Updated May 4, 2023: The High Park bus service erroneously mentioned in the media release below is supposed to go into service on June 18 according to the Seasonal Services page on the TTC’s website.
The TTC has issued a press release as a general announcement of the planned changes on May 7, 2023. It puts a rather generous spin on what is about to happen. First, here is the unedited text.
Starting this Sun., May 7, the TTC is introducing new schedules on some routes to improve reliability along busy corridors, add seasonal service to key city attractions, better align capacity with ridership demand and accommodate construction across the city.
TTC Media Release May 3, 2023
“We are investing more than ever before as a City government in the TTC to continue to support transit service as it comes back from the unprecedented impact of the pandemic. The TTC is continuing to provide more service than ridership and to increase service on the busiest routes at the busiest times,” said Deputy Mayor Jennifer McKelvie. “Thank you to all TTC workers for continuing to provide safe and reliable service across our city for residents and visitors.”
“These service adjustments are a direct result of extensive consultation with communities and customers,” said TTC Chair Jon Burnside. “On behalf of the TTC Board, I commend the TTC for their focus on service improvements to important City corridors, including Markham Rd., Finch Ave., Wilson Ave., and Jane St.”
“The TTC is continuing to focus on delivering more frequent service to the areas across the city that need it most. This is all part of our strategy to match service to demand and ensure that we are meeting the needs of our riders,” said TTC CEO Rick Leary. “I’d like to thank everyone who engaged with us and provided feedback as we developed this latest schedule, and we look forward to continued feedback from our customers.”
Among the adjustments being made:
• Reduced wait times on overnight routes along Finch Ave., Jane St., and Wilson Ave., to every 20 minutes from 30 minutes.
• Enhancing reliability on the Markham Rd. corridor – one of the TTC’s busiest – by extending service on the 902 Markham Rd Express to connect to busy employment areas at Morningside and Steeles avenues.
• Launching seasonal routes to popular parks and attractions such as Cherry Beach, Bluffer’s Park, High Park and the Toronto Zoo.
The TTC will also continue to monitor service in real time and have additional, unscheduled vehicles available across all modes to fill gaps in service when and where possible.
Let’s take these points in order.
… better align capacity with ridership demand …
That sound very productive, but it hides the fact that many service cuts both in May and in March were made on this basis. A related change in crowding standards implemented by management enabled service cuts on many routes, particularly in off-peak periods.
The TTC is continuing to provide more service than ridership and to increase service on the busiest routes at the busiest times …
Riders on those “busiest routes” might choose to differ. TTC has cut service on several trunk routes over the past months.
In March:
- Line 2 Bloor-Danforth
- 501 Queen weekdays
- 25 Don Mills
- 29/929 Dufferin
- 35 Jane
- 36 Finch West
- 41/941 Keele
- 943 Kennedy Express
- 905 Eglinton East Express
In May:
- Line 1 Yonge-University
- 501 Queen (weekend afternoons)
- 512 St. Clair
- 52 Lawrence West
- 85/985 Sheppard East
“These service adjustments are a direct result of extensive consultation with communities and customers,” said TTC Chair Jon Burnside. “On behalf of the TTC Board, I commend the TTC for their focus on service improvements to important City corridors, including Markham Rd., Finch Ave., Wilson Ave., and Jane St.”
I suspect one would be hard pressed to describe what the TTC did as “consultation” considering that they actively withheld information on service changes from City Councillors during the budget debates. The information only came to light thanks to a Freedom of Information request by TTCRiders. The official version of the May 7 changes was only released on the afternoon of May 1, although this existed in draft months earlier.
As for service improvements listed by Chair Burnside, yes Markham Road sees better service. However, the only changes on Finch, Wilson and Jane are to overnight service. Two of these routes saw daytime service cuts in March.
Among the adjustments being made:
[…]
• Launching seasonal routes to popular parks and attractions such as Cherry Beach, Bluffer’s Park, High Park and the Toronto Zoo.
The Cherry Beach, Bluffer’s Park and Zoo services run every summer. They are not additions to the network but simply revivals of regular seasonal services under new branding. As for High Park, there is nothing in the announced changes of summer service into the park previously provided by 30 Lambton. High Park Station is now served by 189 Stockyards and 30 High Park, and there is no mention of an extension in the service memo for May 7, nor is there any mention on the TTC’s website.
Updated May 4, 2023: It turns out that there are plans effective June 18 for a 203 High Park bus. The existing 30 High Park will be renamed High Park North
The TTC will also continue to monitor service in real time and have additional, unscheduled vehicles available across all modes to fill gaps in service when and where possible.
The TTC has cited its “Run as directed” buses as a catch-all fix for service irregularities, but is unable to show how these vehicles have actually been used. At its last meeting, the TTC Board was told that there would be a presentation to their May 8 meeting on the use of RAD buses, but nothing has appeared on the agenda. With luck it will be a “walk in” report presented as part of the CEO’s report.
