Oh the irony! The TTC’s Annual Service Plan consultations are all about how to handle a few (but not all) of the construction projects coming in 2024, but the elephant in the room remains bad communications and changes on the fly.

The new routes implemented in May and June 2023 were in cases impractical thanks to a combination of unduly optimistic running times in schedules, less than adequate transit priority and line management whose priority was not the provision of well-spaced, reliable service. Several changes will take effect on July 4 and 5 to correct some of these problems, but the information is scattered through the TTC’s website, if you can find it at all.

First, a summary of the changes:

• The 501/504 shuttle bus (an ad hoc service implemented to cover for the absence of the 503 Kingston Road car to King Street downtown) will be rebranded as “503” and will serve Kingston Road to Bingham Loop until 8pm every day. This will become a scheduled bus service at the end of July, and will revert to 503 streetcars likely in October.
• The 505 Dundas car will only operate east on Queen from Broadview to Woodbine Loop, except after 8pm when service to Bingham will be provided by streetcars.
• The 506 Carlton car will only operate to Queen and Broadview and will return west to route via Queen and Parliament Streets without running east to Woodbine Loop.
• The 512 St. Clair car will be restored, temporarily, west of Lansdowne to Gunns Loop. While it lasts, this will correct for the erratic service now provided there by the 47 Lansdowne extension.

The challenge is to find out that this is happening to your route. The TTC website is very poorly organized with information in many places that is inconsistently placed and linked (or not) to the main route pages affected. Some items are out of date, but remain in place to confuse riders. Some items describe major changes but are hard to find if you don’t know the site in detail.

These are the hallmarks of a site maintained by many groups each with its own (probably jealously guarded) responsibility for providing information. Nobody appears to care about overall site consistency and ease of navigation, or if they do, are in any position to change what is a clearly broken process. Some information is just plain wrong indicating that whoever created or updated the page was either sloppy, or does no know what is actually happening.

Updated July 4, 2023 at 7:10am: Changes to the TTC website since this article was posted are noted in various places below.

Updated July 5, 2023 at 4:30pm: Changes to the TTC website since the July 4 update are noted throughout the article.

Let’s say that you hit the main TTC page. There you will see a large box titled “Streetcar service changes to 503 Kingston Road, 505 Dundas and 506 Carlton”. It originally was a generic reference to streetcar services. There is no mention of the 512. (July 4: This has been fixed.)

The “Learn More” box under the headline takes you to an an omnibus page about streetcar route changes. (Sorry, but I could not resist the pun.) That page is titled “Streetcar Service Changes effective July 4: 503 Kingston Road and 505 Dundas July 5: 512 St Clair”. Note that 506 Carlton is missing. This may seem trivial, but people who only browse headlines might not know there is info here for their route. (July 4: This has been fixed.)

Within that page are dropdowns for each streetcar route.

• 501 Queen: (Updated July 5) There is no mention of the impending removal of 505 and 506 streetcars east of Woodbine Loop and Broadview respectively, nor of the new 503 bus service. The route changes for 503, 505 and 506 are described in the text, but the map (which a reader will encounter first) shows the 505 and 501/504 services in their June versions.
• 503 Kingston Road: The new map and hours of service are listed. Unfortunately there are problems with the map (see below). Update July 5: This has been corrected.
• 504 King: The change from 501/504 buses to the extended 503 is not shown.
• 505 Dundas: Although this route appears in the page’s title, the description and route map still reflect all day streetcar service to Bingham, and there is no mention of the Kingston Road bus service. Moreover, the map shows 505 Dundas cars running both ways via Broadview and Dundas, while the map for the 503 shows the 505 cars running west via Parliament (see below), the route used by 506 Carlton. Updated July 5: The 503 maps have been corrected. The 505 map and text still do not show the 503 bus service on Kingston Road.
• 506 Carlton: This section correctly shows the revised route looping west from Broadview as well as the 506C bus diversion around construction at Coxwell & Lower Gerrard.
• 512 St. Clair: Text in this section announces the return of streetcar service west of Lansdowne. There is no map.

Here is the (original) map for the 503 bus service showing the westbound 505 routing via Parliament. For added amusement it shows the buses looping clockwise via University, Richmond and York which is impossible because of one-way streets. The buses actually run counter-clockwise.

The map for late evening service also shows the 505 streetcars running westbound via Parliament.

If this were actually implemented, there would be no service on 505 Dundas westbound from Broadview to Parliament, only 501 Queen cars.

