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When Better Service Isn’t – Part III: Etobicoke

This article continue the series reviewing routes where the TTC alleges that service has improved during 2019. Please refer to the first two parts for introductory information.

For reference, here is the map showing routes with supposedly better service.

37/937 Islington

Weekday service on both the local and express branches of this route is less frequent during all weekday periods except early evening due to resiliency changes.

On Saturday, service was improved during the morning, afternoon and late evening, offset by reductions in the early morning and early evening.

Sunday service is unchanged.

48 Rathburn / 15 Evans

At the end of 2018, 48 Rathburn was interlined with 15 Evans during all periods, but by the end of 2019, construction at Royal York Station had completed and the routes were separated. The only change for the Rathburn bus was that peak headways were slightly less frequent. Service at other times was unchanged. The interline continues for all off-peak periods.

On the Evans bus, the AM peak and weekday midday frequency was less frequent after the split due to resiliency adjustments.

49 Bloor West

Service is less frequent at the end of 2019 due to resiliency changes during the peak periods and on Saturday daytime periods. Service is improved on weekday and early evenings.

50 Burnhamthorpe

Service on Burnhamthorpe is less frequent in peak periods, but is slightly improved on weekday early evenings due to resiliency changes.

66 Prince Edward

Service on the two branches of the Prince Edward bus have been modified partly for resiliency changes and partly to rebalance service.

During the peak periods, service to Humber Loop is less frequent, while service to Lake Shore is unchanged in the AM and slightly improved in the PM.

During weekday midday, service on both branches is less frequent. During the evening, one bus was added for resiliency preserving early evening headways and improving late evening service.

There was no change on weekends.

73 Royal York / 76 Royal York South

At the end of 2018, the services on Royal York were interlined because of construction at Royal York Station. After they were split, service during all periods on all days on 73 Royal York was less frequent than before due in part to concurrent resiliency changes.

Peak period service improved on 76 Royal York South after the split, and there was a slight improvement in midday weekday service with normalization of headways to clockface values. Weekend daytime service also improved.

80 Queensway

The entire change on 80 Queensway is that weekday midday service declined from every 24 to every 30 minutes, while evening service improved from 30 to 24.

900 Airport Express

Service is slightly improved in the peak periods offset by a reduction weekday evenings and weekend daytime.

4 thoughts on “When Better Service Isn’t – Part III: Etobicoke”

  1. I use 50 Burnhamthorpe route often, and I do feel like the service is going into a garbage chute. The service is more frequent on Sunday daytime than the weekday daytime.

    Moreover, since the headway was increased during the peak, the bus is really crowded nowadays. I actually sent a complaint to the TTC and they don’t seem to care about it. They are playing ‘Doug Ford’ by calling service reduction as improvement.

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  2. So basically all one needs to do is to put “service on this route is less frequent due to resiliency changes” on the computer clipboard, and just by pasting it in, it covers 95% of the “improvements”.

    Steve: As I wrote these articles, the degree to which I could cut and paste that description became very disheartening. I knew this was a problem, but until I got into the details, I did not fully appreciate the pervasiveness of the situation.

    This should be a warning to politicians who let management run rampant with schemes that are tied to performance metrics. It’s like giving a kid a gold star for cleaning up the classroom only to find that there’s a mess of garbage in the storage closet.

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  3. Steve said:
    This should be a warning to politicians who let management run rampant with schemes that are tied to performance metrics. It’s like giving a kid a gold star for cleaning up the classroom only to find that there’s a mess of garbage in the storage closet.

    This is actually the best analogy that anyone could come up with. Politics is a game of perception, and perception is based on what you can see. Smart people see through this, but the average voter does not have an IQ of 130+ to be able to cause politicians and politically-supportive management grief by voting them out of office or forcing them out of their politically-appointed position.

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  4. My personal experience, I have been using the 73 Royal York bus every day for 20 years and just in the past 2 to 3 years the service has noticeably declined. Passengers at Royal York station will be waiting for the 15-20 minutes (sometimes more) for the 73D or 73C and two 73B (short turn) will show up within this time frame, meanwhile 60 to 70% majority of travellers are still waiting for the 73C and D. Station is packed and then buses are packed.

    Echoing the previous comment by Jay , the 73 AM and PM peak, headways have increased and the buses are full to capacity. Common occurrence, I will sit at Dixon during peak rush, to go south in the morning and watch on my phone as a 73D bus sits for 10 minutes (sometimes more) at Oak St and a 73C is approaching from the north, Then they will both arrive at the stop one minute apart meanwhile I have waited 15 minutes sometimes more for a bus. Just Infuriating

    Myself and other passengers have complained to TTC, the route supervisors in the station and also the booth collectors about these issues, but usual TTC fashion no remedy or actions taken.

    They even refuse to recognize its a problem. I agree TTC service is going into the garbage chute to put it mildly.

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