The TTC will make many changes to its schedules and services on Sunday, May 3. Many of these are seasonal adjustments for reduced traffic to school locations, as well as summer-only routes. Some routes will see service changes, and some construction projects will, at long last, finish. Toronto gets a reprieve for the World Cup period from major road disruptions, but this will not last long.

Other changes include some streetcar stop removals to attempt to speed up service. We will see just how effective these are after a month’s operation.

Details of these changes were only released on the afternoon of May 1. This article does not yet include my usual spreadsheet of changes in service plans for affected routes. This will be added in the next few days. Check back for updates.

Schedule Change Dates and the World Cup

Because of the timing of World Cup matches, there are separate dates for service changes in coming months on the bus, streetcar and subway networks.

• Bus/Subway/LRT:
  • May 3 – June 20
  • June 21 – July 25
• Streetcar:
  • May 3 – June 6
  • June 7 – July 25

Line 5 Eglinton Service Changes

Service changes implemented on April 5 are now incorporated into the schedules. Travel times and service improve in all time periods.

Line 5 Eglinton hours of service are extended so that cars run until 1:20am every day. Service will begin at 5:30am except on Sundays when it will start at 7:30am.

• The late night Line 5 shuttle bus will be removed.
• Trippers on 35 Jane intended for emergency use on 5 Eglinton will be reassigned to 935 Jane Express during periods when it operates. They will be added to 35 Jane in the late evening.
• Service will remain on 34 Eglinton every 20 minutes during normal hours, and on the 334 Eglinton Night bus overnight.

The number of peak trains has been reduced by Metrolinx request. “Service will operate with 26 trains and will gradually increase based on vehicle availability from the maintainer” according to the service memo. Note that the Line 5 fleet is 78 cars or 39 2-car trains. This gives a very generous 50% spare ratio.

Single operator step backs will continue at both terminals to ensure that operators have sufficient breaks between trips.

Construction Projects

Bay & College

The diversion for water main and track work at Bay & College ends and 506 Carlton cars resume their normal route via College and Carlton between McCaul and Parliament. The 506 shuttle bus will no longer operate. The 19 Bay bus returned to its normal route on March 28.

Travel times and car allocations will be reduced with the removal of the diversion, but Saturday afternoon service will be improved from every 10 to every 8 minutes.

For the week of May 3-8, the diversion and bus shuttle will continue between 11pm and 4am to allow completion of overhead maintenance.

Further diversions are planned for track and water main replacement from Bay to Church through the summer after the World Cup period.

Queen & Broadview

The split operation of 504 King with streetcars terminating at Distillery Loop and a 504D bus shuttle from Parliament to Broadview Station ends. Streetcar service will operate over the full route with the 504B cars running from Dufferin Loop to Broadview Station. Regular night car service on 304 King also returns.

Service on each of the 504A/B branches will run every 10 minutes with a combined service of 5 minutes between Sumach and Dufferin.

Normal routing of 501/301 Queen cars and 503 Kingston Road buses resumed on April 27 between Broadview and Parliament.

Running times and vehicle allocations on 501 Queen will be adjusted to reflect the shorter route during some periods, but with no change to service levels. Service on 301 Queen Night Car will be widened from every 15′ to every 20′ with cars shifted to 304 King.

Peak period service on 503 Kingston Road will be reduced to every 6 minutes reflecting the return of 501 streetcars to Queen Street.

Further diversions are planned in the fall for reconstruction of King and York, and for track and water main work west from Dufferin to Close.

Carhouse routings from Russell and Leslie Barns changed back to normal via Queen Street:

• 310/510 Spadina: To/From Leslie Barns via Queen and King Streets.
• 511 Bathurst: To/From Leslie Barns via Queen and King Streets.
• 312/512 St. Clair:
  • From Leslie Barns via Queen, Broadview, Dundas, Parliament, Carlton & Bathurst.
  • To Leslie Barns via College, Carlton, Parliament, Gerrard, Broadview & Queen.