The TTC would attract better regard from those who try to support their work by being less secretive and defensive. Providing timely information allows debates about the city’s priorities to occur in context rather than with only vague rumours.
The TTC’s job is to provide good transit service. If as an organization it turns into a good news mouthpiece for the Mayor, the Board members, the CEO, it has lost its way. Toronto needs open debates about the future of so many services, not self-serving puffery.
Steve Munro 
At the Feb 28 Meeting, Leary promised Chair Burnside that the TTC’s response to the AG’s Report on Fare Evasion would be on the agenda for the April 13 Meeting. Here we are in May and the report still isn’t on the agenda. You and other long time Board meeting attendees/watchers will recall that staff used to submit a report that listed all of the reports that the Board had asked for and were still outstanding. Many items were on there for years, with their due dates constantly passing by and getting pushed further and further back with every missed deadline. It was quietly scrapped a number of years ago now, I forget exactly when. Needless to say accountability has gotten even worse at the TTC. Even under Byford there was a pattern of ignoring Board requests for information that if made public would make TTC Management look bad. It’s at crisis levels now.
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Seems that “1984” phrases are being used by the City of Toronto and the TTC. Should we expect the following…
“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”
“Ignorance is strength.”
“If you want to keep a secret, you must also hide it from yourself.”
“It was merely the substitution of one piece of nonsense for another.”
“Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.”
“Sanity is not statistical.”
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Steve, any chance you could do an analysis on VIVA Blue/Purple before and after the implementation of rapidways?
Steve: I don’t have tracking data for York Region, although I might be able to get it from @TransSee.
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There are so many changes on the TTC who can even follow any of them. We are seniors. They change things so often. They change schedules. They reroute TTC street cars and buses and change Subway schedules. We are confused and we don’t like it one bit. Why can’t the TTC work with the city and get things done properly?
This has not new this has been going on for years. The TTC has never been kept up properly over many many years. The steps are broken on many of the stations going down stairs. There should be covers over the top of them due to rain and ice and snow before people start breaking legs and arms going down them. I am one who has had that problem.
Why are we so far behind so many countries including Europe who are way the hell ahead of us. I’m appalled.
Second I’m 84 years old and I’ve seen the beginning of the subway service on the first day when I took the free ride and I’m paying for it ever since. I don’t know what the next step is if it is money that is needed it is up to the three governments to get together use their heads if there is anything in them of course and find out what the public needs and wants.
Clean up the garbage in the subway stations keep the trash out of the walkways. People peeing and eating and vomiting. It is appalling. I know that homelessness is a big issue in city of Toronto and that is up to the city of Toronto and other government help should be given to them. We have heard for 5 10 15 or 20 years about homeless people and the housing they will build for them. I will be dead and buried and it won’t happen. These people did not put this on to themselves. They are mentally ill no matter if it’s drugs alcohol. We have to take care of these people. We are better than this and something has to be done quickly not next month, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, like the subway and the metrolinks and all the other projects that are building.
The city is one big bloody mess. I hate to say that I am from Toronto. My dad was born here in 1915 and I’m sure he’s turning over and over in his grave as he cared for Toronto very much over his 90 years on this Earth. We have had some really people in charge of our city and our province and right now our province is disgustingly sickening. I can’t even say the words I want to in this message. The Fords took over the city and now we are paying for the province and the City of Toronto I literally am horrified. If nothing is done in the next at least 6 months to a year for many of these problems and we have a mayor that we don’t want and who will ruin Toronto even more so than we are in big big trouble.
I know Ford is looking to have his sidekick and friend Mr Saunders pushing him to become a mayor of Toronto. What did he do for the police force: he screwed everything up royally, he lied he cheated and then he left and now he wants to come back to do more damage. John Tory for the first 8 years he may have been a pretty good mayor but then the premier gave authority for mayors to take hold of too many options. This is a very dangerous thing and it was proven when Tory started changing his ways and his words and then got up and left. He left us with a disgusting mess.
I could write a book about this. I don’t have a university education but I have done well in my lifetime and I really will vote for only one person that’s on the mayor’s list of 67 which is actually a disgusting number of people to be listed on a voters list for mayor of this city. None of them can speak properly. They have crazy ideas and so much out for themselves. If my candidate gets in I will support him for the four years I’m not sure I’ll be here for you from now but I will support him as long as I can. If he does not get in that will be my last vote for the city of Toronto’s m a y o r s race.
