The TTC is part way through production of its 2024 Service Plan as well as a 5-Year Service Plan and Customer Experience Action Plan. In Round Two, consultation will focus on plans for service changes triggered by major construction projects. Five pop-up sessions are planned at Flemingdon Park, Union Station, Liberty Village, Finch Terminal, and Pape Station between June 29 and July 12, 2023. Details are available here.

Also available on that page is a link to a survey seeking feedback on various proposals. Please note that my site is not an official TTC conduit for feedback, although it is no secret that many at the TTC do read articles and comments here. Any specific feedback for the TTC should be submitted through their own survey.

Round Three in August-September will present draft concepts for the 5-Year Plan and Customer Experience Action Plan, and these will be refined into final drafts for Round Four in October-November.

The remainder of this article presents an overview of the survey and proposals for construction-related service changes.

There are no proposals for new routes nor of overall service levels in this round. The election of Olivia Chow as Mayor will no doubt bring a review of existing services, but that is not in the scope of this round.

An important issue left over from the 2023 Budget process and the recent service cuts is the question of Service Standards. These are described as “Board Approved”, but in fact the 2023 changes were implemented by management as part of the budget with only retroactive consent from the Board. Moreover, the actual effect of the changes was withheld from the Board and Council until well after the budget was approved.

Transparency in budgets and service planning will be an important change looking ahead to 2024. With a new Mayor I hope to see a much improved process.

Communication of Service Changes

Regular readers here will know that I have been highly critical of the fragmented state of TTC’s customer information channels both online and in printed notices at stops. The first part of the survey asks how riders find out about service changes including various online sources, signage, transit apps, and other channels. There is a box for suggestions about improving communications.

This is an important aspect of “service”. If riders do not know where their bus is supposed to be today, they cannot plan their journey, and even worse might take a wrong turn and waste a lot of time.

It is not enough for the TTC to say “but we posted notices on our website” when that site is difficult to navigate with multiple, sometimes conflicting, sources of information. Moreover, in spite of our connected age, not everyone has a smart phone and they depend on notices at stops.

An important change that has recently emerged is the production of area updates showing details of related route changes. When there is a complex shuffle such as the major changes in Riverside, Leslieville and The Beach, separate route-by-route notices do not tell the whole story. If anything, posting multiple notices on the same pole can be confusing especially when more than one generation of changes competes for a rider’s attention.

Pape Station

Pape Station is a major hub for bus routes east of the Don River on Line 2 Bloor-Danforth. It shares this role with Broadview Station nearby.

Metrolinx’ construction of the Pape Station interchange with the Ontario Line will have a major effect on transit service near Pape and Danforth. The OL will also affect service near the future Gerrard Station, but to a smaller degree.

The TTC proposes to redistribute routes serving Pape Station to other nearby locations, and they state that “diverting the majority of these routes may be required as soon as 2024”.

Although the 100 Flemingdon Park route now operates to Pape Station as part of the summer 2023 route shuffle, its normal home is Broadview Station. Depending on how the routes at Pape are moved, Broadview Station could become even busier than it is today (with routes 8 Broadview, 62 Mortimer, 87 Cosburn and 100 Flemingdon Park, plus the 504 King and 505 Dundas streetcars). There is a proposal to expand Broadview Station Loop to increase streetcar capacity, but this has been deferred.

Donlands Station has a small loop which will not accommodate the level of frequent service and bus layovers seen at Pape. It currently hosts 56 Leaside and 83 Jones neither of which has frequent service.

Coxwell Station has a loop with four bus bays used by 70 O’Connor, 404 East York, Wheel Trans and 22 Coxwell. Route 31 Greenwood is a temporary visitor during elevator construction at Greenwood Station.

Utility work at Pape and Riverdale may cause the 72 Pape bus south of Danforth to be rerouted to Donlands Station. This would produce the irony of a bus that never operates on its namesake street.

Finch Station and the Yonge North Subway Extension

Construction of the planned Steeles Station will constrain road capacity at that location. The TTC proposes to reroute the express services on Steeles East (953) and West (960) to Finch Station via Bayview and Bathurst respectively. Local services (53, 60 and 97) would remain on Yonge Street.

King West Water Main and Track Construction

Riders in Parkdale and Liberty Village might well roll their eyes at yet another service upheaval in their neighbourhood after major works on both King and Queen including the never-ending KQQR project (streetcar service west of Sunnyside is planned to resume in September).

In this year’s round, the directly affected area lies between Shaw and Dufferin, but the TTC proposes to remove transit service completely from King from Shaw to Roncesvalles.

During the first phase (whose length is unclear), all 504 King cars would divert north to Queen with the 504A Dundas West Station service continuing to Roncesvalles, and the 504B Dufferin Gate service turning south from Queen to the regular terminus at Dufferin Loop.

Route 63 Ossington normally loops north from Liberty Street via Atlantic to King and thence back east to Shaw. With construction blocking King, the route would be extended west via Liberty and Dufferin to Dufferin Loop, and would return east over its normally southbound-only route to Shaw and King.

The second phase of the project involves the reconstruction of the King/Dufferin intersection requiring a complete closure for about three weeks based on past experience. Routes would be revised as shown below. There would be no change to the 504A King and 63 Ossington diversions, and all King service would operate west from Dufferin on Queen. It is not clear whether the 504B cars will run to Dundas West Station, or if they will terminate elsewhere such as Fleet Loop (west of Bathurst) or Charlotte Loop (at Spadina).

The major change would see the 29/929 Dufferin services rerouted via Queen, Shaw, King, Strachan, Liberty and Dufferin to Dufferin Loop.

As with the proposed route changes at Pape Station, there is a question of whether the combined volume of bus traffic, especially with artics on Dufferin, can operate on this diversion or whether an alternative southern terminus would work better.

This is a difficult area because of road widths and because the rail corridor cuts diagonally through Liberty Village making what would otherwise be “nearby” services on the diversion inaccessible.

Other Ontario Line Effects

Not mentioned in the Round Two survey are other route changes required by various phases of the Ontario Line’s construction.

Queen Bay-to-Victoria Closure

Until early 2024, the 501 Queen car is planned to continue diverting via McCaul, Dundas and Broadview. Eventually the Adelaide Street diversion track will open, and the 501 will operate eastbound via York, Adelaide and Church. Westbound service will run via Church, Richmond and York.

One interim option to partly restore streetcar service on Queen would be to split the route from the west at McCaul Loop and from the east at Church Street (looping via Church, Richmond and Victoria) until the Adelaide diversion is available. This would eliminate through “Queen” car service from Dundas Street.

Queen Closure at Degrassi Street

The regrading of the GO corridor through Riverside will require removal of streetcar service during various phases of the project at the future Riverside/Leslieville Station (Queen & Degrassi). The first occasion will be later in 2023 when streetcar service will shift north to Gerrard to allow for utility work at the GO overpass. Later works include raising the western portion of the rail corridor, and later the eastern portion to improve clearance under the bridge, as well as construction of the new OL station immediately west of the rail corridor.

The TTC has not yet announced details of replacement services during the major closures in 2024 and beyond. In 2023, the 72A Pape bus will continue to operate on Queen because the early works at Degrassi will not block the street. However, the major bridge reconstruction will likely require service to divert around the area. This work is planned to occur in stages, and there could be an on-again off-again situation with full streetcar service on Queen Street East.