Route Changes

Exhibition Place Changes:

• The 307 Bathurst night bus will divert around the temporary FIFA streetcar platforms on Fleet Street eastbound via Strachan and Lake Shore to Fort York Boulevard.
• The 329 Dufferin night bus will terminate at Dufferin Loop rather than operating through Exhibition Place to the Princes’ Gates Loop.

Highland Creek Changes:

• Route 154 Curran Hall will be extended via Conlins Road, Canmore Boulevard and Morrish Road, replacing service previously provided by the 905A Eglinton East Express. Service will be removed from the University of Toronto Scarborough Bus Loop and Military Trail, south of Ellesmere Road.
• Route 905 Eglinton East Express will be changed so that all trips end at the UTSC bus loop.

Jane corridor Changes:

• Service on 35 Jane and 27 Jane South will interline trips on weekday late evenings, and on weekend early and late evenings to provide a transfer-free trip between the routes north and south of Eglinton.
• Trippers used as Line 5 emergency relief buses formerly scheduled on 35 Jane will be shifted to 935 Jane Express. Late evening, when the 935 does not operate, the trippers will run as 35 Jane locals.

Mount Dennis Station Changes:

161 Rogers Road, 168 Symington and 989 Weston Express will be rerouted at Mount Dennis Station to use Photography Drive as shown below.

Seasonal Route Changes

• 92 Woodbine South: Weekend service will be improved to handle traffic to Woodbine Beach.
• Holiday service to Woodbine Beach:
  • 22 Coxwell will be extended to Lake Shore and Northern Dancer.
  • 92 Woodbine South will alternate trips with 22 Coxwell at Lake Shore and Northern Dancer.
  • Schedules on both routes are adjusted to align headways for interlining.
• University of Toronto Scarborough Campus:
  • Service to UTSC on 38B Highland Creek and 938 Highland Creek Express will be removed for the summer. Service on the 38A to Rouge Hill GO will be improved to partly offset this change.
• Centennial College Services:
  • The 102A Markham Road to Centennial College service will be removed for the summer.
  • The 902 Markham Road Express school trip leaving Warden Station at 7:47am will be removed for the summer.
  • The 903 Kennedy-Scarborough Express will operate on weekdays with half of the trips running through to Centennial College as 903A and half ending at Scarborough Centre as 903B. All weekend trips will run as 903B to STC only.
  • 134 Progress: Weekday evening service will increase to every 12 minutes, and departures from Scarborough Centre Station will be interleaved with service on the 903A.
• Humber College Service:
  • School trips on 927A Highway 27 express to Humber College during the weekday midday will be removed for the summer.
• George Brown College Services:
  • 65 Parliament: Service reduced in the early morning, AM and PM peaks.
  • 75 Sherbourne: Service reduced in the early morning, AM peak, midday and PM peak.
  • 114 Queens Quay East: Service reduced in the early morning, AM peak and midday.
• Seasonal Services:
  • The 200 Toronto Zoo bus will operate from morning to early evening periods on weekends and holidays. Weekday service will be added in late June.
  • The 201 Bluffer’s Park bus will operate from morning to early evening periods on weekends and holidays. Weekday service will be added in late June.
  • The 202 Cherry Beach bus will run during the midday, PM peak and early evening on weekdays, and from the morning through evening on weekends and holidays.
  • The 203 High Park bus will run weekdays during the AM peak, midday and PM peak with service every 20 minutes.

