Once again the Toronto International Film Festival will disrupt streetcar service downtown. This year, the effect is more severe because of already existing diversions and construction projects.

The TTC’s announcement of diversions is on their News page and on their Updates page in separate postings. The information differs between the two. There is also an announcement in their Service Advisories.

Updated September 5 at 1:20pm:

A map of the 504B service from Distillery to Woodbine Loop has been added to the Service Advisory. This advisory has been updated, but is still incomplete.

The table comparing the three notices has been modified to reflect recent revisions.

Updated September 5 at 7:50am:

The correct layout of King east diversions appears to be on the map in the Updates page which is included below. There are two services operating:

• 504A between Broadview Station and King & York via Church and Wellington.
• 504B between Woodbine Loop and Distillery Loop.

Updated September 4 at 10:00pm:

The three announcements are inconsistent, and the “Update” page for 504 King service in the east end does not make sense.

The TTC is setting a new record here for inconsistent public information. Here is a comparison of the claimed services.

Route	News Item	Update	Service Advisory
East of University
503 Kingston Rd	Turns back from York.	Turns back from York.	Turns back from York.
504A King	Turns back from York. No mention of Distillery District service.	See below. Original version was correct, but this was updated to a nonsensical routing.	Turns back from York. Broadview Station reroute not mentioned.
504B King	Broadview Stn to Distillery	Broadview Stn to Distillery	Turn back from York. No special routing mentioned originally, but a map showing the Distillery to Woodbine Loop service has been added.
303 Kingston Road	Not mentioned.	Turns back from York.	Not mentioned originally. Updated to show turnback from York.
304 King	Turns back from York.	Streetcar not mentioned, only shuttle bus.	Turns back from York.
508 Lake Shore	Turns back from York. (Nonsensical)	No service.	Not mentioned.
West of University
504A King/Dundas West	Turns back from Spadina.	Turns back from Spadina.	Turns back from Spadina
504B King/Humber	Turns back from Spadina.	Turns back from Spadina.	Turns back from Spadina.
304 King	Turns back from Spadina.	Streetcar not mentioned, only shuttle bus.	Turns back from Spadina.
303 Kingston Road	Not mentioned.	Not mentioned.	Not mentioned originally. Update implies there is no service west of York.
508 Lake Shore	Turns back from Spadina.	Turns back from Spadina.	Turns back from Spadina.
Diversion periods	Sept 5-8 Sept 9-10 (3:30-9:30pm)	Sept 5-8	Sept 5-8 Sept 9-10 (3:30-9:30pm)
Map	Downtown area only.	Full map but 504 east services do not match text.	Downtown area only.

“Update” notice for 504 east end services:

Original (retrieved from archive.org):

504A King streetcars in the east end of the city will operate between Broadview Station and King and Church streets. Streetcars will then turn south on Church Street, west on Wellington Street, and north on York Street and east on King Street towards Broadview Station.

504B King streetcars in the east end of the city will operate between Broadview Station and Distillery Loop.

Revised version (from ttc.ca):

504A King streetcars in the east end of the city will operate between Broadview Station and Kingston Road and Queen Street East (Woodbine Loop). Streetcars will then turn south on Church Street, west on Wellington Street, and north on York Street and east on King Street towards Broadview Station.

504B King streetcars in the east end of the city will operate between Broadview Station and Distillery Loop.

This is different from the map which showed the 504A running from Broadview Station while the the 504B runs between Woodbine Loop and Distillery Loop. This turned out to be the service actually operated.

From 5am Thursday, September 5 to 5am Monday, September 9:

Service will be broken at University Avenue into east and west halves of routes.

The map below was added to the Service Advisory on the morning of September 5.

The descriptions below have been updated to reflect actual operations on the morning of September 5.

In the east:

• 503 Kingston Road cars will operate from Bingham Loop to York via Church and Wellington, a cutback from their current terminal at Spadina (Charlotte Loop).
• 504A King cars will operate from Broadview Station to York via Church and Wellington.
• 504B King cars will operate from Woodbine Loop to Distillery Loop.
• 508 Lake Shore cars will not operate east of Spadina.
• 304 King and 303 Kingston Road night cars will turn back from the east at York.

In the west:

• 504A King cars will operate between Dundas West Station and Spadina (Charlotte Loop).
• 504B King cars will operate between Humber loop and Spadina.
• 508 Lake Shore cars will operate between Long Branch and Spadina.
• 304 King night cars will operate between Dundas West Station and Spadina.
• There is no mention of any 303 service west of York Street.

Shuttle buses:

Replacement bus service will operate between Jarvis and Portland bypassing the TIFF area via University, Richmond (WB) / Adelaide (EB) and Spadina.

303 Kingston Road Night Car

There was no mention in the announcement of the 303 Kingston Road night car in the original TTC notices. It appears that the 303 is running only between Bingham Loop and York Street similar to the 503 daytime service.

I have asked the TTC for clarifications, but they remain silent on the topic.

Monday and Tuesday September 9-10

“Red carpet events” on King Street will require diversions between 3:30 and 9:30pm.

Wednesday to Saturday September 11-24

“Red carpet events” will occur, but are not expected to require diversions. Some service delays are likely.

What About Adelaide/Richmond?

Thanks to the glacial pace of construction on the Ontario Line diversion, an alternate route for streetcar service eastbound via Adelaide around TIFF is not available. Next year we are likely to see Richmond/Adelaide diversions rather than split routes.

Transit Signal Non-Priority

There is no mention in the announcement of signal adjustments, notably eastbound at King & Spadina and westbound at King & Church to support the greatly increased volume of streetcar left turns the 2024 diversions will require. Similarly, there has never been any transit priority for left turns westbound at King & Sumach to support a Broadview Station / Distillery Loop service. A major problem with past TIFF diversions has been queues at turning locations on diversion routes.

This is an example of how the City compounds the traffic issues caused by events such as TIFF with an absence of pro-transit signalling. We have millions to study red lanes and paint streets, but well-known routine diversions must fend for themselves.