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Streetcars Return to Humber Loop

The TTC has announced that streetcar service west of Sunnyside Loop (where 501A service now ends) will be extended to Humber Loop on Sunday, October 29. Service to Long Branch will be provided by the 501L shuttle bus operating between Humber and Long Branch as shown below.

A 501M Marine Parade bus will operate from Humber Loop.

The 508 Lake Shore streetcar service will resume to Long Branch Loop on Monday, October 30. Cars will leave Long Branch roughly every 20 minutes from 6:40 to 8:10am. Westbound trips will leave King Station from about 4:25 to 5:45pm.

The eastern terminus of the 501A cars will continue to be at McCaul Loop.

The extension is possible between regular schedule changes because running time is already provided in the October schedules for 501 operation to Humber, and for 508 operation to Long Branch.

Full 507 Long Branch streetcar service will be restored at the next schedule change on Sunday, November 19.

Night service will continue with the 301 Queen Night Bus because of the need to divert around Ontario Line construction.

15 thoughts on “Streetcars Return to Humber Loop”

  1. Sorry to clarify, will the full 507 streetcar service starting Nov 19th see cars running from Long Branch to Humber Loop, or all the way to Roncesvalles? Thanks

    Steve: Long Branch to Humber Loop.

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  2. I figured this was imminent as I noticed them cleaning out the unused tracks a week or so ago. Also they restarted the unused track signal lights awhile back.

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  3. This is terrible news to me. Yet another transfer for me now to get to and from work. Time to stop taking the TTC.

    Steve: I assume you’re talking about the 507/501 transfer at Humber Loop. Unless you work somewhere west of Dufferin, you have to transfer already. The purpose of a separate service on Lake Shore is to provide reliable service for the considerable local demand there separate from the 501 car and the snarls downtown.

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  4. Assuming the sinkhole on King has been fixed by then, the 508 cars will be sharing the same left turn from King to Church as the 501, and experiencing the same Church traffic.

    You would think that looping via York and Spadina would make more sense, while providing access to the Yonge-University line, but there are some switches missing aren’t there?

    Steve: I am not quite sure what the 508 cars will do. They certainly won’t make it to Parliament, but could turn via the Church/Victoria loop used by the 504.

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  5. MC wrote: “This is terrible news to me. Yet another transfer for me now to get to and from work. Time to stop taking the TTC.”

    I have to agree with Steve, that for many taking the 501 downtown that they already have to transfer at some point between the bus and streetcar.

    I am sorry, but the return of the 507 car is much needed. Prior to 1995 people had to transfer at Humber Loop anyway. People, like myself, who use the service west of Humber deserve reliable service too. Plus, even when the 501 car was supposed to go all the way to Long Branch Loop, half the cars were scheduled to turn back at Humber Loop and that’s if all the cars made it to their final destination, which they frequently didn’t – it’s the reason why I will pay the extra money to take the GO Train downtown even if I end up on the TTC once I get to Union – the inconsistent service from the ‘one seat ride’ (aka the 501 car to Long Branch) made for a much longer trip. There have even been times when I was using the service west of Humber Loop and have ended up walking and I would never saw a streetcar the entire time I was walking.

    That doesn’t mean that I don’t think that there are not ways of making this better – for example, to run the 508 car all day and not just during the rush hour. Or running some 501 cars from Kipling Loop to downtown. Or if the Park Lawn Loop is ever put in to run 501 cars there and keep the 507 cars going to Humber.

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  6. Will the transfers be negotiated between 501 and 507 at Humber Loop?

    Steve: What do you mean by “negotiated”? There are separate loading areas for each route.

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  7. Well, the 508 cars ARE making it to Parliament, it seems.

    “Effective Monday, October 30, 508 Lake Shore streetcars will return to limited service between Long Branch Loop and downtown via King Street to Queen and Parliament streets. These streetcars will provide customers with direct service to and from Long Branch Loop, without having to transfer between vehicles. Streetcars will operate eastbound only, towards downtown between 6 a.m. and 8:15 a.m., and westbound only from downtown between 4 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., approximately every 20 minutes.”

    This phrasing makes me wonder–are they actually going to deadhead the entire way out to Long Branch loop in the morning, and deadhead all the way back to Roncesvalles in the afternoon?

    Steve: They should be running in service. I think that the point of the notice is that there will only be through trips in one direction for each peak period. However, they cannot reach King & Parliament because of the ongoing diversion and will likely run via Church, Queen and Parliament until this diversion ends.

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  8. Hi Steve, do you know why the 508 Lake Shore streetcars are running from Long Branch loop, when the 501 Queen still has replacement buses running from Long Branch loop until next month?

    Steve: Because the 508 cars were scheduled in the October period, and have time to make the trip to Long Branch, just as the 501s have time in their schedule to run to Humber.

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  10. Steve: What do you mean by “negotiated”? There are separate loading areas for each route.

    I mean the thing that customers will not wait a long time to transfer between cars.

    Steve: That depends on a few things. First, that all of the 501 cars actually get to Humber rather than short turning at Sunnyside. Second that the Long Branch cars opt to take the majority of their recovery time at Humber, not at Log Branch, so that connecting passengers can board a streetcar out of the elements.

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  11. I saw a streetcar at Long Branch loop this morning!

    There are two interesting points. First is that during the bustitution, 501 buses loaded curbside, not at the various safety islands on Lake Shore. (Except for 110B on Lake Shore, those used the safety islands mostly.)

    Second is that I have not seen service update notices on the stops that I have passed by. Some stops may have updates posted, but not the ones I saw.

    So, do you think that riders may have had to scramble from curbside to the safety island when they realized that a steetcar was coming? The answer would be “yes”.

    Of course, 501L buses will likely continue loading at curbside, but who knows? It’s all so random.

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  13. I don’t quite understand why the 507 Long Branch car did not return to service last Sunday to provide consistency of vehicle type all the way to Long Branch, seven days a week.

    Just like the 508, the 507 Long Branch was scheduled for the October board period, as per the published service summary. The 501L replacement bus service is using RAD buses, which could have be allocated somewhere else instead.

    Steve: It was in the Service Summary, but not in the final version of the schedules that were actually signed for work. The 501L buses have been operated with “run as directed” buses, and these operators cannot be switched over to streetcar duty (it is unlikely that they are trained on streetcars).

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  14. Would the 501 continue running along Queen after the Ontario Line is opened and would the tracks on Richmond and Adelaide be used?

    Steve: The Queen car will likely return to Queen Street before the OL is opened, once they can close in the surface of the street. Richmond and Adelaide will remain available for diversions. Adelaide will make a better diversion eastbound for TIFF than going up to Queen.

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  15. Are the streetcars to Humber now faster? Or is it still the same speed as 1959?

    Steve: Probably slower due to the slow orders and “transit priority” signals at intersections.

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