I rest my case and just will hope for the best because I’m very unhappy with this city I refuse to take the TTC at any time. I have sold my car. Congestion is out of this world. What is going on with condos condos condos condos? No little mom and pop shops, garbage all over the streets, broken sidewalks, broken roads, disgusting garbage everywhere I look. I live at one of the high-end areas of the city at Brewer and Bay Street it looks like a second hand dump in many many ways. I have called 311 many times for these so-called disgusting garbage bins which were given out to Astral along with other Street Furniture who is owned by Bell Media and the contract I read was 27 years. Someone needs their head examined giving that kind of a contract out to a city this size for that kind of contract. Every time they put new garbage bins benches and TTC shelters they are smashed broken.
Bloor Street with the round little bench areas are all broken they’ve only been there for two or three maybe four years. They’re full of garbage. The bins on my side street where I live have been torn apart yesterday and the garbage spread all over the sidewalk and the police had to be called. There is never any police in the downtown area with a population almost twice as many people as when I grew up in the 50s 60s and 70s and we have so much crime it is pathetic.
You can read this. You can delete it. You can pass it on. I hope many people read it that live here and support what I’m saying because we’re in for one hell of a lot of years of harassment from the government hiding money and funds as Mr Ford is good at doing. He lies. He cheats. He’s only for himself and his Dysfunctional Family. I have no idea where these people came from and I would hate to say they’re from Toronto. I love to hate this city but right now I hate it end of r a n t.
Sign by me Frank d e t u r s e over and out
Steve: Please note that I have done a lot of tidying of this text, but will only do it once. Any repeat performance will be deleted.
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Spoiler: no service _into_ High Park will be announced, because High Park will remain closed to vehicles on weekends and holidays.
I recall the City report approved by Infrastructure and Environment Committee has some non-committal idea of reporting back on a study on how to allow buses into the park without also allowing cars. Probably in about 3 years we’ll hear a report that an automatic bollard could be possible but we shouldn’t do it because a driver might drive onto it.
Steve: Ah yes. Well, whoever wrote the TTC’s press release was obviously copying info from last year.
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What an encyclopedic collection of baffle-gab, double-talk and corporate-speak. Do they really think anyone actually believes any of these press releases that have been written by professional communications spin people? Not one of those people actually wrote or said any of the words attributed to them and it all sounds so insincere and phony. A little bit of honest communication would go a lot farther for their credibility. It *almost* makes one long for the days of Howard Moscoe or Adam Giambrone.
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Not sure the best thread for this – one of the service change implications (errors).
Service is terrible today on the 506 streetcars – but the buses are running well – at least on schedule. But the streetcars are like what we saw with last year’s 506 delay – most vehicles are very behind schedule, with huge gaps. Which seems odd, given the detours aren’t downtown, and it’s a Sunday.
But look at the schedules (say for an 11:20 run leaving High park for this Sunday compared to last Sunday:
Sunday May 7
Sunday April 30
But somehow, in the new schedule, on the old timetable, it took 50 minutes to get from High Park to Broadview. But now they’ve only scheduled only 45 minutes.
And then it get’s worse. From Broadview/Gerrard to Coxwell/Lower Gerrard was scheduled for 15 minutes. But now with the detour down Broadview and along Queen is only scheduled for 12 minutes to Coxwell/Queen!
Looking at little details, the 506 now takes only 2 minutes to get from Broadview/Gerrard to Broadview/Queen. Last week it took 4 minutes for the 504 to do this.
A quick look at Mondays suggests it will get worse, with the 2:36 pm from High Park, previously taking 56 minutes to Broadview. Now it’s scheduled to do it in 48 minutes – 8 minutes faster. During AM peak it’s 7 minutes faster. During PM peak it’s 8 minutes faster.
We know they are going to blame construction and congestion when the cars are running late. Rather than incompetence and penny-pinching.
Steve: There are a lot of suspicious adjustments in the name of “improving reliability”. One problem for late Carlton cars in the east end is that it is difficult to short turn at Russell because the yard overhead is not yet pan-compliant. I suspect we will see cars simply short turn back from Broadview and go west.
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Do you have an estimate/guestimate when Queen streetcars will return to Long Branch?
Steve: TTC says “July” which given the dates of schedule changes means late July.
Is there anything significant holding up streetcars’ return besides the overpass at Parkside Drive?
Steve: Rebuilding overhead on The Queensway to Parkside.
A Star opinion piece written by Shane Gates titled Make Dundas Street the main street. In it he proposes running the Queen bus up Ossington to Dundas.
Make sense?
Steve: No. Gates is treating a particularly messy set of construction circumstances this year as if they are permanent. He completely ignores the possibilities of King Street. Streetcars will return to Queen West this summer. Queen downtown will be improved when the Adelaide trackage is finished early next year (frankly this should have been started earlier). The corridor could benefit from being split into a Queen West and Queen East route until construction finishes. Maybe we could call them “Beach” and “Long Branch” 😉
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