents living in these areas (unless residents living in Mortimer Ave. could give it a shot but they have already 300 and 322 in between. It could go using the routings of 64, 135, and 68 via Eastdale, Lumsden, Main Street, Gerrard, Clonmore, and Warden to Steeles (if necessary, Broadview, Mortimer, Lumsden, Main St., Gerrard, Clonmore, and Warden)
Last suggestion is night service in Guildwood. Why not make a branch of the 334 EGLINTON EAST and name it 334B EGLINTON EAST via GUILDWOOD/MORNINGSIDE. The main but rerouted 334 could called 334A EGLINTON EAST.
Also missing for the west end folks are the 345 KIPLING and the 389 WESTON night bus. It could also work as well. So why combine the 336 and 339 bus and create the 336 FINCH to make it easier.
Any questions folks? Residents needed these to go home or work like McDonalds around 3am or 4am.
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Also missing for the west end folks are the 345 KIPLING and the 389 WESTON night bus
A Kipling night route wouldn’t be such a bad idea. Although Islington night isn’t really that bad. Good in the 4-6 hours. Says every 15 minutes, more like every 20 but still better than 30. Took it when I used to work summers at the Islington golf club. The first “day” Eglinton bus is running while the Islington night still is, the Bloor buses are also pretty good and Mississauga transit likewise so transfers in the early morning are not too harrowing. The only thing is you must plan your trip. Taking it on a whim will leave you upset and probably late. Until they have FS during the night we’ll have to settle for that.
Steve: The night network was designed to be within a 15 minute walk of most riders, not to have a bus on every route, and frequent service is something you will only see on a handful of routes where there is demand. Equally important will be that the service is predictable, and I worry that the TTC’s typical laissez-faire attitude will make actually catching those half-hourly services challenging. A 15 minute walk to a bus that should show up in 5 minutes is one thing, but a walk that sees the bus speed by well before its expected time is a fast way to destroy riders’ faith in the service.
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Steve,
Any word yet on when the TTC will consider how to recombine the 172 Cherry Street and 72 Pape operations? And is its current alignment to St. Andrew station permanent (that would seem to make the most sense).
Steve: No they have not yet decided on this. I asked when the fall schedules came out because the recombination was expected once the construction at Union finished. The transfer point between the routes and the mismatching headways make through trips tedious.
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A Toronto Star article today made reference to 4 new express routes planned for 2016… any idea what those are or where I can read more about them? (i.e. TTC press release/website).
Steve: The express routes were discussed in the August 2014 report where many service improvements that are now coming into play were proposed. The report includes a map of the express route possibilities, but more than four are shown. I have not seen a list of these in priority sequence.
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Steve: Why are you asking me?
Because you know all and see all! LOL
Steve: Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!
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