This article reviews the operation of 63 Ossington in September and October 2024. This route operates from Eglinton West station to Liberty Village with a peak period short turn at St. Clair through Oakwood Loop. Historically, the route is a patchwork of former streetcar, later trolleybus, lines including Oakwood and Dovercourt. Service south of King Street runs through Liberty Village, formerly an industrial neighbourhood, and now a dense residential area.

Until early October, the route’s south end extended west to Sunnyside Loop replacing part of 504 King during road and track construction. On October 6, it resumed the standard looping through Liberty Village. With the new schedule, service was reduced during several periods, although in some cases not by much.

General observations:

• Departures from Sunnyside Loop were irregular, but headways improved east of Roncesvalles because buses took their layovers on King Street, not at the loop.
• Service was less reliable on the route while the extension operated, but improved with the return of the normal south end loop. Demand on the Sunnyside extension was rather light.
• Ossington is a fairly short route (9km one way), but it is subject to some of the same problems as longer routes. Headway reliability is poor during some periods even though there are three locations where buses could be dispatched on a regular spacing: from the two terminals, and at Ossington Station.
• There is some evidence of headway management at Ossington Station to restore proper bus spacing, but the effect is short-lived.

Note to readers: This article and a previous one about 129 McCowan North arose from reader suggestions, and I used them for detailed presentations of tracking data in various formats. Both routes had new schedules in early October, and this provided a chance to look at how service changed for the better or worse. For some, this will be a case of “TL/DR”, and I understand that this sort of thing is not everyone’s cup of tea. To those of you who love the detail, happy reading!