Riders have been used to seeing the 501/504 buses run via the standard Church-Wellington-York route used by the streetcars in days before the unending reconstruction project on Wellington. The 503 loop to University dates to a period when Wellington was impassible. The text says that the buses will run to York, but the map shows them on King to University. Which is correct?

Update July 5: The maps and text have been corrected.

It appears that the only place one can find a map of the revised 512/47 St. Clair service is in a tweet from Councillor Bravo who represents the area. (July 4: There is now a Service Update including a map, but this is not included in the omnibus streetcar page.)

This page is not the only one where info might be found about routes. Of particular note is the fact that the page is not automatically linked if one accesses the site via an individual route’s schedule page. That is important not just for direct users of ttc.ca, but for various apps that pick up links to service notices from the route pages.

Let’s go to those pages and see what we find.

Routes and Schedules Page

The main banner at the top of the TTC site includes a link to “Routes and Schedules” which has a search box where one can enter a route name or number. When one then jumps to a route page, there might be a popup for Service Advisories and another for Service Alerts. The latter are for temporary changes due to special events, collisions, etc. Here is the status as of 6am on July 2, 2023.

• 501 Queen: There are four three service advisories listed.
  • The May 1 Ontario Line diversion. This notice does not reflect the changed looping of the 501B bus at Broadview.
  • The June 18 change: This describes in text the revised loop at Broadview, but does not include a map. (July 4: This has been deleted.)
  • A separate June 18 page describes the updated route in full and includes a map. The map shows the transfer point for service west of University as John Street whereas it is now at McCaul. This is a harmless error, but the omnibus streetcar page says McCaul. Stops at that location were added soon after the diversion began. (There used to be regular stops at McCaul but they were deleted for “efficiency” even though there is a traffic signal at this intersection.)
  • A June 18 announcement for the 501/504 service (now obsolete) which includes a map showing the westbound transfer point from buses to streetcars at King and Sumach which is impossible because 504 cars from the Distillery do not stop at that intersection.
• 503 Kingston Road:
  • This route is not in the index and so the search box brings up only stops whose numbers include “503”, but nothing about the 503 route. Similarly, a search for “Kingston” brings up only the 12 Kingston Road bus.
  • Update July 5: There is now a page with a route map, but only rudimentary schedule information. Because these pages are automatically generated, the absence of underlying schedule data causes the following message to be included: “Note: No branches for this direction currently in service. Try switching direction.” This is self-evidently wrong.
• 504 King: There are three June 18 route updates. They are listed simply as “route updates” in the popup menu, and one must open each of them to discover what the subject might be.
  • One describes the 501/504 bus service. This is the same page as is linked under 501 Queen (see above).
  • One describes how to get to Hennick Bridgepoint Hospital via the 506C bus in place of streetcars on 504, 505 and 506.
  • One describes the 72A Pape replacement for 504 and 505 service. Its map correctly shows the westbound transfer point at King & Parliament.
• 505 Dundas:
  • There are two June 18 route updates which link to the second and third items under 504 King above. As with the 504, one must actually open them to discover their subject.
  • There is no information about the service cutback to Woodbine Loop. Update July 5: The July 4 notice of the service change is now linked here.
• 506 Carlton: There are two June 18 updates:
  • One describes the streetcar and bus split operation in the east end, including an accurate map. However, this reflects operation to Woodbine Loop, not the pending Broadview cutback.
  • The other is the Hennick Bridgepoint update described under 504 above.
  • New July 4: The item from the Service Changes page regarding the cutback to Broadview is now listed here.
• 512 St. Clair: There is one link to a page (with no map) about the June 18 service cutback to Lansdowne. This directly contradicts information about the service restoration in the omnibus page. As noted above, the map of the revised service does exist, but not on the TTC’s own site. (July 4: See Service Changes below.)

None of the routes links to the omnibus page because it lives in the “Updates” section of the site, not under “Service Changes”. July 4: The link to the Omnibus page has been moved to “Service Advisories”, and it still is not auto-linked to individual route pages.

The Service Changes Page

This page lists all of the service change notices. It appears that auto-linking of these items to the Routes & Schedules pages depends on the route number(s) included in each article’s title.

