At the TTC Board Meeting, management presented plans for coming service changes to the Board.
When I receive the detailed plans for coming schedule periods, I will post the usual omnibus articles.
Updated July 13, 2023: The eastern terminus of the 506C bus has been corrected to Victoria Park Station.
Updated July 14, 2023: The 506 Carlton street service will resume on Gerrard East to Coxwell on Monday, July 17.
Updated July 15, 2023: The map of the revised 506 Carlton routing has been posted by the TTC.
Week of July 17 (Updated)
With the completion of water main and track work at Coxwell & Lower Gerrard, the 506 Carlton cars will be extended east from Broadview via Coxwell to Woodbine Loop on July 17. Service to Victoria Park Station will continue to be provided by the 506C Carlton bus.
Through bus service on Coxwell from Danforth to Queen will be restored on July 30 when 22 Coxwell return.
July 30
Several changes will occur on Sunday, July 30 including adjustments in response to demand levels, scheduling improvements and construction work.
The 31 Greenwood bus route which has been operating temporarily via an expanded south end loop will be permanently extended to Queen & Eastern Avenue.
The 506 Carlton route will be shifted to Dundas West Station as its western terminus to permit water main construction on Howard Park Avenue.
September 3
Streetcar service will return to Long Branch with 501 Queen cars running to Humber Loop, and 507 Long Branch cars from Humber to Long Branch. The peak period 508 Lake Shore (via King) will also return.
Streetcar service will return to Upper Gerrard and Main Street Station with completion of construction work there.
Streetcars will be replaced on Queen East and on St. Clair for construction.
On 501 Queen, the Ontario Line work at Degrassi (east of Broadview) will require bus service in place of streetcars. As previously announced, the temporary 505 Dundas service to Woodbine Loop will be routed via Gerrard and Coxwell due to the Metrolinx work on Queen.
On St. Clair, reconstruction of St. Clair West Station Loop will require buses over the entire 512 route. This will also affect 33 Forest Hill and 126 Christie (which will interline rather than looping at St. Clair West), and 90 Vaughan which will be extended south to Bathurst Station.
Reconstruction of Dufferin Loop will alter the south end loop arrangements for the 29/929 Dufferin services, and the 504B King to Dufferin service will be extended to Roncesvalles.
The duration of these new construction projects has not been announced.
Steve Munro 
About the streetcar service returning to Long Branch with 501 Queen cars running to Humber Loop, and 507 Long Branch cars from Humber to Long Branch on September 3rd. Guessing the 507 Long Branch service will last until they decide on installing the Park Lawn GO Station loops. They’ll have to replace with buses again to install the new loop tracks.
They couldn’t at the very least pour the foundation concrete now between the Lake Shore Blvd. W. tracks to the sidewalk, where the “new” loop would be. Or they still haven’t decided where they would go, or there is no funds available (the usual excuse).
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So are they permanently discontinuing 501 through service to Long Branch, or is this something temporary due to disruptions elsewhere? I would think that with the blockage at Degrassi, a single Long Branch-?? downtown route would make sense.
The 508 carline has been on hiatus for a long, long time. ‘m not even sure if it ever ran on King during the transit pilot. Kind of amazing that it has been resurrected.
As I no longer commute to downtown, I have no idea how busy a commuter-oriented route to downtown might be. Although pre-pandemic, there was a lot of ridership turnover on the Queen street corridor for the 501, I would suppose retail workers heading in for their shifts.
Steve: “Permanent” is not a word I would apply to TTC plans. I think that a route split with a downtown overlap would be good for the many years of the OL project, but I am not quite sure how to handle the overlap, and how many exra cars this would require. Back when they planned a new loop at Queen and Broadview, this would have made a good eastern terminus for a “501 West” car with McCaul or Wolseley for the west end of the “501 East”. One important issue is having some place for a rest break after what would be at least a one hour trip from Long Branch through Queen West and the Adelaide diversion.
From days of yore, and even from riding the bus service on the 501L, I have always been struck by the amount of local demand within southern Etobicoke. This route always seemed to be treated by planners and ops as a Queen extension rather than a community of demand in its own right.
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Wasn’t St Clair West Station loop redone not too long ago?
Steve: Yes, and I am wondering why they have to do it again. Something to follow up.
