The TTC has a pilot program underway on several routes with increased supervision in an attempt to improve service quality by addressing service gaps and bunching. These are complementary effects in that a gap is often followed by a bunch, although gaps can also occur due to missing vehicles and short turns. See:
The pilot evolved over the year as some of the challenges and resource needs to manage service became apparent.
| March 2025 | Pilot launched on 7 Bathurst, 24 Victoria Park, 924 Victoria Park Express, 25 Don Mills, 925 Don Mills Express, 29 Dufferin, 929 Dufferin Express, 100 Flemington Park, 165 Weston Road North, 506 Carlton, 512 St Clair. Dedicated staff to manage each route were not used initially and results were poor. |
| June 2025 | The pilot was scaled back to 7 Bathurst, 24 Victoria Park, 924 Victoria Park Express, 506 Carlton, and 512 St Clair. One route supervisor was assigned to each route. |
| September 2025 | 100 Flemingdon Park and 165 Weston Road North were added. |
| October 2025 | Pilot “refined” to focus on the weekday peak periods. |
The TTC recognizes that delays leading to gaps can be caused by several effects: “including including Operator behaviour, customer incidents, traffic congestion, city events, construction, and operational factors, such as door/ramp operations.” [p. 2]
Later in the report, there is mention of the effect of passenger loads and long traffic signal wait times.
If vehicles are crowded either because service is inadequate for demand, or because a gap creates an extra load, they will take longer at stops. Filling vehicles to the brim can be counter-productive and inefficient. Space limitations onboard can delay passenger movement especially for those with large objects (e.g. strollers, luggage) and mobility devices. Although ramp operations are mentioned, there are many other types of passengers with extra space and boarding time needs.
Transit signal priority is also mentioned, but there is no indication of where or what priority measures were added on the pilot routes.
The remainder of this article reviews the metrics used by the TTC to track the success of the pilot project, as well as problems and actions that might be taken to resolve them.
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Steve Munro 