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TTC Service Change Revisions for October 10, 2021

Previously announced service changes effective October 10, 2021 have been amended.

  • The reconstruction at Wilson Station that will displace routes from the lower level bus loop to a temporary area in the parking lot has been deferred to the schedule change in mid-November.
  • The reconstruction of track at Lake Shore and Kipling that would have required diversion of bus services has been deferred with no new date.

6 thoughts on “TTC Service Change Revisions for October 10, 2021”

  1. FWIW, Councillor’s latest newsletter has the KQQR construction progressing to Stage 2 (Queen opened, King closed) in “the latter part of October”. Nobody around there will be holding their breaths though.

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  2. Any idea why they are not using the North Terminal at Wilson instead of the parking lot?

    I recall once before when they did work on the bus terminal, they sent buses to the north terminal temporarily.

    Steve: Don’t know, although I suspect they are taking what, for them, is the simplest way.

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  3. Steve, for the temporary loop at Wilson are you referring to the parking lot on the east side of the station with the entrance off of Wilson Heights? Wasn’t this parking lot used for temporary boarding during last round of construction at Wilson Station?

    Logistically if you use the loop in that parking lot you don’t need to alter routes 104/160 at all, while 29/929 would just need to go one more block on Wilson. To use the North Terminal, you would need to amend all of the routes and also clean out that North Terminal which by the looks of it is used for storage of service vehicles and assorted stuff.

    Steve: Yes, that’s the spot. Using it is much simpler than making the North Terminal operational.

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  5. Steve, does TTC keep usage statistics of its parking lots and is that data available to you?

    Steve: I’m not sure, beyond counting revenue. The total shows up in the financial reports, but not subdivided by lot, let alone more fine-grained info such as time of day or length of stay.

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  6. KQQR construction will continue into 2022. That means substantial portions the “504 King” and “501 Queen” routes to continue operating with buses; many of the “501 Queen” buses will run between “Broadview” and the Long Branch loop. How much longer will the King and Queen operate with buses (and when will streetcars return)?

    How will it affect the “511 Bathurst” route, which has switched between bus operation and streetcar operation several times in recent years?

    Steve: There are a few stages left to the KQQR project.

    One is the completion of the south leg of the intersection and connection into the King Street trackage as well as reinstallation of the overhead on The Queensway at least to the west side of Roncesvalles Yard, preferably to Sunnyside Loop. Once these are done, the streetcar service on King and Queen West can be restored as far as Roncesvalles.

    The work on The Queensway, which should have been completed in 2021 but was delayed thanks to utility conflicts with the new design, will provide a reserved lane for streetcars east from Claude (the east end of the existing right-of-way) to Roncesvalles including track replacement between Sunnyside Loop and Claude. Until that is done, probably in the spring of 2022, streetcar service cannot be restored west of Sunnyside.

    The final stage of the work is the north leg of the intersection and the north gate of Roncesvalles Yard. Concurrently, there will be work on the streetcar platforms on Roncesvalles north to Dundas to adjust them for the ramps on the Flexitys. That cannot start until the south access to the carhouse is restored.

    If this stretches beyond the summer of 2022, it would set a new record for cock-ups in construction projects.

    There is no reason for 511 Bathurst to be affected because the TTC has a considerable surplus of streetcars thanks to covid service trimming. Out of a fleet of 204, they are only scheduling 136 at peak today. The reconstruction of cars for frame repairs by Alstom should finish part way through 2022 and the fleet will be back to “full strength”. Even with a generous 25% spare ratio, there should be 160 cars available for service (160 scheduled plus 40 spares). If the TTC can get this down to 20% where it should be, they would have about 170. I am not holding my breath for that achievement given the considerable maintenance backlog which has been disguised by the low utilization of the fleet over the past few years.

    Service on Broadview is expected to resume in the spring once the leftover work on the watermain replacement is finished. Work on Wellington and Church will not be out of the way until the summer at which point the 503 Kingston Road will resume its “normal” looping to York Street freeing up one or two cars. Part of Carlton will be bused for track construction from Bay to Bathurst, but I don’t yet know the timing of that project.

    Overall, there remains the question of the rate at which demand will return once the current omicron wave subsides.

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