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With the reopening of Coxwell and Gerrard next week I’m curious to see how they will provide service to Coxwell Ave between Upper Gerrard and Danforth which is currently covered by the detour on 506C. Do they just eliminate the 506C detour and remove service from that section for 2 weeks? Resume 22B service using RADs?
Steve: The 506C will continue to operate via the diversion until the 22 Coxwell returns on the 30th. Yes, that’s a bit of a head scratcher. They are caught between not changing too many routes too often (a “lesson learned” from the always changing 506 bus last year) and providing service with the scheduled vehicles. RADs are not necessarily available at all hours for a two week period, and they are already using some for the 503 bus.
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@wklis Re: Park Lawn streetcar loop, it shouldn’t take too long for the track work, it’s just the east and west access points between the loop road and LSBW. The track work internal to the loop road and streetcar loop shouldn’t otherwise affect LSBW service.
I am more concerned about the loop design. It has only one layover space even though the TTC communicated to the developer that the loop should accommodate up to 24 streetcar movements per hour: 12 (terminating) 504s, 6 EB 501s, 6 WB 501s (or 507s). During consultations TTC staff claimed the unidirectional loop was comparable to Dundas West station and could handle the volume, but Dundas West has two separate tracks for only two routes. Considering the “on-time” service standard for those 12 504s is +/- 50%, you would pretty much have to expect bunching, and that would degrade all service at the loop.
Do you think setback operations would resolve all of this, Steve, and does the loop design look adequate to you? Double tracking the whole streetcar loop to add at least one more layover space and another track crossover for greater flexibility seems prudent, but during the Park Lawn TMP consultations TTC and transportation planning staff were unresponsive to that recommendation.
Steve: Looking at the plan for the roads on the City’s project page, I clearly see two separate tracks at the top of the loop by the GO station. Has this changed? Or by “one layover space” do you refer to the length of the platforms, e.g. one car vs two on each platform? Note that the loop divides into double track before it reaches the platforms. If they don’t build the top end of the loop up to the GO station, but simply follow the road, yes there will definitely be problems.
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I hope the “brains trust” in service planning has their ears to the ground and come September is planning extra Line 1 service daytime and rush hours… with school out the 5:40 (?) headways are not being met, turning into between 7 and 10 minute service gaps between 3 and 4:15 in the afternoon up Yonge from Union to Bloor. If the downtown picks up, and universities go back full bore, this will be a cluster **** of massive proportions. I have talked to many supervisors and chief supervisors… they admit it is screwed up, but claim no one above them cares.
Steve: The real question is how much of the limitation on service growth is due to budgetary factors. It’s rather odd that the TTC itself claims that restoring full pre-pandemic service would only cost $95 million/year (I think this is low, but time will prove who’s right here). We keep hearing about how demand is not back at 100%, but so much of TTC’s data is based on all-day averages over entire lines rather than looking at individual hot spots coupled with the chronic problem of irregular service.
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To clarify regarding the loop design, if you zoom in on the first link you posted you can see that one side of the first section of double track is marked “layover track” and while there are two unloading areas, if there is a vehicle in the layover space, other vehicles can’t dwell at the unloading areas because no other vehicles can pass unless they pull forward to the platform ahead. Nor can an eastbound 504 with an operator break dwell at the eastbound platform as no eastbound 501s can proceed.
If the loop is required to accommodate 12 terminating 504s moving through the loop per hour, and the eastbound platform cannot be occupied by a 504 during an operator break (since it’s shared with the EB 501), then the loop would seem to create a bottleneck any time there are 2 504s there.
The developer and city staff compared it to Dundas West, but that is not a comparable scenario. There you can have 2 504s and 2 505s at Dundas W loop at any time. You can not have 2 504s, 2 EB 501s and 2 WB 501/507s at this loop without backing up well beyond the fork.
Regarding double tracking, the only double tracked section is the layover+unloading and then the 2 platforms. Our suggestion was to double track beyond the current platform locations as well, as you round the streetcar loop and head back to the loop road, possibly even reconfigure for two extended platforms on that west side.
Steve: I suspect that this was not planned with the added service of the 504 (which is really just a shortened version of the 508) coming into Park Lawn Loop a such a frequency. I suspect they have also not taken into account the effect of those extra turns at the reconfigured KQQR. I am still waiting to hear how they expect the 508 to serve passengers at KQQR since the two nearside stops it might use no longer exist.
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What even is the status of Park Lawn GO? Is this something we should reasonably expect to start construction in this decade?