Scrolling through this page, I find:

• New July 5: There is now a page showing the 505 Dundas changes.
• New July 4: There is now a page showing the resumption of 512 St. Clair service to Gunn’s Loop.
• The 506 Carlton update regarding the July 4 Broadview cutback.
• July 4: The 22 Coxwell update about service suspension has been moved here from the Updates page.
• The 501 Queen update about June 18 Ontario Line changes.
• The 501 Queen update about the revised 501B bus looping at Broadview. (July 4: deleted)
• The 72A/504/505 update about Pape bus service to King & Parliament.
• July 4: The 506 update about June 18 changes including service to Woodbine Loop which has now been discontinued. This notice is obsolete.
• The 504/505/506C update about Bridgepoint Hospital.
• The 501/504 service announcement (now obsolete).
• The 512 St. Clair announcement about service to Lansdowne (soon to be now obsolete).
• The 501/504 bus service announcement from May 9 (now obsolete).
• The 501 Queen May 1 diversion announcement (out of date due to June 18 changes to the 501B loop at Broadview).
• The 506 Carlton Main Station changes (and many other routes) effective May 7. This links to the Main Station Service Changes page where the 506 route is correctly described as it exists today, but there is no mention of the pending cutback from Woodbine Loop to Broadview.

There is no mention of the 503 bus except in the most recent item for 505 Dundas, nor of the pending 503/505 change on Kingston Road, nor of the 512 service restoration. (Updated July 5)

The Construction Notices Page

This page includes a link to a description of work at Main Street Station which does not link to the Main Station service changes page. The construction notice includes the following claim:

506/306 Carlton

• During May and June, replacement buses will operate between Castle Frank Station and Victoria Park Station.
• During July and August, replacement buses will operate between Queen Street East/ Coxwell Avenue and Victoria Park Station. 

The text about a replacement service from Queen/Coxwell to Victoria Park Station is wrong as this is not physically possible while track construction continues at Coxwell and Lower Gerrard. The TTC has not announced a Coxwell-to-Victoria Park service anywhere else on its site.

The Updates Page

A well hidden page on the site holds updates that are not part of the stream found in other sources. Sometimes, these items are linked from the main TTC page. The page is actually found through the “More …” dropdown in the main navigation banner, and then selecting “Riding the TTC”, and finally picking “Updates”. This is not the most obvious place to put items which, by implication, are recent and of special interest.

• Broadview Station Service Changes page:
  • The map on this page completely omits the 505 Dundas car and the 501/504 (now 503) bus. The same map also appears in the Broadview Plans and Projects page.
  • It erroneously claims that 504 King and 505 Dundas service will be “suspended between Parliament Street and Broadview Station”. The 505 continues to operate to Broadview and Dundas.
  • The post is silent on how 505 Dundas riders should access service from Line 2 via the 72A Pape bus. This is most easily done at any stop on Queen east of Broadview and west of Carlaw served by both routes. (The eastbound connection at Carlaw is particularly inconvenient.)
• 22 Coxwell Bus page:
  • This page has not been updated to reflect the change in the 503/505 service on Kingston Road. July 4: The link to this page has been moved to the Service Changes page.
• Dufferin Gate Sewer Repair (29/929/504/304/329): This page is completely obsolete and should have been removed when the diversion ended over three months ago. July 4: This link has been deleted.

This page also is was home to the omnibus streetcar service changes page, but that has its own special link from the main page. If the need for that space changes and the link is repurposed, only riders who know about the “Updates” page will be able to find the omnibus page. July 4: The link to the omnibus page has been moved to the Service Advisories page.

The Projects & Plans Page

This page is accessible only though a link in the footer of all TTC pages. Does anyone actually scroll to the bottom of a page for critical information? Unless these are explicitly linked in other articles, they will not be seen by riders looking for route updates.

It includes links to the following project descriptions:

• Adelaide Street
  • The map in this article has been updated to show the revised 501B loop at Broadview.
• Broadview Avenue and Station
  • This is the page mentioned above under “Updates”.
• Coxwell & Lower Gerrard
  • This includes a map showing all diversions now in effect. The only thing missing is the impending 503/505 change on Kingston Road.
• King-Queen-Queensway-Roncesvalles
  • Streetcar service to Long Branch will be restored in September (probably with the schedule change at Labour Day weekend).
• Main Street Station
  • This is the page mentioned above under “Construction Notices”.
• St. Clair Avenue West
  • The presentation, dated May 25, 2023, linked from this page includes major changes planned for 512 St. Clair and other routes beginning in September 2023. This does not appear to have been announced anywhere else on the site.