Service Adjustments

• 14 Glencairn and 28 Bayview South: Schedules adjusted in all time periods for reliability.
• 37/337 Islington:
  • 37 Islington: The first southbound 37B trip from Steeles on weekdays will be changed to depart at 5:14 rather than 5:19am to improve reliability and better align with following trips.
  • 337 Islington Night Bus: To improve the transition to 37B weekday morning service, the existing trip from Kipling & Steeles at 4:49am will be adjusted to leave Steeles & Islington at 5:01am and operate to Islington & Birmingham.
• 50 Burnhamthorpe: Reliability adjustments due to Islington Station Easier Access Project.
• 57 Midland: Midday service reduced to 11′ to match demand.
• 68B Warden service to Major Mackenzie will be improved in the AM and PM peaks at York Region’s request to reduce crowding. 68A service to Steeles will be improved in the PM peak to ensure blending of headways with the 68B.
• 74 Mount Pleasant: A school trip southbound from Broadway will be changed to 3:23 from 3:35pm. The northbound trip from St. Clair Station will change from 3:43 rather than 3:55pm.
• 80 Queensway: A trip will be added from Newcastle and Windsor Streets (Mimico GO Station) at 7:42am to reduce crowding.
• 123 Sherway: A northbound trip at 4:05pm on the 123D Sherway via East Mall branch has been removed due to low ridership.
• 925 Don Mills Express: The break/relief point for crews will be changed to Broadview Station. There is no change in scheduled service.
• 929 Dufferin Express: Early evening service will be added on Saturdays running every 8 minutes in anticipation of a World Cup match on June 20. Additional improvements will appear in the next round of schedule changes.
• 507 Long Branch: Three trips at 10:05, 10:15 and 10:25pm on weekends will be removed as these overlap scheduled 501 Queen service.
• 508 Lake Shore: Westbound travel times in the schedule will be adjusted to correct an error, but there will be no change in service levels.
• St. Clair:
  • 512 St. Clair service will be reduced in the early evening on weekdays to every 10′.
  • Early Sunday morning service will be provided by the 312 St. Clair night car during the period before service begins on 1 Yonge-University.
  • Routes 312 and 512 will shift from Russell Carhouse to Leslie Barns.

Vehicle Type Changes

• 129 McCowan North & 904 Sheppard-Kennedy Express: Service will operate with 40-foot buses at al times due of a shortage of articulated buses. There is no change in service levels.
• 953 Steeles East Express: Some trips will operate with articulated buses. Most vehicles on weekdays will be artics. There is no change in the scheduled headways.

RapidTO Adjustments

• Service on 511 Bathurst will be revised to reflect shorter travel times with the red lane implementation on Bathurst. One car will be removed weekday midday, PM peak and evening. On car will be removed Saturday afternoon and evening. There are minor changes to early evening frequencies, but otherwise service levels are unchanged.
• Double operator step backs on the 511 at Bathurst Station will be scheduled on Victoria Day except in the early morning as a trial for World Cup service.

Stop Removals

In the name of improving route performance or for “operational reasons” (depending on which notice you read) the TTC will eliminate some closely-spaced streetcar stops.

• 501/301 Queen:
  • Queen & Abell both ways
  • Queen & Victoria both ways (not currently in service due to Ontario Line construction)
• 501/301 Queen, 507 Long Branch, 508 Lake Shore:
  • Lake Shore & 15th both ways
• 505/305 Dundas:
  • Dundas & Sheridan both ways
• 504 King & 505 Dundas:
  • Stops at Erindale and Broadview and at Broadview & Danforth southbound will no longer be served by 504 King and 505 Dundas cars. The stop at Erindale will disappear, but the stop at Danforth will continue to be served by 304/305 night cars as well as by 8 Broadview and 62 Mortimer buses while they operate an extended route south to Gerrard. The stop at Danforth was already bypassed by 504/505 streetcars during peak periods.

600-Series Runs As Directed Buses

The charts below slow the number of RAD buses to be provided from each garage on weekdays, weekends and holidays. Note that the lower right chart is for holidays.

Streetcar Route Maps

Vehicle Allocations

As the reconstruction at Russell Carhouse proceeds and space becomes available, operation of 506/306 Carlton will shift from Leslie to Russell.

Schedules have been adjusted for eBus operation at Arrow Road, Birchmount, Eglinton, Malvern, Mount Dennis, McNicoll and Wilson Divisions in all time periods “to better reflect eBus fleet availability” according to the service memo. There are no details of the changes.

Budgeted and Scheduled Service Hours