Steve: This is tied up in the timing of the Christie’s development. One issue GO has never addressed is their claim that with Mimico and Park Lawn stations being so close together, they can only stop alternate trains at each location. This would yield an infrequent service that is not exactly what one might expect for a big “transit hub”.
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Do you mean Victoria park station? How is this going to work when Main Street is closed. The bus currently goes to Victoria Park while providing extra service on Gerrard Street East.
Steve: Thanks for catching that. I will fix the post.
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The northbound nearside stop on King before Queen still exists. 504 has been running with a double stop northbound (both nearside and farside) since at least around 2019, and they resumed doing so when 504 streetcar returned to Roncesvalles this year.
Steve: Thanks for clarifying this. I thought the nearside stop was gone for good.
What they’ll do eastbound I don’t know. Possibly just don’t stop at KQQR at all. It’s not a lot of trips, and the only people that would miss out are those for whom KQQR is the local stop. Transfers from 501 are possible on The Queensway, and there’s no reason to transfer from 504 (and someone who really wanted to could do so at the next stop on King).
Not related to these changes, but speaking of double stops for the 504 – the schedules indicate that it currently stops “King St West at York St West Side” as well as “King St West at Simcoe St – St. Andrew Station”. Nextbus/”Umo IQ” real-time map also shows this. Did they actually add a York farside/University nearside stop?
Steve: There was a temporary stop there at one point, and there remains a stop for the 14x express buses, but any streetcars I have been on only stop farside almost at Simcoe. There is a nearside stop at York for the buses before they loop up to Richmond.
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The plans for the Lakeshore/Park Lawn area are constantly changing. As someone who lives in the area, we all received an update from the city earlier this week, announcing that in addition to Street A (where the GO station location and within walking distance to the new 501 loop), there will be 2 road extensions:
– Legion Road will be extended to become a continual north/south street, from the Gardiner offramp, right to Lakeshore, with a bridge over the train tracks
– The current ramp connecting Lakeshore from just west of Windermere to Brookers Lane will be converted to a north/south street, going under the Gardiner and over the train tracks to meet up with The Queensway near the city plant.
How this will impact transit remains to be seen. While some departments within the city have budgeted for future work (Toronto Fire has the construction of a new station as a line item in their 2025 budget), it will be years before construction starts. Funding for the new GO station needs to be in place before construction starts. And keep in mind – the city has signed a multi-year contract with Cirque du Soleil for them to use the space. And Cirque has been so happy that they applied for a modification to the contract to extend their stay in 2024 by an additional 2 weeks, to the end of June.
Steve: Thanks for the update!
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While I’m sure such an idea did not occur to anyone at the TTC, would it have been possible to redesign the loop at St Clair West to add a bypass track around the first 512 loading platform? The second loading platform already has one.
Steve: Somehow, I doubt it. This would also make the special work more complex because a crossover would be required to allow cars using the bypass track on the first platform to shift over to the inside track to load on the second one. This transition would occur on the curve between the two platforms. Given that the TTC and City are trying to save on capital project costs these days, I wouldn’t hold my breath on this one.
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Is 506C gonna operate as a “506 Short Turn to Coxwell & Queen” or will it continue to go to castle frank station alongside 506 Streetcars from July 17 onwards?
Steve: It will continue running to Castle Frank Station.
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Does the 503 have streetcars in September or continue bus replacement until late fall. Would the TTC consider extending the 505 Neville park. Lastly why would ttc not have the 507 run as off peak as the 508 so that customers don’t have to transfer at Humber Loop ? Does the 301 Queen return to Streetcars? cause that would be great to have them divert on Gerrard , Coxwell queen so that it’s one line not a bus.
Steve: The 503 will be a bus until the schedule change on Thanksgiving weekend. It has not yet been announced whether it will run at all hours, or revert to weekday daytimes with the 22 Coxwell bus returning to Kingston Road. The 505 will not go to Neville Park because it will eventually return to Broadview Station. The exact date for that depends on the construction work on Broadview.
The whole idea of having route 507 is to isolate service on Lake Shore from upheavals on the 501 downtown. Yes, the transfer at Humber will be annoying especially if the TTC short turns 501 Queen cars at Sunnyside, and with the wider headways on Queen compared to service in the 1990s when the 507 last operated as a separate route. Longer term, the transfer point will be at a new loop at Park Lawn to be built as part of the Christie’s site redevelopment. BTW the riding on Lake Shore, especially off peak, is over 50% local along the 507 route, not headed east on Queensway/Queen and that’s a good justification for ensuring that the service can be reliable.
The 301 will stay as a bus for some time because the east end of the 501 will convert to buses for construction at the future Riverside/Leslieville Station. This will be an on-and-off thing as that work is planned to block streetcars from time to time, but no continually.
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Park Lawn GO Station is being funded by the developer of the Mr. Christie’s site, along with the TTC streetcar loop.
Regarding train service at the GO station, I want to correct one thing. Metrolinx released an updated business case for the station in 2020 setting that all Lakeshore West local trains would call at BOTH Mimico and Park Lawn. It is explained in some detail (unique for Metrolinx) that because of the four-track layout on the Lakeshore West corridor (Oakville Subdivision) only goes until Canpa/Willowbrook Yard (near Kipling Avenue) followed by three tracks, there is no benefit to skipping a station as buffer time is needed for merging locals and expresses onto the same track west of Canpa. In addition, the improved acceleration and deceleration mitigates any increase in travel times. Without a call at Park Lawn, Metrolinx predicts that a lengthened station dwell or between station pause would be required for reliable service.
Thank you.
Steve: Thanks for that clarification. In the midst of everything that was happening in early 2020, I missed that document. It is rather amusing that it goes into the type of operational analysis absent from previous iterations. Moreover, Metrolinx has “discovered” that frequent service generates demand. That was always the problem with the split stop arrangement (not just here, but at other comparatively minor stops). On one hand Metrolinx would trumpet frequent service, but there was always an asterisk and a footnote for anyone trying to keep track of operational plans. When challenged on this, Metrolinx would always claim that they preliminary service plan for the network as a whole was only a guideline subject to improvement by the P3 operator who had not yet been chosen. Finally, they speak of the value of the WWLRT connection at Park Lawn even though this project is stalled and possibly blocked by the Ontario Line structures at Exhibition Station.
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Just wondering what work is happening at Dufferin loop. Is it just the track on Springhurst, Fort Rouille and back east to Dufferin, or will they also be reinstating the loop-the-loop switch that was removed during the emergency rebuild this year?
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1. Along with the July board changes, isn’t the 21 BRIMLEY also being transferred from Birchmount Garage to Malvern Garage confirmed?
Steve: I have just received the detailed memo for the July board change. Yes, 21 Brimley is moving to Malvern. I will post all of the details in the next day or so after I prepare the complete spreadsheet of before/after service comparisons.
2. The recent derailment of the Scarborough RT line on Monday night saw a number of shuttle buses deployed. Because LINE 3 SCARBOROUGH is four months away from its permanent closure in November, the TTC may consider closing the line earlier than expected but they are not willing to prepare to implement the replacement bus service so quickly. How would that be possible given Kennedy’s temporary southern terminal has yet to be under construction in the old south parking lot?
Steve: In the short term, they will be scrambling to fit in the SRT shuttle. I will be writing about the derailment soon based on publicly available information when I go “to press”.
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So the TTC says the 506 cars are on Gerrard east of Broadview again – but I just took the 506C from Castle Frank to east of Main and saw no cars past Parliament. Also noticing the route on the website still says “to Kingston Rd via Broadview and Queen”. Did they change their mind??
Steve: The problem is that the 506 cars don’t have enough running time to make it to Woodbine Loop until next week’s schedules go into effect. A lot of them short turn, although NextBus shows one sitting in Woodbine Loop as I write this. As for the website, it is driven off of the now out-of-date electronic version of schedules issued for June 18.
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I took a look on TTC watch and it looks like the streetcars are using Broadview instead of Coxwell. And their 17th update is so unclear on the website. Ridiculous eh?
Steve: The apps are using the electronic map for the route that was issued for the June 18 changes, and that does not include the Gerrard/Coxwell operation. If you watch the 506 on Nextbus, it will not show cars on the “new” route when you start the display, but if you leave it running, Nextbus will track them “off route”. It won’t make any predictions for these cars because it has no idea of how they fit into “regular” stops.
This is a basic problem with the way route info is published every six weeks and is often out of sync with actual on-the-street ops. TTC is working on a new interface, but I am not holding my breath.
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I’m a fool to question you! Love your work, btw. Beyond invaluable.
Steve: Many thanks!
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